Any <25 year olds with an Elise?(another insurance question)

[sramdeen]

Hi all,

In my never ending quest for an Elise, a prospective employer has offered to buy an Elise for me, either under a traditional company car scheme or as an outright purchase. This may be the sweetener that I need to make me jump ship from my current employer.
He said he'd only be able to do it if the insurance wasn't silly money. I was wondering if any Elise owners under 25 living in London (I'm in West London, TW5 postcode area) had half-sensible insurance premiums? I know that insurance, generally, drops when you hit 25 and that is why I was waiting until January '07 before buying my own Elise.
I don't live in a great area at the moment so I guess that doesn't help things. I'm hoping to be in a nicer, more insurance-friendly area soon, but that's not happening until December at the earliest :-( save save save mortgage mortgage mortgage.

Is this a realistic possibility or is there no chance of getting a ~£1000-£1500 premium while being under 25? If I fake my age as 25 on the insurance websites, quotes, generally, drop to about £1500.

Also, the employer asked me to find out if a 2nd-hand Elise could be purchased from a dealer with the backup of warranty for 3 years. I told him I'd find out and that I was almost certain that it would be something that Lotus dealers would offer.
Is it? :-)
If you can buy a Nissan Micra down at your local dodgy used-car sales yard with a 12 month RAC warranty (worth the paper it's written on?), I would hope that Lotus dealers offer something similar.

Many thanks for any comments!

Stu

PS, I have 2 years' no claims on my personal car and nearly 3 years on the current company car that I have (although I know that this isn't always taken into consideration by insurance companies). I've never had a claim, accident or any points (touch wood). License held for 7 years.

[bogie]

should be fine - Im 36 and pay £1K for a heavily modded car....but know people under 25 paying less ....check out www.seloc.org - theres a thousand threads on there on insurance and quite a few under 25 Elise owners....

[tonner_notts]

im 22 have a elise s1 i use admiral and have 2 years ncb, it costs me 1200 quid, thats with there 10month thingy.
and yes you will be able to get warranty if brought from lotus i cant see why not

[S works]

You might be lucky, but if you've not had a car like an Elise before you may struggle. Like bogie says, check out the specialist insurers and join a club like SELOC for a discount.

A 3 year warranty is very unlikely on a used car. You only get a 2 year one IIRC on a new one!

[DPR]

I was 25 when I got mine, Admiral weren't too bad, now with Chris Knott who are excellent (£700, 12K miles, parked on street in SW london, 5yrs no claims, no points)

[Sam_68]

Guys, bear in mind also that this will presumably be an only car, insured for unlimited mileage and business use.

Knowing that our company car insurers won't touch under 25's even for the 'hot hatchbacks' on the fleet, I'd have thought that the quote on this one is going to sting!

[ChrisWann]

I'm 24, was 23 when i got my quote, car is parked on a driveway with a newcastle postcode, S160 so group 20, full no claims

approx £1200 from elephant with protected no claims and 12k miles

adding my dad knocked the premium down by £300

Chris

[Sarkmeister]

Im 25 and ive insured my S2 111s for around £900 with Elephant, garaged. Its in the centre of Nottingham though which is quite a bad area for crime.

[densham]

I'm 20 with S1 elise, Lincoln, 3 years no claims, 5000 Miles £1600 with Lancaster insurance

[piooly]

I got my Sport 160 when I was 23, cost £936 for my first year with elephant they went up to £1480 the next year cause I got 3 points !!


Anyway, just turn 25 and tried the list of people below, Got it down to £796 !! Not bad at all ! and thats modified too! The prices below include legal cover, breakdown etc.. on a protected policy. 8 year no cliams.

Chris Knott 0800 9172274 £804.49 speak to Darren

Adrian Flux 08700 777888 £840

Auto Torque 01612 785226 No Quote

Lotus/AON/Estem 01483 706 051 £1820

Egger Lawson CCI 01159 415255 £1130 Inc 4 track days a year speak to steve

A-Plan 01202 297031 £796 speak to TOM


Hope this helps.

