So long car ownership, I'd like to say it has been a delight, but...

[Andrew_Culture]

That's it, I'm DONE. I've had a clean driving licence since passing my test in 1993 and have never been involved in a claim that was my fault. I have a surfeit of no-claims bonus discount.

But following a lively few months involving the unrequested liberation of my catalytic converter, someone keying my car and then someone else reversing into my car, my insurance company and I have been in frequently terse conversation.

As a result of the above my annual premium went up from about £250 a year to nearly £800. So I'm DONE. I don't want to play any more. I have transferred ownership of my car to my wife, who despite having naff all no-claims bonus can insure the car for half the cost of my policy. She now uses it for her gardening business (instead of a van!).

On the plus side I'm cycling a lot more! I can't imagine I'll want to go back to owning a car, but my opinion my change when we're doing the school run in sub-zero temperatures and horizontal sleet!

 

[ianrauk]

Nice one Andrew. Yep, the cold, wet, dark months are upon us. But keep riding through them, you soon get used to it.

 

[oldwheels]

So long as your wife is the main driver you should be ok but if you drive more than a minimal amount the insurance company may be a bit sniffy in the event of a claim. It is a common dodge to get lower premiums which they are well aware of.

 

[avecReynolds531]

Nice one Andrew. Yep, the cold, wet, dark months are upon us. But keep riding through them, you soon get used to it.

+ 1

23 years car free - never missed it, glad to get rid of it. Many significant benefits to life quality & health mean getting through the winters will become easier in time. Overshoes & a decent waterproof jacket will help a lot.

 

[fossyant]

Mine hasn't had fuel since in the last month since we had to 'leave' the caravan (bloody Welsh Covid rules). I doubt it will get fuel before Christmas and it's on less that a quarter of a tank.

 

[albal]

I drive for a living. Hgv +. So was glad to ditch my car back in February 2018. My elderly father is trying his best to pass his car on to me. As he is getting too old now. I just laugh it off. Not interested. He's bemused. Not missing a car at all.

 

[I like Skol]

Not sure what you are complaining about TBH?
After a long time without incident you have had 3 claims in a short period. Kind of like punctures or buses which always seem to all arrive at once. This has obviously affected your claim history and NCD, that's how it works, but you have decided you are special and shouldn't be subject to the same conditions that apply to everyone else?
It does rather seem that after the first upset of things not going your way you have thrown all your toys out of the pram and decided not to play any more.
Good luck managing without a car, I hope it works out for you, more people should consider it. I also hope you don't resume car use fraudulently under the pretence of being an 'occasional' driver of your old car but now registered and insured more cheaply in your wife's name.

 

[Blue Hills]

+ 1

23 years car free - never missed it, glad to get rid of it. Many significant benefits to life quality & health mean getting through the winters will become easier in time. Overshoes & a decent waterproof jacket will help a lot.

Pretty much the same period here after an unmentionable incident. I don't miss it at all. In London if there are no young kids to ferry around I think cars pretty pointless anyway.
The age of the car is swiftly passing. Future generations will think it barmy that towns and cities were re-designed and bulldozed for them.

 

[MichaelW2]

The car club allows me to be car free but not carless.

 

[Archie_tect]

Having paid for 4 vehicles as part of my practice for 25 years I got stung for every claim, fair or not, and the resulting increase in premiums... that's life. it's lovely when you get rid of the cars and the hassle of running a business and only have to be responsible for your own, and that one's days are numbered. But to sidle out of paying a reasonable increased premium following three claims by using a bit of chicanery isn't giving up car ownership Andrew! You could've just kept the van...

 

[Notafettler]

30 years plus without a car. Would have to take driving lessons if I wanted to drive again. God knows what they would charge for insurance.
Mind that doesn't quite make me carless as I can always scroung a lift if desperate.

 

[Moodyman]

I can sympathize with the OP. He's being penalised for events that are not his doing. The insured see increased premiums for no-fault claims and the insurance industry doesn't give convincing explanations for this.

To suggest he's disgruntled at the same rules as everyone else is missing the point. Car ownership is a pain: the direct costs, indirect costs and the ever increasing restrictions on where you can drive and park. If one can find a way to manage without one, chapeau.

 

[Brooks]

6 years car free and I can honestly say I get by fine without one. Someone in my cycle group needed a new ignition barrel for their car recently and the cost was staggeringly just shy of £600!
I paid those silly prices as well but these past few years it's just slipped my mind mainly due to cycling with it's cheap maintenance costs.
I don't think I'll ever go back to car ownership. If I lived out in the sticks then that would be a different matter of course.

 

[I like Skol]

He's being penalised for events that are not his doing.

Not his doing maybe, but insured against nonetheless. He has presumably taken out insurance to cover the damage in the first two events and then made claims? Two cases of using his insurance that could not be covered by the liability insurance of a third party. No surprise or shock that the insurance costs went up. You can't have it both ways!

 

[Paulus]

I know insurance companies are risk based, but in the years when you don't claim, and assuming you have the maximum nbc the premiums do not still come down, so the company is effectively making a profit from you.
Then, when you do have a claim, or as the OP has several in quick succession although they pay out, they then start to recoup there losses so they are having it both ways by making money when no claims and recouping the money with higher premiums when they pay out.