Which Insurance Company?

[CycleSi]

I'm looking to get a R300 Superlight and wondered who you use for insurance.

All my other cars and house are with Direct Line but they aren't very competitive with Caterham insurance.

Cheers.

[pikeyboy]

I use reis incs free trackday cover too.

[AndySuperSport]

I use Frank Pickles, excellent service, very cheap

[cyderbelly]

First se7en last year R300 Frank pickles was by far the best no claims not required. 5000 mile limit.

[Tango7]

Frank Pickles / MSM for road use and if the car is garaged. REIS or CCI for road and track use with their inclusive trackday cover. If you haven't any previous experience of a 2 wheel RWD sportscar, I don't think REIS will insure you at all though or only with a big premium

[CycleSi]

Thanks Guys.

Very helpful.

[guitarguy]

I chose REIS. 4 days track day cover, has to be on-drive parking at home (rear access for me) - not necessarily garaged. When asked, garaging doesn't make much difference to cost (less than £50 when pushed). On road parking they don't like - bit prohibitive apparently..... (No option for DD split payment though under a certain figure). I'd had had no RWD 2 seater experience - wasn't an issue, though I'd taken the sensible bog standard 120 Roadsport 'first Seven' option, and am older than I feel/act/look (lol)! Ha ha!!! Rapidly eating up my limited 3000 miles though so that's gonna take it up a bit when I add more (not a problem to do it would seem)! Best part of 1000 miles in first 6 weeks! Oops...

[Roadru77er]

Another happy Frank Pickles customer here.

[TeflonT]

Pickles - R300 up to £20k, 5k miles, Garaged £170.

[huwp]

I use Glynwood.

£190 fully comp to include breakdown cover, but then I haven't done a track day for a year or two.

[mg2959]

Umm, I having problems getting reasonable quotes from any insurance brokers. Tried Frank Pickles and they wouldn't even quote me??

I'm 41, had a full UK licence for 23 years, 20+ NCB, never had an accident. Never had a motoring conviction. Never been disqualified etc. I'm an advance driver, etc etc . . . . what do they want FFS!

My 7 would be garaged, locked and secured nightly. SD&P only, with a limit to 8000 miles per year. At this stage no track days.

The best quotes I've had from some of those compare sites have not been what I would expect to pay. Shout at me if you think i'm being unreasonable, but the cheapest I've been quoted was £580 (fully comp obviously)

[WillG]

mg2959 said:

Umm, I having problems getting reasonable quotes from any insurance brokers. Tried Frank Pickles and they wouldn't even quote me??

I'm 41, had a full UK licence for 23 years, 20+ NCB, never had an accident. Never had a motoring conviction. Never been disqualified etc. I'm an advance driver, etc etc . . . . what do they want FFS!

My 7 would be garaged, locked and secured nightly. SD&P only, with a limit to 8000 miles per year. At this stage no track days.

The best quotes I've had from some of those compare sites have not been what I would expect to pay. Shout at me if you think i'm being unreasonable, but the cheapest I've been quoted was £580 (fully comp obviously)

Try these guys A-Plan I'm paying under £200 with them. Consider dropping your mileage as this will rule you out of some specialist second car policies.

[Toaster]

I use Competition car insurance and have done for years
http://www.competition-car-insurance.co.uk

[halstock]

mg2959 said:

Umm, I having problems getting reasonable quotes from any insurance brokers. Tried Frank Pickles and they wouldn't even quote me??

I'm 41, had a full UK licence for 23 years, 20+ NCB, never had an accident. Never had a motoring conviction. Never been disqualified etc. I'm an advance driver, etc etc . . . . what do they want FFS!

My 7 would be garaged, locked and secured nightly. SD&P only, with a limit to 8000 miles per year. At this stage no track days.

The best quotes I've had from some of those compare sites have not been what I would expect to pay. Shout at me if you think i'm being unreasonable, but the cheapest I've been quoted was £580 (fully comp obviously)

I can't speak highly enough of Dave and the gang at MSM. Tel: [phone]. My first Caterham, an R300K, cost £230 FC, 5000 miles, garaged. I had similar age and driving history to you until I wrote it off on the way back from collecting it (bloody slippy Scottish roads ) which means I can also vouch for superb service in the event of a total loss claim.

Back on the road since Feb in something slightly less powerful, we'll see what post-claim renewal is like in October !

Best of luck,

Andy

[AndySuperSport]

mg2959 said:

My 7 would be garaged, locked and secured nightly. SD&P only, with a limit to 8000 miles per year. At this stage no track days.

