Multiple vehicle insurance and breakdown cover

[Way2Go]

Hi everyone,

I'm after a bit of advice regarding insuring our motorhome which we will collect in March next year.

My wife and I both have cars which we insure independently and both have independent breakdown cover as additions to the insurance.

Next Spring we will have a situation where we will be insuring and providing breakdown cover for three vehicles.

It would make sense to take out the C.C.'s Mayday Comprehensive plus Personal Cover so that either of us could drive any of the three vehicles and have full breakdown cover.  Not bad for £90.

My problem is the insurance.  I've no idea how much a brand new motorhome will cost but we currently pay around £300 each for our cars so could be looking at around £1,000 a year to cover three vehicles.  There must be a cheaper way of doing it than three independent insurances?

We don't want a part-time motorhome insurance as we'd like to scoot off at the drop of a hat and in any case it would need to be insured whilst being stored (which is a different subject).

I'm sure a lot of readers have been in or are in a similar position to ourselves?  How do you manage?  Any advice? Any recommendations?

[messerschmitt owner]

duplicate post

Campbell

[messerschmitt owner]

messerschmitt owner - 2006-12-24 7:33 AM

 

I investigated different types of group or fleet insurance as I already have this problem.

 

Despite claims that it is cheaper, I found that, actually, as soon as I listed the mix of vehicles, the insurers all shied away from my custom.

 

The group or multi-vehicle policies are only interested in cars and as soon as I mentioned the motorhomes (yes, two), the c lassic cars and the modified sports car, they all declined to quote. This was not helped as I was trying to insure a motorhome with a value of greater than £40,000.

 

So, what do I do now? I have five sets of insurances running and not one will take into account the fact that between my wife and I, that we have five vehicles all T&T and can only drive two simultaneously. What we did do was to shuffle policies so that the most expensive to insure had the highest no claims applicable.

 

I found Safeguard was cheapest for the motorhomes - about £300 for the £2500 Toyota and £425 for the £44,000 Rimor - both fully comp with lots of benefits. We're members of RAC Arrival through the C&CC - used it once - was great! Been in all the main motoring organisations and found AA to be worst - they started getting iffy about our old Toyota (the one befpore this one), and began to claim it was a panel van and therefore not eligible for their recovery service - even though it was a Devon conversion. Do make sure that whatever recovery service you join will recover your vehicle (size and weight) - otherwise, the time you need it will be the time you are stuck at the side of the motorway. RAC Arrival covers any vehicle you and spouse are driving, regardless of size or weight.

 

 

Campbell

[enodreven]

Hi,

 

Check with the NFU as i believe they do offer some discounts for the second car ? and i do know that a lot of Farmers have multiple vehicles so its got to be worth a phone call ?

 

If you do ring them let us know how you get on as I'm sure a lot of people are in a similar position

 

hope it helps

 

By the way you don't need to be a farmer to insure with them ?

 

Brian

[chas]

I have thought along these lines a good while ago, and have always been told that it is a legal requirment for each vehicle to be independantly insured, if you do manage to do it , at reasonably cost, please let us all know. chas

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

I too would recommend the NFU. I first used it when I bought an oldish Land Rover as a third vehicle. We were fed up with being stuck at the top of our steep hill when it snowed (this was before global warming!).

An old friend happens to be the NFU agent in the Yorkshire Dales and he did us a good deal. Eventually, as I more or less retired from my business, I took mine and my wife's car out of the company fleet and ran them privately and transferred them to the NFU. The Land Rover went some time ago by the way and my wife now runs a Nissan X-Trail.

The NFU was now insuring my sports car and my wife's X-Trail so when I bought my motorhome it was the first port of call. The price was similar to other quotes so that was good enough for me.

It now insures all three vehicles and it's so convenient having one policy and one renewal date. I also find it much more user-friendly than some of the bigger insurers, where you often get the "Computer says no" attitude.

I've used it once for a claim and the service was superb. If it's of interest send me a private message and I can give you the name and number of my chum. It doesn't matter were you live by the way. You actually deal with real people as opposed to filling in computerised lists. You give him your details over the phone and he rings you back in a couple of hours or the following day when he's done his research. Occasionally he's out visiting farmers so you may have to wait, but that's a small drawback for the pleasure of dealing with a real person.

To sum up - I live nowhere near a farm, my own car is a fairly expensive two-seater sports car and I am insured by the National Farmers' Union! Work that out!

