Refused Insurance

jank

Is it legal to refuse to insure a particular car because of its make and engine size?

Rang quinn direct about getting a quote and they refused because my 1.8 MR2 is a hi spec machine "my arse!"

Anyway is this legal?

Owen

They're insuring both you, and the car. So you need to give us your details, and the cars details for us to form an objective opinion. But yes, it's up to a company to decide if you're a safe insurable risk, otherwise we'd have 17 year olds wanting insurance on Daddy's 612 Scaglietti.

Mitch Connor

If you are already insured with them on another car, and you bought the MR2, they HAVE to provide you with a quote.

daedalus2097

Yeah, I got refused insurance on the GTI until I turned 25... They'll have various rules in place for the top power/performance you can insure based on your age/licence type/claims... Might be worth looking around a few other insurers, but chances are they'll all do something similar.

jank

OK im 26, 5 years no claim and going on 7 years as a full license holder.

Was surprised when they said they couldnt help me out,

rebel.ranter

Hi, as far as I know an insurance company can refuse you a quote, I know it used to be the case that you had to get 3 letters of refusal & then you could returen to one of the companies with refusal letters in hand & then one of the companies woudl be obliged to quote you.
Mind you the quote could be prohibitive.

OKenora

Don't confuse "refusal of insurance" and "refusal to quote". You are asked as part of your Insurance forms have you ever been refused insurance and the answer for most people is "NO".

"Refusal to quote" is saying we will insure you if the circumstances were different, i.e. you were older, had a smaller car, hadn't got 3 points etc etc.

"Refused insurance" is when the company says there is no way on earth that they would insure someone as bad a risk as you e.g because your eyesight has got so bad even with corrective lenses that you are a danger driving.

BACK ON TOPIC: I Find Quinn very optimistic and restrictive about what they call performance, they have refused to quote me on 4 of our 5 cars for various reasons. The simple answer, give the business to someone else. All our cars are now insured for reasonable amounts.

I am 42 with 1 years bonus and a licence a long time. No accidents or convictions or points in the last 15 years let alone 5. Reason for low bonus was no personal car for a while, company car.

jank

Fair enough, but the reason they gave me was that it was a high performance car of 140BHP!

daedalus2097

jank wrote:

OK im 26, 5 years no claim and going on 7 years as a full license holder.

Was surprised when they said they couldnt help me out,

Hmmm... Pretty surprising alright, but I think you're up against their 30-year-old barrier. I insured my GTI when I turned 25 but couldn't get quoted on a VR6 or the newer GTIs, which all ran about 30% more powerful, as I was under 30. Seeing as I wasn't really buying any of them I didn't ask any other insurers for quotes though...

Edit: 140BHP! That is strange then... You didn't have it valued at some silly amount, or it's not left hand drive or anything like that?

NiSmO

This post has been deleted.

jank

Edit: 140BHP! That is strange then... You didn't have it valued at some silly amount, or it's not left hand drive or anything like that?

Bog standard MR2!

No wonder this country is so non car friendly

Eoin

Tauren wrote:

If you are already insured with them on another car, and you bought the MR2, they HAVE to provide you with a quote.

I have a group scheme through work, but they're very conservative about what cars they'll insure. I asked for a quote for a 330d (it's just a saloon!), but was told while they would cover me until the end of the current policy, they wouldn't renew it after that.

Jumpy

I have an FTO and it was a fight to get insured. Contact FBD to see if they will.

Mitch Connor

eoin_s wrote:

I have a group scheme through work, but they're very conservative about what cars they'll insure. I asked for a quote for a 330d (it's just a saloon!), but was told while they would cover me until the end of the current policy, they wouldn't renew it after that.

I have a group scheme thing in work too, when it came to renewal time (i am with quinn) i contacted benchmark to see what they'd offer - €400 MORE then my original premium was, so i stayed with quinn for €1000 less then my preium for the first year.

richie_rvf

I have just renewed the insurance on my car, I decided to shop around this time, what a PITA!!

90% wouldn't quote for my car for the same reason.

