Vans appearing much cheaper to insure than cars post-ban!

Convicted Driver Insurance

gstanley

Member
Hey everyone. I don't know if this is much help but I thought I'd start a bit of a discussion. It's possibly more relative to the younger drivers.

I still have 6 months left of my 13 month ban but occasionally I find myself doing insurance quotes for when the day finally comes that all of us here long for.;)
I am 22, and when my license is returned it will be nicely brandished with DR10 and IN10 convictions. Lovely.

By using comparethemarket .com, the best quote I have been able to achieve for my battered old 2002 Peugeot 206 HDI has come in at just over £1000 for a years comprehensive cover with my convictions (I have 5 years no claims).

Other cars such as A3's, Golf's (TDI) etc. are coming in at between £1500 - £2000, whereas prior to my ban would have been around the £500 mark.
My last renewal quote on the 206 was £350 just before I was banned. So it's a fair increase with these convictions, as expected.:(

I've recently discovered however, that vans seem to be coming in at well under the thousand pound mark. My dad has a VW transporter 4x4, so I ran a quote on it and to my surprise, the best company wanted just shy of £700 to insure it. Similarly, £800 for a vauxhall astra van cdti. These were both with Zenith insurance, however Adrian flux was a close second price-wise. Now obviously I haven't followed it up and bought a policy so I don't know how likely this price is to be honoured, but I just thought if anyone is struggling with tough insurance costs after their ban is up, then perhaps considering a car-derived van could be the way forward?

I will be posting on the forum at a later date about my experiences with getting insured when the day finally comes, to help others out as best I can.
Similarly if anyone else has anything else to add/ask to this thread then please do!

Cheers :)
 
Thanks for your information on this. I am sure it will be useful for others in the same position as you.
the only thing I would give caution to is 'car derived van'. There have been issues where speed limits are lower for certain vehicles, and this can depend on how they have been registered when new. It is not my general area of expertise, but I am aware that some types of vehicle under this classification have a maximum speed of 60 rather than 70. It may also be the case that insurance companies offering van insurance would want clarification on exactly how the vehicle has been registered as this may affect the cover that they provide.
 
Interesting, I too found vans to be cheaper to insure than cars when I was running quotes.

For example, a 2000 Ford Escort van was around the same price as it would have been to insure a car pre ban (about £220) a year with 5 year NCB.

A word of caution though, although you can transfer previously earned NCB from a car to a van, many insurers won't let you transfer the NCB from a van back to a car.
 
Your 'caution' is good advice. It is easy to look for a cheap option today, without thinking about the effects on NCB down the line. A van might be OK for a while, but thanks for pointing out the downside when you want to revert to a car.
 
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