That can't be right.. it might be your mileage? The first year I insured mine, it was 6000 miles and that was with Adrian Flux, and I was 24 I think. I originally asked for 3,000 but 6,000 was only a tenner more, I think I paid £250.

Do you live somewhere where the crime rate/risk may be quite high? Such as.. I dunno.. Libya?

[mg2959]

AndySuperSport said:

That can't be right.. it might be your mileage? The first year I insured mine, it was 6000 miles and that was with Adrian Flux, and I was 24 I think. I originally asked for 3,000 but 6,000 was only a tenner more, I think I paid £250.

Do you live somewhere where the crime rate/risk may be quite high? Such as.. I dunno.. Libya?

Ha ha well only if you consider North Hampshire as a potential war zone?!?!

Umm may be my anticipated mileage is a sticking point? Just don't want to restrict myself too much. Oh look it's a nice sunny day i'll go for a blat, oh wait a minute i'm close to my annual mileage allowance, better not!!

[mg2959]

halstock said:

I can't speak highly enough of Dave and the gang at MSM. Tel: [phone]. My first Caterham, an R300K, cost £230 FC, 5000 miles, garaged. I had similar age and driving history to you until I wrote it off on the way back from collecting it (bloody slippy Scottish roads ) which means I can also vouch for superb service in the event of a total loss claim.

Back on the road since Feb in something slightly less powerful, we'll see what post-claim renewal is like in October !

Best of luck,

Andy

Cheers Andy, I'll give these guys a call.

What did you go for to replace the R300?

[halstock]

Hi,

Firstly, I think the mileage might be your stumbling block. I had the same thoughts as you, before buying : "I'll run it all year, won't be a pussy in the winter, will use it all day every day, need loads of miles..." but various insurance companies said that few owners do more than 5000 miles a year. Clearly some do (before everyone comes on here to say "I do 25k a year in mine") but many use them only high days and holidays. It seems that anything over 5 or 6k is seen as "excessive" in Caterham terms, and that may affect your quote. I could be totally wrong though (I often am ). I feel like I drive mine quite a lot but have only done 1500 miles in 5 months although admittedly I've not been on any long runs yet (100 miles+).

As for the car, I was determined to get another R300 and saw three in one day, including a pristine one at Caterham (but 7 owners !!), but found my car at Millwood. It's unusual in that it's a 59 reg K-engined car, 1600 Supersport. It was used by Caterham as a CDX car then rebuilt in 2011 with few miles since so was basically as new. What appealed to me is that it is entirely R300 spec apart from the engine - 6 speed, LSD, dry sump, R300 exhaust, tillets, carbon bits, etc, even the chassis is designated a Superlight - so had all the spec I wanted in a newer car than I though I'd get and with the opportunity to 'learn' a Caterham with enough power to be fun but not so much as I'd get myself into trouble (again). I love it, but then don't we all love our own

I do plan to upgrade the power when funds allow and had lots of people tell me here and on BC that an R300 is an ideal first Caterham. I think I was unlucky with my accident and whilst I do love my car, would also go for an R300 again without a doubt.

Funnily enough I very nearly bought R300 SLT and had prolonged chats with Jim about it (hi Jim) but it was in a different price bracket then ! It is certainly a lovely example with great history and I found a few forum comments from people who knew the first two owners that it was one of the very best R300s around. Still, £24k seems a little steep.

Cheers,

Andy

[Helluvaname]

mg2959 said:

Umm, I having problems getting reasonable quotes from any insurance brokers. Tried Frank Pickles and they wouldn't even quote me??

I'm 41, had a full UK licence for 23 years, 20+ NCB, never had an accident. Never had a motoring conviction. Never been disqualified etc. I'm an advance driver, etc etc . . . . what do they want FFS!

My 7 would be garaged, locked and secured nightly. SD&P only, with a limit to 8000 miles per year. At this stage no track days.

The best quotes I've had from some of those compare sites have not been what I would expect to pay. Shout at me if you think i'm being unreasonable, but the cheapest I've been quoted was £580 (fully comp obviously)

That sounds way too high!
If you go to Frank Pickles ask for Barry Wilson.
It's also worth joining the Lotus 7 Club as I've found the insurance discount pays for the membership alone (and it's a great social club as well).

[mg2959]

Thanks guys, yeah I think mileage is one of the issues. I will have to have some personal chats with these companies and see if they do something a little bit more realistic.