Car Questions - Insurance/Trade In Value/LogBook

To give me a lower premium I agreed a £400 excess but fortunately there is no compulsory excess added to that with Aviva most other companies were adding an additional £250, I went for the cheapest premium possible with no bells and whistles attached, considering the low annual mileage I do around 3 to 4ooo a year I would imagine I have 60 to 70% less chance to be involved in an accident compared with someone that drives the average of 10K in a year?

I had forgotten to mention that I have a house tenant from Malaysia, she managed to get her NCB from her home country taken into consideration when she recently acquired her car insurance here.

My insurance company offered a chance for me to get credit for any NCB that I may have acquired in another country.

Thanks @HONEST DAVE I'll definitely check it out then

In connection with the BMW 1 I'm hoping to acquire next month:

We're thinking I should register it in my name and my friend will keep it on his property and drive it around until next year, when I go back to the UK.

Does anyone know what people normally do regarding the insurance in this situation, do I insure it? Or does he or something else?

I'm scratching my head a little over this, why anyone would buy a car and not actually make use of it for one year? even though you may be getting this at a bargain price likely this reduction will be wiped out with the depreciation of the vehicle over the year? I have also mentioned this before, BMW or Audi, although great cars to drive, they tend to become unreliable as they age they are known fail just out of warranty and the price of parts for these brands has gone through the roof and this will also reflect on how they are rated on insurance rates.

If you have not had vehicle insurance in the UK for a period of two years you will start as a new insurer, to give my own example, I came back to UK just over two years ago, and bought a Car of 7yrs of age, this was a Yaris cheap to both run and insure, insurance group rated as 13, my premium for this was close to £400 up here in Gods country, had this been down south I would expect it to be closer to £600, although I changed this out after 18 months to get something more pleasant to drive I just had a quote for this from a comparison site and this has reduced to £220 with 2yrs NCD, I now have a Toyota Corolla insurance group 17 and I am paying just short of £300 with my 2yrs NCD.

This only being a guess I think you as a new insurer will be close to £1K for your premium perhaps even more for a BMW? about the only way I can think of for you to get out of this is for you friend to take ownership of this Vehicle and insure this as his own with you as a named driver, of course if possible and you can transfer any NCD you may have earned in PH to here in UK this may work out OK?

If you must have this BMW? make sure you get Breakdown Cover as this fecker will fail, of course you can always keep it sitting in the drive all washed and polished, they seem to be a must have Status symbol along with a 75inch TV, some of my neighbours have both, but they cannot close their curtains in the evenings, if you got it; you've gotta flaunt it? Oh! I forgot to mention this whole package must include a personalised Number Plate,

Thanks @HONEST DAVE I haven't fully decided to go for it yet but as you say I won't feel complete without a Beamer and 180inch tv in the lounge

Only 180,000 miles on the clock

Have a scan through this https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/fronting-and-car-insurance/

Thanks, that is a good idea - I'll try and chat with them later.

Jim I agree with you, I opted for a higher Excess of £500, my insurance for my Lexus is just under £300 not that bad considering I only have two years No Claims discount, I guess it helps having a Scottish Postcode, where you will be penalised having an English one, serves you right why would any Scotsman wish to live in that horrible land?

When I first arrived back in UK I was in the same situation as John having to start fresh with Car insurance, so I opted for a small City Car that was cheap to both run and insure and perhaps all that I would need considering the low mileage I am likely to do as a single person living on my own? however it did not pan out that way I hated this little thing it was not pleasant to drive, so much so I suffered this for 18 months and just had to change.

When you think back on it 20years ago most of us would have accepted as Excess of around £250, since then our income is likely to have doubled and most certainly so has the price of Cars, so is £500 pretty much pro rata for the times?

the other thing ive noticed in recent years--no claims discount has got meaner. Used to be 4 years no claims was worth 60% off..now it takes 9 years to get to the max --and its a lot less.

John did you ever buy that BMW Car?

Nope I didn't... didn't really have anywhere to store it - and not sure how long I'd need to store it for - and then do I insure it and blah blah and in the end I thought I'd better pass on it

Good choice I think, actually I did think it may well have been a bad buy, just about anything with a 180K on the clock is just not worth having in my view? at that kind of mileage they all get a little worn out.

These days I would not touch any Car id it was not Japanese made, starting with Toyota, Mazda, followed by Honda and Nissan, at a push I may be tempted with Korean?

My first car in 2016 was a Vauxhall £450 Corsa, it cost me £1000 even back then to insure me for a year :') Painful.

Back then ? lol that was only 9 years ago £450 - bloody cheap !

Wow - I've been here too long!

Obviously well out of touch with UK car prices - apologies to @Macchiato

Paid nearly £8k for an SPresso, here !

Back in 2022 when I returned home to Scotland from a long term stay in PH, I had the chance to buy back my old Honda Accord this is a 2.2 diesel EX model, as a new insurer starting from scratch this was to cost me £450, being now 17yrs of age I decided not to buy it and bought a small Yaris instead this was £300 for me to insure, I now have a small Lexus and with 2yrs NCD this cost me £300, so there is a marked difference between your £700 and my £450 for much the same car, which would suggest your English post code doubles the price of car insurance when compared to my Scottish post code?