Insurance for big cars

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 10:19am #1

I've just been on to my insurer (FBD) regarding cover for the A8 and they want €1,285 for the year, including protected bonus and open driving. I've called a few other companies and they won't even quote for the car. Can anyone recommend anywhere else I might try? Thanks.

Marcus.Aurelius · 11-05-2007 10:35am

Anan1 wrote:

I've just been on to my insurer (FBD) regarding cover for the A8 and they want €1,285 for the year, including protected bonus and open driving. I've called a few other companies and they won't even quote for the car. Can anyone recommend anywhere else I might try? Thanks.

Try Quinn Direct, they'll quote online, I have an LS400 insured for €840 and I ain't that old!

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 10:42am

maoleary wrote:

Try Quinn Direct, they'll quote online, I have an LS400 insured for €840 and I ain't that old!

Thing is, everyone seems to say that QD are a bunch of tossers to deal with?

galwaytt · 11-05-2007 10:52am

Anan1 wrote:

Thing is, everyone seems to say that QD are a bunch of tossers to deal with?

as distinct from all the other beautiful insurance companies?? :rolleyes:

bazz26 · 11-05-2007 11:00am

Give St. Paul's and Britton Insurance a try.

Stark · 11-05-2007 11:07am

Anan1 wrote:

Thing is, everyone seems to say that QD are a bunch of tossers to deal with?

I've never had any problems with them anyway. I've found them to be much better than AXA, who I was with previously. That said, I think FBD give much better comprehensive insurance policies than QD.

michaelanthony · 11-05-2007 11:07am

Thats a normal price. Hibernian are 1300 for a new 730d

drdre · 11-05-2007 11:38am

michaelanthony wrote:

Thats a normal price. Hibernian are 1300 for a new 730d

It also depends on age.That quote wont be valid for a 25 yr old

drdre · 11-05-2007 11:40am

Anan1 wrote:

Thing is, everyone seems to say that QD are a bunch of tossers to deal with?

I would stay well clear of quinn direct.Id rather pay abit extra and be happy with service and if you have an accident you know you can claim easily whereas with quinn its just a risk

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 12:19pm

ST Pauls quoted €1350, brittons came in at €963 but without open drive. I got back on to FBD and they finally agreed to do it for €1,103 incl. NCB protection and open drive. I think i'll go with this, my own experience of FBD has always been very good and they appear to be well-regarded. Thanks again to all.

Stark · 11-05-2007 12:21pm

Yeah FBD seems to be the best bet, I've heard no bad things about them. Also Britton tend to be so cheap as they give very high excesses on their policies.

daedalus2097 · 11-05-2007 12:26pm

I'm the opposite - I can say that Quinn have always been very helpful with me with any problems I've had, paid me for the value of my car when it was written off (not my fault) and then went after the other insurers for the money. Windscreen cover, breakdown assistance and a 2.0 GTI fully comp for a 25 year old for ~€1100. Not bad at all! And one company I'll be steering clear of in future is Axa, for being tossers regarding the above accident...

drdre · 11-05-2007 12:27pm

Anan1 wrote:

ST Pauls quoted €1350, brittons came in at €963 but without open drive. I got back on to FBD and they finally agreed to do it for €1,103 incl. NCB protection and open drive. I think i'll go with this, my own experience of FBD has always been very good and they appear to be well-regarded. Thanks again to all.

How did they drop the price from 1285 to 1103 so quickly, Why dont insurance companies ever do that for me

That seems like a good deal.

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 12:31pm

drdre wrote:

How did they drop the price from 1285 to 1103 so quickly, Why dont insurance companies ever do that for me

That seems like a good deal.

It wasn't quick and it wasn't easy, it was actually a bit like a game of chess.;)

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 12:33pm

Stark wrote:

Yeah FBD seems to be the best bet, I've heard no bad things about them. Also Britton tend to be so cheap as they give very high excesses on their policies.

Now that you mention it, there was an excess of €350 on their quote. FBD do seem to be a very nice bunch of people, although I have to wonder could they keep it up if I took out a school bus in my new A8. ;-)

drdre · 11-05-2007 12:40pm

Anan1 wrote:

I've just been on to my insurer (FBD) regarding cover for the A8 and they want €1,285 for the year, including protected bonus and open driving. I've called a few other companies and they won't even quote for the car. Can anyone recommend anywhere else I might try? Thanks.

