TVR-friendly temporary insurance?
Discussion
Tried searching PH without success.
I'm looking to buy a Chimaera shortly, and will want to look at a few privately advertised cars. I was wondering what other people have done regarding insurance when test-driving?
My own insurance does (I think) cover me for driving other people's cars, but obviously only on a 3rd-party basis. I'm not sure I'm 100% comfortable with that, because if there's one time you're most likely to stuff it up it's when driving an unfamiliar car.
I've looked at the various sites offering temporary insurance, and of course they all tell me to bog off because it's a TVR.
Does anyone know of a company that will do one-day insurance for test-driving purposes?
I'm looking to buy a Chimaera shortly, and will want to look at a few privately advertised cars. I was wondering what other people have done regarding insurance when test-driving?
My own insurance does (I think) cover me for driving other people's cars, but obviously only on a 3rd-party basis. I'm not sure I'm 100% comfortable with that, because if there's one time you're most likely to stuff it up it's when driving an unfamiliar car.
I've looked at the various sites offering temporary insurance, and of course they all tell me to bog off because it's a TVR.
Does anyone know of a company that will do one-day insurance for test-driving purposes?
Not much help...... but you may find it a problem..... when I first insured a Tiv the big question was what is your experience of rear wheeled sports cars, when I said none as either told politly to F Off or premium through the roof.
What has your own insurance comapny said about full comp cover on test drives ??? don't tell them it's a Tiv unless they ask, that way no lies being told.
What has your own insurance comapny said about full comp cover on test drives ??? don't tell them it's a Tiv unless they ask, that way no lies being told.
You could offer to pay the seller to add you to his/her policy for the day.
Another option would be to check the car over yourself, ensure you're happy, get the seller to drive it under your instructions to make sure theres nothing absolutely obvious and then once otherwise happy, find a respected indie mechanic to test drive it/inspect it uder their trade policy.
I'm assuming at this stage you'd only be looking to drive the car to make sure it had no faults rather than driving to see if you actually like the Chim in the first instance?
Another option would be to check the car over yourself, ensure you're happy, get the seller to drive it under your instructions to make sure theres nothing absolutely obvious and then once otherwise happy, find a respected indie mechanic to test drive it/inspect it uder their trade policy.
I'm assuming at this stage you'd only be looking to drive the car to make sure it had no faults rather than driving to see if you actually like the Chim in the first instance?
When I was looking at buying the Cerbera we had exactly this problem. My insurers didn't want to know because it wasn't my car and already insured (can't insure the same car twice) and Dave's insurers would only insure for a min of 1 week at some silly price.
My policy allowed me to drive any car 3rd party and so we came to a gentleman's agreement that we use my policy 3rd party only on a 'you crash it you buy it' agreement. I didn't crash it but I did buy it
It is a really difficult position but I suppose having had the Chimaera 9 years without disappearing through hedges backwards helped the decision.
Good luck.
My policy allowed me to drive any car 3rd party and so we came to a gentleman's agreement that we use my policy 3rd party only on a 'you crash it you buy it' agreement. I didn't crash it but I did buy it
It is a really difficult position but I suppose having had the Chimaera 9 years without disappearing through hedges backwards helped the decision.
Good luck.
Some interesting thoughts, thanks!
Alas, that RAC link says: The vehicle has been identified as 'TVR CHIMAERA CONVERTIBLE 4558cc, 2dr Petrol Manual (97-on)' and unfortunately we are unable to offer insurance for this vehicle. Boo-hoo! In fact, most of the online one-day insurance things I've tried come back with precisely the same words, so I think they're all just front-ends to the same underwriter.
My own insurance company, Greenlight, markets itself as for performance and modified cars (I use them because my diesel SEAT is remapped). But bizarrely, their website specifically lists TVR as a marque that they won't insure. Go figure! I suppose I could try talking to them, but my bet is they'll want to know what type of car I'm test-driving, and I can guess what the answer will be.
I like the idea of "crash it and you buy it". I'll see what seller(s) say.
Failing that, I may well go with Zippee's plan: look at a car to check it's what I want, and ask the seller to demonstrate it to me then get Rob Ingleby to inspect it. I think he does a test-drive as part of his service anyway.
I've only just started looking at Chimaeras, and my plan was to drive a few at dealers first to figure out whether it's the right car for me, before looking at some private sales. I drove a couple at Fernhurst on Tuesday, but it was in the middle of the biggest deluge imaginable, so it was interesting but not entirely useful!!
Alas, that RAC link says: The vehicle has been identified as 'TVR CHIMAERA CONVERTIBLE 4558cc, 2dr Petrol Manual (97-on)' and unfortunately we are unable to offer insurance for this vehicle. Boo-hoo! In fact, most of the online one-day insurance things I've tried come back with precisely the same words, so I think they're all just front-ends to the same underwriter.
My own insurance company, Greenlight, markets itself as for performance and modified cars (I use them because my diesel SEAT is remapped). But bizarrely, their website specifically lists TVR as a marque that they won't insure. Go figure! I suppose I could try talking to them, but my bet is they'll want to know what type of car I'm test-driving, and I can guess what the answer will be.
I like the idea of "crash it and you buy it". I'll see what seller(s) say.
Failing that, I may well go with Zippee's plan: look at a car to check it's what I want, and ask the seller to demonstrate it to me then get Rob Ingleby to inspect it. I think he does a test-drive as part of his service anyway.
