More wall woes

[Jon Maine]

Quinn wouldn't even quote. The problem is the car. We already have two in the family and I wanted to insure him for our 11-year old Saab. I doubt it is worth £1500 yet the only quote I could get (via a broker, from a company I'd never heard of) was almost £6,500, and that was WITH my NCD! :evil:

£1200 seems about right for a small car of around 1220-1400cc, but I really don't want to buy another car when he really doesn't need one all to himself. I think it would be cheaper to just open an account with a local minicab firm and pay his travel bills that way!

But I digress - apologies.

There are policies which you can have in your name and him as a named driver but both earn NCB. Perhaps you need to consider changing the Saab to a lower group insurance car I suspect thats a large part of the problem.

 

[worms]

Perhaps you need to consider changing the Saab to a lower group insurance car I suspect thats a large part of the problem.

Sadly, I also had to lose the Saab at the point when first offspring reached 17. What I wasn't prepared for was that the learner driver was relatively cheap compared to the "just-passed-the-test" driver. And I think I am also still in denial about just how much cheaper the daughters are than the son will be in due course!

 

[Flyfisher]

Jon, I think you're right about the insurance group. All the 'mainstream' companies I spoke to said they wouldn't insure anyone under 21 for a group 14, or higher, vehicle.

Why an 11 year-old, £1500 car should be group 14 is one of the mysteries of insurance, to me at least. I'm loathe to change it as I've had it from almost new and it's in very good condition, so it's worth far more to me than the £1500 I could sell it for.

I've also just been told that I can't use my NCD on a third car as it has only been built up on two cars. So I may be forced to change cars anyway. :evil:

I've offered to put my son on the tractor insurance (£47 per year, fully comp) but he didn't seem to think it would be very cool.

Worms, you're so right about the difference between learner and full insurance. I could insure the Saab for £80 per month while he was a learner but as soon as he passed that company didn't want to know!

 

[Jon Maine]

The insurance group of a car is based on its power to weight ratio and likelihood of large 3rd party claims, the value of the car in this equation is probably a minimal influence. I believe Direct line and Elephant do multi driver ncb setups.

Another point we found taking out Dickens insurance, also mine too. The price came down when my wifes name was put on the policy too significantly as a named driver, not the main driver but just an additional one.

 

[MdB]

Another point we found taking out Dickens insurance, also mine too. The price came down when my wifes name was put on the policy too significantly as a named driver, not the main driver but just an additional one.

I've noticed that too. Fully comp can also be cheaper than third party, fire and theft.

 

[Jon Maine]

My car is group 18 and the price came down £100 putting Juliet on it, Dickens insurance was reduced from around £1000 to £645 too.
However as I had a small fire damage claim last year even with protected no claims discount the premium went up by around an extra third. Seems a bit farcical that you can protect your no claims discount but they can still put up the premium.

 

[Pford75]

Builders who filled in drainage ditch finally offered to settle out of court today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo....can now rebuild my wall!

My insurance complaint with the Ombudsman is still ongoing, but shows that it's worth sticking with these things.

 

[Flyfisher]

Well done! I only hope your insurance company is not penalising you with increased premiums. Will you be able to recover any costs from the out-of-court-settlement for all your time and effort?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Whew, nearly there then! Well done. Party time when the wall is finally re-built :?: :?:

 

[AMc]

Congratulations on your perseverance and a positive outcome.

To the conversation about insuring younger people on cars I can't add much other than my own from when I was 21. Having been punished with premiums more than double the value of my decrepit 1.3L Austin Metro I was given a Peugeot 205 automatic which was much newer and much nicer. Even though it shared an engine with the 1.6GTi and wasn't much slower in a straight line it was substantially cheaper to insure than my old rust bucket. Quick and cheap being the things I really wanted at that age. I went back to manuals when I got older.

If you have young drivers I would get some quotes on small automatics as they tend to be in much lower groups than their manual versions as a result of their popularity with little old lady drivers. It also makes them good second hand buys providing they've been serviced.

 

[Stephen]

Pford75

Congratulations. It's been a long time, but hopefully worth it in the end.

It might be helpful for others who face similar issues (boundary walls, high highway/pavement levels, etc, etc) if you could eventually produce a summary of the main issues, lessons learned and what to do/not to do to be successful in such matters.

I know all cases differ in detail, but some of what you have gone through could be very instructive to others (not least us professionals! :wink: ).

Stephen

 

[Pford75]

Thanks all

Perhaps more acheivable is for me to summarise my experiences of pursuing an insurance claim on a listed/historic building...rather than do something specific to walls.

Would that be helpful?

 

[Stephen]

Yes, say something like a Do's and Dont's list, and lessons learned (e.g. could you have achieved the same or better result or more quickly if you had done something differently - with hindsight)

Stephen

 

[essexbearhunter]

Whilst searching for more info on the wood-faced iron sash windows used by Samuel Wyatt at Belmont House in Kent, I came across this article on flint (and flint-like) walls which might be of interest:

http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/flint/flint.htm

Having come back from Orford Castle - where I had mistaken the vitrified inner core of the building stone (actual a concretion called Septaria) for a local form of flint - it looks like I now have a new vein of ignorance to remove! :lol:
Off into the world of Chert and Jasper....

 

[Penners]

Builders who filled in drainage ditch finally offered to settle out of court today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo....can now rebuild my wall!

My insurance complaint with the Ombudsman is still ongoing, but shows that it's worth sticking with these things.

Only just found this news, after my recent absence, Pford. Fantastic!! It just shows what determination and stamina can achieve!

Very well done.

 

[Pford75]

Mrs F has just confirmed that the reconstruction work has started today and that the builders who 'settled' are also visiting to install a soakaway to solve the problem of the drainage ditch they filled

 

[MdB]

<insert thumbs up smiley here>

 

[Schoolmarm]

Oh!!! Missed all the settlement bit, that is fantastic news. All credit to your persistance and nothing else. 8)

 

[Penners]

Great news, P! Work-in-progress pictures (when you're home) would be very interesting - particularly of the flint work.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Hooray!