JAPOLLY

BOTH COMPANIES ASK FOR OWNERSHIP OF A YEAR BEFORE QUOTING?
IVE OWNED PREVIOUS SCOOBIES FOR LONGER, I HAD TO SELL THOUGH AND NOW LOOKING AT BUYING ANOTHER

HOW CAN YOU OWN THE CAR 1 YEAR IF YOU CANT INSURE IT?? IAM NOT BUYING ONE AND HAVING IT SAT IN THE GARDEN FOR A YEAR

IVE OWNED LOADS OF OTHERS, SURELY THAT WOULD BE CONSIDERED????

ridiculous!!!

JAPOLLY

3X CLASSIC 2005-2008
1X BUGEYE 2010
3 JAP IMPORTS IN 2010-2011

topman2180

My understanding is they want current AWD experience in the last year. I had to use comparison sites for the first year but in my second year now im able to use a specialist.

JAPOLLY

ive had awd in the past year had a 93 wrx up until sept, they said to me i actually have to be the owner of the vehicle, but i aint going to buy a car with making sure insurance is sorted first surely? i mean how do i drive it home
moley the only one to cover me at the min

Sy5

iTrader: (6)

There are more than 3 insurer's out there mate. Sky wouldn't insure me because of the 1 year owning thing so I looked elsewhere. You might try a uk model as they are cheaper to insure with the main stream lot.

JAPOLLY

I can't find them bell did but its 2k!

topman2180

Why dont you just insure with keith michaels then. Lots of people appear to be Insured with him on here including myself. My personal experience is very good when you call him up and disclose mods, its not like your talking a foreign language to him which is what I got from my previous Insurers.

JAPOLLY

its just 1600 quid a year but suppose il have to pay it for the 1st year, i dont think i can get it any cheaper,i need to find a decent import aswel which is always a hard job before i do anything

Tony@Greenlight

Hi Japolly,

Just to clarify the experience requirement.

With regard to Subaru Impreza models we would need you to either have owned the vehicle you're looking to Insure, or driven a similar performance model for at least the last 12 months (but the longer the better).

Where there's a gap in experience (ie. several months since you last owned/drove a performance car Insured in your own name) we can usually approach Underwriters with your performance car driving history over recent years (which will need to be proven if cover is to be arranged) and can request bespoke terms on a one off basis.

Without seeing your application it's difficult to comment in specific detail as to why we were unable to help, but it's more likely to be postcode related rather than performance car experience related.

If you can PM me your actual name, postcode and any reference we gave you i'd be happy to take a look at this for you.

I'll then be able to revisit the application with the driving experience listed above, or in the worst instance clarify as to why we couldn't help

Kind regards

Tony

Nelly71

iTrader: (1)

I've just had stress getting insurance but tesco did me the best quote over the phone not on line every price on line was rubbish if that helps :-)

JAPOLLY

nelly how much you get it for? no body insures for less than 2k on a import apart from moley

Nelly71

iTrader: (1)

Im only getting a uk spec but tryed getting quotes on imports stupid money , mine is 980 f/c witch is not great but will do for 1st year lol at 40 didn't think I'd be paying insurance that high again :-(

JAPOLLY

980 at 40! bloody hell, iam 25 it will be threw the roof

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

AWD experience? LOL, that makes it sound like it's some crazy hard car to drive. I'd of thought high power RWD experience would lend itself to insurance discount on a RWD car, but 'AWD experience'?

Sounds like an easy way to inflate the price for newbies to these cars!

Nelly71

iTrader: (1)

+1 lol it's just a way to get more money I've had some well fast cars over the years never been hit hard for any of them , but now it's some big problem having a 2lt turbo driving all 4 wheels , some one is just coining in the money

riiidaa

iTrader: (2)

Please prize the 'caps lock' key off of your keyboard and smash it to bits with a hammer.

