Can you help me find insurance for my older car?
Hi there, it's John Hewitt again!
I'm desperate to get some reasonably priced insurance for my car. The situation is that I own a Renault 19 TR in excellent condition but because it's 24 years old (March 1990) and I use it as my main vehicle it can't come under classic car insurance and no other insurance company will insure it! I'm currently insured with Aviva and have been since 2003, 65 years of age, never made a claim, do less than 3,000 miles a year and have a clean driver's licence yet they still 'hammer' me every year. What price loyalty eh?
In normal circumstances I'd go elsewhere but they know I can't because no one else will insure me just because I use my vehicle on a regular basis. Can you please help me at all?
John Hewitt (Nenagh)Jul 2015 Filed under: insurance
Expert answer
Hi John,
Sorry to hear you're still having trouble, but if it helps, you're not alone. Aviva (along with Allianz) have announced that they're no longer going to provide cover for new customers with cars older than 14 years. Now, in a statement last week, the company did say that it would continue to cover existing customers with such cars, and would provide cover for existing customers purchasing such cars, but from what you're saying there it seems that Aviva simply doesn't want your business anymore and is therefore giving you quotes deigned to push you into either replacing your car with something younger or moving to another insurer.
Thankfully there are plenty of such insurers out there, so I'd say give customer loyalty a good kick up the backside (it's a worthless thing these days anyway) and get yourself a better quote from elsewhere. There are insurers out there who will cover you. I've just put a few random details into the One Direct system for instance and got a quote of €840. Too expensive? You'll just have to shop around but the best bet for you could actually be to find a good local insurance broker - they can get access to deals and policies denied to us mere mortals. Beware though, the unfortunate and inevitable downside of Avivia and Allianz's decision is that other insurers are going to start putting extra risk loadings on older cars, so your premium is probably going to be pretty expensive wherever you go.
A representative of AXA insurance asked to be put in touch with you, so hopefully that goes well.
Read the news story about insurance on older cars here
Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Adviser@neilmbriscoe