Altezza insurance?

Rob2593

Right I'm 20 years of age, 2 years NCB, full licence for a year. Basically I've been trying to find somewhere to insure an altezza, however before I tell them my details, every company I go to says they don't insure Jap imports. Any idea where I can get a quote?

Please no thread spoiling lads...I understand the stereotype that goes with Altezzas.

djimi

Setanta used to be quite good for insuring Japanese imports; not sure what they are like at the moment but worth a call. Youll need to find a broker who deals with them.

I got a very good quote from Liberty for my Integra, but I think you need to be over 30 before they will take on a car like that. Again a call cant hurt.

Britton are worth a shout. Can be a bit of a lottery as to how much they will charge though.

Stick with brokers if possible; the main insurers (Axa, Allianz etc) wont touch a car like that, but brokers generally are better at getting some manner of a quote.

Where ever you can get quoted (if you get quoted), expect to be paying through the nose for a car like that at your age...!

Kristopherus

Setanta are pulling out of the Irish market in the next few weeks.

djimi

Kristopherus wrote: »

Setanta are pulling out of the Irish market in the next few weeks.

Ah thats a shame; I was insured with them for three years and they always gave me a decent quote. Even this years wasnt awful, just Liberty were able to beat it.

Rob2593

djimi wrote: »

Setanta used to be quite good for insuring Japanese imports; not sure what they are like at the moment but worth a call. Youll need to find a broker who deals with them.

I got a very good quote from Liberty for my Integra, but I think you need to be over 30 before they will take on a car like that. Again a call cant hurt.

Britton are worth a shout. Can be a bit of a lottery as to how much they will charge though.

Stick with brokers if possible; the main insurers (Axa, Allianz etc) wont touch a car like that, but brokers generally are better at getting some manner of a quote.

Where ever you can get quoted (if you get quoted), expect to be paying through the nose for a car like that at your age...!

Just out of curiosity, how much are you paying for your Integra? Is it fully comp?

Yeah I've rang up Britton but they won't touch imports anymore. Really struggling to find someone who would insure an Altezza. Looks like I'll be sticking with my Mazda 6 for another year

Anyone have any other suggestions?

keithsfleet

Xsdirect.ie will insure pretty much anyone in anything.
Was with them in a Nissan Stagea and Legnum VR4. Cheap enough if I remember correctly but they charge a huge excess on any accidents.

Consider them to only be a bit of legal paper in the windrow, no breakdown assist or anything else.

corkgsxr

What I find is if they don't want to insure you they come up with all sorts of excuses.

And with 2 years no claims you'll have a hard job insuring it.

Eg im on a gsxr600 since im 20. Others are told no supersports till your 25. And my insurance was only 300 on it

140490

I agree XSdirect insured my 1.8 Celica for 860 with 1year NB, but excess is 3000!!!

Lumpy_Custard

Do you already own an Altezza, OP? If not, an IS200 would be much cheaper. It's pretty much the same as the Jap AS200. A 150bhp RWD straight-six should be plenty for a 20 year-old!

I'd imagine you won't get a quote on anything properly fast until you're 25 - that's the case with me, anyway, and I'm 24 now. I tried getting one on a 2.0 JTS Alfa GT, and was refused because it was insurance group 31. The 156 I ended up with is group 28, and cost €900 fully comp for the year with AXA... I'm assuming the cut-off is group 30.

djimi

Rob2593 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, how much are you paying for your Integra? Is it fully comp?

Yeah I've rang up Britton but they won't touch imports anymore. Really struggling to find someone who would insure an Altezza. Looks like I'll be sticking with my Mazda 6 for another year

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Im paying €580 but Im 31 with a full NCB!

Like I said, try some brokers and see what they can do. Some of the smaller ones in local towns can be better I have found.

djimi

keithsfleet wrote: »

Xsdirect.ie will insure pretty much anyone in anything.
Was with them in a Nissan Stagea and Legnum VR4. Cheap enough if I remember correctly but they charge a huge excess on any accidents.

Consider them to only be a bit of legal paper in the windrow, no breakdown assist or anything else.

140490 wrote: »

I agree XSdirect insured my 1.8 Celica for 860 with 1year NB, but excess is 3000!!!

XS Direct arent taking business in Ireland at the moment unfortunately (or at least they werent a few weeks ago).

djimi

Lumpy_Custard wrote: »

Do you already own an Altezza, OP? If not, an IS200 would be much cheaper. It's pretty much the same as the Jap AS200. A 150bhp RWD straight-six should be plenty for a 20 year-old!

An IS200 is not really the same as an Altezza in fairness! They look the same, but thats about it!

Still a lovely comfortable car to be fair.