[stu hill]

I'm insured through this lot.

www.keithmichaels.co.uk/

[doug ward]

Stu

I was 24 when I bought my 111R, insured with Tesco for I think around £1200 in the first instance. Mind you, this went up a year later on renewal to nearer £1400 (then again I did have a bit of a "diesel" moment 1 month after purchase). Insured under SE10 postcode (greenwich).

Doug

>> Edited by doug ward on Friday 5th May 17:46

[Sam_68]

Just out of interest, how many of the above quotes are for unlimited mileage and business use?

edited to add:
...reason I ask is that I was considering a 111R as a 'company' vehicle (or rather, private purchase, business use funded by car allowance) and it pretty much doubled my quotes. With business use, I couldn't get close to most of the above figures and I'm 37, full NCB, garaged in a good area!

>> Edited by Sam_68 on Friday 5th May 18:07

[sramdeen]

Sam_68 said:

Just out of interest, how many of the above quotes are for unlimited mileage and business use? edited to add: ...reason I ask is that I was considering a 111R as a 'company' vehicle (or rather, private purchase, business use funded by car allowance) and it pretty much doubled my quotes. With business use, I couldn't get close to most of the above figures and I'm 37, full NCB, garaged in a good area!

Hi all, many thanks for all of the replies so far. It seems like it's still hit or miss. I will be phoning around a few insurance places, recommended here, in a couple of days. The car will be driven no more than 10000 per year (the prospective workplace is only a few miles away from home) and will only need to be insured for social and commuting purposes (unless, legally, it has to be insured for 'business' because I don't actually own the car?)

Thanks again, you've given me hope!

Stu

[ChrisJG]

Pretty much all standard insurance policies include commuting so, I wouldn't worry on that score. Good tip about adding a parent as a named driver - I made a £300 saving

[Sam_68]

sramdeen said:

...and will only need to be insured for social and commuting purposes (unless, legally, it has to be insured for 'business' because I don't actually own the car?)

Not illegal, but one of the standard questions all insurers will ask is 'Are you the registered keeper of the vehicle'.

When you say no and give them a company name, alarm bells will start ringing. Next question will be: 'What is your relationship to the company'...'I'm an employee. It's a company vehicle.'...'But you don't require cover for business use?!'...

Nothing wrong, in principle, but expect them to get jittery. Also expect them to give you the Spanish Inquisition big style if you ever have to make a claim for an accident that occurred during office hours, close to your place of work, or if you were wearing work clothes (eg. a suit). Insurance companies employ claims investigators whose job it is to sniff out anything that looks remotely fishy on a claim. If they can find any reasonable suspicion that you were operating the vehicle outside the terms of your cover, they will try to avoid paying out on the claim. They will treat you as 'guilty until proven innocent' because they know that most people don't have the resources to fight them through the legal system to force them to pay out on a claim.

Many will simply flatly refuse to insure the car in your name unless you are the registered keeper.

Also, for what it is worth, not all insurance policies cover you for commuting by any means. You have to declare that you require cover for this purpose. The usual terminology is use for 'Social, domestic and pleasure, and use to and from a fixed place of work'. Again, I don't know what your job is or how you work, but this means that you are only covered to commute to and from your normal office. If you are ever expected to work at another location, you will not be covered to drive there unless you have insured the car for business use.

Remember that even if they fail to ask you these questions about ownership and use when you ask for a quote, there will almost certainly be a get-out clause in the small print when you sign the policy documents saying that you are responsible for providing all relevant information.

Not trying to put you off, just suggesting that you are careful: all insurance companies are thieving scum b@stards who are happy to take your money but will then exercise amazing ingenuity in evading legitimate claims, if they can!

[shangani]

Sarkmeister said:

Im 25 and ive insured my S2 111s for around £900 with Elephant, garaged. Its in the centre of Nottingham though which is quite a bad area for crime.

I know not relevant to the thread, but I have found elephant's quotes to be completely random. Phoned twice, same details, just name different, £300 difference. They love to sting you on renewals. I have been quoted £900 for a renewal from elephant for the same car - S2 111s, 37 yrs old, 9 years NCD and 0 points. I gave them the

Renewed for £300 less including track cover.

Phone everywhere and when you get a good quote, play one insurer off against another.