Get Specialist Car Insurance If You Need Specialist Repair Services

When buying car insurance policy it is essential to look at what is offered should you have an accident and need to a claim.
After all, you are only insuring the car to have the potential to make a claim should the worst happen and the cover is only as good as the insuring company's claims department.

With the hardening of rates in the UK car insurance market and the recession, price is most peoples consideration when purchasing cover, but one of things you should not overlook is who is going to repair your car if it is damaged in an accident and you need to claim?

This is especially true if you own a non-standard car? Non-standard are cars that don't fall into the mainstream set that the large insurance companies like to cover. Surprisingly a large number of vehicles fall into categories that the majority of mainstream insurance companies do not want to cover!

Such examples that may struggle to obtain motor insurance at reasonable rates are owners of high performance, prestige, expensive, luxury, grey and foreign imports, kit cars and q plated cars, sports cars, convertibles, muscle and modified motors, vintage, veteran, collectors and classic cars.

More importantly if you are the owner, if something happens and you need to make a claim on your policy, it is important that your car gets fixed by specialist professionals, using the correct parts and not cheap substitutes. More often than not these type of car repairs require unique tools that are only available through specialist engineers and motor engineering repair shops that deal with particular models.

So it is most important when comparing car insurance to also compare the services that a car insurer offers in the event of a claim, especially those regarding choice of repairer. Bear in mind that cheap car insurance bought through a car insurance comparison website offers no claims services and it will be up to you to fight your corner in the event of a claim, if you don't agree with what the insurer is offering as recompense.

All specialist car insurers and many insurance companies will offer a choice of repairer - many others will not as they have existing arrangements with so called approved repairers.

Trouble arises when an insurance company insists on employing a particular firm to fix the car against the policyholder's wishes, and it is not uncommon for major disputes to arise at this point.

For example, the insured may have an expensive Italian sports car bought from an exclusive importer and specialist firm of dealers who added a number of accessories and or modifications to the car at the insured's request at the time of sale; the same firm may have performed all the routine servicing since the sale and the insured may genuinely feel that they 'know' his car better than anyone else could, and that only they, in consequence, should be entrusted to carry out the repairs.

If the repair work quoted in an estimate by the specialist firm is substantially higher than that expected from the approved repairer and the car insurance claims department consider that the approved repairers are capable of carrying out the work to the same standard as the specialists , then the only way out of this impasse is usually for the insurance company to suggest that the insured pays the difference!

Clearly then it is very important to understand what you are buying with your policy when it comes to claims and repairs. Specialist car insurance policies always offer unique claims repair services and if you own an unusual, expensive, classic car or performance motor, then it would be sensible to opt for a specialist classic car insurance or performance car insurance policy, that includes these repair services to avoid the above situations. What might look like a cheap policy might turn into fools gold in the event of a claim!

specialist car insurance

Demand rises for Classic and Specialist car insurance

Specialist and Classic Car Insurance Demand Soars Despite The Recession

A surge in the number of enquires for both specialist high performance car insurance and classic car insurance cover has been steadily increasing since Mid November last year around the time of the banking crisis and subsequent stock market crash. It appears that many speculators are using luxury and classic cars in particular as investment vehicles.

The interest in classic and expensive high performance cars shows no signs of slowing down despite the recession, according to online specialist car insurance provider http://www.car-insurance.tv.

The website which allows customers to compare car insurance quotes from over 100 bespoke specialist schemes, is reporting a sixty percent increase in enquiries for classic car insurance during the first quarter of 2009, as the baby boomer generation shift their assets away from stocks and shares into something more tangible.

Our reporting systems clearly show that the number of enquires for both high performance car insurance and classic car cover has been steadily increasing since Mid November last year, around the time of the banking crisis and subsequent stock market crash. It appears that many of our customers are using classic cars in particular as investment vehicles.
We have drilled down into the data and further interesting patterns are emerging. The majority of the increased quote enquiries for classic car insurance are coming from men in the forty to retirement age range, although the number of younger women wanting specialist sports car insurance has also risen significantly. They're not just buying cheap cars either
A combination of customers who are becoming more Internet 'savvy' and those looking for cheap car insurance due to the credit crunch has brought a drove of extra visitors to the site.
Marketing Director David Healey believes the growth in demand for classic cars, and the consequent demand for specialist insurance services, is actually due to the recession.

"Our reporting systems clearly show that the number of enquires for both high performance car insurance and classic car cover has been steadily increasing since Mid November last year, around the time of the banking crisis and subsequent stock market crash. It appears that many of our customers are using classic cars in particular as investment vehicles." he said.

"We have drilled down into the data and further interesting patterns are emerging. The majority of the increased quote enquiries for classic car insurance are coming from men in the forty to retirement age range, although the number of younger women wanting specialist sports car insurance has also risen significantly. They're not just buying cheap cars either", he emphasised.

"At Car-Insurance.tv we run an agreed valuation service for underwriters Lancaster Insurance, and we have noticed that the bulk of the additional policies that are getting taken up, are in the high insurance rating groups of sixteen to twenty, for high powered cars with values exceeding £20000. There is currently a particular interest in rare vintage and classic sports cars and top of the range brand new luxury motors.

The type of client is broad, however we can clearly state that there are not many Builders or Property Developers who are buying Aston Martins at the moment, which wasn't always the case in the not too distant past."

