possible cerbera owner, help needed
Discussion
Morning all
I've recently come into some money, and the Cerbera is 1 of my all time favourite cars...I'm currently at the stage of justifying it and would appreciate help with a few questions that are bugging me.
I'm 20, no claims! no points! (I'm not an idiot, i actually enjoy a good drive in a good car), what with seemingly everything in the UK going up s*** creek fast, I'm at the stage where i want to own something special before its too late (sorry about the melodrama)
1) Insurance: as owners, where would you recommend as a good place to get insured, value for money wise.
2) Running costs: on average, what do you spend keeping yours well maintained, servicing costs? outrigger replacements? any other things i should know about?
3) Any good mechanics/people who know what they're doing with a tvr in the Gloucestershire/Monmouthshire area?
any help would be appreciated
Cheers
John
I've recently come into some money, and the Cerbera is 1 of my all time favourite cars...I'm currently at the stage of justifying it and would appreciate help with a few questions that are bugging me.
I'm 20, no claims! no points! (I'm not an idiot, i actually enjoy a good drive in a good car), what with seemingly everything in the UK going up s*** creek fast, I'm at the stage where i want to own something special before its too late (sorry about the melodrama)
1) Insurance: as owners, where would you recommend as a good place to get insured, value for money wise.
2) Running costs: on average, what do you spend keeping yours well maintained, servicing costs? outrigger replacements? any other things i should know about?
3) Any good mechanics/people who know what they're doing with a tvr in the Gloucestershire/Monmouthshire area?
any help would be appreciated
Cheers
John
johnhenry said:
I've recently come into some money
How do you become a wealthy Cerbera owner?Start off a very wealthy Cerbera owner.
You are quite young, so to get decent insurance you'll struggle / get any at all! Do you have RWD experience? That will help if you try the brokers / classic policies. TBH Insurance would be the most important thing for you to look at now - servicing/running costs, if you assume £4K/year you'll have no nasty surprises - some people get by on minimal std servicing, but most off us get caught up with little upgrades here & there which soon add up
If you buy right it may cost you nothing for 12 months, and only then a £300 6K oil service. Buy wrong and you could easily have 4K of 'stuff' to do, assuming nothing is fundamentally wrong! (tyres/brakes/manifold/12K w shims/cats/chassis paint etc.. etc.. - a lot you can do yourself though)Edited by stuthemong on Monday 5th April 12:17
cheers for the help!
I have driven rwd before, but not on the roads so doubt it will be of any use in the eyes on insurers :/
hmm, fairly dear on running costs, i would be prepared work myself, do you know of any really good guides to the engine, looking at the 4.2 specifically?
insurance is looking round '£2300/2400'
but it costs the same for a decent bmw or similar rwd then its a simple choice which i would rather have! Here is the place for help on running them - lots of us dabble with working on them, some more experienced/able than others. I tend to have a go, get bored & chuck it a garage - but you can't fault my trying
If you do the work yourself & are competent you could keep one on the road for £2K/year assuming a lot of worse case goings on (engine not blowing up though)..... best case would be only £100 with wind behind you (oil&filter&plugs change). It just really depends. At any rate, even if you are able to do all work yourself stuff that goes can be expensive. Clutches are £600 odd parts alone, tyres £700 odd, brake disks a lot, another £100/pop in servicing consumables... lots can go wrong, not so say it will. I think the normally accepted average is about £2K/year on 'stuff' to keep things going - of that probably 1K is parts, the other 1K labour, so in theory, on average, 1K / year should cover you.
Problem is, if you buy a cerb which needs tyres+clutch that 1K has already comfortably gone.
Have you tried any of the classic insurers? Are you planning on having the cerb as a daily driver? (if you don't have deep pockets I wouldn't recommend)
If you do the work yourself & are competent you could keep one on the road for £2K/year assuming a lot of worse case goings on (engine not blowing up though)..... best case would be only £100 with wind behind you (oil&filter&plugs change). It just really depends. At any rate, even if you are able to do all work yourself stuff that goes can be expensive. Clutches are £600 odd parts alone, tyres £700 odd, brake disks a lot, another £100/pop in servicing consumables... lots can go wrong, not so say it will. I think the normally accepted average is about £2K/year on 'stuff' to keep things going - of that probably 1K is parts, the other 1K labour, so in theory, on average, 1K / year should cover you.