What year is the A8

Cyrus · 11-05-2007 12:56pm

Anan1 wrote:

I've just been on to my insurer (FBD) regarding cover for the A8 and they want €1,285 for the year, including protected bonus and open driving. I've called a few other companies and they won't even quote for the car. Can anyone recommend anywhere else I might try? Thanks.

did you try eagle star? insuring me on a e39 bmw 530 for 600 quid :cool:

drdre · 11-05-2007 1:02pm

Cyrus wrote:

did you try eagle star? insuring me on a e39 bmw 530 for 600 quid :cool:

Wow thats good, is there an excess on that, is it fully comp.

Cyrus · 11-05-2007 1:14pm

fully comp and full ncb protect

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 1:49pm

drdre - the A8 is a 99

Cyrus - Tried Eagle Star, they said they wouldn't quote for the car.

Eoin · 11-05-2007 1:56pm

drdre wrote:

How did they drop the price from 1285 to 1103 so quickly,

Because, like most commericial entities, they will charge as much as they think you will pay.

drdre wrote:

Why dont insurance companies ever do that for me

Penalty points?

drdre · 11-05-2007 2:09pm

eoin_s wrote:

Because, like most commericial entities, they will charge as much as they think you will pay.
Penalty points?

They have a fixed penalty point penalty.Its around 200 euro and thats for as many penalty points you get.

onemanband · 11-05-2007 2:17pm

Anan1 wrote:

drdre - the A8 is a 99

Cyrus - Tried Eagle Star, they said they wouldn't quote for the car.

What engine size is the A8?

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 2:21pm

onemanband wrote:

What engine size is the A8?

4172cc or thereabouts.

onemanband · 11-05-2007 3:08pm

Anan1 wrote:

4172cc or thereabouts.

Is it a KK reg??

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 3:13pm

onemanband wrote:

Is it a KK reg??

Nope, this will be my first Dublin registered car in a long time!

prospect · 11-05-2007 3:13pm

I think it is the 'open drive' bit that may be pushing up your premium.

onemanband · 11-05-2007 3:16pm

Anan1 wrote:

Nope, this will be my first Dublin registered car in a long time!

The very best of luck. I had a 99 KK A8 4.2 and it was nothing short of spectacular!!

testicle · 11-05-2007 3:49pm

drdre wrote:

I would stay well clear of quinn direct.Id rather pay abit extra and be happy with service and if you have an accident you know you can claim easily whereas with quinn its just a risk

Quinn are the fastest and easiest in the country to deal with claims.

drdre · 11-05-2007 3:51pm

testicle wrote:

Quinn are the fastest and easiest in the country to deal with claims.

Who said that.So are most of the papers wrong.And stuff that i have heard about them are brutal.I wouldnt go near them even if i was given free insurance.And im not joking
They were over 1000 cheaper for my insurance but i didnt go near them and i wont

testicle · 11-05-2007 4:20pm

drdre wrote:

Who said that.So are most of the papers wrong.And stuff that i have heard about them are brutal.I wouldnt go near them even if i was given free insurance.And im not joking
They were over 1000 cheaper for my insurance but i didnt go near them and i wont

I had a claim settled and paid out within a week of the crash. Others have had the same experience.

Quinn of old used to be cowboys, but that no longer appears to be the case. I haven't seen one of those reports in the papers in a long while.

Do you believe everything you hear? Here's one for you, gerry adams is really a woman.

drdre · 11-05-2007 4:24pm

testicle wrote:

I had a claim settled and paid out within a week of the crash. Others have had the same experience.

Quinn of old used to be cowboys, but that no longer appears to be the case. I haven't seen one of those reports in the papers in a long while.

Do you believe everything you hear? Here's one for you, gerry adams is really a woman.

Yeah i do believe what people say, I do believe but still wont go near them
I just have a perception about them so wont use them

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 4:37pm

drdre wrote:

Yeah i do believe what people say, I do believe but still wont go near them
I just have a perception about them so wont use them

Out of interest, I just rang Quinn Direct. Their service during the call was miles worse than FBD, the operator was slow and pretty clueless. Cover is also not as good as the cover being offered by FBD. To top it off, they quoted €1,309, ie €200 more than FBD.

rowanh · 11-05-2007 4:46pm

Im insured with quinn direct. I find them to be good, id have a few complaints but nothing major. I had a claim made against me and it did take alomst 2 years to get it sorted, im not sure though if it would have been sorted quicker with another company. I find my insurance fairly cheap aswell.

