Here is the response from Mr Peter Kinnaird, Subaru UK Managing Director, for my letter re PPP and insurance on UK cars.
It is only fair that I post Mr Kinnairds response to my letter.
I don't think he will mind me making it public.

************************************************** *******

5th April 2005
Dear Mr ****

Many Thanks for your constructive letter regarding insurance and the attitude of insurers to modified cars and the PPP.

Naturally, I was delighted to note your obvious enthusiasm for your Subaru Impreza Turbo STi and note with some interest your previous purchasing pattern, which might suggest you could be in the market again soon!

Obviously the issue you raise is familiar to us and if the solution were simple I feel sure we would have solved it by now.

In essence, in order to be recognised as a specfic model by the ABI (Association of British Insurers) we have to identify a model designation (and badge accordingly), identify a specification and list the model in our price list.

In the case of the WR1, it being a limited edition to a set specification and despite the after market fit of the PPP, we were able to satisfy the ABI criteria.

With regard to the on-going offer of PPP as an after market dealer fit option it is not possible to designate these as a specific model, given the fact that many customers also wish to specify additional after market changes which may vary from customer to customer.

We do of course, offer our own branded insurance - Subaru Insured- that obviously recognises the PPP option and will quote accordingly.

Nevertheless, I agree that some wider solution via the ABI would be desirable and we are currently looking at some tweaks in the way we market PPP to see if we can get ABI recognition.

Meantine, I know Tom Butler of Subaru Insured has responded to your comments on the website and has indicated he will be happy to provide you with a quote.

Thank you once again for your thoughtful letter.

Yours Sincerely
Peter Kinnaird
MANAGING DIRECTOR

************************************************** *******

I must say it is nice that someone in Peters position, as Sam did before him, took the trouble to respond personally.
It is also interesting to see his comment about the PPP being an aftermarket fit on the WR1, which is what I said on another thread when the WR1 was being launched.

I've no doubt they are both extremely busy people, who can probably do without letters from me, berating the anomolies within the insurance industry.

But if you don't ask, you don't get.

Lets hope he is successful with his approaches to the ABI.

Cheers
MTR

 

thanks for the once again great post MTR.... good job Subaru MD for taking the time to look at and answer your customers big THUMBS UP from me ... oh and errr fingers crossed for some way forward with the ABI.

 

I'm insured with privelidge. Privelidge are part of direct line but seem to cost alot less. It costs me £680 for an 03 WRX with PPP and 18" PFF-7 wheels and protected no claims. I know a WR1 driver who also swears by Privelidge. Its worth a quote. My first year with them by the way cost £795 so it seems to drop sharply if you have a good first year with them. With privelidge the difference between PPP and not PPP was about £200.
Its worth the money for PPP and I do suggest you are honest with the insurance company because otherwise they will walk away if you have an accident.

 

I have just had a telephone call from Mike Wood at Prodrive in response to the letter I sent to Dave Richards, his boss, regarding the problems associated with trying to insure PPP specced Imprezas.
see here http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=415477

He couldn't go into great detail about what Subaru/Subaru Insured (Tom Butler at Schofields) and Prodrive were doing, except to say that they WILL be liasing with the ABI (Association of British Insurers), and attempting to ease the problems encountered when insuring the PPP specced cars.

I for one don't expect my insurance to fall in cost dramatically, but if I can at least get a selection of companies willing to quote, which currently is not easy, then that would be a start.

To be honest I wasn't expecting Dave to reply, but I felt out of courtesy I should send him a copy of my letter I was sending to Peter Kinnaird, so he was at least aware of my concerns.
He passed it on to Mike Wood to speak to me on his behalf, and as I have met Mike on a couple of occasions previously, it was a pleasantly informative and relaxed conversation, and was very much appreciated.

Thanks Mike, and please thank Dave Richards on my behalf.

I don't suppose for a minute that my letters started anything that wasn't already being looked into, but at least with the responses from Peter Kinnaird, Tom Butler (Schofields Insurance, is this classed as me advertising ) and Mike Wood from Prodrive, which have been posted publically on Scoobynet, we can at least be assured that our concerns are being taken seriously.

Cheers
MTR

 

MTR,
Nice work

Prodrive probably assumed after 8yrs of PPP insurance Companies would know what it "PPP" was. From what seen on TV etc. Sir Dave Richards seems down to Earth and approachable. Mike Wood has alway been helpful to peeps on this site, even correcting my many mistakes So I'm not supprise they are both willing to help.

