Best way to insure multiple vehicles...THANK YOU ALL.

This is going back in time but taking a customers Montego down for its first or second MOT it was hit by an oncoming drunk driver who passed out at the wheel then it was rear ended.
After 2 years hassle and going to the ombudsman it ended up in court, but the end result was an eventual less than bottom book payout from the co-op on the trader's policy and a gaping black hole to be filled to replace the customers car and provide them something else to use in the short term.

I've had motor trade insurance since 1982, to go with my "sole trader" motor mechanic status. From 82 to 2015 I stayed with the same company and was very happy. Then they started pulling the "supply less and charge more" trick, I put up with it for a year and went shopping for a better deal, found one and then the quote for the second year doubled! Went shopping again and found another company who I am now in my third year with. I can't say how ANY of them deal with claims, as i've not had one in all that time! I dread to think how much money i've spent over the years on this legally mandated thievery. But I run on a "minimum requirement" third party only, road risk policy. No fire, theft, windscreen cover, NOTHING. Why pay more for what i'm not using? Even so it's costing me around £500 pa to run my (averaging) 8 car fleet with my missus as a named driver. Both clean licences and a favourable rural postcode. I now have to go through a lot more rigmarole than I used to at renewal (most of it to do with licences and all legally mandated) but i've never been asked to show any proof of trading, not so much as headed notepaper and the insurance is held in my name at my home address, not the company name and premises. The beauty of being a mechanic rather than a trader is that fleet cars can stay the same for years or change every few months and it's never questioned! One other thing about a trade policy that most people don't think about, is that a traders will let you drive someone elses car that is NOT separately insured. 99% of private policies state in the small print under "driving other cars" that anyone elses car you drive MUST be separately insured for your own cover to be effective! This little bonus on a trade policy is worth it's weight in gold when taking untaxed uninsured cars for MOT or the like!

However, i'm going into "semi" retirement this year and with it i'll be cutting down my fleet to maybe 3 or 4 vehicles only one of which will be newer than "historic" but all the others are modified to a greater or lesser extent. So i'm looking at finding a more appropriate cover. A few moths ago, I was recommended to talk to someone about this, (Might have been Brentacre) and got a very favourable quote of £165 pa for my Vauxhall engined Toledo with all mods declared, an agreed value of £6k and no mileage restriction. I also got a verbal assurance that extra cars including modern (and SWMBO) could be accomodated at reasonable prices, maybe on some sort of collector fleet policy.

So it must be out there, I think it's just a matter of looking hard enough! I agree that most of the "multicar" policies advertised by the big companies are just a licence to print even more money! 10% off the second car? Do me a favour! I can still only drive one at a time!

Steve

To be slightly fairer to them than they are to their customers, I can, to a certain extent, get the point of the big companies' multicar policies, insofar as these are not aimed at guys like us with a dozen vehicles, but the sort of grown up "nuclear family" of two adult parents and two grown children in their teens or twenties all 4 of whom have vehicles. In these circumstances, all 4 cars COULD be on the road simultaneously, which represents 4 separate risks. So a 10% discount actually would be doing you a favour there!

But it doesn't work so well in a situation like the one most of us are in, which involves many more cars than drivers.

For myself, i'll have a word with Classicline and Lancaster as suggested and see what they can offer! I really wish I could remember who it was who gave me that quote on the Toledo, I seem to recall that they were more oriented towards the modified scene than the classic one which suits me fine! Any suggestions anyone?

Steve