What do we really want from our car insurance? Do we really need all the bits we are offered? Which car insurance options in my policy are useless?
It is clear that the majority of people are looking for a minimum fuss transaction – despite what all those fun-loving late-night-partying employees of insurance companies might think, we neither have the time nor inclination to compare car insurance quotes, examine different terms and conditions and perform some sad sack cost/benefit analysis of the various policies out there.
Why am I mincing my words? Why can I not have a simple policy with a simple price which delivers on its promise?
………and this is where I get it wrong – because I try to spend the absolute minimal amount of time on my insurance transactions I have ended up with a bunch of “add-ons” that I really don’t need.
Windscreen: it doesn’t cost that much to replace a windscreen and, more often than not, it’s less than the average excess insurers issue your policy with. Furthermore, in the event of a chip, find me the driver who doesn’t ignore it (all those interesting people at insurance excepted, naturally!). So, leave the windscreen to me – and the fact that you, insurer, are offering me the ability to “buy down” my excess is telling me that you think the same……..at your standard excess I wouldn’t be making a claim but I will, of course, spend money on cover you never wanted to give me in the first place. Eh?
Rental car: I buy an insurance policy because, in the unlikely event of a crash (not the happiest day in my life), I want my car back mended and quickly………….and though I’m pissed off, I’ll find a way of making do whilst my car is off the road – what I don’t want to do is have to work out how much extra premium I am paying for the rental car option for, if I was being thorough, it would also mean that I would have to check out (long-term?) rental rates and then compare that price with the probability of me using that option (the statistical average is that people have a bingle of some sort every 7 years) versus the premium I’m being offered by thzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..snore!
NCB (no-claim-bonus) protection: take my advice, never, never, never take this option when offered. Find an insurer who gives you lifetime protection of your policy for no extra premium – there are plenty of them out there.
Here’s my view: there are only a few moving parts to setting car insurance premium – they are type of car, age of the car, where it is parked, driver age & experience……… all the other stuff I’ll deal with myself as, the more I think about it there is little doubt I’ll pay more for the extras – it’s not a whole lot different as a byo eatery……… we all know that the mark-up on wine in a fancy restaurant is 3x, whilst the cost of the penne arabiatta is about the same!
