Can any members recommend a good and cheap-ish car insurance company I can contact for quotes, that will allow my Thai wife to be added as a named driver. She has held a Thai licence for over 5 years but has only been living in the UK Since Dec 07. She does have a Provisional UK licence.

Thanks

Hello,

I would recommend you go on one of the comparison sites like gocompare.com or confused.com

We used to have a Volvo S40 and with Directline we were being asked for over £1000 for Kate as named driver on a provisional UK lisence, she had had a Thai license for 8 years but that meant nothing. On go compare you just enter the details and it searches for the best it found us a quote for about £360 and I only had 1 years no cliam.

We have since got a new car and Kate has got her full UK licence we again used gocompare.com as many companies would not insure us due to the car we were trying to insure with Kate only just getting her full licence but with gocompare.com it gives you all the options and we got a good price.

They also do motorbike insurance which again I have used and saved over £500 on my current insurer.

Good luck with the drving in the UK Kate found our rules fustrating...that may just be her

Hi,

I found it difficult to find an insurance company that would allow my wife to drive on her Thai driving licence and also at a sensible price!

However, in the end I took out a policy with the AA - so I would recommend contacting the AA to see what they will offer you.

Hope this helps,

Don't forget to put your self on as a named driver, for a 2 year old Audi S3 my wife alone just over £1100!!!
Her policy,car in her name etc etc but put me on as a second driver (if you got good history no claims etc etc) £530 fully comp.
We found it cheaper for her to have the policy (get her no claims up etc, and me to be a named driver)


Hope that helps.......Mark.

Is she over 25? I was pleasantly suprised that including my wife on her UK provisional licence added only £10 to the price of insuring a cheap little Renault Clio I bought for her.

Give Direct Line a call on 020 8681 5566. I phoned them as recent as yesterday looking to add Thaiboi to my policy. (Last time they quoted me around £1000 which I politely declined.) The girl I spoke with this time was very friendly and said that he could drive on his Thai licence for the first year. He doesn't have a Thai licence (or a UK one, for that matter) so never mind. The price? £250. I was pleasantly surprised until she pointed out that it was pro-rataed until the end of the policy (October). Still, a huge reduction on the last quote.

I think they might be what you're looking for and they won't appear on any of the price comparison websites. They beat the competition hands down to give me the best quote. Hope this helps.

It seems the best advice is to do all of the above. As with most insurances it differs on the individual policy holder, thier occupation, location, age and claims history, and product requested

Definately worth shopping around though as there are some bargains to be had. Also worth looking at the policy details as a cheap price is not always the best product. Unfortunately there is no one cheapest insurance company for everyone. If there was I would either be very busy or out of a job.

Thanks for the advice guys. Managed to to cut it down from £640 to £490 at moment.

Bee and I have a skoda fabia vrs 1.9td so found it difficult obtaining insurance due to the power and engine size. She was a newly qualified driver when she came here during the first year.

I was with direct line at the time but they refused to take her on the policy at all.

The only company that I could obtain a decent quote (most would not quote at all even though Bee was 29 at the time) were called http://www.its4me.co.uk/

I paid about £220 at the time with direct line and they refunded me part of the policy. the new one cost me £442. If i remember rightly, they next cheapest was about £700.

Good luck

quote:

Originally posted by axel1974:
I was with direct line at the time but they refused to take her on the policy at all.

That's odd. They seem more than happy to add Thaiboi as a named driver.

Cardiffnoddy, be sure and check out the following link:

Money Saving Expert - Cheap Car Insurance

What was the engine size on your car at the time Cliff?

The lady from direct line told me it was due to the engine size being too powerful for a beginner.

Out of my 15 years of owning cars I have probably been with direct line for about 11 of them. I always get a great deal with them. Full no claims and all that

I have same thing with Direct Line, Thom is insured for the Corsa but not the Subaru, due to the performance factor.

We too were refused by Direct line for Kate, she had only had her full license a week and we were after fully comp on her BMW Z4 3.0 so lots of insurance companies were saying no. Gocompare found us Norwich Union at a not to bad premium and the excess is only £300.

Direct line probably do not want to take adverse risks and want to play it safe. On our Volvo they were not bad but they were beaten by Bell insurance a subsidiary of Admiral.

I remember in Australia basic insurance was included in the rego, would be nice over here and things alot cheaper for most of us.

quote:

Originally posted by axel1974:
What was the engine size on your car at the time Cliff?

1.8 litre Fiesta. Ideal for learning in, actually. It's my first car after moving away from London. In fact, the first car I've owned in the UK. I'm considering upgrading to an Audi A3 if I can arrange a lease option through the company. I'm working on it.

quote:

Originally posted by Kate&Martin:
Direct line probably do not want to take adverse risks and want to play it safe.

Not probably; definitely.

Companies such as Direct Line can offer lower premiums because they do not cover those they consider to be high risk.

When I was an instructor such companies would not insure me. Even the AA, which runs it's own driving school, did not cover driving instructors!

I have this pleasure to come (soon apparantly) but as an insurance man I know of schemes for such situations and hot hatch etc but not sure if I am allowed to post the link (? mr mod)
colin 244

Colin,

I would be keen to have a PM if you not able to post link.

We have a new car for Yao being delivered in less than 2 weeks, the prices I am getting are all pretty high, as she will not be taking her test for 4 weeks. Cannot get her on my own car's insurance due type and size.


Roland, Yao and Dae

Roland,

I have sent you a PM, good luck in your search

Regards
colin 244

hate to be forward but if you could point me in the rigt direction as well.
Bus is still in the learning stage but is keen to pass and have her own wheels.

I settled with Bell insurance in the end. £460, not cheap but the best I could find.