Kit cars and insurance

[Hugh1]

I will be 19 in the summer, should have to year NCB by then.

Im tempted to buy a something cater/field esk to enjoy just for the summer. Realistically could I get something on a budget of about £1500? I know I wont get a caterham or a westi for that money but is there anything else? Also how much would insurance be for someone my age, I've heard rumours that kit car insurance is cheap?

thanks

Hugh

[Hugh1]

If not what would you buy thats cheap to insure and fun, doesnt necessarily have to be fast, im just so bored of my escort but need something practical most of the time.

[Kitcarnewbie]

Robin hood is one of the cheapest around and insurance is a bargain because you only insure it for say 3000 miles.

[deathbyfish]

i just got my ferrari replica insured £280!!!
(mind you it isnt finished yet, but i sold my nova a while ago and thought i might as well just transfer the insureance over).

thats with a value of £10000 and agreed milage of 3000 miles.

thats £20 cheaper than my tatty ginetta g31!!!

[JonRB]

How do kit car policies differ from regular motor policies and classic car policies?

For example, we have classic cover on our Lotus which is agreed value, limited mileage and "Social, Domestic and Pleasure" ONLY - no commuting allowed whatsoever.

On the Corrado I have market value, unlimited mileage and (crucially for me) Class 1 Business Use.

If I were to run a kit car as my main car I would have to have Class 1 Business Use. Is this going to be possible or are kit car policies more like classic policies?

(Sorry to hijack the thread)

[deathbyfish]

i'm not totaly sure as i've never had a clssic policy. but kit cars, i think you just say what you want to use it for buisness, pleasure whatever and they charge you accordingly.

but if you were using your car for work and had to claim, couldnt you just say you was useing it for pleasure? how would they know?

[andygtt]

kit car insurance for me is silly cheap, my £50k ultima only cost me (at 30yrs old) £650 full comp..... my cossie was costing me twice that at the time with 9yrs NCB.

Best still to get a quote, MSM are excellent and deal only in kit cars, I highly recomend them.


As for other cheap fun normal cars in your budget, I'd seriously look at a Suzuki swift GTi, these are (or were) cheaper to insure than a 1.6L escort estate (for the 18yr old that bought mine) and yet are fantastically fast.... I remember beating my wife in our other car at the time (souped up 2.8L capri with 180bhp) off the lights and it kept with R5's & RS turbos easily.

odviously nothing normal will be as quick as a little caterfield though.

[dern]

JonRB said:

How do kit car policies differ from regular motor policies and classic car policies? For example, we have classic cover on our Lotus which is agreed value, limited mileage and "Social, Domestic and Pleasure" ONLY - no commuting allowed whatsoever. On the Corrado I have market value, unlimited mileage and (crucially for me) Class 1 Business Use. If I were to run a kit car as my main car I would have to have Class 1 Business Use. Is this going to be possible or are kit car policies more like classic policies?

If you wanted that you'd have to ask and they'd probably simply insure it under a normal policy. I had my westfield insured on a kit policy and I was restricted to 5000 miles a year and no commuting. I asked if it was ok to take it to work to show my mates on a sunny friday or two and they said it wasn't a problem and made a note of it on my file and didn't charge me any more for it.

I tried to insure my 944 as a classic this year and when we added commuting (although not business use) the classic policy came to more money than a normal policy so I insured it as a normal car despite the fact that it's 20 years old. I suspect a kit would go the same way.

Why do you need busness use Jon? I don't bother on the basis that I'm only commuting to and from a single place of work at the start and end of the day. Aren't you doing the same sort of thing?

Regards,

Mark

[dern]

Hugh1 said:

I will be 19 in the summer, should have to year NCB by then. Im tempted to buy a something cater/field esk to enjoy just for the summer. Realistically could I get something on a budget of about £1500? I know I wont get a caterham or a westi for that money but is there anything else? Also how much would insurance be for someone my age, I've heard rumours that kit car insurance is cheap?

You could pick up a marlin or a dutton for that much I imagine. Maybe you could get one of those cool nova things. Have a look on find it for some ideas.

