Small, fast, auto, £4k. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

[Dave200]

Shaoxter said:

I live in zone 4, but even then it's still a band E postcode.

I've never paid more than £700 for insurance, you must be doing something wrong... try changing parameters like where you park the car at night, occupation (within reason), etc.

Unless you're in Tottenham (or somewhere equally grim), there's a massive insurance risk differential between Z4 and Z1. In the A-F ranking our postcode comes under the "* Refer" category, which may as well be called "Lube up". We're moving soon (a smidge more centrally), which will be in a secure, gated community (with porter/security etc.). By way of experiment I tried the new postcode (also "Lube up") and car location, and it made almost no difference.

Occupation isn't really possible to wiggle for either of us, sadly.

Looking increasingly like we will be taking this one on the chin.

Edited by Dave200 on Friday 3rd July 10:31

[Dave200]

braddo said:

Are these insurance quotes just to add your partner as a named driver??

I am thinking the big factor must be her age, because when I added my OH as a named driver after she passed her test, the increase in premium was negigible. Other circumstances not much different to yours - powerful RWD car, parked on street, London postcode (zone 2) that insurers don't like etc. But OH age mid-30s.


Anyway, I think that another important consideration should be to avoid a car with a long bonnet, which makes it harder turning into cramped streets and seeing oncoming vehicles etc. In other words, a hatchback like the MkV Golf GTI (or is there a reasonably quick auto Polo?) rather than a Z4 or SLK.

Yes - just as named driver.
There seems no rhyme nor reason about some of the quotes - with the Golf GTI significantly more expensive than a 3.2 TT in places. In spite of the bonnet length, the Z4 is actually a smaller car than a Golf overall - and that's what counts more in the sphere of manoeuvrability for me.

dibblecorse said:

Fast + London + Recently Qualified Driver is going to be the death knell on this all day long, for 12 months get something asthmatic if need be and let your wife learn to drive without the huge insurance pressures that an expensive to insure car brings with it, one minor bump and it will all unravel potentially, we ran a Mini Cooper Auto for 3 years after my wife past her test and through London was a doddle, in the lanes it was just point and squirt, handled brilliantly and we used it as our only car for 2 years going backwards and forwards to Cornwall from London regularly.

Your desire for fast is whats really screwing the figures, SLK's, GTi's etc will just wallet rape you on insurance.

Just my tuppence worth having spent a number of years in the motor insurance industry.

I hear exactly what you're saying.
If I could get a decent quote on a Cooper S automatic, I would give some serious thought to it for a year or so. It's just that I would regret not paying the extra cash every time I drove past something more interesting - hence the desire to try and minimise the additional outlay.