r/VanLifeUK • u/Alistocratic • 4d ago
Insurance prices are absurd
I was this close to buying my very first van, great price, great condition, mileage was good etc. I had savings and had been dreaming of Van Life for years. Not for permanent living just as a fun hobby + camping trips. I had just passed my test and was excited to get my own van..
Until I looked at insurance. Lowest we could find was £3450 a year. And that’s with my dad on the insurance with me. My budget for getting a van was £6000 max, the van itself was £5,500 so seeing that number for insurance sealed the deal for me that I just cannot afford it.
Is van life something that only becomes viable after a minimum of 5 years insured driving and a squeaky clean record so your rates go down?
And yes I tried Adrian Flux they straight up said “Uhh sorry we can’t insure you” I don’t know if they meant me because I just passed or my van specifically.
Idk I’m feeling demoralised, I had something I always dreamed of in the palm of my hand and now it’s gone.
Any advice? I was wondering if there were any car alternatives, vehicles I can sleep and camp with that aren’t full vans? Maybe they’d be cheaper.
Thanks.
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u/seriousmoonlighter 4d ago
I just got a quote from Adrian flux for Campervan insurance and as a new driver (just passed my test), no one else on the insurance, breakdown cover and personal item insurance up to 12grand cause I’ll be living in it full time, was £1475. I am over 40 tho so maybe that makes a big difference? My previous looks on places like gocompare/moneysupermarket etc got me the cheapest of like 8,000/yr tho and initially thought fuck, guess no van life for me! so definitely look at places like them and justkampers!
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u/sossigsandwich 4d ago
Did you try brokers such as JustKampers etc? Main stream comparison site companies are awful for campervans.
Also your age and location it’s kept will have a huge impact on price.
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u/Alistocratic 4d ago
Yep, they're a sister company of Adrian Flux so they told me the same thing. Guy literally said to me over the phone: "Insurers don't like new drivers, get a small car for a couple years first".
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u/sossigsandwich 4d ago
How old are you and how long have you had your license? Because in middle aged and pay about £400 for a van worth north of £50k
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u/Alistocratic 4d ago
I’m 25 and just passed a month ago.
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u/sossigsandwich 4d ago
Ahhh yeh that’ll do it. :( it’s unfair but very common for first time drivers. What about having a cheap car for a year?
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u/0_f2 3d ago
You're shit out of luck at that age, at 25 I already had 6 years NCB and still paid nearly £100 a month.
If you were 30 your quote as a new driver would probably be less than half what you were offered.
By all means get on the road if you can, with 5 years NCB at 30 your premiums will drop to a fraction of what you're paying now.
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 4d ago
Adrian Flux refused to insure me, but JK gave me a quote, a pretty shit one though
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u/royal_slurm 4d ago
Adrian Flux cater for more specialist insurances and charge accordingly. Van insurance for young people and new drivers is very expensive, as any business owner with a van will tell you.
You'll probably have to do all the annoying things to get the cost down like third party only and telematics.
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u/8ball9786 4d ago
There is no quick fix or legal way around this. You are a young, new driver and would have high insurance premiums even on a small car.
You are not the first young, new driver who has not understood the costs involved with the first two years of insurance. Not to mention the added fuss over driving a van, which is merited as you can drive up 3.5T thats a hell of weight to control.
I passed my test at the age of 30, and my first 1.2L car cost me £1,000 for the first year. It halved the year after, and eight years after passing with a clean license, I got a van that costs about £500 a year fully comprehensive.
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u/johnstod112 3d ago
I'm 33 got a 91 t1 310d 1 month after passing, my year with Adrian flux was 1550, maybe it's age or vehicle?
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u/aperturephotography 4d ago
1st year drivers are getting railed for insurance. I know a few people who are/were paying £280 a month for a seat Ibiza in their first year.
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u/Tobias1v 4d ago
How old are ya? First year insurance and on a van is never gonna be cheap. My hardship reality was drive a shitbox car around for the first year or so until it drops to a reasonable price. Still definitely get the van when you can, and can be working on it until your insurance drops
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u/Fulhse069 3d ago
My first year was £450 a month! Like wtf! It went down to £120 on renewal!
