11th November 2009
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It would seem I was obligated to spend considerable time on the phone to insurance companies as I tried to find a classic car policy for Henry & I. |
It was with a heavy heart that I logged into the Standard Club Forum on 11th November 2009. My 25th birthday was just around the corner in two days time but I already felt that my hopes for the day had deserted me.
I entitled my new forum post ‘Birthday Bubble Burst?’ and sighed. Could the club help me with my problem? I’d already been working on it for days but had been unable to find a solution. Still, I figured asking was worth a try.
Pondering how I could word my dilemma, I cast my mind back to a month before. The 11th of October had been the day Henry had made his impressive journey back to Scotland with two new passengers onboard. I was now the proud owner of a 1957 Standard 8 but a month later found me feeling particularly glum. A think back to our journey was still able to bring a smile to my face but now I was almost tempted to wonder if it had all been somewhat pointless.
“Yesterday I was informed by my car insurance company that I will not legally be allowed to drive my Standard 8 for a minimum of a year and a half, possibly longer” I typed.
I had bought my Standard 8, named Henry, on 10th October 2009. In that cold winter evening and during the whole of the day after, Henry had travelled some 400 miles to bring myself & my partner Chris back home to Scotland from Alvechurch, a small village that nestles just south of Birmingham. A nearby council lock-up, which I was now renting, was where Henry had primarily been hidden since his arrival in Scotland. Chris & I had been out with Henry a couple of times on local roads (see previous article ‘Meeting Jim Clark’) but for the last month or so we’d mainly been playing a waiting game.
Prior to my buying of Henry in Alvechurch, Chris had phoned round various companies to get quotes for suitable car insurance. We were looking for a policy that would give us cover for both our Standard 8’s return journey to Scotland and any further driving undertaken over the following year. Over the phone, Chris gave both his and my details as we both intended to drive Henry and therefore we both needed to be on any policy opted for. I needed Chris to drive Henry on the return journey home for, although approved by the DVLA, it didn’t look likely that my provisional license was going to arrive on time for our trip to view a Standard 8. Despite soon to be only a provisional driver, I wanted to have my details on the policy in-order to allow me to practice driving my Standard while I worked on getting my full license. I figured, perhaps somewhat naively, that there would be no problem with my intention to hone my driving skills in my own car between driving lessons.
However, as Chris remained on the phone for longer and longer, I realized that getting insurance was not proving to be simple. But what else had I expected? After all I was perhaps an insurer’s worst nightmare – a full-time university student who also happened to be categorized as unemployed (thanks to full-time study really being full-time study and not allowing the time to work), with my first car, as a diabetic, whilst just starting to learn to drive with a car considered to be somewhat unusual!
I had expected the prices to be high but even then I was in for somewhat of a shock. £2,500 was asked from one company. £1,000 was asked from a couple of others. I know that young people are often hung out to dry for when it comes to car insurance but despite this knowledge, I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing for my quotes.
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The classic insurance ads are filled with nostalgic & appealing images. Your dream of driving a fully insured classic is just a phone call away. Young people need not apply. |
‘I’m only going to be paying £1,200 for the car – maybe less if I’m able to negotiate – that’s ridiculous!’ I thought to myself as Chris continued to try for a better deal.
Chris phoned the AA. Advertising classic car insurance on their website, perhaps they would be more reasonable with being a more established firm. It was sounding promising from where I was sitting. Chris was now nodding a lot and scribbling down notes hurriedly.
“Just a moment …” he said and turned to me.
We had been at this for hours now. I had grown weary of it all.
“They’ll insure the car for £130 but you can’t get on the policy until you’re 25” he whispered to me.
I didn’t know what to do. Did I really want insurance that wouldn’t cover me then and there?
“Adding you onto the policy when you turn 25 would only take it up to £150 for the year” Chris added.
I was 24. There wasn’t much time to think but I realized this was our best offer by far. I didn’t think we were going to be offered much better. I shrugged my shoulders and replied:
“Well, it’s the cheapest quote I think we’re going to get. We’re running out of time to organize anything else before we head for Alvechurch – I think we should say to them that we’ll take the policy and we’ll just have to sort the rest out ourselves later.”
Chris gave me a faint smile before going back to talk to the AA on the phone. I guessed from this that although he knew it was a good quote, taking the policy not only scuppered my chances of being able to test-drive Henry prior to purchase but that it would also prevent me from being able to drive him for quite some time after we returned to Scotland.