I tried a few online and one of the questions was "is the car a high performance vehicle?" I clicked the 'help' link beside the question and they actually said that if the car can go from 0-60 in under 10 seconds then it is a high performance car :eek:

So - I stuck with my broker :rolleyes:

Richie.

Eoin

richie_rvf wrote:

I have just renewed the insurance on my car, I decided to shop around this time, what a PITA!!

90% wouldn't quote for my car for the same reason.

You'd think you're driving some 5 litre 400BHP monster of a car or something, the way they carry on, isn't that right Richie!

OKenora

if the car can go from 0-60 in under 10 seconds then it is a high performance car

ROFL........thats really stretching it for a performance car, most modern family cars get close to that or exceed it

Examples of performance cars...

Ford KA
Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi 7 seater
Vauxhall Corsa 1.7 CDTi
Volkswagen Lupo 1.4
Fiat Punto 1.4 16v
Fiat Panda 1.4 16v


And with the aerodynamics of a house brick but the practicality of a shed, you can now have the new Vauxhall performance car....

Vauxhall Zafira MPV 1.9 CDTi

With such a selection of sexy performance cars, who needs that GTi badge

Down the pub with m8's "You know my MPV is rated as a performance car, just like a ferarri, porsche, alfa or any other real performance car.....". Not quite the right effect though.....

sonners

I'm a 23 yr old female driving a 225bhp TT, my insurance is up shortly so I've been ringing around. QuinnDirect wont quote anybody under 30 on anything over 110bhp, absolutely ridiculous I know!

Hibernian, AIB and Tesco all quoted me with Hibernian being the best, maybe give some of these a call. Any of the rest I rang gave me the usual 'your under 25 and its a high-performance vehicle' bullsh*t.

Mitch Connor

sonners wrote:

I'm a 23 yr old female driving a 225bhp TT, my insurance is up shortly so I've been ringing around. QuinnDirect wont quote anybody under 30 on anything over 110bhp, absolutely ridiculous I know!

Hibernian, AIB and Tesco all quoted me with Hibernian being the best, maybe give some of these a call. Any of the rest I rang gave me the usual 'your under 25 and its a high-performance vehicle' bullsh*t.

I'm just after filling in the quinn-direct online form for a 130bhp A4 1.9TDI, was quoted €1400 (23yo - 1 year NCB)

Stephen

That's odd sonners, cos I insured my new Civic (1.8/140bhp, wooo!) with them a couple of weeks ago. I'm 24 with 2 years full licence and no claims. Hibernian wouldn't quote me, apparently I require 3 years full licence/no claims before they'll talk to me. Boo ****ing hoo.

kc66

sonners wrote:

I'm a 23 yr old female driving a 225bhp TT, my insurance is up shortly so I've been ringing around. QuinnDirect wont quote anybody under 30 on anything over 110bhp, absolutely ridiculous I know!

Quinn quoted me on my Volvo S40 which is 125bhp. I am 25. €670.

sonners

Right I always had a sneaking feeling but now I'm fully sure that THEY JUST MAKE THIS SH*T UP AS THEY GO ALONG!!!

I did the online quote with Quinn Direct, they would'nt quote me, which is fair enough (I expect it at this stage). Then an hour or so later I get a call from them telling me that I did'nt get the quote because they wont insure anything over 110bhp to any driver under 30 (I lol'd). The funny thing was it was like the girl on the phone expected my to say 'Oh, ok, I'll just sell my car so and get a little 1.1 fiesta just so you can insure me :rolleyes: '

@Stephen, I get the Feeling Hibernian are afriad of the word 'H-O-N-D-A'. When I started driving first they would'nt quote me on a 1.6 v-tech civic but insured me no problem on a 2.0ltr Celica! makes no sense.

Also, just too confuse you even more - in the last 6 months I changed from the 2.0ltr Celica (179bhp) to a 1.8 turbo TT (225bhp) and my insurance has actually HALVED!!

