Any Young ones here? Insurance?

[anonymous-user]

Just a bit of passing interest, but a while back I heard that Kit Cars was stupidly cheap considering the performance... even for those of us who have only recently passed our driving tests!

Now with me living in SE London and needing a single car to commute in, a Kit Car probably wouldn't work, but I am interested to hear if there is any truth behind the rumours?

Thanks

Josh

Edited by Simps on Sunday 18th October 19:51

[Furyblade_Lee]

My mate Benny Holt had a GTM K3 as a Student. Bit of a hit with the young ladies too i believe (the car, not him ) I think he said the insurance was cheaper than a boggo standard hatchback, but you need to check with somebody like Adrian Flux first to see what the situation is. I know with us grownups generally (well it was once) a kit car is a kit car, they are not too fussed what it is. The first time I got a quote (2003) all they wanted to know was was the car more than 5.7 litres, turbo, supercharged or anything "Cosworth" on it!!! Did not matter what make or model the kit, it was the same price. They had not then even reaised my 813cc Fisher Fury was a Fireblade, it was assumed it was like an 850 Mini!!!! It has probobly a bit tighter now, but I still think you can get to drive a cooler car for your money. Check first, but assuming you can raise about £5k and you want a "proper" car you can use all year try to find a 1.4 litre GTM Libra (even a 1.8 if insurance allows) Be bloody careful if you are inexperienced with it and get some tuition, but a nice kit car would be a good option for you.

[the red blur]

I heard it was cheap too. Cue me spening one Friday ringing a few companies and scouring the internet looking for kit car insurance for a 20 year old with 3 years driving experience. Only one company (Footman and James) out of the 7/8 I tried would touch me out of the Kit car specialists. If I remember right it was about £750 quotes for 1.6 engines. Car type/model didn’t make much difference.
Still in the market for something though and I need to give Adrian Flux a go at quoting me on A kit car policy.

I will be interested to see some further replies

[Matt From Flux]

Simps said:

Just a bit of passing interest, but a while back I heard that Kit Cars was stupidly cheap considering the performance... even for those of us who have only recently passed our driving tests!

Now with me living in SE London and needing a single car to commute in, a Kit Car probably wouldn't work, but I am interested to hear if there is any truth behind the rumours?

Thanks

Josh

Edited by Simps on Sunday 18th October 19:51

If you want to e-mail me your details I will get someone to call you then they can have a chat with you about the policies we offer and also offer you some advice as well.

[Matt From Flux]

the red blur said:

I heard it was cheap too. Cue me spening one Friday ringing a few companies and scouring the internet looking for kit car insurance for a 20 year old with 3 years driving experience. Only one company (Footman and James) out of the 7/8 I tried would touch me out of the Kit car specialists. If I remember right it was about £750 quotes for 1.6 engines. Car type/model didn’t make much difference.
Still in the market for something though and I need to give Adrian Flux a go at quoting me on A kit car policy.

I will be interested to see some further replies

If you want me to get someone to call you, just send me an e-mail with your details and a time.

[Chris71]

I did it!

Had a kit as my first 'own' car at 19. That was seven years ago, so not that far back. Initially had my Quantum insured under a special offer from the company at £185 a year (the lowest premium I've ever paid for anything) and later under a normal Footman James kit car policy at £380 or so.

Car-wise, it is true that few kits provide the same crerature comforts that even quite a basic hatchback would, but some do come close and most excell in other areas. Back when my friends were all struggling to insure 1-litre Fiestas at a grand a pop, my Quantum had warm-hatch performance and handling, fun open air motoring and at least as much refinement as the XR2 it was based on.

Definitely worth a look - the insurance situation might have changed (maybe), and you will have to make some compromises compared to a production car, but you could have a genuinely interesting first car for not a lot of money.

[Russ Bost]

A 17 year old customer of mine was recently quoted around £800pa from Footman James to insure a Furore Formula One with the standard Toyota 1.6 engine. As a comparison my daughter, also 17 has just paid Admiral over £900 for a very basic group 3 insurance car policy. I very much doubt that either of them would get any quotes under about £3k for the original Toyota the Furore kit is based on.

I am obviously not suggesting that the Furore F1 is a practical or sensible mode of transport (tho' it is certainly different!), merely pointing out the gulf that lies between mainstream car insurance & kitcars, I'm sure something like a Quantum, Ginetta G26 or Gtm would be cheaper to insure than the Furore & somewhat more practical!