I would still be 24 years old when travelling down to view the Standard for sale and it would take a whole month afterwards for my 25th birthday to come along and make me eligible for our policy. I knew it would be hard not to want to get into my car and drive but I knew I needed some sort of car insurance from someone to even have a chance of being able to make a purchase. Having spoken to Wendy, the previous owner, on the phone and having been sent photographs of Henry already, I figured this was something I would just have to get my head around for a chance of being able to purchase this particular Standard 8.
The process of buying a car was proving somewhat more complicated than I’d imagined and I hadn’t even got down to view it yet. I had assumed, perhaps a little foolishly, that I would be able to get car insurance for a Standard 8 just as I would for any other car, although it had been reasonable to assume it would be a more expensive policy. However, aware of this, I had already decided that I was willing to pay the costs of a young person’s insurance and the possible costs which would be added on due to the nature of the car because now I wanted to drive so much.
At 18 I was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes – one of the many medical conditions that can complicate getting a license and being a driver on the road. This diagnosis had forced my hopes of driving lessons in my late teens to long since disappear but finally after many years of persevering with complex insulin routines and tightening up the control of my blood sugar levels, I was now starting to feel impatient about finally getting out on the road as a healthy adult in my own right. To allow pricey insurance quotes to stop me now that I was feeling confident enough in my ability to control my diabetes and stay safe as a driver was simply inconceivable to me. I’d waited long enough, delaying my driving ambitions for some 7 years after finding out I had become diabetic.
I had realized that my insurance would perhaps cost quite a lot initially but I also knew it would likely come down to a more reasonable level once I was no longer a student and had been able to build up a bit of driving experience. Somehow I would just have to manage my finances, sacrificing luxuries, in-order to cover my car insurance with my limited student’s budget. What I hadn’t anticipated was that I’d also either have to be over a certain age or have a specified number of years of driving experience to even be able to get insurance for a classic car.
I focused once more on my forum posting. If I was now going to be 25 in a couple of days surely I should have been happy for soon I would meet the insurance criteria of being old enough for the policy. However, a more recent phone call to the AA the day before posting ‘Birthday Bubble Burst?’ had my spirits in tatters.
“Yesterday, the AA informed us that despite the fact that I will be old enough for the insurance policy as of Friday 13 November, I will still not be able to drive my car legally. This is because they don’t insure provisional drivers for classic cars. The driver, whether main or secondary, must be over 25 years of age AND have had a full driving license for a minimum of a year.”
The second stipulation was not something we had been aware of when we had taken out our policy. We had checked that I could be insured for the Standard, as a secondary driver, through the AA’s online quote service. It hadn’t brought up any issues about my being on the policy and had then proceeded to give us a quote with Chris being the main driver and I being the secondary. Although perhaps unusual to have the owner of the car as the secondary driver, we felt that this was a fair reflection of what we intended to do with Henry. In the first year, it was reasonable to assume that Chris would do the majority of the driving. Meanwhile, I would do a very modest mileage in my Standard as I practiced my driving between lessons. For both of us to be on the policy in this way, the AA website had quoted us with £150 for the year. It had seemed perfect – both of us would be covered and I wouldn’t be paying a ridiculous sum like some of the other companies had asked for.
Upon phoning to up-date the policy in time for my 25th, the AA told us that we would need to directly contact the classic insurance company that they’d organized our cover with. It turned out that our policy lay with a company called Towergate rather than with the AA. When we had taken out the policy, the AA had taken all of our details and passed them onto Towergate - the AA effectively acting as a middle party.
A subsequent phone-call to Towergate then confirmed that I couldn’t add my details as the general rule was that I would need a minimum of a year’s driving experience to be eligible for cover as a secondary driver. We told Towergate that we had not been aware of the fact that I would need a specified amount of driving experience in-order to be added onto the policy. The AA had told us the same and had been reluctant to offer anything further when we’d explained that this was something that hadn’t come up upon investigating their classic insurance services via the online check or when we’d agreed to the policy over the phone. The AA apologized and said this was an unfortunate omission in the system and that this would be amended so as to avoid confusion with future customers. This did not serve to quell my disappointment.
Into the forum I typed:
“Thinking about this, it may be up to a year before I’m ready to pass my driving test and then it will take a further year from my passing date before I will be able to be insured by our policy through the AA”
It was a bitter disappointment. My purchase of Henry had been a fantastic experience. An experience in complete contrast to what I felt now. I had wanted to own and drive my own car for years. During our journey back to Scotland, I had found it unbelievable that I really did now own a Standard 8. On our route back I’d had to keep telling myself that I finally had a car of my own and as an extra special bonus, it was a classic from 1957. Throughout the month of October, as I’d waited to be old enough to be insured, I had regularly stolen a few moments to nip out to the lock-up and visit Henry, often running my hands along his roof or steering wheel and thinking about how much I was looking forward to driving him. During this time, I felt mixed emotions of being delighted to own a Standard 8 and sad that, because of my age, I wasn’t able to drive it yet.