Paul Moran, Technical Director for Insuretec Ltd, the systems company behind the website added.

"It's not just in the high value high performance and classics market that has seen a large increase in demand, our specialist motor insurance division is doing very well as well. The drop in the volume of policies for new car sales appears to be more than made up for, with a forty percent increase in the number of previously owned vehicles being insured. This is despite the apparent unavailability of car loan finance."

"A combination of customers who are becoming more Internet 'savvy' and those looking for cheap car insurance due to the credit crunch has brought a drove of extra visitors to the site."

"Our customers are looking for that something extra for their cover, but they want value for money without compromising on quality. Our log files show that those customers with a serious intent to purchase car insurance online spend a lot more time within the system application comparing and changing variables such as voluntary excess or playing with variations of the multiple cover options available from our schemes, in order to get the cover they want at the price that is right for them."

"The large comparison websites are too much of a one size fits all and classic, sports and performance car owners tend by their very nature to be flamboyant individuals who need specialist individual care. The specialist car insurance scheme comparison system provides them with personalised insurance for just about every car ever made, which is something that the mainstream car insurance comparison sites just can't offer."


See the original story at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2284324.htm

Compare Specialist Car Insurance at a specialist centre!

Have you gone on one of those big car insurance comparison sites and got halfway through the form filling, only to be told that they can't quote you? Yeah me too! This accompanying post shows how you can avoid the time wasting and still benefit from a large car insurance comparison system, even if you have unique specialist car insurance requirements.

Specialist Car Insurance is the Answer If You Have Been Declined by a Comparison Website
By Dave Healey

Often these large aggregator sites fail to provide a reason for why they cannot cover your car. Some of the better ones will provide a telephone number where you can repeat the quotation process over the phone, however with these type of companies you still run the risk of failing to obtain cover even if you talk to them direct.

Most Car Insurance companies that offer quotes on standard comparison websites, have very strict underwriting criteria that the risk, that is you and your car, must fit into to be offered a quote from the online computer system. This is the case for nearly half of the UK population visiting a major motor insurance comparison website.

What those who purport to compare the market often fail to tell you when you start to apply for cover, is that if you do not fit into the type of risk that they are looking for, determined by the answers that you give when you fill out the application or proposal form, that you will have been wasting your time!

Many people searching online for various motor insurance covers, come away disappointed at not being able to insure their car or vehicle, as quickly and as easily as was suggested on the television advert, because the comparison company failed to mention that if you cannot tick all the boxes on the form, you are a non standard risk.

Many more customers that the mainstream car insurance comparison sites fail to satisfy, then take up first quote they are offered from another source, even if it is very expensive, because they fear they will not get cover elsewhere.

Car insurance companies employ people called actuaries who constantly check statistics and data to come up with rates for various risks.

The actuaries and the underwriters set the risk rates for certain groups of people or car combinations. Consequently many people who do not fit the standard that the actuaries and the underwriters want, find themselves either completely excluded from the quote process or given a quote offer that is so expensive, that the risk in question will not take out the cover, and does not enter and threaten the value of the existing risk pool.

Others continue to pay over the odds for their car insurance, knowing they are non-standard risks, grateful to have found somewhere that can cover them. Many mostly through inertia, laziness or a misguided loyalty bordering on Stockholm syndrome, continue to pay over the odds for car insurance premiums, failing to realise that an hours work searching for alternative cover online, could make them hundreds of pounds or dollars in premium savings.

There are two overall reasons or factors that make someone a non-standard risk, these being, you as a person and the car you drive.

The risk price you pay for your car at a comparison site, is largely determined by the risk group assigned to the particular make and model of the vehicle. Every car in the UK is assigned to a risk group for rating purposes from one to twenty, twenty being the highest risk, typically high performance expensive fast sports cars. The higher the risk group the more you pay. Many online insurance comparison systems exclude high risk groups above fourteen for certain combinations of factors and will fail to quote.

Additionally any changes or modifications to a standard car, will change its risk group and may result in a failure to quote online. Age of a vehicle whether it be a specialist classic car or a brand new motor will seriously affect the risk price and may lead to exclusion from the quotation process.

Although the majority of cars are standard, people are not. Variations in human characteristics account for the main reasons people fail to get quoted from a standard car insurer. These can be age and gender related, where you live and what you do for a living. Many occupations will exclude you from online quoting and certain providers offers specialist schemes aimed at differing age groups. Theft rates for the area you live in may also result in a decline to quote .

The solution to the above problems in trying to obtain a reasonable car insurance quote, is to visit a specialist broker or motor insurance underwriter. They will have individually designed specialist car insurance schemes to cater for all those nuances that the comparison sites decline to quotes for. Furthermore because the risk quoted for is the actual risk and not a grouped risk, you may well find a lot more change in your pocket than if you had visited a standard mainstream insurer.

It is now possible to combine the benefits of comparing car insurance quotes and specialist car insurance. The Internet has allowed the development of specialist motor insurance comparison sites where multiple schemes are compared for non standard risks. Lancaster Insurance specialist car insurance and classic car insurance comparison website, is one good example.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Healey
http://EzineArticles.com/?Specialist-Car-Insurance-is-the-Answer-If-You-Have-Been-Declined-by-a-Comparison-Website&id=2360820