You'd need to get a quote for the insurance once you had a short list of cars but the chances are that they'll ignore you NCB anyway. My westfield cost me 120 a year for 5000 miles and they weren't interested in my NCB. However, I'm a fair bit older than you.

Classic cars compared favourably to kits for use on the same basis. A TR7 with a v8 dropped in it was only going to cost me 200 quid to insure for 500 miles. Might be worth a look. Mind you, I got a quote for an mg midget when I was 23 that made me wince.

Mark

>> Edited by dern on Monday 7th February 15:31

[JonRB]

dern said:

Why do you need busness use Jon? I don't bother on the basis that I'm only commuting to and from a single place of work at the start and end of the day. Aren't you doing the same sort of thing?

Depends on how straight you want to play it, Mark. 'Commuting' on a standard car policy is generally defined as 'commuting to and from a permanent place of work'. As freelancers you and I don't have a permanent place of work - we may have a client whose site we visit on a more or less daily basis for a number of months, but that isn't strictly speaking a permanent place of work as we're not permanent employees.
Class 1 Business use specifically covers visiting clients and/or multiple places of work.

Given that it is generally only a few quid extra to add Class 1 (£20 at most, in my experience) and given that insurers will use any excuse to wriggle out of payment, I think it's a false economy not to specify Class 1 if you're going to be taking the car to a client site.

[dern]

JonRB said:

Depends on how straight you want to play it, Mark. 'Commuting' on a standard car policy is generally defined as 'commuting to and from a permanent place of work'. As freelancers you and I don't have a permanent place of work - we may have a client whose site we visit on a more or less daily basis for a number of months, but that isn't strictly speaking a permanent place of work as we're not permanent employees. Class 1 Business use specifically covers visiting clients and/or multiple places of work. Given that it is generally only a few quid extra to add Class 1 (£20 at most, in my experience) and given that insurers will use any excuse to wriggle out of payment, I think it's a false economy not to specify Class 1 if you're going to be taking the car to a client site.

When I queried this last time I told them what I did and the bits they were interested in were that I commuted to a single place of work and didn't use the car for business use apart from commuting to and from work. They weren't bothered by the fact that the single place of work moved periodically (I think I said maybe 2 or 3 times a year) as long as I wasn't arriving at work and then driving to another site to do a job if you see what I mean.

I see what you're saying though.

Mark

[JonRB]

dern said:

When I queried this last time I told them what I did and the bits they were interested in were that I commuted to a single place of work and didn't use the car for business use apart from commuting to and from work. They weren't bothered by the fact that the single place of work moved periodically (I think I said maybe 2 or 3 times a year) as long as I wasn't arriving at work and then driving to another site to do a job if you see what I mean.

I do see what you mean, and I can see that it could be interpreted that way.

However, since for tax purposes my place of work is my home address and I claim business mileage for the trip from my place of work to a client site (as any employee would) I'd be concerned that an insurer could then say that it was "arriving at work and then driving to another site to do a job", if you see what I mean.

Anyway, as with all rules and regulations, there is always room for interpretation so I am not saying that either of us is right or wrong.

>> Edited by JonRB on Monday 7th February 15:47

[dern]

JonRB said:

I do see what you mean, and I can see that it could be interpreted that way. However, since for tax purposes my place of work is my home address and I claim business mileage for the trip from my place of work to a client site (as any employee would) I'd be concerned that an insurer could then say that it was "arriving at work and then driving to another site to do a job", if you see what I mean.

Same here but that's simply a tax issue. Anyway, as long as the insurers are happy (when I've asked them) then I'm happy.

What kit are you buying?

Regards,

Mark

[JonRB]

dern said:

What kit are you buying?

I'm considering a GTM Libra, although the timescales have shifted now so it won't be for a while now.
See this thread.

[dern]

JonRB said:

I'm considering a GTM Libra

Nice cars, saw a red one with black wheels in Thatcham (near home) before christmas and it made all the normal cars around it look very plain indeed. Not a fan of vtec engines though, had a 2.2 import prelude and it really got on my nerves after a while. V6 would be my choice.

Regards,

Mark