All of the posts I could find on getting car insurance seemed to be old so I started a new one. My wife and I finally found a company that would lease to a non-citizen without a UK license and now we need insurance. We leased a Volvo V50 SE Estate with a 2.0 Diesel engine (roughly a 20000GBP vehicle) -- if anyone is interested in hearing about the lease deal I can elaborate. The quotes we received ranged from around 450GBP to over 1500GBP per year!
Based on other posts for insurance, I called Norwich Union but was then transferred to CallConnection, a service that insurance companies here use to pre-filter your details. I explained that I had only a USA license and from there on, I was only passed to companies that would insure that type of license. They will transfer you to the various companies and then when you hang up with a company, CallConnection calls you back within few minutes and then connects you to the next company. I did this with four companies and even though you have to repeat your details over and over, I received four real quotes in about an hour with a variance of nearly a 1000 pounds. It seems the whole insurance industry is quite a tangled web here, though. My call to Norwich transferred me to CallConnection, CallConnection transferred me to A-Quote, A-Quote then transferred me back to Norwich Union for my actual quote.
One note: Every company asked me if I had a no-claim bonus; I'm guessing this is a 'claim free' status you can pass from one insurance company to another here and get a reduction of your rate. Norwich Union allows you to sign an affidavit that requires no actual proof stating your no-claim status. Hyperformance/Prestige/Allen & Allen (all the same company I guess) offered the best rate if I could get 5 years proof of no claims on our US insurance for all drivers of the car. To do this, I will have to request letters from my previous insurers in the USA. We need to move quickly getting our insurance, though, so I asked several of the insurers if we could start at the higher rate without proof of no-claim and then, if and when we get our documentation from the US insurers, move to the better rate. They all said 'yes'.
Ironically, even after going through the whole CallConnection thing, my best rates came from one company I found on my own and another recommended through my leasing agent. I hope its OK to post phone numbers here...
The companies that CallConnection (reachable via their i4Insurance web site or at 0800 902 0600) connected me to were:
- Swinton 0800 536 5631 (best they could do was over 1000GBP for us)
- A-Quote (provided a quote underwritten by Norwich) 0800 107 7280
- Hyperformance/Prestige/Allen & Allen (All part of the same company) 0800 316 2435
The company recommended by my leasing agent was Thomas Carrol (02920 855242); their rates ranged from around 500GBP to over 1000GBP if I couldn't show 5 years proof of no claims from our US insurers.
Lastly, the company I found online was Stuart Collins (
http://www.stuartcollins.com [nofollow] -- 01792 655562) and they provided competitive quotes for both with and without proof of no claims (ranging from about 450GBP to 550GBP).
Hope that saves someone else some time!
Cheers!
