Hard to get sensible insurance quote

case_sensitive · 12-11-2011 5:52pm #1

I'm in a broadly similar position, trying to buy a Ford Puma (1.7L) over the weekend, and because very few insurance brokers/companies are open now, getting a quote is pretty much down to online.

A few (Tesco, Aoninsure, Axa) have out-and-out refused to give a price, sometimes they say they don't have enough information, sometimes they just say that 'under the circumstances' they can't quote me. My broker came up with €800 a year (falling to €700 next year) last week over the phone, 123 said €766, but when I called them, it magically became €830!.

25plus.ie went the other way, quoted me a comical €1890!

The Tesco one was bizarre, because the first page asks you very few questions, none about experience, just the car, my age and gender, instant no!

The price is high because it's my first insurance (passed test in March, 4 years of named driver experience split between the mother's 307 and my fiance's Yaris), but mitigated somewhat by the fact that I'm a older (32).

The car has 120BHP, which is little less than a new 1.6L Focus, hardly an Imprezza with bi-turbos bolted on.. It is 10 years old though, which may be a factor.
I suppose I should probably go with my broker, but despite the lack of NCD, I also don't have points, I suspect I should be able to get something more like €700.

Here's the best bit, if I buy this car tomorrow, I can't drive it! I'll have to bring my fiancé, I'll drive the little Yaris home, and with her fully comp drive-any-car insurance, she's allowed to drive it, until Monday when I can get my own. Sickened.

paulmclaughlin · 12-11-2011 5:57pm

So your question is...?

pudzey101 · 12-11-2011 6:12pm

32 with a full and cant get insured on a puma??

i was insured on a bzr levin (high performance) 1.6 when i was 20 with a provisional

Gareth2011 · 12-11-2011 7:45pm

A few insurance companies refused to quote me before too and it wasn't even a big car. Think it was a opel vectra 1.6 or something. I got onto the proper agency (could have been financial regulator) and they made them give me a quote. Only prob was it was still too hight but I wonder did they load onto the quote cause they were forced to give it to me. :mad:

homingbird · 12-11-2011 8:13pm

Their must be more to it at your age you should be getting sensible quotes from insurance company's . You must be living in the wrong place high risk aera.

L-M · 12-11-2011 8:18pm

pudzey101 wrote: »

32 with a full and cant get insured on a puma??

i was insured on a bzr levin (high performance) 1.6 when i was 20 with a provisional

Since when are Bzr's High performance? Or was it a Blacktop, or what ever the higher spec is called?

mlumley · 12-11-2011 8:25pm

Your GF cant drive the car untill the car is insured. her insurance only covers her driving another car that is insured. Ask at the Guarda station if you think i'm wrong.

stimpson · 12-11-2011 8:29pm

It doesn't matter if it's high performance or not. It's high risk. It was a magnet for boy racers and a proportionally high number of them ended up wrapped around lampposts. That, combined with your lack of experience is your problem.

I'd suggest picking up a 1.6 Focus and driving that for a couple of years. Build up some NCB and try again.

If its any consolation, I paid €1400 on a CRX with 5 years NCB when I was 32. TBH, 800 sounds pretty reasonable all things considered.

dr.fuzzenstein · 12-11-2011 8:33pm

It's the way the insurance companies work here.
If you're not driving a 1.4 Corolla they don't know what to make of you.
Back in Germany a mate of mine got insured on an ex-military VW Kuebelwagen (modified beetle, looks like some offroad dealy), it had no roof, machine gun holders, was 20+ years old, he was 20 at the time, I'll just put your details in, yes here's your quote, no problem.
In Ireland there would have to be a three week conference between a delegation of 200 experts before quoting you the Irish deficit to insure it.
Because, if it was easy, it wouldn't be Irish!

alanmc · 12-11-2011 9:07pm

Insurance here is funny. Just for sh1ts and giggles, I decided to get a few website quotes on my car (which I've had for over a year now). As expected, they were all akin to pin numbers. But about a week later, I got a call back from one of the companies:

Me: Hello

Girl on phone: Hi, I'm just following up on a quote you got on our website last week. So your car is a Nissan 350 ... oh Jesus!

This is where the sales pitch stopped. Hehe.

They seem to be hardwired into thinking that performance cars are the work of Satan.

guil · 12-11-2011 9:14pm

mlumley wrote: »

Your GF cant drive the car untill the car is insured. her insurance only covers her driving another car that is insured. Ask at the Guarda station if you think i'm wrong.

thats not true for all insurers

OP if your gf drives the car the there will be no cover on her yaris so you wont be insured to drive it

pudzey101 · 12-11-2011 10:06pm

Limerick man wrote: »

Since when are Bzr's High performance? Or was it a Blacktop, or what ever the higher spec is called?

Exactly what stimpson said

Yeah its blacktop, there in the higher groups of cars, still got insured at 20 on a Prov with it

case_sensitive · 13-11-2011 1:35pm

Agreed, if she's stopped though, she's covered, if Im stopped, I'm covered. If one of us is involved in an accident, we're both. If we both get involved in accidents that are our fault, we're in trouble, though the odds are pretty long against. It's just to get the car from the dealer to my drive, where I can set about getting its neglect seen to and tax etc. Thanks for the feedback, insurance does seem to be a funny ol' business, one insurer said she could insure me on the 1.6 Puma (104BHP) but not on the 1.7 (123). I've been named on my mother's 307 SW (138BHP) for years, and while it's a handful to lug around the place, I've never been in danger of crashing it.