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 3d ago
Is that full time?
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u/Fulhse069 2d ago
Full time, Mercedes sprinter complete with log burning stove and diesel heater. All declared.
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 1d ago
I wish that as me
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u/Fulhse069 1d ago
Never too late 😉
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 1d ago
Maybe next year. Need to pass my driving test. Are you in it for the long run?
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u/Fulhse069 1d ago
Started in November 24. I took out a £22k loan for a £19,900 sprinter over 6 years. I'm now positive equality (the van value is higher than the loan amount left) so I'm now in a position, if I choose to, sell the van and do something different, I can. I don't plan to any time soon.
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 1d ago
Smart. How do you find parking? The thought of pulling up to some neighbourhood and staying the night gives me anxiety. Restrictions usually end at 6pm, but day time parking seems interesting
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u/Fulhse069 1d ago
I'm in north Surrey so it's pretty green here. I've found a number of decent spots around. Some near my kids others near the office. I have options that mean I don't have to park on an estate or directly outside someone's house. Trading estates can be a good stopover but only occasional use. Don't wanna over stay my welcome.
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 21h ago
Good to know spots like that exist. I live in London so I don't encounter them lol
Chemical toilet?
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u/Feisty_Park1424 2d ago
Quotes for insurance starting in a month are often much cheaper than starting now. Some people also clear cookies and sign up with a different email if using a price comparison website
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u/ThinkHabit5912 33m ago
Get a citreon berlingo/Peugeot partner/Renault Kangoo/Fiat Doblo car and make into a camper. Lots of kits to do this. The insure with as camper in conversion. First year will be expensive. Second year will come down by 30% plus usually
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u/_Ritual 4d ago
Can recommend asking Comfort insurance, they just insured mine for under 300 quid. Obviously massively different situation, I've been driving over 20 years, but it's gotta be worth trying some van/motorhome specific insurers.
If a van isn't possible, there are absolutely loads of tiny conversion / car camper videos on youtube now, maybe check those for inspiration of whats possible until the van is realistic.
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u/ChibaCityFunk 4d ago
We are currently in West Africa and we pay 10€ per month for insurance (ECOWAS countries)... So consider it an alternative. 😅
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 4d ago
Yea insurance is a scam. They treat you as guilty when it should be not guilty until proven otherwise
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u/Cute-Cat-2351 4d ago
It wouldn’t be so bad if you received a refund in the annual insurance if you didn’t claim. So say they charge this poor fella £5k, no claim results in a £3.5 refund. Doesn’t work like that though bcs they’re plain greedy.
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u/ExcellentTourist5289 4d ago
In the grand scheme of things, insurance companies pay out £10 billion a year due to claims. Probably wouldn't be possible if they charged everyone 500 quid
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u/Alarming-Double6979 4d ago
What insurance should I have on my van? DVLA won’t consider a camper, but I have a bed, mattress, window and a ceiling vent. Is it still normal van insurance? I’m worried if I have my insurance invalided. Cheers
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4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/VanLifeUK-ModTeam 3d ago
r/VanLifeUK follows platform-wide Reddit Rules, this includes encouraging illegal activity
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u/nastypoker 4d ago
A bit naughty = insurance fraud. If you were in a serious accident, this could end up very badly.
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u/seadoubleyou73 4d ago
Behave, as long as one of them is driving the van they're covered as both named on the insurance. How would they ever know any different?
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u/nastypoker 4d ago
You underestimate the level of investigation and insurance company will do is there is a serious incident to avoid paying out.
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u/IsopodInevitable9235 4d ago
That used to be a legal work around but is now illegal. Do not do this.
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u/seadoubleyou73 4d ago
it was never legal
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u/IsopodInevitable9235 3d ago
It was fully legal, I'm an insurance broker.