Lumpy_Custard wrote: »

I'd imagine you won't get a quote on anything properly fast until you're 25 - that's the case with me, anyway, and I'm 24 now. I tried getting one on a 2.0 JTS Alfa GT, and was refused because it was insurance group 31. The 156 I ended up with is group 28, and cost €900 fully comp for the year with AXA... I'm assuming the cut-off is group 30.

Im inclined to agree with this unfortunately. I had no luck getting anyone to quote me on a Type R until I was 25-26, and even then it was near on impossible.

Lumpy_Custard

I said it was the same as the AS200, granted it's the RS200 he's likely talking about.

Not a chance insuring that yet, unfortunately!

Rob2593

After searching for weeks I still haven't found an insurance company that will quote me for this. I just can't understand how people younger than me with provisional licences can get insured on Altezzas and Skylines and the likes?

Anyone else have any ideas on which insurance company to try? Surely someone on boards holds the answer?

ironclaw

Rob2593 wrote: »

After searching for weeks I still haven't found an insurance company that will quote me for this. I just can't understand how people younger than me with provisional licences can get insured on Altezzas and Skylines and the likes?

Anyone else have any ideas on which insurance company to try? Surely someone on boards holds the answer?

They put the car and insurance in their parents name, and put themselves as a named driver. Lots of downsides to this and insurance companies know about it. For example, its a very suspicious claim if Dads Altezza is crashed at 11pm by his son. I honestly would give no excuse to any insurance company not to pay out. I know from another thread the 'main' versus 'named' driver is debatable, but still, its dodgy ground in my opinion.

Rob2593

ironclaw wrote: »

They put the car and insurance in their parents name, and put themselves as a named driver. Lots of downsides to this and insurance companies know about it. For example, its a very suspicious claim if Dads Altezza is crashed at 11pm by his son. I honestly would give no excuse to any insurance company not to pay out. I know from another thread the 'main' versus 'named' driver is debatable, but still, its dodgy ground in my opinion.

I see, makes sense I suppose. If I were to do that, would I lose my NCB or would it just be put on hold until I buy a new car?

Also if I had an accident and claimed, would my parents lose their NCB?

Personally I wouldn't mind paying 2 grand for insurance just to keep my NCB going, but if I must go under my parents name I guess I'll have to...either that or get an Accord...

peteb2

NCB stays live for two years after expiry of policy.

Yes if you on your parents policy they lose their NCB. Plus the car has to be in their name. as in registered in their name.

Rob2593

Alright thanks for the info. I've decided I'm not gonna' get an Altezza unless I can get insured on my own name, would rather keep the NCB running. So does anyone know any candidates? Almost 21 now.

Foxhole Norman

My brother has his Jap Import Civic insured with Aviva. Decent enough price wise and benefits.

Rob2593

I tried Aviva but they said they can't insure me on anything more than a 1.6litre. Which is odd since I've been driving a 1.8 since a provisional

Foxhole Norman

Rob2593 wrote: »

I tried Aviva but they said they can't insure me on anything more than a 1.6litre. Which is odd since I've been driving a 1.8 since a provisional

His is only a 1.4, for now anyway. They may well only give quotes on Jap Imports up to 1.6, which would be reasonable enough. Have you tried FBD?

djimi

Aviva wouldnt quote me on my car as it is a Japanese import (no mention of engine size; just a flat refusal to insure anything JDM).

Foxhole Norman

djimi wrote: »

Aviva wouldnt quote me on my car as it is a Japanese import (no mention of engine size; just a flat refusal to insure anything JDM).

That's weird, they even reduced my brothers premium by about 800 I think on renewal.

Rob2593

Yup every insurance company I ring without even telling them any details they straight away say no to jap imports...

Stavros Murphy

The only vehicle I have ever had a tiny issue getting insurance on is my Skyline - I usually just ring in the details and away I go, never an issue and I'm the worst type of fecker for changing cars, I often change after a week or two, so they are used to me ringing in with a change to the policies.
When I rang to insure the Skyline, there was an "errr" moment, then she said she would have to contact the underwriters as they usually didn't give quotes on them.. She rang back five minutes later and said it was grand, but that's the first time I've heard that in years. I've an Mr2 and a jap-import Celica insured as well, so it never crossed my mind they'd have an issue with a Skyline. If I was 20, I'd say they would have said no-go tbh. I remember trying to insure a 3.6 V6 Alfa a few years back and had to get it in the wifes name and me as a named driver, which, tbh, really, really pi55ed me off. She had no issues getting a quote, me, I was told no go dimagio..