Good luck with the insurance

Moley

iTrader: (9)

And that sums up the problem.... over-confidence in AWD

Performance RWD experience is fine of course, it's people who have only had FWD that the specialists may struggle with

And your 'inflate the price' comment is incorrect, as we refuse to quote at all without the experience, not increase the price.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

I'm sorry, I don't understand the AWD experience comment. A FWD hot hatch is probably more tricky to drive, especially with lift off over steer.

I can understand insurers refusing drivers with no experience of high power cars, but to refuse a quote because the customer has just bought his/her 1st AWD car?

Sensible, family man rings up.. "hi, I'd like to insure my uk impreza turbo please. I'm 35, 2 young children, homeowner, blah, blah".
Ins co.. "any experience of AWD?" customer.. "no"
Ins. Co.. "sorry, don't want your custom"

Chav boy racer rings up "Ooritz bruv, gonna hook me up wiv insuranz on me scooby"
Ins co.. "any experience in AWD?"
Chav "course bruv, I had me last scoob insured through (insert cheapest poss ins co name)
Ins co.. "here's your quote"

Just seems like a silly concept.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

We use a bit more common sense than that

Regardless of age, without experience we're not really able to do much.

My old Astra GSI was 300bhp, but very easy to drive (IMO), an AWD will catch you out if you're not careful.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

Well I can only assume you mean you'll quote the chav a price that'll either put him off or sweeten your risk.

And we know you'd refuse to insure the sensible man because he doesn't have 'AWD experience'

I'd sooner refuse the chav and at least quote the sensible guy, even if it included an 'AWD inexperience tax'. The insurance business is all about making money from risk essentially, I'd rather take £1500 off a sensible man without AWD experience than £1500 from a loon. I understand what you're saying about using common sense but does seem crazy to flat refuse someone who is otherwise low risk. My brother in law has never driven an AWD car, and someone I know has driven lots. I'd happily take £400 off my brother in law on his 1st year in an impreza and I'd **** myself at the thought of covering this other guy (even at a couple of grand) even though neither have had any accidents in the last 5 years. Does that make sense?

AWD doesn't catch people out!

I'd be interested to know the real statistics around all this, it would seem that somewhere along the line insurance companies have decided people new to AWD cars are likely to crash them in their 1st year of ownership. Insurance companies are saying this is purely due to the number of driven wheels the car has! What are people doing? Having accidents towing people out of muddy fields?

Moley

iTrader: (9)

I'd refuse to insure either of them actually, and move onto the next quote

Still, i've only worked in insurance for 15 years, and have outstandingly good claim stats (even if i am blowing my own trumpet), so what do i know eh?

Maybe you could give me some training, as you seem to be the expert

What i do (and the other experts do) works, so maybe.... just maybe... we do know what we're doing.

FWD cars are easy to drive IMO, i've seen first hand that AWD cars CAN catch people out easily. (most aren't a 50/50 split)

Of course, RWD can be the tricky ones to drive, that's why we don't go out of our way to insure them.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

..... sorry it that reply is a bit blunt, but it sometimes seems like everyone's an expert.

We do things our way, and it works well.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

You seem to be quite the expert in sarcasm!

I was trying to have a sensible debate and actually asking genuine questions, but I won't bother if you're going to act like that! At no point did I say I was an expert, I was asking for the insurance companies reason.

I'm still interested to know the actual reasoning behind point blank quote refusal for 1st time AWD buyers, that is if anyone else fancies answering without trying to belittle me.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

I'd suggest reading some of your replies, before commenting on mine.

Regardless of what your opinion is, AWD catches a lot of people out, i've witnessed this twice at Brands Hatch and once following a friend in his Evo.

It's not the AWD that's the issue itself, it's the performance car aspect.

If someone hasn't driven/owned a performance car before, we're not interested in taking that risk.
Yes, there might be a nice bit of premium in it for us, but we'd rather not chance it, we'd rather play it safe.

