Motor trade insurance

[PhilCavSRi130]

Hi guys looking for a bit of advice on traders policies.

Im looking at taking out a policy so my wife, son and myself can do a bit of buying and selling along with modification and restoration. My question is with regards to my son who is 19 (20 in May). I've looked at some policies and they limit on age only covering 21+. Does anyone have any idea if there are policies that would cover someone under 21??

thanks in advance.

Phil.

[gregster]

They are out there mate, as a lot of dealerships and garages have youngsters working there, but be prepared for enormous quotes though...

My traders policy is about £450 IIRC and thats with Sally and I on it...I am 40 and Sallys got a few months on me
My mate Ben, whose 23, runs a small body shop, and for a fully comp policy that covers him for everything up to 20k value is costing him about £250 a month!

Might be better to just start you lad on his own policy on his own car with maybe 3rd party any motor cover on it, and save a fortune on the trade policy.

[PhilCavSRi130]

Thanks for that mate. What annoys me is he could get a job driving a HGV but direct line wont insure him on an MK3 Astra 1.7TD van as a named driver on my policy! They have been happy enough for him to be on it for our MK3 Astra 1.6 Estate for the last 2 years though!! The reason for asking about the traders policy was as we have 8 cars on the drive and are thinking of doing a bit of buying and selling etc I thought this may kill 2 birds with 1 stone but it seems he's still an issue.....beggers belief he can drive 40ft of wagon, but he cant drive a 10ft Astra van.

[gregster]

I think the insurers have got bitten too many times mate...18yr olds driving round in cossie's on a trade policy..(I used to do it ) so they are closing all the loop holes.
is daft though...
Heres another one for you, my mate matts parents have a couple of farms...he's had a tractor licence since he was a kid, and can tow a 40ft trailer and a load weighing a stupid amount behind a jcb fastrack with a dolly, totally legally on the road...and a fastrak is as quick as an artic, and this whole train weight is well over that of an artic though...
But...he needs to take a towing test to put a car trailer behind his disco! He's flatly refused, and says if he gets caught he will turn up and park said fasttrak, dolly and trailer outside the court and cause traffic mayhem!

Its a stupid world ,and its getting worse!

[Frenchfarmer]

If you are going to be trading cars and might lose a No Claims Bonus when you stop, why not keep the GF/wife's car on a separate policy and get the NCB that way.?.

[gregster]

Thats a good point frenchy...

IIRC you can use your current NCB on a trade policy, but you cant use a trade NCB on a normal policy if you resort back.
Remember they only pay out at trade rates too, so is worth keeping another policy going if you can, especially if you have anything a bit special to keep on cover.

[Drift]

Like me before I went with Frank Pickles and use the Picasso for the main car, I have been driving 29 years have my class 1 pcv and class 2 hgv, I had certificates of competence in stacker's and 4 tonne fiat allis's (army days) though I missed the deadline to get the stacker stuff on my license but never the less I could drive them and as part of my job in the Army late teens early twenty's I had to drive and load anything from a LR to a Warrior APC and I was competent in a 6 wheeled crane operation.
Then I was a bus driver for 17 years then an office number cruncher
The point is I have never had a blameworthy accident in all that time, I had one car vandalised 6 years ago and now I would normally be expected to pay £700 plus just because I am 500 yards inside a Liverpool postcode aged 46.