I hate vehicle insurance applications. REEEEEEEE!!!!!
I hate vehicle insurance applications. REEEEEEEE!!!!!
Just to be clear:
DVLA requires you report Autism IF it affects your driving.
The only question I have ever been asked for insurance is "Do you have a medical condition which is reportable to the DVLA?"
>Autism doesn't affect my driving (I think it improves it, if anything...)
>Hence, it is not reportable to DVLA
>Hence, I don't need to tell the insurance...
I insist on honesty & accuracy, that's what makes it complicated.
Effectively insurance has now become an economic handicapping system where you can or cannot drive depending on an algorithm that runs off secret parameters, rather than a system that provides the overall general level of protection it used to provide...
Handy tip: Add a woman to your policy, and you get a reduction in premium. Works every time. Even if she'd never touch your vehicle, let alone drive it..
I only have to declare my health issues for a Licence application, not for insurance. So that's one load off my shoulders.
But the Licencing Agency in Northern Ireland made me take a new assessment from my GP. Now, I have to change address AND replace a lost licence. That'll be fun.
They didn't have either condition when I learned to drive.
And I thought the principle behind mandatory Vehicular TP insurance was supposed to be "everyone shares the risk equally", not "some animals are more equal than others". (Of course if it WAS such a transparent scheme more of us would realise how badly insurance companies and their subsidiaries are ripping us off).
And my last insurance on the bike turned out to be within the two year time frame so I got to KEEP my 20 years worth of NCB after all, and NOTHING ELSE HAS CHANGED so:
Q. Why is this years premium double that of last year?
A. Because the system is designed to extort as much money as possible from the consumer...
I used to work for an insurance company, I was on house insurance but the principles are similar. It's all based on risk. As an example, a young, single person, might be more of a risk to ensure than an older married couple. Simply because the statistics would suggest that the young unmarried person is more likely to have parties that could see damage to a property.
Insurance companies all work to their own criteria. The best way of getting through it, is a. Honesty - lying is still fraud. And b. Simplicity. Pick the answer that is as close to your circumstance as possible. Don't go into depth. The onus is actually on them to ensure they are asking the correct questions. Once you have the policy, it's up to you to ensure you understand what is being covered and what isn't. If you have something unusual, they will ask more questions. But that is again down to the possibility that it might cause additional risk. Having a vehicle that has unusual features, might cause a greater risk of theft, similar to if a homeowner has a large amount of expensive jewellery.
Believe me, no one wants to do a complicated policy quote. I once spent over four hours on the phone for a quote that should have taken fifteen minutes. But, staff at insurance agencies are trained to ask questions if they get odd answers. You can even be denied insurance if the answer you give sounds like a risk. I did one quote, where a guy described an event where his house got water damage. It didn't sound severe, but because he used the words 'the property got flooded' I had to put that into my quote, which caused the system to deny a policy.
Because i have both autism and suspected and confirmed adhd but i am currently no in receipt of medication for adhd i have been banned by the dvla from learning to drive until i have a adhd formal adhd diagnosis as i have had 7 driving schools refuse to teach me. so your steps closer than me.
i found my insurance has massively gone down. maybe due to age though.... 12 years ago when i last rode motorbike my insurance was 1k per year... i get motorbike again and insure this time, 200 quid a year now... massive drop in price. possibly due to age and assumed experience of a older license now... although also possibly due to some new motorbike insurance companies created by bike enthusiasts who have tried to undercut and force the bike insurance down. but yeah 1k per year was a fucking piss take for bike insurance especially when your bike costs only like 1.5k or whatever, insurance every year being same price as your vehicle, yeah thats totally unfair and bollocks of them to do.
That isn't the problem for me, it's the bloody stupid questions with fixed answers that do not fit my situation that is a problem for me.
It's also the fact that if like me you have ZERO REGULAR INCOME and sometimes store your vehicle for a few years until you can drive ride or fly again, you lose your no-claims bonus.And most of all it's the fact that it takes me several DAYS of doing this crap, to get a sensible quote. My Daimler premium incrased by TEN TIMES last time I took it off teh road and it took me literally THREE weeks to get a sensible quote after that.
(yeah I know I've lost the audience here, but in fairness my lovely Westminster Blue Daimler only cost me 1400 quid, 14 years ago, runs off lovely clean & cheap LPG, and in fairness I had a seventy five mile daily commute when I bought my first Jaguar, so it made sense, but then I got addicted to the enhanced quality of the driving experience..)
Last year I used a company by the name of Adrian Flux to insure my recently acquired van, (500 quid and it has a crane on the back! Turned up on Gumtree JUST when I need to move a load of stuff about) and one month into the policy they cancelled my policy because of a technical error on THEIR part. This year (with a different insurer of course) my motorcycle premium DOUBLED, yet nothing else has changed in my personal circumstances...
YOU don't HAVE to declare your Autism, as far as I understand, but since I know every phone call will be a trial for the poor person asking me those questions with their stupidly limited range of answers, I tend to warn them that this might be a bit tough anyway. (Every call seems to involve multiple conversations with a supervisor)
FOR example, what is your occupation? There isn't a tick box for "survival" or "chew-toy for normie society".. so I ask what are the choices? it's unemployed, househusband, self employed, and a couple of others.
Well "unemployed" is a non starter, for two reasons. 1 I take ANY work I can get and am always employed doing something, (I'd go for unwaged, but that isn't an option). And I've actually been asked well, if you are unemployed why do you have a bike car and Van? That was the original issue with Adrian flux, beofre they decided they did not like my vehicle. (They did not have a category for ex waterboard works general utility vehicle", so I went for pick up beucase there is indeed a drop side pickup at the back behind the tool and hand wash pod in the middle, with it's attached little crane) I believe they ASSUMED I was using my van to earn money, which was not helped by the fact that I asked about "tool cover". (What? There's a bloody great tool pod in the middle, of course I'm going to use it to store my personal tools). Of course I'll be using it for "work", I just won't be earning any money. So I end up plumping for "house husband", and feel like a liar doing it..
Maybe so. But I believe your are supposed to declare such things to the DVLA. Insurance companies probably check these records 'behind the scenes'. Even if they don't all do that yet as a matter of course, I'm sure they will do at some point in the future. Seeing as the amount of data which is held about everyone is increasing all the time. I'm not huge on conspiracy theories, but I believe this scenario is quite different and potentially very fraught. All this sort of data will be accessible by insurance companies.I have no doubt.
i dont think they even ask if you have any disability. from what i see going for my motorbike insurance they ask only things about the vehicle, its registration, where you are going to keep it, how long you have had license, if you have any no claims bonus, what accessories you have for it, that type of thing.
Wow, so presumably an ASD diagnosis is going to be a bad thing in the eyes of vehicle insurance companies, and they will bump the premiums up significantly, that's if they would insure you at all?
This seems very unfair as surely it go off driver record.
Definitely something to consider for anyone that doesn't yet have a diagnosis but is thinking of getting one.
