Wanted: Porsche-friendly insurers...

Flangemonger

Hi,
I'm a boy about to turn 35 (oh joy! :eek: ) and the one positive thing about this is that I'm hoping the quote on a Porsche 944 will drop from Mind-blowingly insane to merely Criminally extortionate.
Can anyone recommend an insurer who doesn't hide under the desk when I mention the word Porsche?
I've tried getting quotes online, (123.ie, quinn direct etc) but none of them can offer an online quote. And I'll be buggered if I'm going to ring around the insurers cos it takes 15 mins EACH of telling them your life story, to conclude with them saying "Oh we don't cover Porsches"... :mad:

Oh I should say that if I buy one, it'll be my only car and I do about 20k miles per year so the classic insurance idea is out the window.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Mickk

Ring goggin insurance on dorset st, they deal with arb and St. Paul who are the most likely to give you a good quote. They were the only ones in the country who got me a quote for a 6l petrol Hummer when I was 23 with no ncb and a provisional!!

TheBazman

Yeah I got my insurance with St Pauls through a broker on a Nissan 350Z - they were the only ones that would quote me fully comprehensive

IrishRover

Haha Flangemonger (love the name) and I too make myself feel better about getting older by insuring faster cars for cheaper.

Re the 944 being your only car, what happens when you need a part that you can't get straight away? I think it would be a good idea to have a "backup car" for those times. Can you get classic insurance on a 944 yet? Have you bought one or just looking?

lomb

WWW.XSDIRECT.IE
4 grand excess..

unkel

It's a base 944 you're looking to get? If so, it has the same power as a new BMW 120 diesel, so I can't see there being any problem getting a reasonable insurance quote considering your age, and presumably clean full license and 5+ years NCB

TPFT shouldn't be on the wrong side of a grand

Flangemonger wrote:

I'll be buggered if I'm going to ring around the insurers cos it takes 15 mins EACH of telling them your life story

That's just being lazy. I know it can be frustrating - I've been there before trying to insure my V8 BMWs and only finding out in the end the "Oh no - we don't cover any car over 2.5l" :rolleyes:

Just ring all insurers, all brokers and try all on-line quotes. It's the only way

G'luck with the Porsche - post some pics here if / when you get it

TempestSabre

Shouldn't be that expnesive. A mate about the same age has a old 911 and its about the same as his previous 330i. I think its around 1200-1500 or something like that. I think theres limited mileage and a high excess on it though.

TheBazman

Just be careful- when I was ringing around to insure my 350Z I gave the usual info Nissan, 3.5 ltr ..blah blah and seemed to have no problem getting quotes. However when I mentioned 350Z all I got was "Oh we dont insure those". It seems as if the engine size is no issue (relatively speaking) but if it is a "sports car" then that causes a problem. This strikes me as the wrong way of looking at it as a "sports car" is designed better to handle the large engine size.

Flangemonger

Thanks for all your help folks, I'll follow up all your leads. And I'll butt in on the insurers during the phone calls - "Right missus, just cut the bu11sh1t, do you cover Porsches or not, yes or no?"
A mate put me on to Brittons http://www.brittonsinsurance.com and they quoted EUR916 comp with EUR350 excess. Sweeeet!

Mickk, is your Da an oil sheik or something?? Can you make it from one petrol station to the next without having to carry jerry cans?

Nice wagon Bazman, it'll be a long day til they're in my price range though!

IrishRover, I'm having faith in the Lord, a full service history and German engineering..... and if all else fails my sister has an oul Starlet for navigation rallies that I could borrow!

Being 35 mightn't be all that bad after all! Now if I can just find out what to do about the hair growing in my ears..... :rolleyes:

Another question for ye - colour possibilities are red, black and silver.
What colour would you go for?
Personally, I like red ones and the 944 poster I had in 1986 was a red one so it would be the dream come true. But does it scream "tosser" to you?
I'm not in it for the "Look-at-me" factor or for the speed (I drive like a sister; I'd take a diesel one if they made em!), I want one cos I always thought they were drop dead gorgeous.

