30 replies to this topic

[Merlin-Mini]

Hey there, im 19 and iv payed £1200 for last year, il be 20 by the time i need to renew my insurance so hopefully it will come down a bit, but surely i can get it lower than that!

I am being completly honest to the insurance companies, iv told them about the spax suspension, the hi-lows, the 4 pot brakes, the braided lines, the roll cage, the bucket seats, the 1380.. THE LOT!

but £1884 for a year?? is this about right for a twenty year old with 2 years no claims bonus living in the middle of the welsh countryside, with no driving convictions!?!?! I think not.

any one got any suggestions?

Rich

[R1minimagic]

I think all policies have increased quite a lot this year, i dont know any that have gone down...

[Merlin-Mini]

R1Minimagic, how much is your insurance on your r1 engined cooper? if its on the road? i might have to lie to the insurance company about my engine.... that brings it down quite a bit

Rich

[R1minimagic]

I was paying about £270 a year but i was quite a bit older!!

[Merlin-Mini]

but thats for a car with better performance than a ferrari, mid engined and rear wheel drive, mine is just a fast road car.... and hey its only 19 years

Rich

[mini 4o]

Hey there, im 19 and iv payed £1200 for last year, il be 20 by the time i need to renew my insurance so hopefully it will come down a bit, but surely i can get it lower than that!

I am being completly honest to the insurance companies, iv told them about the spax suspension, the hi-lows, the 4 pot brakes, the braided lines, the roll cage, the bucket seats, the 1380.. THE LOT!

but £1884 for a year?? is this about right for a twenty year old with 2 years no claims bonus living in the middle of the welsh countryside, with no driving convictions!?!?! I think not.

any one got any suggestions?

Rich

Hi
I’m not suggesting you lie to your insurance company,
But it could be the way you answer their questions.

Maybe cheaper to take out the roll cage,
It’s not going to help in a roll over, unless you have it fitted to the subframes.

i have removed the line about the log book, as I’m not suggesting you lie to your insurance company, but it did sound like it

As to suspension just say you have had it updated to the lasted spec

Just curious have you asked how much it would be for a standard 998 of the same year.

Insurance has always been expensive back in 1972 I paid £25 for a 1966 mini cooper
(With no engine) fitted a 850, insurance then was £45 third party, that to me was five weeks wages.

John

Edited by mini 4o, 21 May 2011 - 08:14 AM.

[dmcc1234]

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Edited by dmcc1234, 20 May 2011 - 08:33 AM.

[DanRobinson]

Have you tried a classical car insurer? or are you going through the comparison websites? try Footman James ... they are fantastic - i am 20 and insured a 998 mini last year for £500. so £1800 is absolutely ridiculous.

[AVV IT]

£1884 would sound expensive to me if you were talking about a standard spec model, but as you are talking about a heavily modified car and you are under 21, then I can't say that I'm all that surprised. The presence of a roll cage alone can add 50% to your premium in some cases. Yes true it's not a Ferrari, but a 1380 engine in a car that weighs about kg still makes for a rather reasonable power to weight ratio.

Options to consider other than shopping around might be a limited mileage policy, or adding an older more experienced driver to the policy as an additional driver. In some cases this will lower your premium, as the overall risk will be reduced due to the occasions when the lower risk driver will be driving and you will not. Also ask if removal of the roll cage will affect your premium significantly, it is debatable as to whether they actually prevent or contribute to injury in a road car any way.

Do not for a minute consider trying to change the logbook to a 1275 in order to suggest in some way that it is not a 1380 though. Be very upfront about every single modification as you have been so far, otherwise you are paying for potentially invalid insurance, which is simply not worth having at all!!

i am 20 and insured a 998 mini last year for £500. so £1800 is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes but to be fair he is insuring a heavily modified 1380, not a 998 so it's not really comparable is it?

Edited by AVV IT, 20 May 2011 - 08:37 AM.

[Deathrow]

Do NOT lie to your insurance company. If you lie to your insurance company you might as well save yourself the lower premium and the phone call altogether, because you're driving WITHOUT insurance which is a very serious criminal offence.

http://www.drivingba...utinsurance.htm

If you can't afford to insure the vehicle with the modifications you've carried out then you've only yourself to blame as you should have checked with your insurer prior to splashing the cash and carrying out the mods.

Admin bit aside.

I wouldn't bother trying to insure a 1380 yet and I'm 22! I'd take some mods off or continue shopping around.

It'll be the engine they're bothered about, I asked my insurer about brake/suspension modifications including Cooper S disc brakes, fully adjustable camber, toe and ride height front and back as well as lowered adjustable dampers. My premium didn't even change. I then mentioned a 1275 from a Metro and all of a sudden she was very interested in what car it came from.

I tried another insurance company and they were going to be even cheaper than the last until I told them about the engine swap and then they said they couldn't insure me. That was when I was 20.

[carts60]

Deathrow is right - both about what you tell the insurance company and why your premium is so high.

With Footman James and a number of other classic car insurers, 99% of modifications you do are free of any extra premium - alloys, arches, suspension, interior trim etc . They only increase your insurance if you increase the BHP by adding stage 1 kits, new heads, overboring the engine etc.

Saying that however, I know bucket seats and roll cages do increase premiums regardless. That coupled with a 1380 and being 20 doesnt help the situation.

My only advice is to try the classic insurers rather than normal ones as they're nearly always cheaper

[Gaffer]

Options to consider other than shopping around might be a limited mileage policy, or adding an older more experienced driver to the policy as an additional driver. In some cases this will lower your premium, as the overall risk will be reduced due to the occasions when the lower risk driver will be driving and you will not.

Even just an addition of an older driver makes a difference, i put my wife on the insurance of my mondeo diesel and it saved me £600. I'm 25 (now point free), 2 years no claims (no previous claims) and 8 years driving experiance compared to my missus who only has a provisional but is older and she only drove the car once.

by the way, this wasnt fronting as i was the main driver and she was only named as an occasional driver.

[stitch-86]

+1 on adding an additional driver:

I put my girlfriend on my policy, as if her car breaks down she would use the mini (although she despises it at present) and that saved me £200 on the mini

It's also not a lie, as there is every chance that at somepoint she will be in a position that she needs to drive the car; Parents make it cheaper to, and again its plausable that your mum or dad might drop you off or pick you up in your car.

[jamiestevenbell]

well try 'grayham sykes' its a private insurance company out of the mini mag im insured with them. im 18 have 1 year no claims the cars a 1980 mini city 850 got wide arches, sunroof, stage 1 kit and alloys and my insurance is £780 a year. but next year im going for a bigger engine

[cherryblossom]

Its true Cherrys a 1380, my insurance was £1100 everything told like bucket seats, lowered, different wheels and engine. It's as soon as you change from a standard mini engine to a modded one.
And im 23 was only £700 last yr