E36 M3 - why so bad on insurance (vs equivalents)

[Wadeski]

Quick question for the experts - why are M3 Evos so hard to insure compared to similar cars?

To give you an idea, im not expecting it to be cheap (central london, street parked, young driver) but let me lay out the facts:

I expect to pay £1000-£1200 to insure a performance car.

In pretty much without exception, EUI group (Elephant, Admiral, Bell) are the cheapest for me by miles. A-plan etc dont really want to compete.

MR2 Turbo import: £1100
UK Supra TT: £900
Supra TT import: £1700
Z3M Vert £1400
Z3M Hardtop £1500
RX7 TT: £1400

These all seem reasonably consistent - imports more epxensive than UK, turbos more than naturally aspirated version etc.

The only MASSIVE exception is this:

M3 Evolution coupe - £3k!!!

bear in mind it has (almost) the same bloody engine as the Z3M, and is certainly no more powerful than the Supra TT, wtf is it about M3s that makes them so expensive!?

[Welshbeef]

Its Risk profile of cars - every car initially starts life with a grouping based on its repair costs. However once in real life the more claims on a specific type of make & model that goes on then the ins company see this as higher risk and as such reduce the risk to them by upping the premium.

For me my Fiat coupe 20V Turbo costs £282 (220bhp)
A Porche 996 TT £420
M5 £800
Suburu Impreza Turbo £2,500 (218bhp)
Kia Ceed £125 (116bhp)
Seat Cupra R £450 (225bhp)

It just shows that boy racers may be the reason as they can only afford to buy certain cars and then modify them and crash them.

If the M3 Evo is too much consider buying the old E55 thats a much lower ins cost and will certainly negate easily the 5.5V8 fuel consumption

[Wadeski]

not really the same level of involvement though, i was under the impression the E55 was a bit of a barge? would you wake up early on a sunday to hustle one down a windy country road?

[Gad-Westy]

Seems very odd. When I bought my 328, I had a look at 3.0 M3's and insurance costs weren't much higher. Something like £850 vs. £700. Porsche 944's were another optoin but quotes I was getting were silly and anything vaguely japanese seemed ridiculous.

[Wadeski]

yeah the 944T is ridiculous for me as well - unless its on a classic policy in which case its (relatively) peanuts.

a 3.0 M3 is a lot less than an M3 Evo as well...by about a grand.

[M3John]

Wadeski said:

M3 Evolution coupe - £3k!!!

I live in central London and i also drive an ///M3 evo coupe but my insurance is just shy of £1,500 fully comp - And i'm still in my 20's. A little on the steep side if you ask me.

[Welshbeef]

To be frank if your seriously considering buying a car whos valus is somewhere between £4-9k and your getting £3k insurance quotes you'd be nuts to buy it.

£250pcm on ins alone.... as good as that car is it certainly isnt worth £3k ins to anyone.

[Wadeski]

LOL who said i was going to pay 3k insurance?

do i come across as that much of a mug

[MitchT]

I was once quoted £3,300 to cover my 318is Needless to say I didn't go with that company!

[Wadeski]

bear in mind that is my BEST quote. Confused.com comes back as over 4k for all its brokers.

it just doesnt add up at all that a Supra TT and an //M Breadvan are all under £1500, but an M3 Coupe is obviously beyond the pale!

[andye30m3]

I'm getting renewel quotes at the moment, I finding they vary between £610 and £1400. The best being A plan who advertise on pistonheads. I'm 28 with 9 years no claims if that helps.

I think the M3 is becoming expensive to insure as due to the price of buying the car alot of people are upgrading from hot hathces etc. Rear wheel driver, approx 300bhp and little experience can prove interesting especially in the wet and hense there seam to be alot written off. A couple of brokers have been pleased to hear that i have had another M3 perviously so allegidly am used to driving fast cars.