[Brian Kirby]

Way2Go - 2006-12-24 7:01 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm after a bit of advice regarding insuring our motorhome which we will collect in March next year.

My wife and I both have cars which we insure independently and both have independent breakdown cover as additions to the insurance.

Next Spring we will have a situation where we will be insuring and providing breakdown cover for three vehicles.

It would make sense to take out the C.C.'s Mayday Comprehensive plus Personal Cover so that either of us could drive any of the three vehicles and have full breakdown cover.  Not bad for £90.

My problem is the insurance.  I've no idea how much a brand new motorhome will cost but we currently pay around £300 each for our cars so could be looking at around £1,000 a year to cover three vehicles.  There must be a cheaper way of doing it than three independent insurances?

We don't want a part-time motorhome insurance as we'd like to scoot off at the drop of a hat and in any case it would need to be insured whilst being stored (which is a different subject).

I'm sure a lot of readers have been in or are in a similar position to ourselves?  How do you manage?  Any advice? Any recommendations?

My only thought is two people: three vehicles.  How many can you drive at once?  None of my business, and I am not seeking to question your decisions as to vehicle ownership, but it does seem a rather expensive option to pursue if the insurance cost is a concern.  Hope this won't cause offence, it is most certainly not intended to.

Suggestions: I'd say talk to Comfort Insurance about all your insurances, vehicles, breakdown, health, home (buildings) and contents.  What they can offer are various combinations of co-ordinated policies, mostly, if not all, with Norwich Union, that allow you to specify how long you want to be away at any one time so that all are covered for the same periods of absence.  For breakdown cover, you buy what is virtually full RAC European cover, in either of two flavours, as a "bolt on" to the vehicle insurances.  For example, for around £55, if you add this to the motorhome insurance, it will also cover a specified car while the motorhome is not being used.  Thus, two European breakdown policies would cover the three vehicles, turn and turn around, if you wish to contemplate contemplate taking any/all abroad. 

I don't know how the prices would actually compare for you, but we found the whole package offered virtually unbeatable value, and we are fully insured in all departments for 90 day absences.  However, you can secure longer, or I think shorter, periods of absence by adjustments to the (mainly home and contents) premiums.

[Basil]

Hi Way2Go,

 

I had the same problem with 3 cars, a 4x4, 2 mtorcycles and the motorhome to cover and as you say the CClub Mayday personal cover option for me and the better half as suggested by Green Flag themselves (cost £89 last August), to cover the lot for breakdown recovery is exceptional value for money IMO. Used them the year before last after a blow out on the motorway and was back on route within 45 mins, good service.

With regards to the multi vehicle insurance I investigated several options but found that unfortunately they were no cheaper than insuring all seperately in the end, also with most options you cannot protect the NCD and those that you can it affects all vehicles covered as well as other downsides. I have maximum NCD on all my vehicles currently and all NCD protected. I found the best way to achieve max NCD quickly was to insure the latest vehicle as a second vehicle with the same insurer who allowed the same NCD on the second vehicle but no NCD protection then after a year move the cheaper to insure to another insurer whereby you can cover two more second vehicles with mirrored NCD. The Motorhome I covered with a dedicated motorhome insurer who mirrors your car NCD (Motorcaravanwise) from the off. Thus all vehicles are covered fully comp with max NCD and my total insurance bill for the year for all vehicles is around £986.

By the way if you do decide to use Mayday, if you have a car used by more than just you and your wife (say son or daughter as name driver) make that the one that is registered on the recovery documentation and that will be covered for whoever is driving it, that was advice from Green Flag as well.

Hope that helps.

 

Bas

[Keith T]

There is, of course, another difficulty in trying to arrange multi-cover, whether for 2 vehicles or for home/contents, travel etc - in most cases the current policies will have a different expiry date, and any saving made may well be offset by loss on shorterning or cancelling an exisiting policy?

[colin]

Not sure what Brian will think about this, but me and the gf have 15 vehicles (maybe more that I've forgoten about!). We could insure all under colector's policy but as only three are usualy on road at any one time we insure individualy as it is cheaper. As we are not in CC we use RAC which gives cover for both of us in any vehicle we may be traveling for £97.

[Basil]

colin - 2006-12-24 7:28 PM

 

As we are not in CC we use RAC which gives cover for both of us in any vehicle we may be traveling for £97.

