Talking of insurance, I reckon the claims guys are going to be quite busy today. The first storm of the season and it's a right bastard. Heavy snow coupled with high winds. Nice.

I made note of the weather and tried not to crash.

Most wise. You can rest assured that many people around here will have forgotten what snow is. There will be some bent Civics before the day is out.

It really is vile out there.

Thanks for the info, will try Johnsons and Aviva. Our payment per month with Axa prior to them deciding our no claims didn't count was only $75 per month. I didn't realize $150 was cheap! Not like Tesco's insurance here then!

apologies if i'm hi-jacking the thread, but it is related so i thought I'll ask.
How will the premiums be calculated in our case?:

Lets just say in Canada (Alberta?) I have a car and Mr Fluff has a car:
I have no claims in UK with no points lost (2005-2007) and 1 claim in 2007 in Germany with no points lost (2007 - 2010). Before that we were in SA so I'll ignore that. How will my premiums be calculated?

Mr Fluff has not owned a car since 2000, but has always been an insured driver with my insurance. No claims under his belt, no points lost. So how will they calculate his premiums?

I'm already preparing for the worst and having to pay the full premiums with no discounts.

anyone have any ideas?

Expensively, with lots of zeros I suspect

oh gods i knew it, i knew it! we're all doomed!!

Theres always christchurch.

Your "no claims" in the UK is sadly irrelevant as the claim in Germany cancels it out. They're specific about needing to know how long you've been claim free, not what percentage your "no claims bonus" is at, as so many people have their "no claims" protected now (in the UK at least!) If you were to seek Canadian car insurance in 2010 you'd be able to claim to have had 2 years with no accidents or claims (assuming you don't have any more in the meantime!) which will probably give you a tiny discount. Unfortunately your husband will start from scratch as having been a named driver doesn't count.

thanks AlexIn BC, that's what I expected...

Butch! but you're not in Chch!!

Possibly a good reason to SERIOUSLY consider it then?