Struggling to find car insurance due to age and/or medical conditions?
Don’t worry if you’re having trouble negotiating car insurance due to medical conditions. There are specialist brokers for over 50 car insurance, who will help arrange policies for people with specific medical conditions through call centre staff trained to address these needs.
If you’re having trouble finding car insurance for the over 50s online, or just prefer to research and buy over the phone, a good starting point is BIBA’s “Signposting” service (BIBA is the British Insurance Broker’s Association).
Since 2012 BIBA have had a mandate from the government to assist older customers who need to find travel insurance or car insurance, and they can put you in touch with a suitable and reputable broker for your particular needs. Contact them on 0870 950 1790, or complete their enquiry form.
Once you’re over 80 car insurance becomes harder to buy. Some insurance companies will refuse to cover anyone over 83. If you’re driving in your early 80s you may find your next car insurance renewal premium rises steeply. Don’t simply accept this – you could still reduce the price by shopping around. If you check prices elsewhere you may be contacted on the phone to go through a medical questionnaire.
“ Keep your insurer and the DVLA up to date on medical conditions ”
It’s easy to forget to tell the DVLA and your car insurance company of any new medical conditions that could impair your ability to drive. This can lead to non-payment of claims and even fines, which is stress you could do without! Your doctor can guide you on what conditions could impair your driving ability beyond the obvious ones, and there’s a comprehensive list of medical conditions that need to be notified to the DVLA here.
High value/high net worth car insurance
If you own a high value, high performance or classic car it’s worth speaking to a specialist about your specific needs, particularly if you need classic car insurance. They can often improve your quote if you call them, or fill in their quick online quotation forms. The British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) hold comprehensive information on specialist brokers and offer a telephone based and online broker location service.
Transferring your company car no claims bonus?
It can be problematic if you retire or change jobs and need to carry over a valuable no claims bonus from a company car to a private car. Many car insurance companies may not be able to automatically transfer your NCD, particularly if you’re applying on line. To get around this problem, once you have your best online quotes, call up the insurance company before you buy to double check if they can apply your NCD.
Make sure that you have a letter on your employer’s company headed paper confirming your claims history. If that doesn’t work out contact BIBA on 0870 950 1790 or a local broker and ask them to put you in touch with an insurer who will allow your NCD from your company car years.
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