I've only just started looking at Chimaeras, and my plan was to drive a few at dealers first to figure out whether it's the right car for me, before looking at some private sales. I drove a couple at Fernhurst on Tuesday, but it was in the middle of the biggest deluge imaginable, so it was interesting but not entirely useful!!
Edited by dmjw01 on Thursday 9th September 15:29
dmjw01 said:
Failing that, I may well go with Zippee's plan: look at a car to check it's what I want, and ask the seller to demonstrate it to me then get Rob Ingleby to inspect it. I think he does a test-drive as part of his service anyway.
Please note though I said decent indie to inspect, not blithering idiot!
Zippee said:
You could offer to pay the seller to add you to his/her policy for the day.
I did that with one of my test drives. The insurance company (Hagerty I think) didn't even charge a fee for it.Not aware of any 'day insurance' type companies covering unusual or high risk vehicles sadly. It makes it really tricky to get legitimate fully comp insurance for test drives, you wonder what people are actually supposed to do now it's (understandably) becoming a de-rigeur requirement for private test drives.
Everyone asks for it in the adverts, but virtually no one actually has it - with my last (TVR) sale I just sussed out that the guy wasn't a nutter or a boy racer, demonstrated it quite enthusiastically myself so there weren't any major question marks over the handling or performance and then let him pootle back for the last little bit.
Zippee said:
You could offer to pay the seller to add you to his/her policy for the day.
Another option would be to check the car over yourself, ensure you're happy, get the seller to drive it under your instructions to make sure theres nothing absolutely obvious and then once otherwise happy, find a respected indie mechanic to test drive it/inspect it uder their trade policy.
I'm assuming at this stage you'd only be looking to drive the car to make sure it had no faults rather than driving to see if you actually like the Chim in the first instance?
That's a very good call!!! Another option would be to check the car over yourself, ensure you're happy, get the seller to drive it under your instructions to make sure theres nothing absolutely obvious and then once otherwise happy, find a respected indie mechanic to test drive it/inspect it uder their trade policy.
I'm assuming at this stage you'd only be looking to drive the car to make sure it had no faults rather than driving to see if you actually like the Chim in the first instance?
over_the_hill said:
Interesting that they don't do Tiv's. I suggested here because earlier in the year I was helping someone out with a Merc. S500 and took out a couple on different days (just to be on the safe side rather than just using my 3rd party DOC's cover) and no problems at all.I would guess that is also a group 20 car so they must be very picky.
I said:
... get Rob Ingleby to inspect it.
and Zippee said:
Please note though I said decent indie to inspect, not blithering idiot!
Hi Zippee...This is an interesting comment, because the great majority of people seem to think he gives good advice and service. But if there's another side to the story, I'd like to know so I can make an informed choice of who to use!
I appreciate you can't necessarily tell us in full here in public, but if you've had bad experience with him then I'd be very grateful to hear it by email: david [at] dmjwilliams [dot] co [dot] uk. Thanks!
Edited by dmjw01 on Friday 10th September 08:36
Afraid my days of typing long e-mails on the subject are long gone, I will state I'm in no means the minority with my views and I'm sure others will be along shortly - one particular person of whom I believe was lucky to make it home alive given the state of the car found for him.
My only advice would be to remember that it's easy to inspect an already good car, give it a clean bill of health and the happy new owner then raves about the service. Where an inspector really earns their money is finding the dogs and faults and advising you of such.
My only advice would be to remember that it's easy to inspect an already good car, give it a clean bill of health and the happy new owner then raves about the service. Where an inspector really earns their money is finding the dogs and faults and advising you of such.
dmjw01 said:
This is an interesting comment, because the great majority of people seem to think he gives good advice and service. But if there's another side to the story, I'd like to know so I can make an informed choice of who to use!
He seemed competent and helpful enough when I spoke to him (I didn't pay, just phoned up for a chat on a car he'd inspected previously) but virtually everyone else on PH seems to have a rather different view. Either way I wouldn't pay someone for what's basically an opinion unless it's backed up by a guarantee of some sort. Otherwise you might just as well find a friendly local TVRCC/PH member to take a look with you.
Well, I've searched PH and can only find positive comments about him (including people who have avoided buying a car because of his advice), but maybe that's because the "no name-and-shame" rule means that those with negative thoughts can't easily express them. If so, that's a shame - because it undermines the balance (and therefore the overall value) of what you read on PH. I really would like to hear both sides!
The only way I've been able to insure the chim on short term insurance is by adding it to the insurance policy of my daily car for a day or two. None of the proper day cover people would touch it. But then I owned it so I don't know if that makes a difference, we just needed to get it to it's MOT as it had been off the road for a bit whilst we had newborn twins
dmjw01 said:
Well, I've searched PH and can only find positive comments about him (including people who have avoided buying a car because of his advice), but maybe that's because the "no name-and-shame" rule means that those with negative thoughts can't easily
express them. If so, that's a shame -
because it undermines the balance
(and therefore the overall value) of
what you read on PH. I really would
like to hear both sides!
Interesting reading this as I was considering using him myself once I had found one. Do the likes of Power and Str8t Six inspect on site (depending on distance) or is it just a case of taking it to their workshop?express them. If so, that's a shame -
because it undermines the balance
(and therefore the overall value) of
what you read on PH. I really would
like to hear both sides!
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