Over-50s >> Car Insurance
Turning 50 years old is a milestone that many view rather apprehensively. But at least your half-century opens the door to cheap car insurance. The over-50s are one-third less likely to make a claim than younger tearaways, so prices are much lower.
A number of specialist insurers, such as Saga and RIAS, target the over-50s, but, of course, the mainstream insurers can still be competitive.
So who’s best? Guardian Money set out to find the cheapest quotes.
The test
We used a fairly typical case of a male 59-year-old accountant with a clean driving licence, a nine-year no-claims record and no medical conditions or disabilities that need to be reported to DVLA. He drives a 13-year-old Volvo 940 SE manual estate which is parked overnight in the road outside his north-west London home and is used only for social driving, with a total annual mileage of around 6,000.
We asked for quotes for fully-comprehensive cover for a sole driver with no voluntary excess (on top of any compulsory excesses imposed) and without no-claims bonus protection. We compared like-for-like quotes which included legal cover and the provision of a courtesy car if the vehicle was off the road for repairs in the course of a claim.
The first place we tried was insurance comparison site confused.com. It allows you to fill in one (long!) form and then does a lot of legwork for you by comparing quotes from, it claims, 96% of car insurers on the net. This includes brokers such as the AA which, in turn, searches its panel of insurers.
We then filled out separate forms (phew!) and obtained quotes from Saga, RIAS, Senior Car Insurance and a few well-known mainstream insurers including Direct Line and Tesco, who opt out of confused.com’s search.
Results
Don’t automatically assume that insurers, such as Saga, who target the over-50s market, are necessarily the cheapest. Indeed, Saga turned out to be one of the priciest. We were offered policies ranging from £197 to £321 - which goes to show how vital it is to shop around and that the price you pay will largely depend on the level of excess.
On a high excess of £250 (you pay the first £250) the cheapest was Advantage, which we found through website dialdirect.co.uk. For a policy with low excess, then the AA’s - at £219.32 with an excess of only £100 - was the best, and £100 cheaper than Tesco.
To be fair to the specialist companies, they do cover extras which some customers may feel it’s worth paying more for. Saga, for example, covers for driving in the EU for an unlimited period at no extra cost, and RIAS will similarly extend cover within the EU for up to 90 days. Retired motorists planning several driving trips on the continent might go for this.
Need to know
Legal cover
Our quotes in the table included legal expenses cover, which adds £10-£15 to the cost (although check if it’s already on your home insurance). If you are a careful driver, it makes sense to pick a cheap policy with a high excess level, then use the legal expenses cover to reclaim the excess.
No claims bonus protection
This adds around 8-10% to the cost and typically allows you to keep your no-claims record if you make no more than one claim in a year. However, this does not necessarily mean that next time they won’t increase your overall premium. It’s better value if you have only a short no-claims record, although some companies won’t offer NCB protection if less than four years.
Named drivers
Adding “any driver” is hugely expensive. One extra named driver need not increase the premium and can decrease it.
Courtesy car
If your car is stolen or written off, you’ll need a hired car - but not all policies will pay for one. Direct Line includes it only as an optional extra, and limits it to 14 days.
Form filling
Be prepared to spend a long time filling out online forms. Make clear exactly what cover you are after. Most direct insurers, as opposed to online brokers, supply numbers you can call but many insurers give you a 10%-15% discount if you buy online.
