"Full Cover" or "third party F&T"?

[Crevette]

I have a car which I almost exclusively use for the occasional long trip. Most of the time it's parked in a secure garage (a bit away from where I live).

At the moment I pay €670 for full cover.

The car itself is probably worth about €3000 (Parkers price guide).

I rang up to see what it would be for third party, fire and theft and it comes out as €370.

The franchise is also €350, so even if I did damage it myself I would still need to pay this...

I am thinking of looking into a "car sharing" scheme to locally hire cars when I need them for a short trip, and so will probably use my car even less.

So the question is, given the very limited use, is it worth paying for the full cover which amounts to about 10% of the total value of the car each year?

All thoughts and comments appreciated,

-Rob-
PS: I can foresee replies such as "why have the car at all?" but I am not prepared to sell the car "just yet" - it will depend on how it goes with the care-share, and if I move to a "less accessible" area in the future... maybe up for review in a year!

PPS: If I understand correcltly, the only situations where the full cover would be useful is ;

i) I do more than 350 euros of damage to my car in an accident which was my fault

ii) Someone else does more than 350 euros of damage to my car and is either not insured or I am not around and they don't leave a note...

[Bugsy]

Those prices seem to be on the 'high' side Crevette.

We have an old Jeep, insured TP,F&T 200euros and a nearly new Audi, insured Fully Comp. for 460euros.

As regards level of cover you have to ask yourself just one question,

"Could you live with ending up with nothing if the car is a total loss"

If the answer is yes, just take out a basic package. If no,then Fully Comp is the option to choose. Remember though, that you may end up in dispute over the actual value of the vehicle.

Hope this helps,

Gary.

[mint]

I drive an automatic Hyundai Lantra estate (2000), not sure what it's worth, probably about £1200 - £1500 back in the UK.  I have had it French registered.  The condition is immaculate and it's done about 30000 miles.  I insure it 3rd party in France and it cost about 190 euros for me and my husband as named driver.  You'd have to work it out from there!  Thought I'd tell you about my situation, just in case it's of help in your calculations!

[suein56]

[quote user="Crevette"]

I have a car which I almost exclusively use for the occasional long trip. At the moment I pay €670 for full cover.

The car itself is probably worth about €3000 (Parkers price guide). [/quote]

You've not said where you live but, IMHO, rather than downgrade the insurance cover I would change your insurance company as you seem to be paying a very high premium; but that is compared to ours. My OH has a car worth about 7500 euros and pays just over 400 euros for the privilege of insuring here with all bells, whistles and whatever else you can think of.

Sue

[Crevette]

I have looked and looked for cheaper insurance but no luck so far. I guess I pay a "Paris" premium!

[suein56]

[quote user="Crevette"]

 I guess I pay a "Paris" premium!

[/quote]

Aaaahhh! Nuff said ...

Commiserations.

Sue [:(]

[Crevette]

Just out of interest - I really get the impression that a far larger majority of people on France have third party F+T cover only compared to the UK. You certainly see a difference in the number of cars with debts/bumps compared to the UK.

Regards,

-Rob-

[Crevette]

Just spoke to a colleague who did this last year - he told me that even the insurance companies will grudgingly admit that its the sensible thing to do!

He told me there is an offical guide "argus?" to car prices which insurance companies use and which also depends the  number of kilometres you do.

-Rob-

[AnOther]

In general the French seem to be far less "precious" about their cars and from what I've seen adopt a somewhat fatalistic attitude to the odd bump and scrape, the likes of which would have your average UK owner running off to the repair shop.

Under this premis 3rd party makes good sense, more so I would say in a big metropolis where the chances of sustaining the the odd bit of damage are so much higher.