Edited by andye30m3 on Wednesday 3rd October 22:04

[Welshbeef]

Good point even if you have many years no claims unless you have owned a high power car before the first year will be much more - I guess as they assume that you may not be used to the power and come unstuck

[M3John]

andye30m3 said:

I'm getting renewel quotes at the moment, I finding they vary between £610 and £1400. The best being A plan who advertise on pistonheads. I'm 28 with 9 years no claims if that helps.

That really does help mate as it'll be renewel time soon for me and i'm almost 29.

Cheers for the top tip.

Edited by M3John on Thursday 4th October 09:06

[M3 LLOYD]

I recently switched to Liverpool Victoria to insure my M3 Evo Coupe.

Previously covered by Admiral and most recently by Elephant, LV's quote was nearly 15% less than Elephant's renewal quote.

I live in Shropshire, park on a driveway, and have had a few BMW's before. Aged 37, full no claims, cost £502 fully comp with protected bonus.

Liverpool Victoria seem to be trying to raise their profile at the moment with a TV add campaign and a lot of press adverts.

Perhaps you should try them, I did it all on line.

Hope this is of use to somebody.

[Wadeski]

Thanks for great input guys. I guess my issue was not that my quote was unreasonable (although obviously I wont be taking it) but that it was so out of alignment with not just other powerful cars, but with other BMW //M cars!

I guess because there are many more M3s than, say, Supras that more inexperienced drivers pick them up and send them "exit stage left" through hedges.

[Slurms]

I think it's got to be a combination of things..

they are expensive cars to fix if you bump them and the falling prices means more and more people can afford them. So you're probably suffering from an increasing number of youthful drivers having accidents causing the companys to load the policies on this car..

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Have you tried Admiral?

I looked at E36 insurance quotes a few years back and they were much cheaper than anyone else.

[MitchT]

I've just been looking for insurance quotes as I was planning to change my E36 318is for an E36 M3 Evo or a 840Ci Sport. The E36 M3 Evo was the most expensive at £1,500, the 840Ci Sport weighed-in at about £1,100 and, strangely, my ultimate dream car, the Ferrari 328GTS, came in at a shade over £1,000. Being 33 with a full NCB and no points I expected sub-£900 for the M3 and the 840 and, perhaps, about £1,800 for the Ferrari.

Edited by MitchT on Friday 5th October 23:11

[pat_y]

I bought an evo back in march thinking, i'm a bit old now (35) and i live out in a quiet leafy village (new forest area), so insurance should be a piece of cake..Firstly my current insurer (LLoyds/TSB) said 'certainly sir', you need to fit a tracker and give us what equated to an annual premium of £1100 P.A.
DOH!, i bit the bullet for a couple of months and went with elephant when my insurance was due for renewal (£620) no tracker required.
Still not great but i noticed a huge disparity with other cars i was considering.
TVR Cerb. £500
Nissan Skyline GTR £900
Mitsi EVO 6 £1100.
I believe i'm far more likley to put myself through a hedge or die in a ball of flame in the TVR than any of these other options,but there you go.
Average customer profiling seems to be quite rife when insuring car types.

[andye30m3]

pat_y said:

I bought an evo back in march thinking, i'm a bit old now (35) and i live out in a quiet leafy village (new forest area), so insurance should be a piece of cake..Firstly my current insurer (LLoyds/TSB) said 'certainly sir', you need to fit a tracker and give us what equated to an annual premium of £1100 P.A.
DOH!, i bit the bullet for a couple of months and went with elephant when my insurance was due for renewal (£620) no tracker required.
Still not great but i noticed a huge disparity with other cars i was considering.
TVR Cerb. £500
Nissan Skyline GTR £900
Mitsi EVO 6 £1100.
I believe i'm far more likley to put myself through a hedge or die in a ball of flame in the TVR than any of these other options,but there you go.
Average customer profiling seems to be quite rife when insuring car types.

I expect they think that with the TVR you are expecting it to try and kill you, so you won't drive it to the limit. In the same way some people seam to think its impossible to crash an evo so drive them harder.

Edited by andye30m3 on Sunday 7th October 13:47