DaveJac

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

That's weird, they even reduced my brothers premium by about 800 I think on renewal.

ya but if your brothers civic is only 1.4 its not a sports model so jap or not wont make much of a difference if it was an SIR or Type R it would be a different story, my brother had an altezza insured in is own name when he was 21/22 was with quinn direct at the time his insurance was 1500

ShaunieVW

Ringing around and hounding them is the only solution. I have been insured on an s3, a mk2 golf GTI, MK4 GTI, Subaru Legacy B4 and a 530d and they are just the hard ones to insure. All from 19-22, Never any issues.

ironclaw

ShaunieVW wrote: »

Ringing around and hounding them is the only solution. I have been insured on an s3, a mk2 golf GTI, MK4 GTI, Subaru Legacy B4 and a 530d and they are just the hard ones to insure. All from 19-22, Never any issues.

None of them are Japanese imports though and fairly common on the roads, so the risk is well known and assessed.

Personally I've never understood the loading of Japanese imports. I heard one reason was the lack of alarm systems but surely a retrofit / tracker would cancel that.

djimi

ironclaw wrote: »

Personally I've never understood the loading of Japanese imports. I heard one reason was the lack of alarm systems but surely a retrofit / tracker would cancel that.

Youd think that, wouldnt you? I spent a lot of money putting a Clifford into my car, but do you think my insurer gave a toss? You can be damn sure though that had there been an alarm in the car and I had taken it out then they would be taking that into account.

djimi

Was the B4 Legacy sold over here? I thought they were all Japanese?

ironclaw

djimi wrote: »

Was the B4 Legacy sold over here? I thought they were all Japanese?

I know one that has a reasonably low reg number, assumed it was Irish And they seem fairly common all told.

delthedriver

Young Male Drivers & Jap imports are not exactly business Insurance Companies are keen to quote for. I wonder why:rolleyes:

djimi

ironclaw wrote: »

I know one that has a reasonably low reg number, assumed it was Irish And they seem fairly common all told.

You could be right. I just always assumed that they were JDM for some reason; I dont really remember seeing them around when they would have been new.

Tzardine

Rob2593 wrote: »

Yup every insurance company I ring without even telling them any details they straight away say no to jap imports...

It really is stupid. My OH recently bought a Nissan March Automatic. A mighty powerful car. The hassle she had getting insurance for it was stupid.

The insurance companies flat out refuse anything imported.

I was ringing around for her and one company asked me if it was an import. I said sure all bleedin cars in Ireland are imported

Zurich were the only ones BTW who would insure it. No bother to them actually.

delthedriver

Tzardine wrote: »

It really is stupid. My OH recently bought a Nissan March Automatic. A mighty powerful car. The hassle she had getting insurance for it was stupid.

The insurance companies flat out refuse anything imported.

I was ringing around for her and one company asked me if it was an import. I said sure all bleedin cars in Ireland are imported

Zurich were the only ones BTW who would insure it. No bother to them actually.

What is a Nissan March?

djimi

JDM Micra.

Toyotafanboi

delthedriver wrote: »

Young Male Drivers & Jap imports are not exactly business Insurance Companies are keen to quote for. I wonder why:rolleyes:

me too, the seem to be the most lucrative customer demographic.

i could understand a discrimination against high performance cars etc, but to discriminate against any car based on it country of origin is a little bit silly. particularly when the exact same model is available to buy locally here. for example a mk1 vitz vs a mk1 yaris, nearly identical car.

for what it's worth, i'm in my 20's, insured the glanza with quinn/ liberty the last few years and they've never batted an eyelid. premium went up a little last year but no real issues. that said i have a good bit more NCB and driving history than the OP.

delthedriver

djimi wrote: »

JDM Micra.

Thank you.

So it is possible for a young lady to get Insurance on a Jap Import Nissan March.

On the other hand it is not possible for. Young man to get Insurance on a Jap Imported Altezza, .

Perhaps the Inurers consider the potential damage and injuries caused to a Third Party to be way in excess of any premium they could quote for a young male driving an Altezza.

From my experience I see Altezzas, Levins, Glanzas, Jap imported Subarus hanging about in petrol filling stations after hours. I have witnessed them driving or racing along roadways in the early hours.

If you want to buy a car and Insure it , respectfully I suggest buying a car that befits your age and driving ability. I guess you should then be a much more attractive prospect for an Insurance company.:)

djimi

Why would an Altezza not be befitting of a 20 year old? Theyre not exactly super cars, and a 20 year old could well be perfectly able to handle it.

delthedriver

djimi wrote: »

Why would an Altezza not be befitting of a 20 year old? Theyre not exactly super cars, and a 20 year old could well be perfectly able to handle it.

Sadly they are not under both headings.

Why an Altezza?

What is the equivalent model?

Tzardine

delthedriver wrote: »

Thank you.

