If I bought my son a car could I save money by insuring myself for it and adding him?

MY son is turning 21 soon and I’m considering getting him a second-hand car for his birthday. My concern is that the insurance could end up costing more than the car itself. He’s has been a named driver on my policy for two years and while the premiums are not cheap, I figure they’re a lot cheaper than what I’d be quoted if I were to get a separate policy for him. If I do buy him a car would I be better off to insure myself on it — and add him as a named driver? John, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5

IN this case I have to make a few assumptions — first, that you would be keeping your own car and second, that this second-hand car you’re considering buying would specifically be for your son. If this is the case, I must stress that you cannot insure the car in your name and add your son as a named driver. He will have to take out his own policy. As you rightly guess, this can be very expensive. However, the fact that he has been a named driver on your policy for two years will reduce the premium dramatically, assuming that he has a full licence.

While it is expensive, by biting the bullet and getting his own car insurance now, your son will make significant savings over the next five years on his premiums as long as he stays claims-free.

To reduce the cost of your son’s car insurance, do not purchase a car that is over 10 years old, if possible. Also, try to buy a car that has an engine smaller than 1.4-litres — especially for the first year. Always shop around when it comes to purchasing motor insurance premiums.

Just to give you a very rough example of cost, based on your information above and the assumption I have made, fully comprehensive cover for your son on a 2008 1.4 Astra could come to about €1,390.

I’VE been saying for the last year that I would change my car at the start of 2017. My car is more than 10 years old and I’ve heard that it’s difficult to get insurance on older cars. However, I’m a bit worried about how much I will be looking at in premiums with a new car. I’m paying €435 on a 10-year-old Volkswagen Passat. If I got something like a three-year-old Volkswagen Passat, is my premium likely to go up by much? Are there any tips you could give me when choosing my new car to help reduce my car insurance bill? Jimmy, Clontarf, Dublin 3

IN most cases, I believe you would save money on your insurance by investing in a new car. I would need further information on your individual situation to give a definite quote. However, to give you an idea of what to expect, I have taken the example of a 35-yearold driver with a full no-claims bonus and a full licence. I compared the quotes for a 10-year-old Passat versus a three-year-old Passat. At the moment, as your car is 10 years or under, there is not a huge difference in premiums — you’d probably only save €30 with a new car! However, once your car hits the 11-year-old mark, there will be a significant saving in investing in a newer model. A sample quote would be €347 for a fully comprehensive motor insurance policy on a threeyear-old Passat versus €491 for your 11-year-old car.

I’VE been out of the workforce many years and have recently decided to return to work by starting a child-minding service in my home. It’s a very modest start — I’m just minding two children who live locally. I have gone through the necessary checks and regulations necessary for childminders, so I thought I was good to go, but a friend of mine said that my new job may impact my home insurance? Is that right? Caoimhe, Ballyferriter, Co Kerry

YOU are right to err on the side of caution as this could be a very serious issue. Your first port of call needs to be your broker or insurance company. Insurers can have different rules surrounding working from home and its impact on home insurance policies, so you need to check their terms and conditions. For example, certain insurers have some flexibility around businesses being run from home when the business is considered small — as in your case. One important thing to find out is if your insurance policy would cover you in the unfortunate event that something happened to one of the children in your care.

MY home insurance has just come up for renewal and my insurer has said it won’t renew because my home has now been deemed to be in a flood zone. I tried to explain that the area that my insurer is probably referring to is around half a mile from my home and so it doesn’t make sense to say my house is just as much at risk as those houses. My insurer won’t change its position though. Can I do anything? Gemma, Skerries, Co Dublin

UNFORTUNATELY, you are not alone — the problem you face is one which is affecting lots of homeowners in various locations throughout the country due to an increase in floodrelated claims over the last 10 years. Not all insurers use the same mapping systems so while your current insurer may not give flood cover, this does not necessarily mean that all insurers will exclude you from cover. Some insurers have extremely sophisticated mapping systems where they map to the exact address, rather than exclude a whole area. My advice to you would be to contact a broker who has access to a multitude of different insurers, explain your situation in full, and see if he can get you a quote that includes flood cover. You should also get your house’s Google maps reference by clicking on your house on the Google map — and provide this to the broker before he looks. It should then be easier for him to show insurers that you are quite a distance from any previous flood zones.

MY partner and I are taking a five-month sabbatical from work in December and going travelling for that time. We own our own home but we’re going to rent it out to a friend of a friend for the six months. Will we need to change the type of home-insurance policy that we have? Or can we just take a chance and not tell our insurer — given that we’ll only be away for a few months? Nuala, Athy, Co Kildare

YOU definitely need to speak with your insurers. It’s never a case of whether the insurer knows about your circumstances or not — it is about whether you will have a claim paid if something does go wrong. Using a worst-case example, if the house went on fire and was destroyed, your insurers would be on site within 24 hours and it would be easy for them to establish that the occupiers of the house were not the owners. Based on this, the insurers would be fully entitled to decline your claim and you would be left with no house or home — it’s as simple as that. So it’s not worth the risk. I always advise people to make sure they disclose to their insurer every detail and also any grey areas they may feel exist. If you don’t, you may as well not bother with the insurance as it will be useless in the event of a claim.