IrishRover

Flangemonger wrote:

Another question for ye - colour possibilities are red, black and silver.
What colour would you go for?
Personally, I like red ones and the 944 poster I had in 1986 was a red one so it would be the dream come true. But does it scream "tosser" to you?
I'm not in it for the "Look-at-me" factor or for the speed (I drive like a sister; I'd take a diesel one if they made em!), I want one cos I always thought they were drop dead gorgeous.

I know the poster and yeah it did look great in that.
I've always thought they look great in black too. The badge offsets well against the black background. Not that silver isn't nice too.
Anyway, go for the red, fulfill the dream. Not tossery at all.

Being 35 mightn't be all that bad after all! Now of I can just find out what to do about the hair growing in my ears..... :rolleyes:

pmsl

ninty9er

One of my friend's neighbours has a yellow one. It's fairly manky but looks well when it's clean

unkel

Flangemonger wrote:

they quoted EUR916 comp with EUR350 excess. Sweeeet!

Didn't I tell ya?

Mickk

Flangemonger wrote:

Mickk, is your Da an oil sheik or something?? Can you make it from one petrol station to the next without having to carry jerry cans?

Funnily enough I bought it of an oil sheik!! I got to look at his collection of cars aswell, lambo's, ferarri's and loads of old beetles for some reason?

Its a 02 but it only had 5000 miles! He used to just use it for towing his boat around...

You would be surprised how far a 40 gallon tank will get you.

milltown

Mickk wrote:

You would be surprised how far a 40 gallon tank will get you.

You would be surprised how far it would need to get me before I could afford to fill it again!

180 litre tank at roughly €1.15 per litre = €207 :eek: OMFG!

Flangemonger

I was gonna say it'd be a bugger to find a parking space for a Hummer too. But then it occurred to me that you can just park it on top of two ordinary cars.... just need a stepladder to reach the ground and the job's a good 'un.:D

It reminds me of something Jeremy Clarkson wrote in the 80s about the Lamborghini LM002 (similar to a Hummer):
"The perfect car for robbing a bank, just drive it through the wall and people will be too surprised to stop you taking the money.
The only downside is that the police will catch you at the nearest petrol station, waiting for the tank to fill..."

Mickk

40 gallons = 150 litres not 180 but yea its expensive. Its funny actually not alot of people have the pleasure of finding this out but the pumps stop at 100 litres. You have to go up and pay and reset it and start again!!

Just realised there is a difference between imperial gallons used over here and us gallons, thats where you came up with 180L.

magpie

You obviously didn't see the episode of Top Gear where they had a race with some old 944s and tested their remaining BHP after all these years. They were all rustbuckets with less poke left iin them than a fiesta! Good luck finding a good one, I believe a 911 may be a better bet judging by some of the decent nick old ones you see about the place.

Henry Ford III

944's were galvanised from new. If they were not crashed and repaired badly they should not rust.

Flangemonger

magpie wrote:

You obviously didn't see the episode of Top Gear where they had a race with some old 944s and tested their remaining BHP after all these years. They were all rustbuckets with less poke left iin them than a fiesta!

I saw an episode of TG with a similar theme but it was a Maserati Merak, a Ferrari 308GT4 and a Lamborghini Urraco. The Maserati was the funniest one, with about 85bhp left....:D

magpie wrote:

I believe a 911 may be a better bet judging by some of the decent nick old ones you see about the place.

911s never turned my crank I'm afraid. To me they always looked like a VW Beetle that somebody has stepped on.

unkel

Flangemonger wrote:

911s never turned my crank I'm afraid. To me they always looked like a VW Beetle that somebody has stepped on.

You're not old enough to say that

dermot_sheehan

Mickk wrote:

Ring goggin insurance on dorset st, they deal with arb and St. Paul who are the most likely to give you a good quote. They were the only ones in the country who got me a quote for a 6l petrol Hummer when I was 23 with no ncb and a provisional!!

On a side point, do you drive this on a B class licence? Doesn't it weight more then 3,500 kg?