I swear to god they just pluck the numbers out of thin air.:rolleyes:

daedalus2097

They actually told you that they wouldn't insure a 110BHP to someone less than 30? That's mad! When I was 24 and tried the GTI they never mentioned the power, just said can't insure that vehicle til I was 25... So it sat there for a few weeks, I turned 25 and got a policy right away for around €1100. And that's 150BHP. I seemed to have trouble getting quoted in or around the 180BHP+ mark. They really are pulling these things out of their nether regions!

sonners

Yeah, going back 2 or 3 years ago I was being told I had to be 25 to insure a 'high-powered car' (I use the term loosely), now Quinn seems to have moved that mark to 30, which is fair enough but to say anything over 110bhp is high powered is a f*cking joke. Looking at the posts above, she must have been wrong for others to have got insured. I did'nt question it coz I dont particularly want to be insured with Quinn anyway. Just thought it was a bit mad that they rang me afterwards knowing there was nothing they could do for me.

Stephen

Sonners: Hibernian wouldn't insure me on a 1.25 litre Ford Fiesta or a 1.6 litre Hyundai Coupe either!

richie_rvf

eoin_s wrote:

You'd think you're driving some 5 litre 400BHP monster of a car or something, the way they carry on, isn't that right Richie!

The very thought :rolleyes:

How's things Eoin??

sonners

Stephen wrote:

Sonners: Hibernian wouldn't insure me on a 1.25 litre Ford Fiesta or a 1.6 litre Hyundai Coupe either!

A Ford Fiesta!!! now thats taking the p*ss, what reason did they give you?? (please dont say she's a high-performance car)

Stephen

They just told me they wouldn't insure me under my own name unless I had a full licence for 3 years :rolleyes:

I was given the option of doing their wonderful ignition course after which they'd still cost more than Quinn. F**k that.

sonners

Ah, when I started driving, Hibernian were the only ones who would even look at me. I had to do the Ignition Course and give them an arm and a leg of course, but everyone else just laughed down the phone when I rang looking for a quote.
I was 19, one years named driver experiance, full licence for a whole month and I had a 2.0ltr Celica - I'd laugh too

bf

I have the feeling whoever you were talkin to in Quinn may have given you a bum steer - they are likely have to refused a quote because the MR2 is a convertible...Quinn refused to quote me on the basis they don't do convertibles

I have an MR2 and full NCB all the necessary, but only 2 or 3 companies in Ireland will insure convertibles

madson

sonners wrote:

QuinnDirect wont quote anybody under 30 on anything over 110bhp, absolutely ridiculous I know!

I'm 25 with 2year ncb and a have a full licence 6 months and got insuranced by quinn on my 120bhp alfa no problem, also shopped around and had no issues with any other company giving me quotes.

Blitzkrieger

Stephen wrote:

That's odd sonners.......Hibernian wouldn't quote me

Because you don't have boobs? I'd say the 'rules' for women are way different to men.

When I got my first insurance it was on a 1.1 Fiesta with Hibernian. I think I was only allowed insurance on something more powerful because I swaped the insurance from one car to the other. When it came time to renew, no other company would insure me and the operator at Hibernian also said I wouldn't have gotten a quote as a new customer.

These days I'm with Tesco who are brokers for Hibernian. Somehow by bringing in a middle-man I save 350EUR. My other car is insured through a different broker with Hibernian and that saves me money too.

I'm positive they don't pluck numbers out of the air.......

Atomic Pineapple

yeh is the mr2 a convertible? quinn wont quote on the t-bar

quinn quote me on various cars up to the 200bhp mark, honda integra type r ukdm, toyota altezza, nissan200sx, toyota celica ssIII they have some cars that they have black listed though and just wont insure.

i'm 24 2 years ncb 3 years full licence

Andy_R

I'm 31 with 8 years NCB and Hibernian won't quote me on my Civic 1.8, the girl said they don't take new business on Honda VTEC cars...

Our man in Havana

I can beat that! 32 5 years NCB 10 years Full licence and they wouldn't quote on a 1.4 escort estate without their dreaded ignition course.