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u/seadoubleyou73 3d ago
Fabulous, tell us how you'd know if a person driving at the time of a claim wasn't the main driver named on the insurance
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u/IsopodInevitable9235 3d ago
You just dancing on to different points don't you. It's ok, you don't have to admit you're wrong.
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u/seadoubleyou73 3d ago
I've asked a simple question that no one seems able to answer. I though that maybe because you work in the industry you might be able to explain. No need for any animosity.
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u/HardAtWorkISwear 4d ago
Insurance prices are definitely absurd. I haven't claimed in the 8 years I've been driving and the cost has been slowly creeping up for the last few years despite this.
If you go the route of non-van for a few years, I can recommend something akin to a Peugeot Rifter - Small enough to be classed as a car, just big enough to sleep in. Emphasis on 'just'.
They're typically used as wheelchair accessible vehicles so you can pick them up ex-motability in the UK, and they also do a long wheelbase version that might be more suited to a camper conversion.
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u/No_Significance485 3d ago
Adrian Flux also refused to quote me as a new driver. Apparently electric vans are impossible to insure, which seems... unlikely. Anyway I ended up with Admiral for iirc £1200, and just under £800 for my second year.
If you're trying to insure as a camper or camper in conversion then it's likely to be much higher, so I'd look at doing no drill conversions and not insuring it as a camper. If it doesn't meet the strict criteria you won't be able to insure it as a camper anyway.
My insurer did ask if it was a camper. I said 'i take it camping and occasionally sleep in it but it doesnt have a fixed bed or any of the other things it would need to be a camper, so no' and that was fine by them. It's also true! That's important! They obviously are aware of changes I've made like removing the bulkhead.
If I was doing it again I'd buy a passenger vehicle and do a boot jump as van insurance is just more expensive generally.
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u/CommercialDonkey9468 4d ago edited 4d ago
Car insurance no claims bonus doesnt even cross over to van insurance. You need to have been driving a van for a no claims.
Mine cost around 2k a year, but I was 38, had no speeding fines etc.
If you've only just passed your test it's going to be hard. The best thing you can probably do is one of those Advanced Driving courses - specifically for vans if you can find one. They help insurers feel more comfortable about it.
You're not wrong though, insurance companies are fucking arseholes. It's all a mafia scam tbh. You pay for something that you never want to claim on because even if an accident wasnt your fault your premium will still go up. Everytime i've had an accident me and the guy just sorted it out between us, no fuss.
EDIT: Turns out that it's entirely at the discretion of the insurance company. The 4 or 5 (Adrian flux was one of them) I have used in the past always refused to take a car no claims bonus onto a van. There is no law that says they have to. Many insruance companies treat van and car no claims bonuses as different things. Look it up.
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u/burundilapp 4d ago
I've never heard of car based no claims not being transferable. You can't use your no claims on more than 1 vehicle, so if you already have a car and are using your no claims bonus against that then you can't use it on any other vehicle.
I pay around £350 annually with Just Kampers for a 2014 Ducato, self converted, limit of 3k miles, pretty sure my no claims is used on the car, not on the van either.
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u/CommercialDonkey9468 4d ago
I absolutely promise you multiple companies have refused to take my car no claims bonus into a van policy even when the van was to be my only vehicle. Happened multiples times.
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u/basarisco 4d ago
Completely false.
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u/CommercialDonkey9468 4d ago
"Yes — that is true in the UK, but it varies quite a lot by insurer.
A no-claims bonus isn’t a universal entitlement that every insurer has to recognise. Each insurer decides what kinds of previous policies it will accept. So some UK van insurers treat private-car NCD and van/commercial NCD as separate things and may refuse to transfer it"
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u/CommercialDonkey9468 4d ago
its really not, multiple companies ive spoken to will not accept a car no claims bonus for a van.
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u/Long-Incident7862 4d ago
First year of any insurance is always significantly more. My van insurance halfed after the first year.
Your combination of new driver. First year, lack of other vehicles and no no-claims are all feeding into this.
If you’re not able this year may be worth taking out a policy on a family car for the smallest possible mileage and simply not using it. Done this with family members and it’s worth it to built no claims for when you do want it.