Flangemonger

flangemonger wrote:

911s never turned my crank I'm afraid. To me they always looked like a VW Beetle that somebody has stepped on.

unkel wrote:

You're not old enough to say that

Why do you think that? Been a car nut for over 20 years now, but 911s never were my cup of tea. Mind you, I'd take a 356 like a shot, oddly enough!
(or a 956/962 wheee!:cool: )

unkel

Flangemonger wrote:

Mind you, I'd take a 356 like a shot, oddly enough!

I'd have thought that if you feel the 911 looked like a beetle, you feel the 356 looked even more like a beetle!

IrishRover

Yeah, that's a squashed Beetle alright!

Flangemonger

unkel wrote:

I'd have thought that if you feel the 911 looked like a beetle, you feel the 356 looked even more like a beetle!

I know, perverse isn't it! Never liked the Beetle or 911 but always liked the 356 and Karmann Ghia.... and if you asked the average person they'd say they ALL looked the same! Trying to figure out how I think is a waste of time. I must have some female genes floating around in here...:rolleyes:

unkel

LOL

You like the 914 too?

Flangemonger

unkel wrote:

It's a base 944 you're looking to get? If so, it has the same power as a new BMW 120 diesel....

Agh! It's only now that I'm following up on this quote, and you're right - the 2.5 Luxes were only 150bhp. No way am I spending a grand on insuring a 150bhp car!!
It fairly puts the skids under the insurer's attempt at justifying the extortionate premiums with "Oh it's a high-powered car". If that's the case, then how come I could insure a Golf diesel with the same power for half the price...???

Still tempted by a convertible 3.0 S2, but the one I'm ogling is LHD so the insurance is probably even worse.... Ah well. I suppose it's time to postpone the mid-life crisis for another while...

IrishRover

I had assumed you were getting the turbo. I reckon if you're getting something that's supposed to be for fun you might as well get the fastest model. You'll always be a bit disappointed with the one you have if you don't I reckon.

Anyway, why the defeatist attitude? You didn't strike me as someone who gave up on things so easily!

I doubt insurance would be that much worse. Check it out anyway...

Flangemonger

IrishRover wrote:

I had assumed you were getting the turbo. I reckon if you're getting something that's supposed to be for fun you might as well get the fastest model. You'll always be a bit disappointed with the one you have if you don't I reckon.

Oooo Turbo's pushing my luck I think. I can be a bit cack-handed when I'm in a bad temper, and I think me + Turbo = disappearing-backwards-through-scenery episode sooner rather than later. But 150bhp? Alright it's more manageable but getting blown off by diesel Golfs doesn't exactly appeal....

IrishRover wrote:

Anyway, why the defeatist attitude? You didn't strike me as someone who gave up on things so easily!

Unfortunately, I'm the North-East Main Distributor for defeatist attitudes...:(

IrishRover wrote:

I doubt insurance would be that much worse. Check it out anyway...

Gave Brittons a go for a 1990 3.0 S2. EUR918 (sweet) but a EUR 4000 excess (including for glass)!!! Methinks not!

Just went through the rigmarole again for an 86 Turbo. It came out at EUR 1013 with a EUR 550 excess. Pity it broke the magic 1K mark, I'd nearly think about it if it was in the 900s. But I'll bet you it doesn't have ABS, and from experience I know that I need that particular piece of idiot-proofing....:rolleyes:

IrishRover

Flangemonger wrote:

Oooo Turbo's pushing my luck I think. I can be a bit cack-handed when I'm in a bad temper, and I think me + Turbo = disappearing-backwards-through-scenery episode sooner rather than later.

Ah I dunno, I don't think that's necessarily so. For me driving a more powerful or turbocharged car has made me actually give more leeway to other people on the road who probably won't have the same ability to accelerate as quickly. I've pretty much learnt not to drive "emotionally". I think it can go either way, but if you are a bit older and have had a few years of experience I think more power can give you an increased sense of respect for the power and speed. Often times it's the people in the lowest powered cars on the road I see driving the most recklessly. These days I see a lot of people on Irish roads with big power cars driving the most sensibly. I'm not equating that with driving slowly as such, but appropriate use of speed, and not taking unneccesary risks. Time and a place and all that.

