New cars and insurance
New cars and insurance
Author
Discussion

Hillbilly168

Original Poster:

55 posts

170 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Hi all,

I have to confess to being another long term lurker, finding invaluable information which helped me make an informed (as any car purchase can be!!) decision on what Aston to buy. I ended up going for a new Vantage S Roadster with pretty much all the options. my decision was swayed by a number of factors, mainly being a) I had a 4.7 coupe previously and loved it. b) Mikey K's detailed write up about his experiences with his new "S". c) My girlfriend happens to work at the dealership i purchased from, so this helped with a bit of a discount, naturally ;-). Obligatory pictures below.....(of the car, not the GF!)

Im keen to hear other members thoughts and experiences with insuring their cars recently. I have noticed a big upturn in premiums over the last 18 months. I'm currently on a multi car policy as follows:-

2012 Vantage S Roadster from new
2012 Range Rover Autobiography from new
Premium £1530 for 12 months fully comp/fire/theft.
(I'm a 33yr old with full NCB and clean licence BTW).

As far as I understand, the premium is broken down approx £600 for the RR and £900 for the Aston.

My last Aston was about half the cost to insure, so I'm presuming the premium is for a convertible vs. Coupe?

I'd be keen to hear if my experience is typical, or if I'm being ripped on the premiums. I've thought about it a couple of ways, and at first thought £1500 seems a steep premium, but then it is covering £190k/800bhp/9.1ltr's of car!!

Great forum by the way, full of excellent info and very helpful members!

Cheers
James.


AMDBSNick

7,186 posts

186 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
FWIW thats about what I pay but for obvious reasons I have to keep mine in house. There may be better deals out there. I'm sure others will advise. Lovely car BTW

mikey k

13,071 posts

240 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
I like that (but I'm biased wink )
Did you go B&O or premium?
No light weight seats?
I'd get it detailed and covered in Ventureshield PDQ

On insurance I found a lot of companies don't like new cars over £100k even Locktons/Chubb/AMOC who doubled the premium.
Admiral multicar got it below the cost of my previous 3yr old car!
Chris Knott have held the premium on my work car for the last 3 years.
So I guess I've been lucky! wink

mikey k

13,071 posts

240 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
BTW judging by that drivers seat you are a member of the Jockman clan? wink

Jockman

18,355 posts

184 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Welcome James - fabulous car - Mikey K and Molly/Robgt will be drooling !!

Pictures of girlfriend are also obligatory for our resident randy little sod called Georgeous H.

As for insurance, ignore Nick as he knows very little in this area, but I would strongly advise getting individual quotes for your 2 cars - even get a flavour from moneysupermarket or confused.com.

At least you can then determine the validity of your new prices. Premiums have gone up, as has the value of your car now that you have a V8VSR.

You could always get a quote from Locktons to see how they stack up smile

AMDBSNick

7,186 posts

186 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Jockman said:
As for insurance, ignore Nick as he knows very little in this area,
Absolutely correct. I know fk all about motor insurance and don't want to. I was simply advising what I pay as our fleet!! is similar although my RR is an old snotter yes

peterr96

2,226 posts

199 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Jockman said:
As for insurance, ignore Nick as he knows very little in this area,
Careful with the insults. He's got a gun!

Jockman

18,355 posts

184 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
My affections for Nick remain undiminished - might even do some work with him in the future bounce

AMDBSNick

7,186 posts

186 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Jockman said:
My affections for Nick remain undiminished - might even do some work with him in the future bounce

Hillbilly168

Original Poster:

55 posts

170 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Cheers for the responses gents.

To be fair to Admiral, i did have a snoot about the market, and they were the cheapest overall.

Mikey - I went for premium. Clearly my hearing is not developed enough to tell the difference in order to pay the extra on the B&O (I thought the premium sounded better!!). Although those rising tweeters are pretty flash!

I reckon the best option on the car is the Alcantara wheel. I always had a nagging feeling the wheel in my last Aston felt a bit cheap, but the feel and extra thickness (rim diameter) on the Alcantara wheel completely transforms the feel of the car.

As for the seat position....i'm not a midget, but no giant either! it was like that as it had just been detailed inside and out!! I went for standard seats so i could get them heated....don't forget I'm a soft southerner!!

