28 replies to this topic

[al_reidy]

just to add to that, does anyone know how they go as crash protection is concerned? (off topic i know....)

I phoned Hill House Hammond to get a quote, went through the specification, without mentioning ZCars, then asked something that she needed to check with her supervisor, when she came back she asked whether it was a ZCars Mini and then said that they won't insure them!!

who has crashed them then ?

spoonz

[tomsbluemini]

i was thinking of getting one, then decided i'd never get insured... i'm 19!!!

Tom

[Sam Walters]

this seems like a strange thing to say toms blue mini but, its a kit car so you might just scrape it. probably still be paying twice what your paying for your minis though.

[Spoonz]

i was thinking of getting one, then decided i'd never get insured... i'm 19!!!

Tom

started building mine at 18
now 21 (22 in sept)
spoonz

Edited by Spoonz, 10 March 2008 - 09:29 PM.

[oli79]

After reading this a week or so ago i was a bit worried when my renewal dropped on the mat the other day , cost me £238 last year,also i moved to a different area(Sheffield to York) in between which added another £47 to the 238, this years renewal £222 so its not all bad news.Thats with Adrian Flux

[markrally]

After reading this a week or so ago i was a bit worried when my renewal dropped on the mat the other day , cost me £238 last year,also i moved to a different area(Sheffield to York) in between which added another £47 to the 238, this years renewal £222 so its not all bad news.Thats with Adrian Flux

I will give them a call monday,
I may give performance direct a call aswell as a friend of mine has just insured his with them.

Ps Oli, Have you got any trackdays booked for the future? Im looking to get out soon myself so may tag along if its ok with you?


Cheers

Edited by markrally73, 15 March 2008 - 04:04 PM.

[oli79]

After reading this a week or so ago i was a bit worried when my renewal dropped on the mat the other day , cost me £238 last year,also i moved to a different area(Sheffield to York) in between which added another £47 to the 238, this years renewal £222 so its not all bad news.Thats with Adrian Flux

I will give them a call monday,
I may give performance direct a call aswell as a friend of mine has just insured his with them.

Ps Oli, Have you got any trackdays booked for the future? Im looking to get out soon myself so may tag along if its ok with you?


Cheers

Hi Mark, have not got any track days booked(financial problem), but really fancy another one very soon i will look into it, the only thing is i have no trailer so will probably be going to elvington again which is fine for me but about 2 hours for yourself from Wrexham, if thats no problem i would be happy to see you there, as i say i will look into it.If your really bored,im taking car next weekend, easter sunday, to the minis vs beetles drag day at york raceway should be fun

cheers

[dean_chad]

does anyone know who does build insurance apart from adrian flux? I was going to renew my policy with them and then when the car was built change it to on the road fully comp but they have given me an estimate of 700 to 800. hmmm sureterm dont do build insurance

Edited by dean_chad, 16 March 2008 - 09:10 PM.

[oli79]

Hi all just a bit of an update on the insurance situation for anyone thats interested, like i said in my post above my renewal came through the other day at £222 for the 4th of April and was on automatic renewal which i was more than happy about so just filed the letter,posted on here and i thought that was that.

However on Monday I happened to have a phone conversation with Mr Mark Rally from this very forum about z cars minis in general and the insurance related problem he had been experiencing, it seemed at the time a bit odd to us both that Mark is a couple of years older than me, insured his car for a similar value to mine (1000 more actually), lived in a good area as indeed i do, had the same limited mileage(5000), ect, ect and for some reason couldnt get a quote from adrian flux that was much less that £450. Not only was that the case but when Mark tried to challenge the staff they seemed less than interested in answering his questions and basically told him to go away.

At this point I suggested that it may be a good idea to challenge adrian flux by giving them my registration number and asking them what the difference was between the two cars that was causing the massive price difference,although we were both aware that the company would probably not give any of my details out to Mark it seemed worth a try.Mark rang me back that evening to then tell me that the company had said to him that my car was not actually registered as a z car but as a normal mini and that my car was still on a lay up policy and not a road policy.

This was of course complete codswollop as i have all my documents in my file from the start, first i took out layup insurance, i then changed this to a road policy 6 months later, i had a change of address in october as a mid term adjustment and finally my renwal last week.I have it in black and white that my car is insured for road use, comprehensive cover,SDP use, 5000 mile ltd ect ect and i have the letters stating that my car is a Hayabusa z cars mini and all the modifications that have taken place that the insurance company sent me when the policy was changed to a road one.