Does anyone konw who is the best insurance company for very powerful modified cars?

unkel · 11-05-2007 5:20pm

Did you try Eagle Star, Anan1?

I've fully comp with bonus protection, open driving and limited business use. You're of similar age to me with a similar car and similar (very long) NCB. I'm paying €700. Now I've been with ES for a few years, so I might be getting some kind of loyalty discount, but you should be able to get a better quote than you have so far

A bit of a pain to get quotes for a large-engined car as you've probably found out by now. About half of the quotes you'll get the "Oh sorry we don't insure cars with an engine over 2.5l" :rolleyes:

Anan1 · 11-05-2007 5:34pm

Hi Unkel,

I tried them, but they said they wouldn't quote for the car. I think some insurance companies will only insure high-risk cars for existing customers? I know that when I sold the C280 to a friend, FBD refused to quote him for the car even though they were already insuring it for me. If there were some way of finding out how much an insurance company would charge if only they would quote then I could just insure the Alfa with them for a week or so and then change..

Fey! · 11-05-2007 5:48pm

I'm with FBD, and have been for several years. I did €2k worth of damage to the car last year, which was paid quickly and didn't affect my policy as I had no claims protection.

Also, I deal with insurance companies regularly through work, and FBD are the ones who always go "tell us how much the replacement will be so we can pay up" (I'm a jeweller, so it's dealing with house policies).

Eoin · 11-05-2007 6:10pm

Anan1,

For what it's worth, I use Glennons. Now, it is a group scheme,so that probably explains why my insurance is alright, but I know they will quote above 2.5 litres as I recently got a quote of about 1100 or so for a Lexus GS300. It's worth the cost of a call anyway.

Eoin

MojoMaker · 11-05-2007 7:33pm

In light of the recent troubles with my 523i I called my crowd (RSA) and inquired about a switch to a similar vintage (99) 535i and they quuoted 815 for the year, that's up from 496 for the 523i. Best quote I've had in a while and I moved my business from Hib only last month when their best 523i quote came in at 1100. So try Royal & Sun Alliance, you might be surprised.

Edit - comp, open drive, step back etc.

ninty9er · 11-05-2007 7:49pm

eoin_s wrote:

Anan1,

For what it's worth, I use Glennons. Now, it is a group scheme,so that probably explains why my insurance is alright, but I know they will quote above 2.5 litres as I recently got a quote of about 1100 or so for a Lexus GS300. It's worth the cost of a call anyway.

Eoin

I had a group scheme option with Glennons, but they were still WAAAY more expensive than Hibernian who were the only other ones to quote me at the time for €4600 on a 1986 Opel Kadett 1.2 which I was offered for €50.

colm_mcm · 11-05-2007 8:38pm

bazz26 wrote:

Give St. Paul's and Britton Insurance a try.

St. Pauls don't quote to the public, you'll have to go through a broker like Jartin Lloyd Thomas or whatever they're called!

unkel · 11-05-2007 11:19pm

Anan1 wrote:

Hi Unkel,

I tried them, but they said they wouldn't quote for the car. I think some insurance companies will only insure high-risk cars for existing customers?

Ah crap! I forgot to mention that I'm not directly insured with ES. I'm insured through Frank Glennon (a broker). It's not logical (as a broker is an added party that needs to earn a commission), but they have been giving me by far the best quotes for years. Ring them and let us know!

Marcus.Aurelius · 12-05-2007 11:34am

drdre wrote:

Who said that.So are most of the papers wrong.And stuff that i have heard about them are brutal.I wouldnt go near them even if i was given free insurance.And im not joking
They were over 1000 cheaper for my insurance but i didnt go near them and i wont

What planet do you live on? QD have dealt with 3 claims (in my favour each time) They are excellent and intelligent and responsive. Can't say that for any other insurer. Experience has taught me to ignore Hibernian and Eagle Star, they're so bad.

Insurance for big cars

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