Plus, with a turbo you tend not to have to work the gearbox as much because you can still increase speed quite quickly in top, so you can adopt a more smooth driving style, instead of maybe ragging it through the gears and hanging on until into the redline.

But 150bhp? Alright it's more manageable but getting blown off by diesel Golfs doesn't exactly appeal....

Well a thing that I am appreciating more and more these days is that just because two cars may have identical bhp figures doesn't mean much about how they drive in reality. The way the cars drive and how they deliver that power can be, and ususally is, in my experience completely different. Still, for a 2.5 litre I'd want more than 150bhp, and for a Porsche of any kind I'd want it to be faster than 150bhp would suggest.

Just went through the rigmarole again for an 86 Turbo. It came out at EUR 1013 with a EUR 550 excess. Pity it broke the magic 1K mark, I'd nearly think about it if it was in the 900s. But I'll bet you it doesn't have ABS, and from experience I know that I need that particular piece of idiot-proofing....:rolleyes:

Yeah, I can see why you'd want it to come under the 1K mark alright. Maybe a bit more ringing around is in order. Just wait til you have to tax it though and see how you feel about that!

As for the ABS, well on the one hand I kind of think that on an older car it's just something else to go wrong, but then again there could be that one situation that might happen where you might end up really regretting not having it.

Unfortunately, I'm the North-East Main Distributor for defeatist attitudes...:(

Well, unless you want to change your mind now about the whole Porsche thing and get something else fast and fun, but then you'll never have that car you first fell in love with from the poster. Maybe it's like James May with the Countach where he was so disappointed with it when he finally got to drive one after lusting after it for so many years from the poster pictures of it. He was saying it's like the idea that you should never meet your heroes in case they don't live up to your expectations, but sure if you never do, you'll never know. I say go for it, but not as a daily driver and have a reliable and fun car for normal transport (I'm talking about something like the MKII Honda CRX - just for example).

Flangemonger

IrishRover wrote:

Often times it's the people in the lowest powered cars on the road I see driving the most recklessly. These days I see a lot of people on Irish roads with big power cars driving the most sensibly.

I'd say the same there. It's the piddly 1L Corsas that take a mile to overtake which make me cringe when I'm watching from behind most times. At least with a fast car you're back on your own side of the road before you run OUT of road!

IrishRover wrote:

Still, for a 2.5 litre I'd want more than 150bhp, and for a Porsche of any kind I'd want it to be faster than 150bhp would suggest.

Me too, especially when as you said, the tax figure will be stupendous. I mean it's a Porsche for god's sake! How can it only be 150bhp when only a few years later Honda was routinely and reliably wringing 167bhp out of a normally-aspirated 1.6?!?

IrishRover wrote:

Well, unless you want to change your mind now about the whole Porsche thing and get something else fast and fun, but then you'll never have that car you first fell in love with from the poster.

Well the one I really REALLY fell in love with was the 308/328 GTS. But by the time THEY've fallen into my price range, they'll have crumbled into dust (and I'll probably be too old to drive). Ah well, one can but dream....

IrishRover wrote:

Maybe it's like James May with the Countach where he was so disappointed with it when he finally got to drive one after lusting after it for so many years from the poster pictures of it.

I didn't see that one, but I heard the Countach was appalling alright. I DID see the one where Clarkson finally got the chance to drive a GT40... only to find his head stuck up a good 5 inches above the roof and so he couldn't get the door closed... Lucky for him they went and remade them eh?

IrishRover wrote:

I say go for it, but not as a daily driver and have a reliable and fun car for normal transport (I'm talking about something like the MKII Honda CRX - just for example).

I can't afford a 2nd car sadly. And even if I could it would kill me to hear the sound of the tax and insurance bills ticking away on a car that's sitting doing nothing!

I did like the MkII CRX, thought about one a few years ago but it was hard to find one that wasn't
a. two-tone (ugh)
b. imported (and thus no history, and probably a b1tch to get spare parts for)
c. had the sh1t thrashed out of it.
Would still go for a black one. Couldn't believe my eyes at the time when it was replaced. "You're replacing it with that.... that... pick-up truck?!?! Are you NUTS?!?"