Over 50, looking for car insurance? You’ve got problems

Seriously. If you’re over 50 you may have noticed ads for car insurance for 50 years olds. When you see cheap car insurance for over 50s advertised you think you’re going to get cheap car insurance. When it comes to cheap car insurance women – who were previously targeted – will tell you insurers seemed to just want their low risk business and the quotes weren’t that cheap so they still had to shop around.

That’s problem number one.
Problem number two is being over 50 and insuring a small car.
Problem number three is being over 50 and insuring an MPV.
Problem number four is being over 50 and insuring a Crossover, SUV or 4×4.

Problem number five is frustration.

It’s worth looking into because you could save the equivalent of 3-months state pension, even five months.

It sounds unbelievable a driver over 50 would have problems insuring a small car. The problem with insuring small cars is the new car insurance groups 1-50 have widened the range of premiums that can be quoted. In some cases small cars that were group 2 under the old system are now group 8, not 4 as expected. Plus some small engines are now more powerful pushing them further up the group ratings. This all means motorists over 50 not only has to calculate if they are getting value for being a low risk driver, they have to be very careful which small car to go for based on insurance groups.

The problem is worse with Crossovers, SUVs and 4x4s because the variations for sale have expanded with new crossovers and premium brand entrants and therefore the range of premiums has increased. This sector has retail prices ranging from £15000 to over £75000 with various dimensions and engines. The problem is becoming similar for MPVs.

Knowing which car insurance to go for is further confused by various promotions, packages, premiums and different car insurance companies.

This all calls for some serious comparisons to be made which brings me to the last problem – frustration – and the tendency to take the first quote you think suffices. I know what it’s like. I qualify for car insurance for the over 60s. I get very frustrated not being able to talk to people and when I do they have english as a second language and are reading a script. It’s like talking to a wall. Did you know some supposed customer service departments are internally referred to as shield teams. It gets more frustrating filling in online forms with the same information. I feel like I’m doing their job for them and they’re robbing my time.

However it is worth shopping around because of the huge range of quotes available and the huge savings to be made. Car insurance is one cost where you make savings.

All you need is:

• all your personal and car information in front of you
• remember they are free quotes so get as many as possible
• note what you get for your money
• make comparisons in a table not on the back of an envelope
• have a big list of car insurance companies
• shop directly before using car comparison sites

It’s no fun, it’s frustrating but keep going with an eye on saving big money. Don’t take the first quote that seems OK. A car insurance quote can be half the highest quote BUT there are cheap car insurance quotes a quarter of the top price.

Regards
Ralph
carbuyersinfo.co.uk Car Comparisons to help you find the right car for your purpose and purse.

MPV Cars Seven Seater vs Five Seater

When Renault launched the 7 seat Espace it got off to a slow start. Later they were joined by the Ford VW Seat and Peugeot Citroen launches and MPV cars 7 seater or people carriers as they were called became quite popular.

However a survey of Espace owners revealed that although the liked the ease of access, space, versatility and elevated view of the road drivers felt guilty driving around by themselves in what they perceived to be a big car. Plus most owners rarely if ever made use of the 7 seats.

In response Renault launched the Renault Scenic with 5 seats. It was a hit and a winner for Renault. Citroen quickly followed with their Xsara Picasso and took the lead with a cheap as chips pricing policy. Vauxhall followed a little later but with 7 seats in a compact package and the Zafira eventually became market leader. The Vauxhall Zafira price range was also very competitive.

This caused Renault to launch the Grand Scenic with 7 seats and Citroen to later bring out the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso with 7 seats plus a more compact 5 seat version.

Most new MPVs now have a 7 seat version, for example the new Ford C-Max. It makes you wonder if surveys are worth it as we all say one thing and do another. And why do some need a seven seater MPV?

The Ford Galaxy and Renault Espace which have grown in length over the years still plod on and have been rejoined by the VW Sharan as the only options in the large 7 seater MPV market.

The real expansion has been in the medium size MPV cars 7 seater market. We’ve mentioned the Grand Scenic and Picasso. They’ll be joined by a longer Zafira later this year. The main player and target to compete with seems to be the Ford S Max.

Other medium size seven seaters are the Mazda5, Peugeot 5008, Toyota Verso and VW Touran. Citroen/Peugeot, Ford, Renault, Vauxhall and VW all have a large presence in and commitment to the MPV market.

There’s a good choice of cars with extremely well thought out interiors. You can choose large, medium or compact. The more compact MPVs being the Meriva and Roomster. There are also mini MPVs like the Modus, Note, Agila and Splash.

Diesel MPVs are becoming increasingly popular because MPVs have large frontal areas to push through the air and are not the most economical with petrol. New technology in automatic gearboxes is also worth considering because you no longer pay a penalty in fuel consumption and performance in fact quite the opposite can be the case – they can be more efficient.

If you are considering an MPV make sure you operate all the seats and judge if you find them simple, light and easy to move about. Also have a look at older MPVs to see how they’ve stood up to battering and breakages some normally suffer with kids climbing all over them.

Some MPVs have very high performance so keep an eye on the car insurance groups and get quotes before you buy.

So why do we need MPV cars as seven seaters when five seaters seem adequate given the average family size. It’s even possible for a partnership with one child to enquire about an MPV. The answer is one partner may have several children with a previous partner as may the other partner. So if they have one, dad has two previous as does mum that makes five kids and they need 7 seats when they all go out together of a weekend.

Funny how things change.

Regards
Ralph