Insurance Help

Hi everyone

I work as an insurance manager and have been a Lotus enthusiast for a many years.

We cater for Lotus cars and have a Lotus scheme for Loti of all shapes and sizes from the "classic" range to the seriously modified track car. We obviously insure other cars as well.

There is a lot of misconception about insurance, levels of cover available and what is covered and what is not covered, when is agreed value not agreed value etc. If anyone needs advice on covers available, queries on claims or to get an unbaised opinion on a claim you may be fighting please use this forum as an "insurance clinic" and I will do my best to answer any questions.


Happy motoring

Kim

Sh.t happens!

Kim,

I'm with lancaster on a limited milage policy, due end of March.

Who do you work for?

Cheers
Dave

I have just moved from Lancaster Classic, unfortunately, as they have always been top people but could not offer me insurance on my everyday car as well.

Kim, I struggled this year to find anyone who would do Classic Car Insurance for me as I am aged 22 and is seen as too low by alot of Insurers this year? I was betting to go with Hagerty as they were saying they could insure the Lotus for around £200-£300 for the year but once again they will only push as low as 23.

I very nearly gave you a call for some advice but in the end went with Admiral Multi car as they insured both the Lotus and Proton Gen-2 1.6 for just under £800 compared to Lancaster's increased quote this year on just the Lotus of over £1000! I would be very interested to know if you have any help for next years insurance on two cars as I'm big on saving money .... so it can be spent of the red rocket

Thanks, CJ

Hi CJ

We can do classic insurance from age 17 upwards. We have just done a Ford Escort for someone who is 17 and has only recently passed his test. However, it must be stressed that under the age of 21 cover is always looked at on an individual basis, but it can be done. It just has to be the right car and more importantly the right person, lets be honest, most young lads just want to blat about as quickly as possible and have very little mechanical sympathy. Insurers won't regard a 10 yr old Citroen Saxo with skirts and Lexus lights and a dirty great sub in the boot as a Classic, its more boy racer than old car enthusiast isn't it? Loti are obviously performance vehicles so a 17 yr old is unlikely to get Lotus insurance but add a couple of claim free years then they may be able to.

(Home Fleet) or multi vehicle policies are becoming more common, so two or more privately owned cars on a single policy will fit the bill. These can work out to be very good but the general rule of thumb is, the more cars, the more cost effective they are. There must always be more cars than drivers and interestingly these can be a mix of vehicles, a car, van, motorcycle, classic car etc.

After reading from your earlier post I see you were looking for "assured" or agreed value and not all of the multi policies will offer this cover on a multi policy. Sometimes it may be better to have some vehicles on a multi policy and some on classic insurance. Classic insurance is generally very cheap and offers great cover so don't scrimp on it, pay that extra bit to get good cover that is going to protect your cherished car.

Where ever possible you should always push for an agreed value policy and if available the reinstatement lift talked about in part of the earlier thread by Mike. (There will be more on this in the LDC Chicane magazine out soon)

Just to round this post off let me explain as I think this is really important.

[Lotus Excel on agreed value of £7000. (note for dpr59)
Car gets bumped and repairs are going to be £5000, so you think the insurers would repair it.....yes?
Maybe not.. They will pay you £5000 as agreed, sell the salvage off for £2500 but not have the extra costs of VAT, inspection costs maybe hire car charges and other behind the scenes administration costs. Even without any hidden costs by just selling the salvage of they will be £500 quid in pocket. But .................... if you can get reinstatement cover of say even a 25% lift, the repair they will by contract have to pay out is up to £8750 and so this car would not be written off, the owner gets to keep their pride and joy and everyone one lives happily ever after.

I'm not sure if Lancaster will include "agreed value" and reinstatement cover mid term but it would still be worth asking, if you don't ask you don't get.



Last comment, members of LDC are able to get FREE of charge an accident management service and if nothing else they will help you get a decent offer from your insurer who ever they are as well as a whole raft of other help no matter if the accident be fault or non fault. To get this offer see details in the LDC MAGAZINE "CHICANE". All you need to do to get this cover is register your details with them and best of all if you own everyday cars they will cover those as well, just ask for x number of membership packs so you have a membership card with their telephone number on in each car, you just ring them from the roadside at the time of the accident and they will arrange everything from there on. Great stuff and FREEl

Anyway I hope the info might be of some use to someone.

Kim

"Don't buy the cheapest Lotus you can find, buy the best you can afford, do the same with insurance"

Lots of words of wisdom Kim..we are very lucky to have such an experienced LDC insurance man in the ranks...and a true Lotus enthusiast to boot!
I'll be in touch when mine comes up for renewal.
All the best, Tim.

Mines up next month Kim 24/04.

Its time to get a Q.

Eddie.

Hi Eddie,

Good talking to you yesterday, I have all the details of your Elise quote, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

I will send the details in a PM and follow up in writing.


Kim

Atthelimit wrote:Hi Eddie,

Good talking to you yesterday, I have all the details of your Elise quote, I think you will be presently surprised.

I will send the details in a PM and follow up in writing.

Kim

Any chance of cheap insurance for someone aged 22
I've had to go with Admiral Multicar this year to get my quote cheaper ... well close to 1k lol.

CJ,

Always worth a look, quotes need to be done about 30 days or less before they are due for renewal as quotes are only guaranteed for 30 days.

So at the right time either give me a call or send a PM with details and we will have a look, can't guarantee anything though. As you know we have special Lotus schemes for Loti, these can range from the "Classics" to the seriously modified Honda powered supercharged Exiges and so on. We are not so hot on "ordinary" cars but I might be able to point you in the right direct. Some firms you might not have heard of and who don't use the internet that much.

How did Tash get on with the names I sent her?

Kim

Contact details:-
Work, Abbot Insurance Brokers 0116 2333559 or email to kim.eaton@abbotinsurance.co.uk

Kim,

Thank you very much for that quote, it has been very helpful, i will be confirming that policy in the next few months when i find my perfect car.

Thanks again

Tommy