Problem is, if you buy a cerb which needs tyres+clutch that 1K has already comfortably gone.
Have you tried any of the classic insurers? Are you planning on having the cerb as a daily driver? (if you don't have deep pockets I wouldn't recommend)
Edited by stuthemong on Monday 5th April 13:34
Whilst I appreciate this won't be the norm for everyone be prepared for it just in case. 
I'm 27 and i struggled to get classic car insurance because of my age!... Dunno how that works!
my insurance is 600 Fully Comp with no RWD experiance but i did have a High Performance FWD Car that i did mention and its on 4500miles limited millege...
i think the one thig you have to ask your self is... Are you using it as daily drive or not?
If your not then you can do the work your self and learn the car. if your using it as a daily drive its going to be alot of hassle. Things will stop working that bug the hell out of you!!!
I bought my cerbera with a lot of little bits and bobs wrong with it. but a Recon engine, all new brakes and a clutch... All tyres where good to.(not any more mind you)
idea was to do all the little bits and bobs and over the past 5 month i've done all the little bits... and i've very very pleased!!! Its very satisfying when you start to sort the car out your self.... Always little jobs to do here and there ... I dont use mine as a daily drive... So it can sit on axle stands for a month or 2 and i'm not bothered!!! unless its a sunny day!!!
Running costs i've spent 2k on it so far over 5 months.... some bits i did'nt need but wanted ie nice exhausts and de-cat pipes! others i did need..ie starter that was getting unreliable and i serviced it my self! no cos it needed it but because i wanted to....
overall the grin factor outweights the money going out!!! as for fuel i was quite surprised how little it drinks if your stready... drove from london to preston in 5th gear nice and steady at 70mph and it cost me £45 in juice... cheaper than my works van! if your heavy footed you can see the gfuel guage go down!!!
but this grin factor takes over!!!! Buy a cerbera... might be worth your while to find someone who will look around a few with you.
Jack
my insurance is 600 Fully Comp with no RWD experiance but i did have a High Performance FWD Car that i did mention and its on 4500miles limited millege...
i think the one thig you have to ask your self is... Are you using it as daily drive or not?
If your not then you can do the work your self and learn the car. if your using it as a daily drive its going to be alot of hassle. Things will stop working that bug the hell out of you!!!
I bought my cerbera with a lot of little bits and bobs wrong with it. but a Recon engine, all new brakes and a clutch... All tyres where good to.(not any more mind you)
idea was to do all the little bits and bobs and over the past 5 month i've done all the little bits... and i've very very pleased!!! Its very satisfying when you start to sort the car out your self.... Always little jobs to do here and there ... I dont use mine as a daily drive... So it can sit on axle stands for a month or 2 and i'm not bothered!!! unless its a sunny day!!!
Running costs i've spent 2k on it so far over 5 months.... some bits i did'nt need but wanted ie nice exhausts and de-cat pipes! others i did need..ie starter that was getting unreliable and i serviced it my self! no cos it needed it but because i wanted to....
overall the grin factor outweights the money going out!!! as for fuel i was quite surprised how little it drinks if your stready... drove from london to preston in 5th gear nice and steady at 70mph and it cost me £45 in juice... cheaper than my works van! if your heavy footed you can see the gfuel guage go down!!!
but this grin factor takes over!!!! Buy a cerbera... might be worth your while to find someone who will look around a few with you.
Jack
Yeah, i've been looking for good buyers guides for both Cerb's n Chim's cus the common thing coming across with advice is to find a good one!
i would only be looking run it in the summer n cover n sorn it in the winter, my pockets aren't that deep!
classic insurers seem to have say i have to be over 21, or have 5 years driving experience...so a non starter really :/
are there any owners club discounts around you know of?
sorry for the billions of questions
i would only be looking run it in the summer n cover n sorn it in the winter, my pockets aren't that deep!
classic insurers seem to have say i have to be over 21, or have 5 years driving experience...so a non starter really :/
are there any owners club discounts around you know of?
sorry for the billions of questions
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