We asked the AA what we could do about our policy for it was clear that it no longer suited us. There I was - the owner of the car and unable to be covered with the policy I myself had purchased a month ago. Although the AA said they could sympathize, they also said there was only a limited amount with what they could do now that we were a full month into our policy.
My feelings were now starting to pour into my forum posting:
“I find myself facing the prospect of not being able to drive my Standard 8 on my birthday and possibly also for up to the next two years. I’m gutted. What else can I be?
I can’t help but feel that it is somewhat sad for me to be paying £130 a year for car insurance which, for the time being, will only allow my partner to drive my car. Has my birthday bubble truly burst? Will I ever get to drive my car?”
My question seemed a tad dramatic but I did feel very cheated. I felt so let-down because I knew that even were I to find a suitable policy elsewhere, chances were that I wouldn’t be able to get it all organized in time for my 25th. Somewhere along the line, sub-consciously, I had decided that driving my Standard was all I wanted to do on my 25th birthday. Somewhere along the line, sub-consciously, I had also decided that driving my Standard 8 on my 25th could probably amount to the best birthday I’d ever had. My disappointment now lay beyond description.
I typed:
“Chris & I really have no idea what to do now. The AA have told us that if we shut down the insurance cover we currently have through them for my Standard 8 (Chris is the only driver on the policy for the moment), we will only receive half of the money back that we paid out. We paid for the insurance cover in one lump sum and so stand to lose approx. £70 if we shut down the policy. We feel this is somewhat unfair considering that we only took out the insurance policy believing that after my 25th birthday, me driving Henry wouldn’t be a problem. £70 is a sore loss for my naivety or for us being mis-sold our insurance (however you look at it).”
I wasn’t sure if the other Standard owners would think me a fool for what was going on but I was still keen to ask for their opinions and for any ideas they might have. I posted my thread and fumbled with Henry’s keys at my desk. Perhaps the morning would bring some answers.
The next morning came and brought with it a surprising number of sympathetic responses. I was surprised. Not being a regular on forums, I hadn’t quite been sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people were trying to offer me advice.
Many fellow Standard owners had recommended classic-specific insurance companies. However, we’d already called the majority of companies that were being recommended and received quotes that were far higher than what the AA had insured us for. Other members said they felt we’d been mis-sold our insurance. They mentioned policy ‘cooling off’ periods and encouraged me to look into whether I was still within this time with our policy.
Disappointingly, a quick check that afternoon revealed we were beyond any ‘cooling off’ period. I wrote back to those who’d responded on the forum.
“We gave the AA all of our details, including the fact that I currently only have a provisional, and they insured us. But now they are saying that the provisional license is a problem and that I can't drive Henry until I have a full license and then some.”
I added:
“The first thing that occurred to me to do was to complain to the AA and ask for a full refund. After all, my own insurance doesn't cover me, it only covers my partner because he has a full license and therefore he meets their criteria.
However, perhaps keeping the insurance is the better idea because it will at least allow Chris to drive my Standard 8. This will help keep Henry running (preventing seizing) and will allow us to make some use of him in the meantime. I'm keen to try other insurance companies and see what they can offer but I have a feeling that they will all have a similar stance on my provisional license. It may simply have to be that I cannot drive my Standard until I have passed my driving test and then driven on the road in something else for a specified amount of time. The AA said a year after passing my driving test - some companies want 3 years before they'll touch you.
The main thing is that it has been a big disappointment for my 25th as I now feel I can't go out in my Standard tomorrow. A friend of mine suggested that driving Henry (just for that all-important 'first drive') might be a possibility despite the insurance problems if I can find myself a piece of private property. Chris & I are looking into that one today.”
Reading this posting over before submitting it online, I was aware that I already sounded defeated. It had been a long couple of days, filled with phone calls to insurance companies and finding there always yet another complication to deal with. Now old enough but not enough driving experience, wrong insurance but just beyond the ‘cooling off’ period, other companies willing to insure but wanting a fee far beyond what I’d allowed for. Would I ever find something suitable?
My head hurt and with that I decided to head for bed. My 25th birthday was the next morning. If all else failed, perhaps we could at least go out for a drive with Henry. After all, it had only been a few weeks ago that I had thought even just a passenger ride in a Standard car would be something pretty special. Perhaps I could remain patient and leave donning the driving gloves for just a little bit longer.
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| My driving gloves await |
See this Henry & I feature on the Standard Motor Club website:
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