Build Up Insurance - Best value

[Fat Arnie]

I have had my build insured by MSM over the last year for a premium of roughly £180.

This seemingly covers my build while the car is in the garage, theft while the garage is locked but excludes any claims for accidental damage - i.e. cutting holes in the wrong place etc. The sum insured is £20k and this now needs to increase as I have spend closer to £30k on the parts so far.

I feel the scope of cover is very limited, i.e if I set it on fire welding on my driveway there is no cover, yet I am paying over 50% of the premium for buildings and contents on my house which has £500k of rebuild cover!

So are there any more competitive schemes out there, which also cover risks while working in the car on my driveway?

[Fat Arnie]

What a really useful forum this is.

[singlecoil]

Fat Arnie said:

What a really useful forum this is.

Sarcasm? Surely not.

I'm sure if anyone had the answer to your question they would have posted it, though if MSM can't provide what you want I really don't know who could.

Is the problem that your garage is too small to work in, and that you have to work on the drive where the car isn't insured? Or is it that you wouldn't be covered if you set fire to it even inside? I'm going to have to say I'm not entirely surprised if that's the case, as (I'm sure this doesn't apply to you) it might well be that somebody else's build, having gone on too long and cost too much, not possible to sell for what's been invested, might see a fire as the answer to their problems.

[Happy Jim]

[quote=Fat Arnie]
I feel the scope of cover is very limited, i.e if I set it on fire welding on my driveway there is no cover, yet I am paying over 50% of the premium for buildings and contents on my house which has £500k of rebuild cover!
quote]

I would hazard a guess that stealing your house is a tad more awkward than nicking a tranny van load of car parts :-)

I've not heard of any of the normal insurers covering someone for incompetence - you may be a black belt in hole cutting but the next chap could be terrible.

If you do find anyone please let me know as I may then get a lot braver at working on my car :-)

Rgds


Jim

[Fat Arnie]

Singlecoil, The problem is the mess filling and flatting the body is making. This is no ordinary build as I have made significant mods to the original car including conversation from belinetta to spyder, all of which are using copious quantities of P40/38. Garage and everything in it gets like the Homepride factory in seconds!

Also using hazardous tools such as a plasma cutter or welding is best done with the car not in the garage - there are a lot of flamable items about. Inside the garage everything is insured, but insurers seem to think that cover when I am working on it outside (i.e. it is not left unattended) also means I want to leave it parked outside overnight!

The elements which are improtant to me are:

Cover for fire, theft, accidental damage (which excludes construction errors) 24/7 inside my garage.
Cover for fire, theft, accidental damage (which excludes construction errors) 24/7 outside my garage on the driveway when the car is attended by me.
Cover when the car is on a trailer being transported for services such as trimming and paint
Cover for fire, theft, accidental damage (which excludes construction errors) when at premisies of painter/trimmer etc, such that I am not reliant on their insurance or lack of.

The last thing I wish to end up with is something like this below - the poor owner is a friend of mine - lost the entire build cost.




Jim, breking into a house and doing £30k of damage or stealing £30k of property really is not that hard to do. I'm not looking for cover for incompetence, although it would be useful....

[anonymous-user]

I hadn't thought of the kinds of scenarios you mention Arnie. I'll be checking mine tonight.
FWIW my build cover (currently for £15k value) is around £90/yr from Footman James.
Mike

[singlecoil]

Fat Arnie said:

Cover for fire, theft, accidental damage (which excludes construction errors) 24/7 inside my garage.
Cover for fire, theft, accidental damage (which excludes construction errors) 24/7 outside my garage on the driveway when the car is attended by me.
Cover when the car is on a trailer being transported for services such as trimming and paint
Cover for fire, theft, accidental damage (which excludes construction errors) when at premisies of painter/trimmer etc, such that I am not reliant on their insurance or lack of.

Which of these is the actual sticking point? If it's the 'outside the garage' part it would seem to me that a decent fire extinguisher (maybe 2 in case one doesn't work) and a bit of care would negate the need for the fire and accidental damage part of it, which just leaves the theft, which if you were right there would seem a little unlikely.

I'm sorry if I'm missing something here.

[Paul Drawmer]

Have you tried here?
http://www.frankpickles.co.uk/kit-car-build-up-cov...

Don't know anything about them, but it looks as if they're half way to what you're wanting.

[Fat Arnie]

Singlecoil - The fire to that P4 replica was put out in 3 minutes. GRP burns rather hotter and quickly than you might expect. In the case of that car its value went from a £40k build cost to £1500 the guy got for the salvage in 180 seconds.

Paul, I called Franky, but they have an upper cover limit of £15k. I'm getting close to double that today and will be well past it 12m from now.

[singlecoil]

Fat Arnie said:

Singlecoil - The fire to that P4 replica was put out in 3 minutes. GRP burns rather hotter and quickly than you might expect. In the case of that car its value went from a £40k build cost to £1500 the guy got for the salvage in 180 seconds.

I do actually know about GRP burning, but I don't let it worry me unduly (I do need to weld to kit cars occasionally), I take suitable precautions and have an extinguisher ready.

I accept that your view of the matter is different, though, and can appreciate your concern. What sort of welder do you use, BTW?

[Fat Arnie]

My welder is a bloke called Paul.