Insurance troubles May 2023

[notmeguv]

£800 is a pretty good deal, these days. Are you explicitly selecting that the owner and R/K of the vehicle is a lease company? (And not just a company?)

As for Admiral, my wife’s company owns our M3 but she insures it through Admiral as personal insurance but with business use. No issue at all claiming this as a business expense.

Yes, definitely selected both owner and registered keeper as the lease company.

I’m waiting for a call back from my accountant and hoping he will say I can claim the Admiral insurance as a business expense. Does this give rise to an additional BIK element?

 

[Jason71]

Yes, definitely selected both owner and registered keeper as the lease company.

I’m waiting for a call back from my accountant and hoping he will say I can claim the Admiral insurance as a business expense. Does this give rise to an additional BIK element?

It is my understanding that insurance on a company car should be covered by the company and is there for not a "benefit". Any benefit you gain from it personally is all considered to be part of the Bik you already pay.
It is the companies asset. Why should an employee be liable for it?
if your work gave you a laptop you would not be expected to pay for insurance on it. I don't see how it is any different.

 

[notmeguv]

I did change my job title from Company Director to "Systems Analyst" as per the recommendation on MoneySavingExpert here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/car-insurance-job-picker/

That’s interesting. I just changed the quote from having both my wife and I down as directors, to Sales Administrator and Sales Manager instead and it’s reduced the price to just under £700!

This is through TopCashBacks price comparison so I will need to check all the details are correct in Admiral if I go ahead with that.

 

[OneTinyFish]

I thought the sweet spot for renewal quotes was 21 days prior?
I'm due in September too, I know I will probably have a shock when I receive my renewal quote reading all previous posts, but will not start looking for quotes until early August...

I think it's more about not getting a quote to start within the next 21 days, as this indicates desperation and higher premiums. If you get a quote in advance, you're more likely to get a better quote, as there's still plenty of time to shop around.

That’s interesting. I just changed the quote from having both my wife and I down as directors, to Sales Administrator and Sales Manager instead and it’s reduced the price to just under £700!

This is through TopCashBacks price comparison so I will need to check all the details are correct in Admiral if I go ahead with that.

What was your price beforehand? [Edit: Just seen - around £800? So, saving £100+? My next drink is on you then ] That's a sweet trick, isn't it? Perfectly legal and very sensible too.

 

[Jason71]

That’s interesting. I just changed the quote from having both my wife and I down as directors, to Sales Administrator and Sales Manager instead and it’s reduced the price to just under £700!

This is through TopCashBacks price comparison so I will need to check all the details are correct in Admiral if I go ahead with that.

Its probably because the number of people for whom "company director" is the most accurate description of their actual role is vanishingly small.
if you work at a large company then you are probably a director of something like a "finance director" or a sales director".
If its a very small company then the amount of time you spend on directorial duties is probably pretty small and thus not really a helpful description of your actually occupation.

When someone on a tv quiz show just their occupation as "company director" I just assume their company either does nothing or its something that does not sound impressive so they say that to impress people.

As such if you put that as your occupation on insurance they probably also wonder what you are trying to hide. at best they have little to no idea what you actually do so just assume the worst.

 

[Spacemanwho]

I was about to make a post about insuring a new tesla Y I'm about to order when I came across this post.
Wow.
I have a limited company and looking at buying the tesla via that on php.
Owner will be company with me being the registered user.
What insurance companies are you folks using or the ones that ended up giving you the best rates?

 

[Adopado]

I was about to make a post about insuring a new tesla Y I'm about to order when I came across this post.
Wow.
I have a limited company and looking at buying the tesla via that on php.
Owner will be company with me being the registered user.
What insurance companies are you folks using or the ones that ended up giving you the best rates?

It’s a constantly changing situation. My SR+ has been inexpensive to insure to date. I started at £230 in 2019 and it went up a small amount since then but still well under £300. I’m waiting for my renewal notice and expecting a significant increase this year based on what others are being charged... Churchill.

Everyone’s situation is different and I’m not a company and live in a low accident low crime area and am retired with low risk wife as other driver. (She tells me she’s low risk!)