I have been lucky enough to go to Prodrive about 5/6 times (only as a visiting Pleb) Always found them wonderful Hosts, I was treated like Royalty

Tom Butler owned many a Scoob, IIRC and in the Isurance game so he is well aware of their ignorance of PPP.


Regards,

Tony

 

This is a copy of the letter I have recieved from Dave Richards dated
26Th April (it arrived on the 28th April after I spoke to Mike Wood)

Dear ****
Thank you very much for your recent letter concerning insurance issues with your Subaru Impreza.

I understand we have a solution to this problem, and I have forwarded your enquiry to Roland Cherry, who will respond to you very shortly.

Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to make me aware of this matter.

Yours Sincerely
David Richards
cc Roland Cherry

Cheers
MTR

 

thx for the update MTR its appreciated.... while I am not a PPP owner at the moment I am very interested in the outcome of this scenario as it may sway me to get PPP fitted.

Looking forward to seeing what they are to suggest. Please keep us posted, its appreciated.

Cheers

Allan

 

Even more relevant as PPP is being offered on new Subarus (not sure whether it's both WRX and STI) as NO COST options!!

 

The resultant outcome of this thread re 'illegal exhaust ' on a PPP specced WRX will be interesting.
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...llegal+exhaust
If the car was registered with the ABI as a defined specification car like the WR1, then it would not be classified as 'modified' and the whole argument with the Police would be negated.

Subaru/Prodrive are you taking note?

Cheers
MTR

 

An updatefrom Mike Wood on here.
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=415302

Cheers
MTR

 

All I can say is that it's lucky that I read posts on scoobynet otherwise I'd have been uninsured.

Called direct line and insured a PPP WRX STi MY05 - they called it a Prodrive WRX Sti MY05. At the time this appeared to be exactly what I wanted.
After a bit of reading I became concerned that what they call Prodrive isn't a PPP.
Called direct line again and expressed this concern, they confirmed that the Prodrive is just a style kit.
Had to add the PPP as a modification.
Listed all parts included in PPP kit - they needed to know that the exhaust was a performance exhaust.
Informed them that power had been increased by 15%.
[Also told them about th 18" alloys but that was on the original quote too]

The major item of concern here was the fact that I didn't know that the cover wasn't applicable until reading scoobynet. I would suggest that dealers need to inform their customers that they need to spell out the PPP to their insurers.

I can only wonder how many other PPP drivers there will be after this free PPP offer that will be driving without valid insurance.

The only concilation is the extra premium wasn't too bad

 

Jeez mate WTF did you tell them...

15% power increase from pip and ecu is all that was needed...

 

My sentiments exactly.
I own a STi MY02 Prodrive with PPP and its insured as such.

I hope non of these uninsured drivers, if they exist, end up hitting anyone else.

Cheers
MTR

 

You have to pity all these people out there buying a new WRX, having the free PPP fitted and then suddenely realising they have added an after-market system to their car and thus their actual premiums will be far more expensive than originally thought - and also how many people will say they 'were not aware' of the fact as they are actually buying a brand new car with PPP fitted for free (and thus, by default) fitted as part of the deal by the manufacturer so do not mention it to the insurer....

I suspect we could be seeing a lot of issues in the future.

PS It's all very well Subaru saying that by going to Subaru Insured they know what it is, but me thinks that is called a 'monopoly' - certainly when I sent to them they wanted way more than L&V. We're happy to insure it sir - but it will cost you lots more as we're in this business to make a lot of money. Crazy really...

 

I got a real fright when initially trying to ensure MY05 WRX with PPP fitted. I almost wasn't going to get it fitted, but A-Plan stepped to the rescue. The quote for PPP was only £50 more than without and on my policy it states that there are miscellaneous engine modifications.

All of the other insurers were pretty poor when it came to it!

Everything is generally fine until you have a bump, or even someone hits you. It always makes me wonder how many of the clapped-out Corsa's pinging about the place have actually declared their 21" alloy wheels to their insurer...

 

How much was the increased premium? I'm sure mine is down with DL as a Prodrive model, on the advice of the call centre agent I explained PPP to.

 

Premium went up £75 for the 4 months left on this year - so for next year I'm guessing about £225 extra. I think it puts it at about £1100 total.

I'll give A-plan a call and see what they can do when I'm due to re-new it.