insurance

[corollakid]

Guys, do you use every day or classic insurance for Gen 6 GT.

Are there any drawbacks with classic insurance and how much would a 1999 GT be worth with 102,000 on odometer.

Also can anyone suggest a good classic company ?

Thanks in anticipation  >>>>>>.Stu

[Old Red Celica]

Hi Stu

 All Insurance Co's have had premium increases this year, so it's hard to say will be best for us oldies. The last 2 years the Avon has been insured by Lancaster. Unfortunately you only find out how good the policy is, when you have to claim.

 If your Gen6 is on a low mileage per year and a second car  just have it as a classic policy.

[_Chris_]

I had to change insurer last Autumn as REIS stopped doing their multicar policies and reverted back to their core competition car policies.

I looked at a few and ended up with Flux who came up with a reasonable price overall for everyday car, camper and a few Celicas.

 

[ams]

ive had good quotes on classic policy with low miles with footman james

 

[Sherv]

I'd been with Greenlight for years until this year as they weren't doing Agreed Valuation any more,which I needed for my Gen4,so I now have both my cars with Flux.Although they are on modified policies,but yeah shop around with the names the guys have mentioned.Mileage is an important consideration as is whether it is a second car,not a daily,if a second vehicle with low annual mileage,then you should be able to get a classic policy that suits. Flux do those too,for your reference.

Edited 15 February 2024 by Sherv

[Park Insurance Services]

Hi folks thought I'd drop in here with a few of my observations from the past couple months working on the other side. 

 

As @Old Red Celica pointed out, the market right now is really tough, was on a webinar yesterday that was highlighting how motor insurance is effectively run at a loss - you can blame the roads being infested with hyper-complicated and technologically packed electric SUVs for that. The frequency of accidents has reduced, but the severity in terms of claims cost has gone up. As such, this is reflected in general prices, but you can still get a decent deal depending on the circumstances - many things are taken into account for the risk loading, it would be impossible to list them all. 

 

The main sticking point with a classic policy over a standard policy will be the following trade-off: Do you want the insurance company to treat your car as an enthusiast, in return for less miles driven, or rather have more miles but have to potentially fight harder if the worst happens to get them to understand your point of view. I've also never heard of agreed value being offered on standard Private Car policies, but I am still learning this game. 

 

For example, when my Volvo 480 was hit by the bin lorry a couple years back - had I not been in bed at the time and the claim was instead made against me, my insurance company would have likely taken the vehicle in return for my payout as it was insured on a standard Private Motor policy and that was what they included in their terms. As it happened, I got a payout from the refuse company's corporate insurance, and they let me rebuild the car, but it was a lucky escape for the wedge. 

 

Generally, a 1999 car might be a tough sell on a classic car policy for an underwriter, but with proven club membership this should create a positive effect. If you find yourself looking for insurance drop me a line and I will have a look and see if I can chat to some people who will hear my arguments in favour of consideration.  

 

At the end of the day, just make sure you carefully read the policy wording of any agreement and make a note of what you're covered for - comprehensive is a misleading term that gives the impression everything is covered, but there will be caveats such as one I see classic owners getting understandably anxious about, which is no cover on active airfields (think Bicester Heritage or Thruxton)

 

Hope this helps out, will be happy to answer questions

~Ben