Car Insurance

Sorry - system would not take my post.New to Italy and have bought a new car - huge insurance bill although have 9 years no claims with Sheila's Wheels (female only insurer, owned by esure who are owned by Bank of Scotland). Does anyone know a company who will accept the no claims from Sheila's Wheels - it could halve my insurance bill. Thanks for any help.

To the best of my knowledge NO insurance company in Italy will accept a UK No Claims Bonus record.I had a total of 28 years with no claims (one, named, lady driver only) with the Norwich Union (now Aviva), and the best deal I could get, in 2004, with my car was from the Commercial Union.it - also part of the Aviva Group - but that counted for ZILCH! After arguing for over an hour, their HQ finally agreed to give me a Bonus Mallus figure of 11 instead of 14 (the highest price). But I still had to pay £1103 (€1555 at the then exchange rate) for 12 months fully comp (aka KASCO) on my four year old 1.6i Vectra. Also, don't let anyone tell you that you can't have KASCO insurance if your car is over 5 years old - you CAN! They do that so you are forced into 3rd party with extra for Fire and Theft and they have less obligation to pay out without fully comp. I moved from the CU and have been with Direct Line.it and am now down to Bonus Mallus 4, but even with a 10% discount for renewing 'on line' it's still €634 (£544) this year!Also be aware that Lombardy has now (finally) bought in the new Annual Tassa Autobobilistica for cars 5 years after being registered for the first time. This is based on the kw of the vehicle - mine is 55kw and my new annual payment is €154. This is NOT the Bollo (Road Tax), but an additional tax towards exhaust gas emissions made by older cars!

After 1 year with an Italian insurance company, we changed to Italsure. Citroen xsara 1.9 tdi US$900, 7 Seater Nissan pajero US$ 1200 at last years renewal. Both fully comprehensive and at least someone English to speak to if there are any problems.

There is a simple and cheap way to ensure your car here in Italy, go to www.italsure.co.uk They offer fully comprehensive (Kasco) insurance for expats living in Italy for about a 6th of the price of Italian companies. I have just insured my Rav4 with them at an incredible price, give them a call and save a s!!! load of euros.

I have been 'stung' (financially!).................MY fault I know!!............... Car AND House insurance............if you are thinking of changing insurers..................Insurers in Italy normally require that you physically CANCEL in writing up to 2 months before the expiry date of your (typically) yearly contract, otherwise you are likely to have agreed to be contracted to pay the following year (something like para 47, clause 63, sub clause 82 hidden in the all Italian phrase contract!!). And one of mine didn't even write me a reminder until 1 month after expiry...................(the word 'sharks' springs to mind which is sad!)S

I was similarly "done" under the 1 month rule with my house insurance. I did receive a renewal notice but decided to ignore it and insure elsewhere. Only to find the renewal was contractually binding and that they would take me to court for the annual premium.So I did renew, reluctantly, (but gave them 11 months notice of quitting this time around).Why I got caught was because they had not quoted a renewal premium, hence I thought I had grounds to quit them. It turned out that the premium would have been exactly the same each year for as long as I would need the insurance. So not such a bad deal, but still vastly more than the competition.

Direct Line will accept your UK no claims bonus regardless of who you were insured with. You just need to produce your renewal document showing the no. of years discount and they are a lot cheaper. Just remember the lower the "bonus/malus" number when doing your quote, the greater the discount. If you make a mistake then it will be adjusted when you send them the documents. Italsure quoted me £1200 fully comp for my Italian registered car. I have just paid €660 third party fire & theft plus cover for vandalisation and natural causes with Direct Line - cheap for Italy. It is a 2005 diesel Mercedes Vaneo with 7 seats.

Quite right Penny. Direct Line accepted my NCD. However, I had been insured with them in UK for more than 10 years before moving to Italy so was not sure if that was the only reason they accepted my NCD here.

Under european convention, if you transfer your Uk insurance without it being lapsed for more than 12 months you can trasnfer your no claims to Italy - it converts to the Italian classifications and will knock at least a few classes off your insurance.