Anyway Tuesday morning i thought it a prudent idea to ring my actual underwriter which is equity red star just to double check everything,who comfirmed over the phone that everything was fine and it was on a road policy ect. However before i was able to contact flux(i was at work )and ask them what the hell was going on i got a random phonecall-funnily enough from adrian flux telling me that they had misquoted me this year at £222 and my premium this year would actually be £470 as THEY had put my car down as a mini saloon and not a kit car,AND as a gesture of good will they were going to waive their commision this year which dropped it to £360,and however you look at it that is still an increase of £138

It has to be said at this point I was not a happy bunny and asked them why,even though they had been made fully aware of exactly what modifications the car has, it made any difference as to what it was registered as, was told this was because as a kit car it has a higher insurance rating than a modifyed saloon. I then asked what would have happened if i had written the car off under my existing policy would they have voided my insurance because of their mistake and was told not and the policy would stand and pay out if needed.I then asked the guy to confirm it was on a road policy which he said it was an then why they had told someone else(Mark Rally)that my car was not insured for the road and that it was on a layup policy to which he replied it was the quotes department who had done that by mistake.It seems to us that no one is actually telling the truth about what has actually happened

As stated by Mark his insurance company sureterm clearly let slip that z cars minis were now classed as a higher risk vehicle than they had been previously and hence the hike in prices. Just out of interest i decided to get a quote from sure term and with the mileage reduced to 3000 it came out at £492, after a chat with their advisor i was told that quotes for these minis were starting at around £450 and anyone would find it near on impossible to get a quote less than this.

I have contacted to finacial services ombudsman to find out if there is anything that can be done, but they cant do anything to help me in this case.

Although I could have had potentally had another years insurance for £222 by not saying anything, i am more glad that these problems have come to light because as i see it my car would not have been properly covered.

I cant argue with the reclassification of these vehicles by the insurance, i cant argue over the hike in premium from my insurance, what i can say though is that like yourselves i have all the stresses of life in general to cope with and these cars for some of us are a hobby and a way to unwind, i have given a certain insurance company all the information i have, and put my complete faith in them to provide me with top level of service and i feel i have been let down totally.

Anyway it im off for a beer now!

cheers oli

[Jammy]

Diabolical! Just goes to show what a farce insurance is.

[oli79]

Diabolical! Just goes to show what a farce insurance is.

You are 100% correct there Jammy, and on a further note sureterm would not insure me for the £17000 that i currently have the car on at, instead they insisted they would not insure the car for more than £9000

The insurance advisor at sureterm told me(when i complained that £492 seemed a bit steep to me for 3000 miles and £9000 value) that z cars minis are reasonably powerful and lightweight cars and according to them cheaper to insure than a lot of other bike engined cars.

This was because in their eyes z minis are deemed as safer than most bike engined vehicles that they insure(he reeled off some names of cars at this point but lets just say they were all bike powerered lotus 7 type cars,westfields,caterhams ect).It will be interesting to find out just how much people are paying on these sorts of cars by comparision, so i have a friend who will be phoning for a quote on a megabusa and a z cars hayabusa over the next couple of days,however i have a feeling he's not going to get quoted happy!


Beer going down well now
cheers oli

[markrally]

Sorted my insurance out now with sureterm at a notch over £400 in the end thanks to TMF+ membership
Tax tomorrow
Rebuild the front hub and were ready to go....................

Cheers

Edited by markrally, 31 March 2008 - 02:32 PM.

[MiniEztate]

hi all
the eztate is near completion now and i thought i would start shopping for insurance, the saga so far:

a few basic details first, age 34, no no claims, 3 points for speeding(not helpful i know), wife as second driver, value £25k, 5000 limited miles, cat 1 alarm, garaged, vtec version.

footman james = thanks for call but sorry can't help.
Adrian flux = thanks for call but we can't insure at that value.
Sureterm = policy £550 with £350 excess

i shall try a few more tomorrow and let you know how i get on, any suggestions who else to try would be greatfully appreciated.
Thanks Az

[Jammy]

Hagerty Insurance.

EDIT: Having said that, I don't think they like cars with 'race' modifications (roll cages), but might be worth a shot.