[oh feck]

Furyblade_Lee said:

My mate Benny Holt had a GTM K3 as a Student. Bit of a hit with the young ladies too i believe (the car, not him )

Thats it baldy!
At 17 and one months driving experience, the only company who would quote me due to my age was Footman James. Everyone else wouldn't insure under 21/25 year old.
Fortunately i have found a few more company's which will insure kit cars once you hit 21, not that i am 21 or have another kit car yet

[hugh_]

I paid £520 to MSM for my Fury Fireblade at 21, clean license, 4yrs mirror NCB, second car and 3000miles and valued at £7500.

[Chris71]

Russ Bost said:

I'm sure something like a Quantum, Ginetta G26 or Gtm would be cheaper to insure than the Furore & somewhat more practical!

Certainly more practical, but possibly no different premium-wise. When I first had mine the premium was based on agreed value and engine size alone I think. There were get-outs for bike engines (which were rated as 4-litres IIRC) but apart from that a 1.6-litre engine in a Jago Jeep or Royale would cost the same as it would in a stripped out road racer. You can't really complain though as they're all unbelievably cheap in the grand scheme of things.

I keep going on about this, but ever since my first purchase as a teenager I've run something at least vaguely sporty and always on less money than my friends with mainstream hot hatches and the like. The only reason that's been possible is kit and (modern) classic insurance.

[AlexVTR]

You think at 17 i could get away with telling them this is just a normal 1000cc kit car... not an R1 engined weapon :P

[hugh_]

In general the insurers offering kit and classic insurance are pretty clued up about what kinds of engines go in kit cars so you'd probably have a hard time of it. And if you bin it finding out your £7k pride and joy isnt insured wouldnt be much fun. I had to declare power as well as capacity too.

[matt frost]

I've been insured on a Westfield Megabusa since 19. Its only Adrian Flux who could give me a good quote. First year they were the only people to give me a quote, and second year I got more quotes but they were easily the cheapest.

Footman James don't insure under 25's as far as I have been told, unless that is just on bike engines?

[Matt From Flux]

matt frost said:

I've been insured on a Westfield Megabusa since 19. Its only Adrian Flux who could give me a good quote. First year they were the only people to give me a quote, and second year I got more quotes but they were easily the cheapest.

Footman James don't insure under 25's as far as I have been told, unless that is just on bike engines?

Thanks for the positive feedback.

[Chris71]

matt frost said:

Footman James don't insure under 25's as far as I have been told, unless that is just on bike engines?

I have a feeling that may now be true, but it's worth double checking as they used to go right down to 17 or 18.

[LaurenceFrost]

On a further note with Adrian Flux, matt frost and I share the Megabusa, but Matt has to be the policy holder due to his age.

The first year it was pretty expensive, and the second year it was too. However when I spoke to Flux on the phone, they worked really hard with the quote, and decided to refer it to a different wing of their company which the chap's manager runs. In the second year of insurance, they were able to beat their own renewal quote of £1,100 and get it down to the £600 mark.

I was really impressed they were able to pull so many strings based on a good NCB record, and a good insurance history with them. Being insured with them for a year helped a lot, but so did the fact they were able to work with us to get a really good quote. It was a big thumbs up from both of us.

[Matt From Flux]

LaurenceFrost said:

On a further note with Adrian Flux, matt frost and I share the Megabusa, but Matt has to be the policy holder due to his age.

The first year it was pretty expensive, and the second year it was too. However when I spoke to Flux on the phone, they worked really hard with the quote, and decided to refer it to a different wing of their company which the chap's manager runs. In the second year of insurance, they were able to beat their own renewal quote of £1,100 and get it down to the £600 mark.

I was really impressed they were able to pull so many strings based on a good NCB record, and a good insurance history with them. Being insured with them for a year helped a lot, but so did the fact they were able to work with us to get a really good quote. It was a big thumbs up from both of us.

Thanks for the positive feedback.

[ARphotographs]

Good to have read this thread,

me and the missus are planning to get something fun in january and i'm tempted by a 7 style car.

good to see the insurance is a good price.

Will be 21 in Jan and hopefully they can mirror my no claims on my run around car.

[jamesG20V6]

Footman James Insured me at 19 on a westfield with 1700 x-flow for less than £400/year. That was ten years ago though.

[Russ Bost]

It was earlier this year that my 17 year old customer was quoted by Footman James, so if they've stopped insuring young drivers it must be recent!