I did get the car detailed. Paul at "Shine On Detail" does all my cars from new, and does an excellent job (I'm not connected in any way!) but haven't gone for venture shield.

Overall I love the car, especially the Sport shift. My previous was a manual, and while it was good to be in full control, the clutch and feel of the box wasn't very smooth (it had the linkage mod done). I was tempted by a DBS this time, but the wait for a Volante was way too long, and i didn't think the drive was as engaging and fun as the "S".

Cheers
James.

AMDBSNick

7,186 posts

186 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Hillbilly168 said:
Cheers for the responses gents.

I was tempted by a DBS this time, but the wait for a Volante was way too long
Stratstone Hagley had a Carbon Edition one in stock last time I was there
confused

Hillbilly168

Original Poster:

55 posts

170 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Sorry Nick, should have said i picked this up in January.....so my post is a bit behind the times!!

mikey k

13,071 posts

240 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Good call on the Premium over Bose in a roadster wink (I've only used my ICE twice in six months when it was raining and the roof was up!)
I decided against the Alcantara wheel as dealer said they had a lot of issues with wear on the V12V's
I keep meaning to fit the heaters to my light weight seats whistle

bogie

16,917 posts

296 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
seems fine to me, on these multicar policies, I find the more vehicles you have the cheaper it gets ..."just" 2 vehicles and you dont see much of a saving IMO

We have a fleet policy and usually 4 to 6 vehicles at a time, cars and motorcycles, business use for both, 25K miles a year each person and a few K miles on the bike. It did cost £1900 last time, but I have a bad history, with a big claim 4 years ago. I expect it to be more like £1500. Thats for 2 people to drive 50K miles on business, with a fleet value of around £100K kept at one low risk location ...if it were just 6K miles a year each im sure it would be less than 1/2 that. But driving 20K miles a year puts you in the same life insurance risk group as offshore workers (apparently!)

theres a big article in Autocar this week on car insurance, with some scary stats, basically accidents are down, premiums up, year on year...mostly down to having to fund the uninsured losses, and the increasing claims for whiplash on minor incidents. Its amazing how a small £2K pay out can have a true cost of £5k or £10k...depends on how many lawyers are involved

anyway all that means for the rest of us, is our insurance is going up year on year, to pay for people that abuse the system or dont bother with insurance at all frown


Hillbilly168

Original Poster:

55 posts

170 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Cheers Bogie, good info. Sad to see it get to this state. No insurance should carry jail term!!

Mikey - I notice you seem to know a bit about Geo setup. have you had the S done? if so, much improvement (or did the factory/dealer do a good job on setup?). I have family in Kent, so next time I'm down I'm thinking of booking into TDi over in Essex to get the setup checked / corrected if needed.

James.

mikey k

13,071 posts

240 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Hillbilly168 said:
Cheers Bogie, good info. Sad to see it get to this state. No insurance should carry jail term!!

Mikey - I notice you seem to know a bit about Geo setup. have you had the S done? if so, much improvement (or did the factory/dealer do a good job on setup?). I have family in Kent, so next time I'm down I'm thinking of booking into TDi over in Essex to get the setup checked / corrected if needed.

James.
Not touched the S geo as yet.
Still on factory set up and working out what I need to adjust.

robgt

2,587 posts

186 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Lovely car. Correct choice of seats, you simply have to have seat heating in a convertible! Premium sound system is fine. If you have an i phone connected it seems to sound even better. Having said that I only switch music on when the car is garaged. Ask your friendly dealer to disconnect the exhaust bypass pipes that in my opinion is all the music that you will ever want to hear.

Regarding insurance, try Hiscox. This is my second year wth them, current premium £870. They seem to offer a lot. I would add that I am 55.


Hillbilly168

Original Poster:

55 posts

170 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Cheers Rob,

Had the fuse popped for me prior to collection! I thought my old Coupe sounded good without the fuse....until i heard the S!!

jamespconnor

281 posts

227 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
Haven't got much to add on the insurance front but I will say what a lovely car you have there. Congratulations biggrin

Lunablack

3,494 posts

186 months

Thursday 19th April 2012
quotequote all
mikey k said:
Not touched the S geo as yet.
Still on factory set up and working out what I need to adjust.
You need to get Jockman in on the act..... I hear on the quiet that he's a bit of an expert when it comes to set up, and the changes needed to turn a car from a roadster to a racerwhistle