How to own multiple cars without multiplying the cost

By Joy Tibbs

Back in the day, families would have been lucky to own one car, but now it’s fairly common for a single household to have several cars parked on the family drive.

 According to Admiral, the number of households with more than one car has risen by 17% over the last decade as more and more people decide to get behind the wheel.

 

Paying the price

 However, while it might impress the neighbours to have a fleet of shiny motors sat outside your house, it can also be a costly exercise to run and insure our four-wheeled friends.

 So, with fuel prices reaching boiling point and car insurance costs spiralling, how do we pay our car-related bills without driving ourselves into the ground?

 

Sharing the cost

 One option is to sell all but one of your cars and pack the whole family in like sardines complete with the family dog and Aunty Janet’s sewing machine.

 If this doesn’t suit, it might be worth considering a multi car insurance policy. Multi-car is often cheaper than it would be for each car owner to buy separate insurance and there are plenty of cover options to choose from.

 

The pros:

•  It is possible to sync renewal dates so that all of the policies can be renewed or switched on the same day.
•  Depending on the insurer, each car owner on the policy can earn up to a year’s no claims on a multi-car policy. Most firms only offer this benefit to customers who have been signed up for three months or more, and only in circumstances where no claims have been made.
•  Most importantly, it can save you money! Typically, the higher the number of cars included on the policy, the greater the discount. A policy covering two cars might offer a discount of around 10%, while a policy insuring four or five could save you more than 20%.

 

The cons:

•  Many multi-car policies amalgamate renewal dates, taking the customer who is due to renew first as the official date. So cover might start on September 1, but one or more of the policyholders might not be due for renewal until November. Subsequent policyholders join the household policy whenever their cover runs out, but the renewal date will be September 1 regardless of when they joined.
• Although multiple vehicles are covered, this doesn’t mean each driver is covered to drive every vehicle. It’s worth making sure who is covered for what to avoid invalidating the policy or attracting higher prices down the line. 
• On some policies, if one driver makes a claim, all of the drivers listed can be affected in terms of their no-claims bonuses. This is uncommon, but worth looking out for. 
• On occasion, multi-car insurance costs more than individual policies. Although this isn’t usually the case, it’s worth getting both single and multi-car quotes before you buy.

 

Joy Tibbs graduated from the University of Leeds in 2004 with a 2:1 in English Language and Literature.
During her career as a freelance editor and journalist, she has served as deputy editor for Sorted and Liberti magazines and a staff writer for buymycarinsurance.co.uk as well writing a regular blog for Money Hospital.
Previous to this she worked as associate editor at World Trades Publishing and as staff writer at Fair Investment Company.
Joy has edited several books including What a Coincidence! (Margaret Hall), Essence (Roger Ellis) and Plan Your Life (Bukky Olaleye).

Comments

[Foxytweets]

A downside of multiple car insurance policies in our experience is when you have a young/future driver in the family. Our multiple car insurer won't insure anyone under 25 (and I understand why) but neither his Dad nor I can split our No Claims Bonus to be a second listed driver on his insurance and reduce the premium. Which would have been totally legit whilst he is still living at home.

[True Religion jeans]

Good morning, Flann. I spent most of the day watching 9/11 TV coverage. As I said earlier, most of the weekend I had the same physical reactions as I did the day it happened. Same tight chest, same knot in the pit of my stomach. So much so that by the afternoon, I got out a bucket, some soap and bleach, and scrubbed my porch, including the ceiling of the porch, while I kept an eye on the football games. It's amazing how cleaning helps. I don't know that 9/11 will ever be a typical day for us, much as December 7th was never the same for those who endured Pearl Harbor.

[Bensmith5540]

Very nice post. I really like it.

[Multicarinsure1]

Getting a cheap Multi Car Insurance like Quinn Car insurance will be a savior as it a cheap car insurance for multiple car owners.

Quinn car insurance offers free breakdown cover on the insurance policy. The customers are also given the option of monthly premium payment where the premium is divided into parts and hence made more affordable.

http://multicarinsure.co.uk