Guy:Incognito

sonners wrote:

I'm a 23 yr old female driving a 225bhp TT, my insurance is up shortly so I've been ringing around. QuinnDirect wont quote anybody under 30 on anything over 110bhp, absolutely ridiculous I know!.

I was with quinn last year on my Safrane (170bhp) when I was 24 with 3 years ncb for €800. Went with Tesco this year.

Rudolph Claus

Sonners must have got her wires crossed, saying Quinn wont insure under 30yr olds on cars over 110bhp is bull****. Sure practically every reply here is from someone under 30 with cars over 110bhp. They`re 110bhp limit is for provisional licence holders and then they have another age limit of 21 and 24 for high powered cars, if i remember correctly.

Im 23, and have a 160bhp Honda Crx delsol Sir insured with them no bother, so that squashes the claims being made that Quinn dont insure convertibles.

Triangle

sonners wrote:

I'm a 23 yr old female driving a 225bhp TT, my insurance is up shortly so I've been ringing around. QuinnDirect wont quote anybody under 30 on anything over 110bhp, absolutely ridiculous I know!

Hibernian, AIB and Tesco all quoted me with Hibernian being the best, maybe give some of these a call. Any of the rest I rang gave me the usual 'your under 25 and its a high-performance vehicle' bullsh*t.

Whats so unbelievable about this?

The whole celtic tiger has made more cash availabe to younger people than ever before. This means younger people have access to more expensive (and powerfull) cars.

Would you rate the risk of a person who has just learnt to ride a bike the same as a BMX professional?
Nobody wants to insure young drivers in high performance cars (i.e. any car other than a 2cv oldmobile)

on a positive note - i recently got a quote for a RX-8 that's cheaper then a Honda Civic LSi (R&SA) - Shop Around - it's worth it - and don't think one broker will give you a good quote - check a few.

daedalus2097

Nuttzy wrote:

Sonners must have got her wires crossed, saying Quinn wont insure under 30yr olds on cars over 110bhp is bull****. Sure practically every reply here is from someone under 30 with cars over 110bhp. They`re 110bhp limit is for provisional licence holders and then they have another age limit of 21 and 24 for high powered cars, if i remember correctly.

Im 23, and have a 160bhp Honda Crx delsol Sir insured with them no bother, so that squashes the claims being made that Quinn dont insure convertibles.

A lot is probably to do with the particular car and if you have letters on your badge you're in for a rough time... Once they hear "GTI", "Type-R", "CC" etc. maybe that sets off alarms. As an aside, only yesterday I rang Quinn and had my girlfriend added to my policy on the 150BHP GTI. She's 25 with a provisional licence but no no claims bonus or anything. Didn't affect my premium whatsoever! So maybe the 110BHP limit for provisionals only applies to males, or only applies on days beginning with T on a full moon or something

Keith C

sonners wrote:

Ah, when I started driving, Hibernian were the only ones who would even look at me. I had to do the Ignition Course and give them an arm and a leg of course, but everyone else just laughed down the phone when I rang looking for a quote.
I was 19, one years named driver experiance, full licence for a whole month and I had a 2.0ltr Celica - I'd laugh too

19yr old, f*ck all driving experiance & on a 2l celica, how much did you expect to pay €800?? :rolleyes:
When I started driving it was £3,000 on a 1.1 Peugeot & you paid it no questions asked cause you were lucky to get a quote at all, you kids nowadays & your need to whinge over not geting a cheap quote, sure your parents probably paid for your car & insurance anyway

dade

Keith C wrote:

When I started driving it was £3,000 on a 1.1 Peugeot & you paid it no questions ..........

my first I was 29, 1.25 fiesta and it cost me 2700 on my third provisional. 33 past my test with a few months and the following year dropped to 1200, then year 3 to 900 but I switched to AIG and got it for 760. Bought a Trueno and AIG refused to quote me, and they refused to cover me for the remainder of my policy (a whole 14 days). I ran amok on then and reminded them that if i was covered already they had to cover me on a new car and had to quote me for the renewal. Last year my insurance was 560 and my wife (on a provisional) is also insured as a named driver on it.

