Insurance Worries

[Guest lee taylor]

I'm 16 years old and I have recently purchased a 1.8 CVH Sierra as a donor car.

I am thinking of purchasing a sub k kit. Could anyone recommend an insurance company willing to take me on, before I purchase the kit? Or is anyone in a similar situation?

[Guest morty]

Lee,

 

I'm 17 and wanting a 2B, But from what I've picked up over the last year and a half, Robin Hoods aren't designed for the cvh - it just causes trouble (as in another current thread)

Also, at our age, you want as small an engine as possible for insurance purposes, so that the sting is not so great when it comes to premiums. As far as I know, Adrian Flux are the ones willing to insure the younger drivers - not the cheapest overall, but many of the cheapest, like Roadsure or Graham Sykes won't touch anyone under 25 :angry:

Therefore in conclusion, if I were you, I'd be looking to chop the 1.8 in for a 1.6 pinto (exhaust manifold on driver's side) as it will give you a much easier build, and dump a cossie engine in when you're 21

 

Cheers,

Morty

[Guest mickmellors]

Very true about problems with modifications to house CVH - use SEARCH at top right of screen and put CVH as keyword to find other posts.

 

Insurers are not generally over worried about engine size and performance at our levels. They assume that as you have spent a year or two building your car that you are going to drive it with a view to keeping it in one piece and therefore perceive low risk from you as a builder/owner/driver. I got a fully comp quote from Roadsure at £120 - my Peugeot 605 Diesel costs me £340 ! ! !

The risk they do see is one from other drivers running into you because they cant see your low car in their mirrors and cut across you. Just yesterday I was followed by a kit car (3 wheeler with 2 at the front and half a complete motorbike as back end - Grinnall ? ) and when I stopped at traffic lights in the left lane he came halfway up my car length in the right hand lane. I could see almost none of his car in my door mirror. If this was a moving situation rather than a static one it could have been potentially dangerous.

 

As I have suggested in a post within the last couple of days I would give serious consideration to getting a 2 litre EFI Pinto and save yourself all the potential grief.

 

Just fining an exhaust manifold could cost well over £100 if not £150 and you would get a drivable 2 litre EFI Pinto donor with a week or two tax and MOT for that and drop it straight into a chassis specifically designed to house it.

SAME COST 1/10th the time and next to no grief.

 

Hope it all works out for you whatever you decide to do.

 

Mick M

[Guest morty]

I'd not considered the differing engines effect on insurance in the kit world. It was more based on the fact that insurance for a 1.6 carb 87 cavalier is nigh on £800, but for a 2.0i sri 130 engine you can pretty much triple that.

 

Ben Salt, CJ Bailey, can you add anyting to this discussion - I seem to remember you're in roughly the same position

 

I might have to consider looking for a bigger pinto, cos 1.6's seem to be like rocking horse manure to find in west yorkshire. I don't fancy injection yet though!

 

Morty

[Guest cjbailey]

I haven't bothered looking around too much for insurance quotes, the company I am with for my *proper* car said that, as long as I have a decent set of no-claims, then they can't see any problem with insuring me but they won't give me a quote at the moment. I have gone for a 2.0 carb'd pinto and have pretty much decided that there is no point in finding the insurance yet as a lot of companies won't even bother to quote.

 

I will be at least 20 (If I stop being so slack) when the car is complete, so I won't have long to wait before I can get a reasonable quote anyhow.

[Guest Ben Salt]

I had to find a quote in order to convince my parents to allow me to buy the kit - as has already been said, Adrian Flux were about the only company that would quote me, and that was about £900 for third party, fire and theft.

[Joel]

I've just taken out a policy with Roadsure - £169 fully comp on a 2.0ltr 2B, with my Rhocar discount of course

 

I'm only 26 so to get cover that cheap is pretty good going. My daily driver is only worth a few hundred quid, has a fraction of the performance, and has 154,000 miles on the clock, but I'm still paying £350 TPFT insurance for it.

[Guest Bobby]

In my experience the engine size doesn't make much difference.

 

When i was ringing round to check i could afford the insurance, one company i forget the name said that the cost would be the same for a 1.6 as it would for a 2.0.

 

anyway if you're do it as fast as me you'll be able to get insured by SAGA!!!

 

hehe

 

bobs

[Guest morty]

Having given adrian flux a bell, i was well and truly ............................ SHOCKED!

 

For a 19 yr old, (youngest they'll do) driving for a year, no no claims, driving a 2B with pinto engine (size doesn't matter), £1500 quid a year limited to 3000 miles!

 

And I thought kit car insurance was supposed to be cheap

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Morty

[Guest Ant]

Not wanting to spoil anyone's fun, but there is another way! In Ron Champions locost book he recommends starting out at 17 years of age with something like an unmodified 1.3 engine and then upgrading to a 1.8 or 2.o later. Remember that he first built locosts with 16 to 20 year olds in a school sixth form engineering department - insurance was always an issue with the people building them.

 

My 2.0 is fun, but I think that any seven copy even with an 850 mini engine in it would be just as much fun. Hey, my first car was a mini 850 and that was loads of fun! A seven and a mini are similar weights, right? You then get the fun twice because when you've got a couple of years no claims you stick the 2.0 in.

 

Now in Robin hood terms fitting a non-pinto isn't easy, and that is probably where the idea falls apart. What about the 1.3 mk 2 escorts for the bits?

 

Just a thought.

 

Ant

[Guest Tony Tank]

Hi Lee you could look out for a 1300 pinto YES they made 1300 cc early in the production off the sierra, they are very rare but it would be worth a try . Plus if you build it with a 1300 you could up grade later on it would just be a straight swoop. I think u would have reasonable power with a 1300, WHAT DO U ALL THINK LADS. Tony

[Guest morty]

It's an idea, but I'm quite fancying a 2 litre now.

 

Those miles'd only get me to newark and back about 20 times :angry: :angry: and Ant's clocked up more than that in what, 2-3 months?

 

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it i suppose.

Morty

[Guest cjbailey]

I live on an island and I still do 8k a year just getting to work... By the time I go out occasionally and go up country I can easily touch 10 - 12k without really trying!

(had to modify the post slightly - whoopsy!!!)

[Guest AWhite]

I'm 25. Cars a 2.0 3 series. No no-claims discount coz I couldn't use it on two cars. 3000miles per annum.

 

Got insured with roadsure for £150 fully comp includes breakdown cover, the lot.

 

My other car is a Mk2 MR2 similar performance best quote was £650 fully comp protected with 6 years no claims! no accidents or endorsements.

[Guest mordac]

hmm. interesting. can you get someone else to insure it, like your parents and then have you listed as a driver? i'm new to england and so i have no no claim bonus and have had a license for only 2 months here and so insurance is a bit dodgy for me. thankfully my girlfriend is british, over 25 with a 5 year no claim bonus. i can get added to her policy for a few more pounds.

 

cheers

mordac