So it is possible for a young lady to get Insurance on a Jap Import Nissan March.

The stupid thing is, she is over 30, full licence and 4 years NCB and it was such a hassle for her to find somebody to offer cover.

In 2008 I had a R32 GTR. I was 24 Full License and 3 years NCB and I was able to insure it for €2800 with Quinn. (Now I have a diesel Octavia. Oh how things have changed lol )

Has something changed. It seems impossible for lads to insure powerful cars these days.

delthedriver

Tzardine wrote: »

The stupid thing is, she is over 30, full licence and 4 years NCB and it was such a hassle for her to find somebody to offer cover.

In 2008 I had a R32 GTR. I was 24 Full License and 3 years NCB and I was able to insure it for €2800 with Quinn. (Now I have a diesel Octavia. Oh how things have changed lol )

Has something changed. It seems impossible for lads to insure powerful cars these days.

My guess is Insurance stats produced for YMD's driving powerful cars have turned up some eye watering stats.frequency and severity of accidents!!
People need to walk before they run!

djimi

delthedriver wrote: »

Sadly they are not under both headings.

Why an Altezza?

What is the equivalent model?

An Altezza is basically a sportier version of a Lexus IS200. Its a quick enough car but its not exactly a McLaren F1; Ive driven a few of them and there is no reason why someone with a couple of years experience would not be able to handle them. Even as RWD cars go they are (imo) easier to control than a lot of other RWD.

djimi

Tzardine wrote: »

Has something changed. It seems impossible for lads to insure powerful cars these days.

Young lads having less money these days I think is a big factor. Back in the day (mid 2000s) a lot of the young lads I knew with these sort of cars were earning decent money and paying a few grand a year for insurance was less of an issue. Things have changed since then.

delthedriver

djimi wrote: »

An Altezza is basically a sportier version of a Lexus IS200. Its a quick enough car but its not exactly a McLaren F1; Ive driven a few of them and there is no reason why someone with a couple of years experience would not be able to handle them. Even as RWD cars go they are (imo) easier to control than a lot of other RWD.

So you think a 20 year old male is capable of driving a Lexus IS 200?

Have you tried getting a quote for a Lexus IS 200.

Seriously, do you honestly believe you can drive a Lexus IS 200.

Why not set your sights a bit lower and be more realistic?

Tzardine

delthedriver wrote: »

So you think a 20 year old male is capable of driving a Lexus IS 200?

Have you tried getting a quote for a Lexus IS 200.

Seriously, do you honestly believe you can drive a Lexus IS 200.

Why not set your sights a bit lower and be more realistic?

I would say a 20 year old has no bother with an IS200.

Look at the states , a 16 year old can drive a huge RWD V8. Its only 14 years old in some states.

djimi

delthedriver wrote: »

So you think a 20 year old male is capable of driving a Lexus IS 200?

Have you tried getting a quote for a Lexus IS 200.

Seriously, do you honestly believe you can drive a Lexus IS 200.

Why not set your sights a bit lower and be more realistic?

Why do you think a 20 year old would not be able to drive an IS200/Altezza? Like I said, they are not exactly supercars. Have you ever driven one?

Im not trying to insure it btw; Im 31 and perfectly happy in my Type R Integra!

delthedriver

Tzardine wrote: »

I would say a 20 year old has no bother with an IS200.

Look at the states , a 16 year old can drive a huge RWD V8. Its only 14 years old in some states.

Well have you tried to get a quote for a Lexus IS 200 pr not? How much will it cost?

But you are not in the States!

I am in the States and aware of what young drivers are driving.

jimgoose

djimi wrote: »

Why do you think a 20 year old would not be able to drive an IS200/Altezza? Like I said, they are not exactly supercars. Have you ever driven one?...

2-litre straight six is always going to be a saucy prospect for a young-fella-miladdo like that, in fairness. They're lively enough.

Tzardine

delthedriver wrote: »

Well have you tried to get a quote for a Lexus IS 200 pr not? How much will it cost?

But you are not in the States!

I am in the States and aware of what young drivers are driving.

I was saying that a 20 year old could handle an IS200. Not that I needed to get a quote on one, but since you asked I had a look and completed an online quote. €594 Comprehensive :cool:

delthedriver

jimgoose wrote: »

2-litre straight six is always going to be a saucy prospect for a young-fella-miladdo like that, in fairness. They're lively enough.

Agreed.

A Lexus IS 200 or Altezza is not a suitable car for a 20 year old driver.

Be realistic.

I guess the Op would be lucky to get a quote for a Lexus IS200 never mind an Altezza

A 20 year old driving a Mazda 6 is a fairly lethal combination .

Let us know what price you get for Lexus Is200.