The hidden cost of classic car insurance

| 19 Oct 2017

The world of car insurance is famously complex, with companies jealously guarding the criteria they use to work out who is at more risk of costing them money, and therefore who should pay more. Quotations can vary wildly based on factors as trivial as the description of your job. Are you a magazine sub-editor or a journalist? The difference, though semantic, can cost you a lot of money.

The problems have been magnified in recent years as the cost of insurance has skyrocketed, partly due to the ‘where there’s blame there’s a claim’ whiplash culture that has seen the feckless unwashed queuing up in their droves to cash in from the most minor bumps.

Thankfully, the world of classic car insurance is a much simpler business and, on the whole, the companies we deal with have a good understanding of the love we have for our classics and the careful way in which we drive them, and we enjoy considerably lower premiums.

That’s great if you have a classic car that you use for high days and holidays. But if, like us, you’re a dyed-in-the-wool, greasy-pawed enthusiast who runs only classics, there’s a problem that rarely gets discussed and which could bite you in the backside when taking up a new modern policy: an expired no claims bonus.

Without an active modern car insurance policy, your no claims – which may have been accrued during a lifetime of careful driving – can only survive for two years, after which point it’s scrapped and you become an unknown quantity. Even if you’ve owned your MGB for 10 years, driven responsibly and never had an accident, returning to the world of modern motoring could see you hit with the same eye-watering insurance quote as a kid who’s just passed their test.