Suck it up for a few years till it gets cheaper. Gotcha.

Keith186 · 13-11-2011 3:10pm

I don't get how your insured to drive the yaris? Does you fiancée have open drive on it so anyone can drive it? And does she have driving other cars extension even if it cos not insured?

It's possible this is the case but it would be a bit uncommon.

voojeq · 13-11-2011 3:19pm

@ Op

Same story here, i have to go and buy small engine rubbish instead of proper 2.0 or v6 despite i have over 7 years of driving experience (not in ireland tho)

it is annoying to say at least

INSURANCE MAFIA SHALL BE REMOVED (shortly by someone plz)

case_sensitive · 13-11-2011 3:40pm

Fiance has open drive, entitling her to drive any car, I'm currently named on her policy, entitling me to drive her car, albeit, these two things aren't supposed to happen at the same time. Not great, but better than me driving the Puma myself, totally uninsured

Keith186 wrote: »

I don't get how your insured to drive the yaris? Does you fiancée have open drive on it so anyone can drive it? And does she have driving other cars extension even if it cos not insured?

It's possible this is the case but it would be a bit uncommon.

guil · 13-11-2011 4:39pm

case_sensitive wrote: »

Fiance has open drive, entitling her to drive any car, I'm currently named on her policy, entitling me to drive her car, albeit, these two things aren't supposed to happen at the same time. Not great, but better than me driving the Puma myself, totally uninsured

open drive has nothing to do with drivig other cars, it simply covers anyone between the age of 25-65 with a full licence to drive her car

what you're describing is a 3rd party extension and if you do what you say above, the 2 of ye will be totally uninsured

Mr Benevolent · 13-11-2011 7:21pm

Buying a car you can't insure will turn it into a very expensive paperweight.

case_sensitive · 14-11-2011 11:05am

Few calls this morning yield fruit; RSA through AA insurance, fully comp, naming Fiancé, €606 a year. Excess is high at €500, but I'm very happy. Didn't bother calling anyone else after that.

I asked about Open Drive, and for €730 I could have had a policy that she confirmed would allow me to drive any car, which IS what Open Drive is. So sayeth the AA.

stimpson · 14-11-2011 11:20am

Result. Enjoy the new motor and keep it between the hedges!

case_sensitive · 14-11-2011 12:10pm

Yep, next up is timing belt, oil, filters, headlamp bulbs and inspection turned up some bits of rubber around the suspension worn out. Last owner was either deeply neglectful, or didn't keep records, last documented service was at 21k, which was 8 years and 46,000 miles ago (!).

Brakes have been replaced 'recently' and there's no record of it in the book, so maybe she knew a man that did work but couldn't write..

dr.fuzzenstein · 15-11-2011 10:02am

case_sensitive wrote: »

Yep, next up is timing belt, oil, filters, headlamp bulbs and inspection turned up some bits of rubber around the suspension worn out. Last owner was either deeply neglectful, or didn't keep records, last documented service was at 21k, which was 8 years and 46,000 miles ago (!).

Brakes have been replaced 'recently' and there's no record of it in the book, so maybe she knew a man that did work but couldn't write..

You'll need this website:
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/

stimpson · 15-11-2011 10:43am

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

You'll need this website:
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/

Not much use for a Ford Puma.

case_sensitive · 15-11-2011 11:07am

Yeah, I did a quick search, not much there, cheers for the link though, if anyone had any on non-Modification sites for the Puma, I'd appreciate them.

ProjectPuma is pretty big, but they seem mostly concerned with ruining the FRP models with orange paint and blue lights..

I realise I'm drifting off-topic now, but links to parts sites/garages I can run down to or ship reasonably to Ireland would be fantastic. I've already got my eyes on a breaker on the N2 that has 3 Pumas. I'm going to find out which parts are compatible with the Fiestas too, I'm thinking other than the engine and bodywork, most of them are similar?

dr.fuzzenstein · 15-11-2011 4:15pm

stimpson wrote: »

Not much use for a Ford Puma.

Indeed and it isn't, you're right there!:D
Just remembered seeing MX5 a few pages back, must have skipped a few posts.
Now that you know the website, are you sure you wouldn't consider one?;)

stimpson · 15-11-2011 4:17pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Indeed and it isn't, you're right there!:D
Just remembered seeing MX5 a few pages back, must have skipped a few posts.
Now that you know the website, are you sure you wouldn't consider one?;)

Always wanted one, just couldn't say goodbye to my CRX!

_Conrad_ · 15-11-2011 5:30pm

Limerick man wrote: »

Since when are Bzr's High performance? Or was it a Blacktop, or what ever the higher spec is called?

Well they're certainly not a patch on a skyline gtr or such things but not exactly a 1.0 micra either in the eyes of insurance companies, certainly would not be the cheapest car for a 20 year old with a provisional licence to insure. They're not wildly, terrifyingly fast but they're considered to be "sporty" cars and therefore automatically "boy racer" cars by insurers. Certainly do-able if you have enough cash but surely with a slight bit of logic you could see why it may be slightly more difficult for a young lad to get insured.

Hard to get sensible insurance quote

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