I'd always choose to insure 2 good risks at £600 each, rather than take a change on a poorer risk with a £1200 premium.

Ok, this means twice as much work for me (having to do 2 policies instead of 1, for the same total premium), but by taking less of a risk our claim stats stay very good, which means the insurers don't loose money, and don't have to increase their prices at renewal.... unlike other companies who don't worry about the previous experience.
This is why i'm often rushed off my feet, but it's how i choose to do it, and it's how the insurers like us to do it.

Using this theory, we've been able to offer competitive prices on Impreza's for 10-15 years, rather than taking big premiums for a couple of years, then hiking up prices because of loosing schemes due to high claims.

Like i said above, sorry if my reply was blunt or sarcastic, but you seemed to questioning my way of underwriting in a sarcastic way yourself, which i didn't appreciate.

Shaid

Guys, guys....

Let's lighten the mood a little.

I recently had the job of finding a car for a 31 year old lady who had nil ncd, one naughty mark on her previous insurance record.

The plan was to try and get insured for less than £1k.

Now seriously guys, we complain now but when a badge on a Corsa is SXi rather than (whatever the more poverty spec model is) means the premium is a small chunk more at that point i think we should count our lucky stars that we aren't in such a position.

(we settled for a Daewoo Matix in the end!)

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

This is the trouble with reading, it's open to interpretation! I'm honestly not trying to be funny.

I just took issue with the AWD comment from some guy's post. I honestly didn't believe no AWD experience could be a reason to refuse but you said..

Then you say this.

And pretty much say what I was trying to say above.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Tony@Greenlight

Just to clarify exactly what experience would be required from a Greenlight perspective for most of our preferentially rated schemes.

Ownership
With high performance cars the best terms (rates/excess etc) are available to those of you who have owned their vehicle for at least the last 12 months (the longer the better).

Current Performance car experience
The next best thing to ownership would be owning another high performance vehicle for the last 12 months or more (again, the longer the better). Performance car experience of an All wheel drive, front wheel drive or rear wheel drive would be fine for a Subaru Impreza model.

We have a preference for covering all wheel drive models due to their overall handling ability, front wheel drive models are the next best performing for us.

Having analysed this in infinite (often painful) detail, we find rear wheel drive models to be the most problematic to us (especially during poor weather, or winter conditions). They are often prestige models, are harder to control and usually the most expensive to fix.

The real problem for us is when someone changes from an all wheel drive, or front wheel drive model to a big BHP rear wheel drive model (BMW M3 etc) just before winter without any prior rear wheel drive experience. We would not be able to assist in this instance.

Limited experience
On some occasions we are able to accept less experience, but this will depend upon

1) The age of the policyholder.
2) Their overall profile.
3 Where some current performance experience (ie. 6-8m) was gained, whether this was gained throughout a winter period.
4. Where you have extensive performance driving experience, but this is not current (ie. you have had performance cars for years, but not for the last 6-12m)

This would require bespoke referral to Insurers for acceptance and there is no guarantee of success.

No experience
If your last car was a basic non-performance model (ie. 1.0 Toyota Yaris, 1.2 VW Polo) and you're aiming for a Subaru Impreza STi we'll not be able to help.

High risk postcode areas
Insurers retain detail of all claims experienced for analysis purposes, which is used to highlight their exposure (based upon the actual claims received) to risk. This will include theft, accident and personal injury frequency (and cost).

Areas that are proven to have been consistently loss making are often excluded from preferentially rated schemes.

However, where you have been resident at your current address (ie. exposed to the local area) for several years and have owned your performance car there for 12m or more (again, the longer the better) we will always try to source cover for you on a risk by risk basis.


Hopefully this is helpful in explaining our current acceptance criteria and thanks for listening

Kind regards

Tony

P.S. I'll also post this within the Greenlight thread as this will be useful to highlight our experience requirement to anyone thinking of trying us