Noelie

My Brothers g/f is looking to buy a 2007 TT at the start of next year, apparently she has a demo model booked for herself. He's saying that her insurance with him named on it will be less than 500, can't remember the exact number but it was around the high 400's. But what I can't believe is that she is only 23.

sonners

OMG I'm sooo sorry, I forgot the unwritten rule on boards that girls cant comment on anything about cars or insurance coz we OBVIOUSLY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT.

I know it was ridiculous to insure me on the Celica at 19, hence why I said 'I'd laugh too'. Try reading to the end of a post.

To the OP: I hope you get your insurance sorted, I see alot of replies here but most of them just seem to be trying to outdo the previous poster with their 'I have a better story than you', and my favourite 'Back in my day' attitudes.

And for the record, the Celica and TT are both MINE, I paid for them, Insure them, Tax them and run them. There's no bank or parent that can lay claim to those cars. Its called hard work, you guys should try it sometime. :rolleyes:

kolo2007

in all fairness sonners the only reason you got insurance on the celica or the tt at 19 is without been sexiest is because you are female, simple as

Darragh29

Tauren wrote:

If you are already insured with them on another car, and you bought the MR2, they HAVE to provide you with a quote.

No they don't. They don't have to give you a quote ever if they don't want to...

sonners

kolo2007 wrote:

in all fairness sonners the only reason you got insurance on the celica or the tt at 19 is without been sexiest is because you are female, simple as

and your point is???

kolo2007

cause you said it was ridicolous to insure you on these cars at 19 and the fact is if you were male it wouldnt even considered by the majority of insurance companies to offer you insurance on the these cars, tats my point,

sonners

kolo2007 wrote:

cause you said it was ridicolous to insure you on these cars at 19 and the fact is if you were male it wouldnt even considered by the majority of insurance companies to offer you insurance on the these cars, tats my point,

and with me being female it STILL was'nt considered by the majority of insurance companies to offer me insurance on these cars. Hibernian were the only company to ever quote me on the Celica, I rang every insurance company and broker in the country for the three years I had her and no-one else would go near me. Not Quinn Direct, not Xcess, no-one. And even Hibernain would'nt have done it if I did'nt have my Full licence and passed their Ignition course.

What you guys quite easily forget is that all insurance companies have their market, some wont touch high-powered cars, some wont touch young drivers, young males, etc. Yeah, I managed to get insured, but it was'nt easy and it certainly was'nt cheap.

freq modulated

I have a nice quote sitting on the Quinn database for a 2.0 mr2 that i will use in a few days....no problems at all getting it either. Suprisingly enough its reasonable enough aswell. I have a named driving NCB of 2 years and a full licence a year and Im only 21.

Problem with the new mr2 is its convertible. For some reason insurance companies are scared of them.

kolo2007

just a question for you sonners but why is it that young drivers male or female cant fathom the reason why insurance companies will not quote them on these types of car, i mean for god sakes you are only 19 years of age, in my opinion a very inexperience driverd and yet your driving a 2 litre turbo car, why

sonners

kolo2007 wrote:

just a question for you sonners but why is it that young drivers male or female cant fathom the reason why insurance companies will not quote them on these types of car, i mean for god sakes you are only 19 years of age, in my opinion a very inexperience driverd and yet your driving a 2 litre turbo car, why

I dont know where this is coming out of, I have no idea where I asked why the insurance companies are unwilling to quote. I think its fairly obvious dont you? If anything I've said how crazy they were to actually insure me! I had no intentions of buying a Celica when I did, I saw it, fell in love and thought 'If they'll insure me I'm getting it'. I was under no illusions, I knew it was going to be (understandably) hard to get insured. And the first year I had her I paid more for my tax and insurance than I did for my car. I know many fella's who have done this but its not just guys you know.

The Celica was a flat 2.0ltr by the way, if it had been turbo or imported I would not have been insured and if I only had a provisional or if I had'nt passed the ignition course I would not have got insured. People here seem to have the opinion that girls can drive whatever they want, thats not true. Yes I know its EASIER for girls but its not a walk in the park either.