Insurance - is there ANY logic?

[Del]

I have a '98 1.3 Fiesta. It's boring, and I keep looking for a retro to replace it with.
I came across this:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1986-FORD-ESCORT-MK3-1-6-GHIA-YELLOW-XR3-/220940192762?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item33710fcbfa
A 1986 Mk3 Escort 1.6 Ghia. Just the thing.
So I asked my insurance company for a quote. Now, it's bad enough that they want £700 for the Fiesta. They quoted just under £1600 for the Escort! And that was without declaring the alloys...
Now, I could reduce it dramatically by changing insurers, but that means cancelling this year's policy and losing a year's NCB.
What logic can there be for that quote, especially when a 22yo I work with, who has six points, and lives in a similar area, can insure a 57-plate Polo GTi, for £900?

[camerashy]

[haaallloooom]

the short answer is - pretty much, no. General insurance industry practice seems to be licking a finger and holding it in the air :-(

[karlj]

I've asked myself the same question, been looking at a few retro cars to replace my micra with

Micra 1.3 super s £680
Escort 1.3 mk3/4 about £1500
BX19 gti about £1500
Capri 1.6 laser £675

I don't get why it's cheaper for me to insure a rwd car over a little litre fwd

And I'm 23

[86mike]

What does it matter if you loose a years no claims bonus? The whole point of no claims is that it makes it cheaper but if you can get if cheaper sooner that's a bonus. Just change you policy and pay less.

[Hirst]

I would say most of it will be down to the fact that those Escorts are easy to steal.

[Mr.Sumo]

feel for you mate

i"m 45 , have ALWAYS run classics up until 3 years ago ( sans Merc C240 ) , when i went to insure said Merc was told i could not transfer ANY of my Classic insurance and had to start from scratch !
mmm, 45 yrs old , c class Merc....that"ll be 1300 of your pounds please !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Car only cost me £1500 ffs !!!!

Even this year it had only gone down 150 quid , hence , back to Classic policy and welcome to the mk2 Granny ! Oh , by the way....thats only £164 fully comp , agreed value and with alloys

Like your man says , looose the no claims and start again...it"ll be worth it in the long run ;D

[Battles]

Feb 6, 2012 19:06:05 GMT Del said:

A 1986 Mk3 Escort 1.6 Ghia.

These were easy to nick even when they were new. By modern standards, they're a liability so your price reflects the fact that the insurer wants to protect their exposure by effectively charging you, up front, for the costs of the recovery, storage and eventual payout that they see as being inevitible.

Feb 6, 2012 19:06:05 GMT Del said:

a 22yo I work with, who has six points, and lives in a similar area, can insure a 57-plate Polo GTi, for £900?

I suspect that there are porky pies in there somewhere. Either in what he's telling you about the price or what he's telling the insurers about who the main driver is or the number of points he's got.

Play honest, learn the rules and then use them to your advantage.
If it's cheaper to change insurers, change. As stated above the no claims is only supposed to make it cheaper and you can already do that by changing policy.

[Del]

Thanks for the input.
Theft risk I can understand, but the car is alarmed, and was declared as such, so that risk is minimised.
And while I can see the logic re the lost year's no-claims, it just seems to be another example of the insurance company working against the client, just because someone wants to change their car.
As for my colleague, I know him well, and he's not the kind of person to tell fibs. He's also a Special Constable, so keeps his nose very clean.

It all seems to be academic now anyway, as the listing for the Escort now appears to be a Morris Oxford!

[Hirst]

Problem is that even when a easy-to-steal car is made much harder to steal, it doesn't stop all the claims for when they've tried, failed and knackered the car up due to a perception of it being easy. It's frustrating - I bet there's a load of old Corsas out there with superb aftermarket immobiliser systems and they'll still get their doors bent the same as all the rest.

[popuptoaster]

My 3.2 Jag XJ40 was 4 times CHEAPER to insure than my current Volvo 940 2.3 turbo, despite both cars being very close in age and value, the Jag can go on a cherished car policy but the Volvo can't.

Insurance companies are mostly crooked as far as I can tell, how they justify that a Volvo is 4 times as likely to cost them money as a jag is I don't know?

[Battles]

Feb 7, 2012 21:14:55 GMT Del said:

It all seems to be academic now anyway, as the listing for the Escort now appears to be a Morris Oxford!

Yeah, what happened there?
I was going to link to that in the thread about the boy who wants to go to Poland for a £200 Escort.

[Deleted]

I'm wondering why a 1.8 Austin Princess is almost as much to insure annually as my lightly modified (lowered, alloys) 1.05 Polo is to insure monthly.

[cairyhunt]

I agree, it's bonkers!

I have 3 cars, the lowest value is the dearest to insure and the highest value car is the cheapest to insure! Go figure.

I do think something needs to be done though, and soon! It seems the insurers arnt willing to self regulate.

[sheffieldcortinacentre]

some years ago a mate had to identical cars except one had cruise & boot release. one was £200 a year the other £700, insurers excuse was you've only got one ncb.

[Copey]

call classic line, 22, 1.8 nissan turbo capri, ALL mods declared, driving since i was 17

£530

www.classiclineinsurance.co.uk/

[jasonb360]

Unbelievably, I think you'll find that insurance is one of the most competitive finance industries... the prices have gone up because of all the personal injury claims and people claiming for things that didn't actually get broken/stolen.

They have to cover their costs, and if the risks to them are greater, then the costs have to rise. I don't like it (nor do I work in insurance!) but it seems like they assess the risks fairly well. My 135bhp saab 900 cost the same to insure when I was 18 as my previous car, a 1994 1.2 clio. However I can believe that far less 18 year olds crash saab 900's than crash 1.2 clios - hence the on paper risk is less and thus despite the car being faster etc. this price increase is offset by the lower risk bringing the price to about the same.

I'd much rather they base it on statistics than conjecture - which is why I was annoyed when they said they were making policies less gender discriminate. If on paper women cost insurance companies less, then they should pay less... simple!

Just my 2p

[Ratdat]

To insure our MX5 with Ms. Ratdat as the main driver and me as a named driver was about £470 full comp with the AA.

I have now insured it with Footman James with me as main driver and her as named along with FOUR other cars on the same policy, all fully comp, unlimited milage, breakdown the lot... £377.

We both have full no claims and there's no other changes yet FJ are willing to insure it (with, I might ad, mods declared which weren't on it with the AA) for less money even though they are throwing in a ton of extras and covering a total of five cars.

They do just make it up as they go along.

[SamR380]

I'm not sure I understand the OP. You were looking to change from a 1.3 fiesta to a top of the range 1.6 escort and the price went up... Isn't that what you'd expect?

970 quid sounds about right for a 22 yo with points on a polo gti too, assuming 4 or 5 years NBC.

With insurers you're best ringing around until you get a reasonable offer, your current provider will only screw you over because they have a chance of getting away with it.

[akku]

most of the classic stuff seems to be fairsly straight forward which is why I tend to stick with that and not mess about with anything which needs an "insurance group" to insure it as it all goes mad then.

Some insurers are naturally more expensive than others anyway.

The thing to remember is that last year the British insurance industry paid out £14bn in motor claims which is £233 for every man, woman and child in the UK. If even a half of us have car insurance policies that's £466 per policy paid in payments. I've no idea what the cost of admin is before profit but even if its not much you can see its got to be clocking on £600 a year average policy with taxes for them to make even a trickle of profit.

As I pay £200 a year or so for my insurance someone has to pay £1000 to balance that out.