Dear all
I'm off to view a classic car on Sunday with a view to buying it.
This car will not be used every day - I have my Accord for that - so I'm looking into a classic car policy.
I've just spent an enjoyable (interesting definition) 15 minutes discussing insurance with my current providers, who have explained that I cannot transfer my NCB from my other policy, as I'll be keeping it on. Their answer - "We don't do classic car insurance, you'll have to get a trade policy!"
Hmmm.
Before I get on the phone to some classic policy providers in the morning, I got to thinking some of the Backroomers must be in a similar position, and can pass on some tips, or recommend companies? The car in question is not a "bona fide" classic, but is rare enough and in good enough condition for me to be considering an agreed-value policy with the option to buy back salvage, if the unthinkable occurs.
What are people's experiences?
Thanks in advance
Richard
PS I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't seem to get the Search facility to work at the moment.
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Can you enlighten us to the car? If it is over 10 years old most of the classic car insurance companies will cover it. Most have a mileage restriction but no ncd is required. I'm insured with Footman James and their cover includes breakdown recovery and unlimited mileage for my cars (over 25 years old). You can also put more than one classic on the same policy. You do need to belong to the Owner's Club. It is well worth ringing round, rates can vary a lot. The OC may have a deal with an insurer but they are sometimes not the cheapest.
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Try Norton Insurance in B'ham. They will cover 10+ year old Mercs, 3000miles PA for about £100 PA with RAC cover thrown in!
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Richard,
I run a classic as well as my everyday car and in my experience the classic car insureres will base the premium on the perceived risk taking into account all of the usual criteria: Driving experience, accident record, size of car etc.
The big difference is that the type of car you are putting on the classic policy will have a much greater effect than on an everyday policy. For exmaple a 30 year old Rover P5B (3500) costs me around £100 a year with a 3000 mile a year limit - Car is garaged and I live in a low risk area. If I wanted to insure a 30 year old Lotus of around the same value then the premium would be considerably higher as the insurance co will perceive (probably correctly) that the Lotus would be sriven in a more "spirited" manner.
I hesitate to recommend any one insurance company on this forum but if you e-mail me I will happily tell you who I am with.
One tip though is, if you are putting it on a limited mileage policy, don't underestimate your mileage as you cannot top up the policy at later date. So, if you pay £100 premium in January and by June you have done you 3000 allotted miles and you go back to the insurance co they will tell you that you have to take aout a new policy and some insureres will only allow one policy per year. I had this problem and had to take out a new policy with a different insurer.
Hope this helps.
What are you buying?
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Richard
There are plenty of classic car insurance companies out there. I used to use one for the Morris Oxford Series VI. I cannot remember the name offhand but the premium fully comp was around £75 per year. That limited me to 5000 pa.
NCD was not an issue for me. At £75 I as not bothered about it anyway.
A look in Classic car Monthly or similar mags will throw up loads of names etc.
If the car is not deemed a classic you may be able to get it on a 2nd car policy, depending on what it is. My broker is Peter Goord 01752 361888 in Plymouth. The got me out of the sticky stuff when I found myself with 2 cars with high groups. Direct Line would not give me a 2nd car discount on either car so I went to them and saved about £400.
Classic car claims works a little differently. Normally in a bump the cost of replacement parts are a given and only the labour has to be agreed. With classic car insurances, often the spares are not easily obtainable and so the insurers agree the whole cost of the repairs with the bodyshop. This can be tedious. The bodyshop I used once told me they got pretty much nailed on the job so they made no money at all on it, mind you with those premiums, who can blame them?
Good luck, let us know how you get on.
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Thanks for the replies so far. I've sent off a couple of online forms to Adrian Flux and Firebond. Firebond mention that they can use the existing NCB on the main car to factor in a discount, so we will see what they come up with.
The car itself is a 1977 Opel Rekord 2.0S Berlina. Not a classic as such, but a real candidate for the "Unusual Sightings" thread. I'm a real sucker for '70s saloons and this one appears to be a peach - the classic "one elderly owner from new" job, etc etc etc. We shall see on Sunday. Anyway, it should qualify as a classic on age (25+ years), and I'll be looking to insure it fully comp with a 3000 mile limit, and garage it (bodywork is mint from what I can make out, so I'll want to keep it that way).
Joining an owners club would be useful, I think the Autobahnstormers appears to be the one to go for (an understandable Senator/Monza bias though), but their website wasn't particularly informative and had no "club insurance" details.
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As has been said, classic policies are so cheap you don't need NCD. You can generally pick from a range of limited mileage options, and ones I have used allow you to upgrade during the year if you think you are going to exceed it. Some define "classic" as 15 years old, but many use 10.
Just a tip when declaring your starting mileage, if you are transfering cover from another policy. You are getting the quote in advance of your actual start date, so if you declare the mileage when you post the form you are effectively wasting a bit of your allowance. I always make an "estimate" of what the mileage will actually be on the start date. Nothing too dodgy, just trying to be realistic.
The recovery premium is often thrown in for nothing, or some low figure like £15.
Be prepared to submit some photos from all angles. Unless the car is in mint condition you don't generally need to get it inspected or valued by the club. Typically they give you a tick-list to complete on the condition of the major components. I'd always be a bit optimistic with this, and make a small allowance for things you know you are intending to improve soon. It is harder to increase the valuation later, and they may want evidence for specific work done.
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Many thanks to all who have replied so far. At this stage (quotes from Firebond and Norton Insurance), it looks like Norton will be getting my business - their quote of £137 is less than half of Firebond. Thanks Aprilia.
I'm awaiting some other quotes this evening so we'll see what they come up with. Hopefully after all of this, the car will be worth the punt...
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Further to which I haggled with Specialist Car Division and they increased the mileage limit to 7500, with a perfectly reasonable increase in premium. And they've never asked me for the mileage figures . . .
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And some more:
Classic line 01455 639000
Equity 01277 206912
Insurance Line 0800 298 2749
Insurance Solutions 0870 240 3362
Lancaster 01480 484848
Performance Marque 0121 248 0911
Policy Sure 01604 615412
Peter Taylor 01273 820303
TR 01202 712800
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Suprised nobody has mentioned Footman James. They've always done the business for me!
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TR7 V8 is with RH Insurance who were near 1/2 the price of the TR Register insurer & also didn't force me to take £ 18 worth of breakdown cover I didn't want!
General categories are cars 10+ years can do limited mileage policy but not treated as a classic, 20+ years classic policy with all the frills (agreed value etc.) & 30+ years generally don't have mileage limits.
Do agreed value especially on older mainstream cars otherwise you'll be getting scrap type figures if anything untowards happens
Jim
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Suprised nobody has mentioned Footman James
erm.... cough
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Well, due to some work commitment jiggery-pokery I was able to pick up the car today.
I went with Norton Insurance in the end, £137 fully comp, 3000 mile limit (BTW I am 27 with an unblemished driving record since I began 10 years ago). This was about half the price of Firebond and Adrian Flux. In fact, the broker from Adrian Flux suggested that I shouldn't bother getting any more quotes, as he didn't think anyone would match it!
As a result, didn't try Footman James, so maybe next year.
Anyway, car is fantastic (after years of FWD, I forgot how sweet a RWD car's gearbox can be) and hopefully I won't need to trouble my new insurer. See you on the classic show circuit!
Thanks to everyone who responded.
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Another reason form Classic insurance being cheap is that the risk is spread over a lot of like minded classic owners. These owners don't tend to be boy racers, love and tend to their pride and joy more than the missus! and do relatively low mileage. My last SD1 Vitesse cost just £170 fully comp and agreed value with Peter Best Insurance.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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