Been looking at insurance for an E30 today and came across something completely unexpected. I've seen some oddities before (who hasn't?) but this is a new one. Due to the age of the car, I wasn't sure if it has an immoboliser, so got two quotes - one with and one without. For some reason, the quote saying the car has no immobiliser has a £30 cheaper premium than saying it does. Anyone able to explain this one?

My only thoughts are that maybe they assume there'll be less damage to the car if there's nothing to overcome/ rip apart when trying to steal it? That said, I'd have thought some dash cowling would be less than replacing a missing car!

Any of the resident insurance people able to shed any light?

Also just found that saying the car is 'chipped' (0-10% bhp increase) reduces the premium. That one I don't get! And parking on-road rather than on private property drives the price down too (although someone broke into my 330 on the driveway the other day, but I'm sure they'd have done it if it was parked 10 foot away on the road too. . . -_-)

Edited 5 January, 201313 yr by TriggerFish

dont start me on insurance rip offs, i got 2 different quotes from the same company through 2 different comparison sites with all the same parameters; ncd, fully comp etc and there was over £300 difference between them!! and that was the same insurer.

the other thing i've noticed is that if you ask for the policy to start 30 days in the future rather than today it is much cheaper

Its not the quotes i have a problem with its the phone calls for a week after that gets on my t*ts

The only one I can understand is the being parked on a driveway vs being on the street, if its at the other end of the road, the thieves wont know which house they need to break into to nick the keys.

I`d agree with the annoying calls too, one of them phoned the other day, just asking if I was happy with my quote. Why? If its cheapest/best I`ll take it, if not then no I`m not happy, but I dont need a phone call asking me.

I'm insuring the S3 for less than my Fabia vRS.

How does that make sense.

Perhaps it's because I declared my mods on the Fabia?

But still the Fab was running 180bhp compared to 265bhp on the Audi.

And the Audi is worth well over 10k more than the Skoda was.

On the old grouping system the Fab is a 9 and the S3 is an 18.

I'm living at the same address, only change is I'm a year older.

They make it up as they go along in my opinion

I have been getting quotes on my luxury barge options and by saying it has a tracker fitted increased the quote by upto £300!!

Mk2 vRS was £60 cheaper than my Mk1 then this years went up by £10. Checked a few cars I'm thinking of changing to in the future and some are a lot quicker are only slightly more again. Doesn't make sense at all.

Never had a problem with calling back, so no complaints on that front.

The only one I can understand is the being parked on a driveway vs being on the street, if its at the other end of the road, the thieves wont know which house they need to break into to nick the keys.

Valid point. Though when they burgled my BMW just before Christmas they only took possessions, not the car (so location would make no difference), but I do see the logic there.

Saying it's in a garage added 30% loading to the quote! I can't explain that one away easily either.

Trackers added £300 onto these quotes too - it's the sort of thing you could easily add and not declare though if you wanted one.

I'm insuring the S3 for less than my Fabia vRS.

How does that make sense.

And I'm insuring my 330d for several hundred less than my PD150 Golf. Madness.

The difference between a 'sport' and an 'SE' 330 is about £300 too. All for some seats/interior/bumpers/and suspension.

I'm insuring the S3 for less than my Fabia vRS.

How does that make sense.

Perhaps it's because I declared my mods on the Fabia?

But still the Fab was running 180bhp compared to 265bhp on the Audi.

And the Audi is worth well over 10k more than the Skoda was.

On the old grouping system the Fab is a 9 and the S3 is an 18.

I'm living at the same address, only change is I'm a year older.

They make it up as they go along in my opinion

It's down to the risk profile of the vehicle.

My 2011 GT-R is £100 per year cheaper than my 2010 GT-R.

Worth £10k more, but earlier ones have less claims.

It's purely down to number of claims and value of those claims on the vehicle.

I'd be prepared to guess there are more claims being made on modified VRS Fabias than S3s.

Insurance companies simply try to make money by confusing the market - immoral but not illegal. This is actually quite a clever business model and the idiots are those that pay the premiums without shopping around or checking the cover and the small prints.

Play them at their own game and become a quote whore.

Surprise the censorship filter let that through!!

Insurance companies simply try to make money by confusing the market - immoral but not illegal. This is actually quite a clever business model and the idiots are those that pay the premiums without shopping around or checking the cover and the small prints.

Play them at their own game and become a quote whore.

Too right. There is no bonus for loyalty in the insurance market. Just reduced my like for like renewal from £325 to £183 by playing the game. If you are the high end of the premium scale, the potential for significant saving is out there.

Did dabble with the idea of a Toyota MR2 as a cheap track day fun car but after checking insurance I can forget it. Even using my NCB (which I wouldn't be able to do), adding my parents as named drivers, limiting mileage to 2k a year it's £300 more than a the vRS so £750. Madness

its because its all a racket anyway.

but as with any racket, you only get scammed if you get sucked in.

It's not a case of being sucked in it's the law to pay it. At the moment it seems you can shop around all you want but prices are still extortionately high. Insurance companies are loving it as now they can get even more money of women.

Massive con. Hate insurance, if it wasnt the law then no one would have it at the prices they dish out.

Bloody house insurance isn't any better. We live about 100m from a river, but we're 30m above it up a hill, no floods or slips ever. Noah's ark would be out before we get flooded. Do the ins companies take this into account? Noooo you're 100m from a river so a flood risk and half of them won't even quote us.

The quotes I always get make no sense to me. I find it particularly offensive when you put your details through at renewal time and your current insurer undercuts their renewal price heavily for a new policy. I don't ever get the callback problem as I just put 11 zeros in for the number or if its on an insurers site itself, then you can have them calling their own number

Been looking at insurance for an E30 today and came across something completely unexpected. I've seen some oddities before (who hasn't?) but this is a new one. Due to the age of the car, I wasn't sure if it has an immoboliser, so got two quotes - one with and one without. For some reason, the quote saying the car has no immobiliser has a £30 cheaper premium than saying it does. Anyone able to explain this one?

My only thoughts are that maybe they assume there'll be less damage to the car if there's nothing to overcome/ rip apart when trying to steal it? That said, I'd have thought some dash cowling would be less than replacing a missing car!

Any of the resident insurance people able to shed any light?

Also just found that saying the car is 'chipped' (0-10% bhp increase) reduces the premium. That one I don't get! And parking on-road rather than on private property drives the price down too (although someone broke into my 330 on the driveway the other day, but I'm sure they'd have done it if it was parked 10 foot away on the road too. . . -_-)

For that particular insurer/comparison site there will have been more or higher value of claims from immobilised E30's than none immobilised E30's.

This would not be the same for a decent, specialist insurer.

Tonight on Channel 4 @ 8pm.

Dispatches, 'Secrets of your car insurance'.

george

thats getting sky+ tonight....

Tonight on Channel 4 @ 8pm.

Dispatches, 'Secrets of your car insurance'.

I used to like Dispatches but this series seems to be very one sided and Daily Mail-esque. We shall see if this one bucks the trend

Chris

Watched it last night but I don't think it really said anything I didn't know.

My experiance a year ago was to insure a ford focus c-max 1.6 tdci 06 plate (110bhp) - £850

Alfa romeo giulietta cloverleaf 1.75 turbo petrol 61 plate (235bhp) - £810

Work that one out.