 

Trouble with the RAC and the AA is they only cover to a set length and weight of vehicle unless you join them through the Camping and Caravan Club. I left the RAC after over 22years of membership as they wouldn't cover our Motorhome as it fell outside their stupid restrictions. I say stupid because what difference does it make being a member of a camping club they either have the equipment to recover or they don't, joining a club does not magically make the equipment appear. You can probably guess from the previous sentance that I had a very long and protracted 'discussion' with them before leaving them.

 

Also the number of vehicles owned and only insured for use of two people (in the case of the motorcycles one person) is in our case totally considered and neccessary to comply with the legal requirements for road use of those vehicles. In our case the insurance costs don't enter into it but as Brian said it does seem wrong that you are charged full rate on all vehicles when only two can be driven at the same time.

 

Bas

[Brian Kirby]

Basil - 2006-12-24 10:26 PM Trouble with the RAC and the AA is they only cover to a set length and weight of vehicle unless you join them through the Camping and Caravan Club.  Bas

Not strictly true Bas, if you insure with Comfort you get virtually the full RAC Europe cover for motorhome or car for £55, includes 365 day trip cover, irrespective of vehicle length, weight or height (within European restrictions, though, I guess, but haven't neded to check).

Sad git, Christmas Day an' all!  Happy Christmas, everyone!!

[Basil]

Hi Brian,

 

Quite right in your case for what you have said but I was answering Colins post which did not mention any other qualifying situation so was implying that the RAC cover all vehicles, it therefore did not point out that normal RAC cover doesn't cover motorhomes over a certain weight and length (if I remember correctly 3500MGLW and 18' 11" or there abouts may have changed the length but not by much).

 

Don't mean to be disagreeable at this happy time of year!! :-) :-) :-)

 

Happy Christmas

 

Bas

[Way2Go]

Brian Kirby - 2006-12-24 12:29 PM

. . . . My only thought is two people: three vehicles.  How many can you drive at once?  None of my business, and I am not seeking to question your decisions as to vehicle ownership, but it does seem a rather expensive option to pursue if the insurance cost is a concern. . . .

Well, the thing is Brian, my wife needs a car to travel the 130 miles per day to her office and back whilst I need a car to visit my customers on a daily basis with a similar mileage.

By the same token, both of us regularly attend meetings at various venues across the south of England.

We'd like to have a motorhome for holidays because the car is a bit small to sleep in . . . . that's why we have three vehicles.

We can obviously only drive one vehicle at a time (each) but it's not as though we live over a shop or work at the local factory, we are both professional people who love caravaning and soon motor homing.

A similar argument could be used for someone owning a Harley Davidson and a pickup truck.  Why two vehicles? Because he loves the freedom of the open air but sometimes needs to carry sheets of MDF . . . different vehicles, different uses. 

. . . . no we weren't offended Brian, it's just that things rarely appear as they seem.

Bas, thanks for the good feedback - we'll add your comments to our equation.  There is only the two of us at home now as the rest of our family have grown up and left home.  Therefore the Mayday cover will suit us in any eventuality.

Many thanks to all who have commented on this thread and we'll certainly let you know how we get on.

[Basil]

Hi Way2Go,

 

It seems, maybe, we have similar outlook when it comes to vehicles, they are just tools of enablement not the status symbols some see them as.

 

Bas

[Wirralian]

Hi Way2Go

 

If you are taking delivery of a new 'van, you may find that you are given breakdown cover by the base vehicle manufacturer (ie Fiat) and or the converter. My Ace on a Fiat Ducatto was given 3yrs AA cover by Fiat and 2yrs RAC cover by Swift!

 

Have word with your dealer. You may not need to include the breakdown cover in the multi insurance that you are after.

 

 

[Way2Go]

Wirralian - 2006-12-26 9:46 PM Hi Way2Go If you are taking delivery of a new 'van, you may find that you are given breakdown cover by the base vehicle manufacturer (ie Fiat) and or the converter. My Ace on a Fiat Ducatto was given 3yrs AA cover by Fiat and 2yrs RAC cover by Swift! Have word with your dealer. You may not need to include the breakdown cover in the multi insurance that you are after.

Ahh, yes I think you're right.  We're taking delivery of the Bessacarr E560 based on the new Fiat Ducato body and I think you're right about the breakdown cover.  I think Fiat does it's own.  But I'll have a word with the suppplier, thank you.