A Good Old-Fashioned Rant
 

"Car Insurance Hits A Low!!" was a statement uttered on the news this morning.

It wasn't discussed in any real detail, more of just a fleeting comment made during the 'business/money bit'... but it was enough to make me feel a little less apprehensive about my renewal at the end of this month.

Then, as if by magic, my renewal letter shows up today.

I'd like to think after 6 years of driving, 6 years no claims with no convictions or anything negative plus being over the ripe ol' age of 25, I would finally see a reasonable quote this year.

Nope. Not even a little bit.

I'd go as far to say it hasn't gone down at all.

I decided to have a quick scout on a comparison site, I know they aren't ideal, I just wanted some quotation ammo so I could call my insurer up tomorrow and ask how they could justify the price of my renewal.

To my horror, the cheapest comparison quote was just shy of 4 figures and that was ONLY on the condition they fitted a black box to my car :razz:

And to add insult to injury, it was some company I had never even heard off! I tend to only stick with companies I actually KNOW for piece of mind.

Out of curiosity, I scrolled down to see what the cheapest KNOWN company quote was- £1450.

Are you freakin' kidding me!!?:mad:


As every year ticks by, the turbo envy grows more and more unbearable and at this rate, that JDM seems ever more like an unrealistic dream.

By the time I can buy one, let alone insure the bugger, they'll have probably issued some EU restriction on turbo-charged Japanese imports, or introduced some crazy fuel restriction where we all have to drive hybrids with a £20 p/week petrol limit. Hell, they might as well.

Maybe I should just give up now and buy a Fiesta or something :brickwall

(although I'm guessing an ST would be out of the question *rolls eyes*)


:RantOff:

Have you tried Gary Moleson at Keith Micheals??

Most Scooby owners I know use him, he's a long time Scooby owner himself (even though he's just got an Evo) and always gives me the cheapest insurance quotes!

Can't see how your getting quotes that high, I was 24 when I got my brand spanking new Bugeye WRX and never paid anywhere near that (or the equivalent for nowadays).

Gary posts as 'Moley' on Scoobynet, check out the insurance section of this forum, he's well respected and an all round good egg :thumb:

With a full NCB and no convictions, that's crazy. Do you live in a really bad postcode?
Have you got anyone 'mature' as a second driver? Both my son's and daughters insurance went down noticeably when they put me (or their mum) on as a second driver!
Is insurance for a turbo much more than for the Sport? I remember some years ago my son tried to insure an Escort XR3i but out of curiosity got a quote for an Escort RS Turbo, and it was cheaper! Needless to say, he went and bought one.

JohnD

Call Gary Moulson @ Keith Michaels.

Gary insures all our fleet and his customer service is superb. I insure both my cars for less than £1k

Zola try Sky insurance as well. You can find them in the insurance section on here. They done me and Becky a really good deal and were very helpful.
I had to 6 points for speeding and a non fault claim and last year was down to around the £550 mark!

You can find out your Post Code rating here:

http://www.motorcarinsuranceuk.co.uk...de-ratings.php

I have always found Admiral multi-car insurance hard to beat.

I had Admiral for a few years but found i had to ring them every year as their renewal was always to dear. They always changed it after me telling them i can insure cheaper without the multi car policy.
Anyway this year same old saga but ive insured all 3 cars with Adrian Flux and saved £322 pounds over Admirals quote and they couldn't get near it.

Adrian Flux are very good with performance cars, always worth a phone call. Better than on line, seem to get a better deal.

Give sky a call, thats who I'm with and can wholly recommend them. Keith michaels, greenlight and aplan also seem well regarded on here too.

Thanks for all the replies guys. It looks like I'll be making a few phone calls today at some point.

Looking around and reading some of the threads on here, I have a feeling I am not going to get it that much lower than my renewal.
To be fair, I like an easy life- (some call it laziness)-It would have to be a significant drop for me to warrant going through the hassle of switching insurers. I'm not expecting the unrealistic, but a couple of quid isn't going to sway me.

My postcode isn't listed on that checker site- not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing tbh! lol

My dad is a named driver on my policy. He has 38 years driving under his belt with no claims or convictions. I'd dread to think what I'd be paying if he wasn't on it!! :lol1:

Out of curiosity, I ran my details through a different comparison site. It offered better quotes and hopefully I will be able to use these to my advantage when I call my insurer to discuss my renewal.

I also ran additional quotes on a standard WRX and a standard STI (UK)-*same age as mine*
They came back identical! :confused: despite the vehicle spec. clearly listing the difference between the two...I'm guessing that's just an error with the comparison site as they don't tailor so much to specifics and try to generalise what they can. Either way, there is a £325 p/yr difference between the Sport and a turbo.

Whereas, I could afford that now, I wasn't after another blob so its irrelevant.

At the time I bought my car, the gap between the two was a lot greater and I couldn't justify the cost so I bought the Sport instead.
Now that gap is closing up, it does make me frustrated that I am paying what I am when, for the sake of a little more I could have the 'real deal'.

I will try to get hold of Gary @ KM and SKY insurance to see what they can offer.

But as Andy said, I too have found that over the last few years I have always had to phone and haggle over the price. It'll be interesting to see if I can talk them down for the 3rd year in a row :freak3:

Very helpful cheers for that :)

Go with Keith Michaels or Sky.

I use Sky, can declare my mods, not gonna get f***'d for having something minor like mudflaps and the price was competitive too.

Admiral were the next best, but only on the proviso that I drove the car somewhere far far away to get a black boxed fitted - but they wouldn't cover me on the journey to get said box fitted!! :s

Well, thanks again for the recommendations chaps!

I've just come off the phone with Gary at Keith Michaels and I'm MORE than happy with the figure he quoted.:luxhello:

Looks like I'll be phoning my current insurer this weekend to tell them to shove it! I highly doubt they will match it somehow.

It's a pleasure to speak to someone who isn't just reading off a set script and actually possesses knowledge on the car in question!
I think a lot of other insurers must just hear the word 'Impreza' and add an extra £400 p/yr by default! :Suspiciou

The fact that my current insurance renewal was only £200 less than the lowest quote I found for a turbo'd model was seriously giving me cause for concern that someone might have messed up the admin somewhere.

Seems like the guys over at Keith Michaels actually appreciate the difference between the two and have quoted me a much more realistic price for a Sport.

Thank goodness for that! :notworthy

It's scary to think that more and more Ins.co. are requiring a magic box! Can you imagine any of us having one of those fitted!

JohnD

The thing is, I reckon one day we probably WILL have to have them fitted.

It seems to be the way this country is going with this stuff.
Too many people have taken the mickey with fraudulent claims and now every motorist is slowly but surly being criminalised as a result.
Look at dash cams- They are not a requirement by law YET, but give it another year...

I was fuming when that quote came up, asking for more than my renewal and insisting on the fitment of a box!
At first I thought they were a good idea for people who had just passed their tests and were maybe struggling to insure their first car, but come on! I'd like to think after so many years we could be trusted to drive ourselves around competently, would you??:brickwall

Once again, the minorities go and spoil it everyone else.

Little update on this:

Thanks again to everyone who recommended Gary Moulson at Keith Michaels.

I have taken out my first policy with them after they beat my previous insurer's renewal price by a staggering £330!

Fantastic service!

Thanks again!

Gary Moulson :top::banana:

Insured with Gary for years - still with him even though I ain't got my Scoob any anymore!