 

[Pink Duck]

Some of this probably is genuine theft-increased cost, from Overall England+Wales crime survey stats ‘vehicle thefts from person’:

49,669 (Apr 2020–Mar 2021)
87,802 (Apr 2021–Mar 2022)
112,406 (Apr 2022–Mar 2023)

 

[Andywil]

Some of this probably is genuine theft-increased cost, from Overall England+Wales crime survey stats ‘vehicle thefts from person’:

49,669 (Apr 2020–Mar 2021)
87,802 (Apr 2021–Mar 2022)
112,406 (Apr 2022–Mar 2023)

I think you will find the number of Teslas stolen is almost none, so should be an insurance discount.

 

[Pink Duck]

Sadly the insurers don't see it like that. They have to recover costs somehow.

In 2020 no EVs were stolen in NR postal outcode, 4 or fewer in 2021, none again in 2022.

 

[Spacemanwho]

Some of this probably is genuine theft-increased cost, from Overall England+Wales crime survey stats ‘vehicle thefts from person’:

49,669 (Apr 2020–Mar 2021)
87,802 (Apr 2021–Mar 2022)
112,406 (Apr 2022–Mar 2023)

I think this is over all theft. But unless its scam or inside job. Teslas are almost impossible to steel.
Take a look at land rover. They don't even offer insurances any more for their own vehicles.
I belive tesla needs to step in and offer a direct package them selves.
They disrupted the EV market. Did the same to vehicle charging. It's time to shake up the biggest con which is the insurance industry.

 

[Jason71]

I think this is over all theft. But unless its scam or inside job. Teslas are almost impossible to steel.
Take a look at land rover. They don't even offer insurances any more for their own vehicles.
I belive tesla needs to step in and offer a direct package them selves.
They disrupted the EV market. Did the same to vehicle charging. It's time to shake up the biggest con which is the insurance industry.

or they could just address the issues that are under their control that are scaring the insurance companies like:
a) the reparability of the cars
b) the cost of the parts
and the one they could do very easily
c) the supply of parts.
poor part availability leads to long period of time where people are driving hire cars while waiting for repairs, often billed at silly rates it seems which can add substantially to repair costs and thus premiums.

Edit:
I am guessing also that the value of the written off cars is very low also since Tesla have a tendency to cut off access to DC charging to any vehicle that has been recorded as written off making them pretty worthless if rebuilt. Obviously in the US all DC charging is pretty much only means superchargers but in Europe it doesn't. I don't see how that is even legal so maybe they have stopped doing it but even it its just superchargers ( which would be legal) that would still be a big deal. At one point there was a route to get a car inspected by Tesla then re-instated but I heard that was iffy at best. No idea if any of this is still going on but it definitely was a thing.

 

[Spacemanwho]

or they could just address the issues that are under their control that are scaring the insurance companies like:
a) the reparability of the cars
b) the cost of the parts
and the one they could do very easily
c) the supply of parts.
poor part availability leads to long period of time where people are driving hire cars while waiting for repairs, often billed at silly rates it seems which can add substantially to repair costs and thus premiums.

Edit:
I am guessing also that the value of the written off cars is very low also since Tesla have a tendency to cut off access to DC charging to any vehicle that has been recorded as written off making them pretty worthless if rebuilt. Obviously in the US all DC charging is pretty much only means superchargers but in Europe it doesn't. I don't see how that is even legal so maybe they have stopped doing it but even it its just superchargers ( which would be legal) that would still be a big deal. At one point there was a route to get a car inspected by Tesla then re-instated but I heard that was iffy at best. No idea if any of this is still going on but it definitely was a thing.

You are right. Over all tesla could do alot of things better. Ref the parts in comparison to other manufacturers are still quiet cheap and reasonable.
What's going to be a stickler is insurance. If you can't get insurance or at least at a reasonable price you are not getting into a tesla.
Insurance companies want to cover them selves against risk but it seems pretty easy for everyone just to screw over the consumer. ESPECIALLY here in the UK.

 

[davidmc]

My lease is now up and my M3 sr goes back Aug 21st. (Sad times)

My insurance to date with same excess each time and no change to my circumstances apart from my age and NCB increasing in years.

2019 £650
2020 £670
2021 £665
2022 £880
2023 £1375 (renewal letter came today)

 

[Cardo]

I was about to make a post about insuring a new tesla Y I'm about to order when I came across this post.
Wow.
I have a limited company and looking at buying the tesla via that on php.
Owner will be company with me being the registered user.
What insurance companies are you folks using or the ones that ended up giving you the best rates?

We have the same, car owned by Ltd company but R/K is the wife. Our best rates are Admiral and Churchill (though neither are particularly cheap, these days!).