Time for a mini rant ! (Insurance for a 1.4 Diesel AX)

[Cortina]

Tried to get insurance for my new "Toy" (part of my aim to to get 100 mpg out of a standard road car)

When the first quote (car valued at £1900 , and 1000 miles / yr limit) came in at over £1,000 ... I thought ... you're having a laugh, then the next one appeared ... a snip at £1,241 !!

What is going on ? (1980 Z1300 Kawasaki Rocket ship ... £125 for the year , as a comparison)

AC

[964RS]

Insurance premiums this year have gone completely mental on everything with many tripling in price.....

[Bruce M]

I’ve heard about £5k premiums for Teslas but now wondering what my “daily” renewals will look like come spring

[Sam]

Underwriters seem to be all over the place.

A buildings policy I have was set to go from £700 to £1500 this month. Shopped around, some refused cover, others wanted £2000.

Eventually someone called Pen Underwriting gave a better policy than the previous one for £500.

Keep shopping round!

And kudos on the AX. They’re such magical little bits of design. Someone once told me they’re the lightest car per square inch on the road that’s even been built.

[deano]

I just had renewals on our daily diesel and motorhome with no significant increases on either.

100 mpg sounds a bit unrealistic. Both of my 1.5 dci's can just about stretch to 65 or 70 in summer with a light-footed motorway run, both less than £300 to insure

[Cortina]

I just had renewals on our daily diesel and motorhome with no significant increases on either.

100 mpg sounds a bit unrealistic. Both of my 1.5 dci's can just about stretch to 65 or 70 in summer with a light-footed motorway run, both less than £300 to insure

Try looking world record mpg production car circa late 1980's (Guinness official one) .... then tell me it's unrealistic !!

PS best tank out of our i20 (3 cyl turbo), is an actual 85 mpg (vs the claimed 94) .... so we are heading right direction (i20 - about 1350kg , ax ... mine's a a heavy one , 740kg)

[Sam]

Lower coefficient of drag (definitely) and smaller frontal area (probably) on an AX than an i20 too. Likely ok on skinnier tyres as well.

[Nine One One]

Couple of things I have tried which can reduce it by quite a bit.

1) Increase your excess
2) Lower your mileage limit
3) Refuse any add ons they tend to include - key cover- breakdown, protection for this or that, no hire car, legal fees, legal protection etc.etc.
4) Put someone else on the policy as they then believe it will not be used by you so much.
5) Take off business use if you have it for another car anyway.
6) Try a different job description if you need to?

They basically have all put their policies up, because they can, and they are all doing it - not dissimilar to fixing fuel prices. There are no huge increases in what they state are the reasons for putting prices up. Let’s not forget Covid either and lockdowns, when nobody was on the road, and they made a bloody fortune from very little claims in that period, plus people are still working from home now.

LV seem to be fairly good at the moment, but it all depends who you are and where you live etc.

[70sThrowback]

when I had just passed my test I had a 1.0 AX, loved it. So basic but it seemed to go forever on a tank of fuel.

[911hillclimber]

Way back my wife had a French Blue 1 litre AX as the family run about. Superb little car but amazed there are some left!
Super light, so not sure if I would want to be hit in one, but a great idea to screw 100 mpg from one.
Hope you do a write-up.

Policy prices have risen in silly ways. Boxster wih LV who were the cheapest, been with then for years on the car, might have helped.

Was quoted £167 for my 'new' Yamaha 50cc monster, 1000 miles etc. (Hagerty) and Bennetts wanted me to call them before giving a quote.

[Ollie]

Add on to existing classic policy?

[Cortina]

Add on to existing classic policy?

I don't actually have one at present ....but was able to add it to existing policy on a temporary basis. 90 days for a 68 premium ....so still expensive but 4 times cheaper than previously quoted. Normally anything over 26 yrs old is not allowed , but their system accepted it.
90 days will give me enough time to appraise the appeal of driving it. The design is outstanding .... virtual complete lack of fittings (nuts and bolts) to hold things in place. Very clever ... apparently financed by French government as way to go in future car design. Has electric windows and remote central locking .....not what I expected. I have re built cyl head as gasket was blown ....word is this 1.4 litre alloy block engine is NOT a good design. I managed to source a 1.5 Diesel which may get transplanted if necessary, but it's not an easy swap. Watch space .....

[911hillclimber]

Personally, it would be a shame to go diesel imho chasing 100 mpg, almost too easy?

Is the AX available in 1000cc petrol?

[Cortina]

Personally, it would be a shame to go diesel imho chasing 100 mpg, almost too easy?

Is the AX available in 1000cc petrol?

Yes , about 92% of ones left in uk are petrol .... but I like diesel (here we agree to differ) , and would prefer not to comment on Electric (sorry Moggy)

[Cortina]

Just to round this off . I got an online quote from Hagerty , for a more reasonable £185 odd .... Meanwhile , when I got paperwork in from Direct line , it included a "charge" for my normal car policy ... which had NOT been changed. I phone and queried this ... got waffled at , so I asked them to either remove the fee , or cancel the change (addition of the AX) ..... they didn't want to remove , so I said refund !!
Tried to get another quote to compete with H , tried Adrain Flux .... they wanted me to ring them . Eventually did and managed to buy a policy today for less than £110 ... so a WIN !!
It's like pulling teeth , so , .... that should see the racing AX diesel on the road next week.
PS , if you have not seen the guy lapping the ring in under 10 mins in one ... it's worth a watch (only took him 10 years to do it !)