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I can't believe how hard it's been!

10K views 66 replies 29 participants last post by  BillyT 
#1 ·
As per title, I've had a right headache trying to find insurance on my M2, most mainstream insurance companies won't even ensure the car full stop, regardless of my age and my proud driving record as well as 20+ years no claims. Now get this, one insurance company would ensure the car even if I went ahead with an ECU remap as long as it was no more than a 10% increase but as soon as I told then I've had the roof wrapped the underwriters didn't want to know:confused: figure that out! I even declared that I have had dealership options such as my carbon trim accessories, those of you who have seen my car on here will know, even the M performance exhaust I've had fitted as deemed as a modification according to some underwriters. When I filled out the on line forms the mods list seems to unambiguous for me, how do you define a mod fitted to your car, is it from the dealership or third party? Four insurance companies did agree to ensure my M2 but they wouldn't replace like for like so for example they would replace the exhausts with the stock set and in turn would leave me out of pocket. All this experience has really surprised me. I have had to go to a specialist ensurer that deals in performance cars in which only seven came up. I am already bracing myself for renewal in 2018 as it looks like for as long as I own the M2 it's going to be these types of insurances I'll need to turn to. Have any of you been faced with this dilemma before? Oh and by the way I have a 14 day cooling off period so if any of you can recommend a particularly ensurer and I haven't checked them out then I will.

thank you :thumb:
 
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#7 ·
Too many to mention fella, I've done the usual go compare search, u switch, confused.com and it's thrown up loads of insurance companies and most of them won't ensure the vehicle with the mods I've had fitted, they would ensure the vehicle with stock parts but that's about it, then as you know the further down you go the more expensive it becomes, I've had up to £3,000:doublesho.
 
#6 ·
Insurers (and manufacturers) are just getting less tolerant of modified cars full stop. It's being guilty by association unfortunately that you are now reckless and going to speed through towns and do donuts in McDonalds, and as such they make it difficult for you to be insured.

It's all stemmed the amount of lowered, altered and remapped (VW group and BMW cars especially) that get taken back for warranty work (when the owners have not declared them) and then try to make out that the car is now a warranty issue as it's 'standard'

Lots of people don't declare mods for the issues you are finding or for the costs involved..


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#9 ·
Insurers (and manufacturers) are just getting less tolerant of modified cars full stop. It's being guilty by association unfortunately that you are now reckless and going to speed through towns and do donuts in McDonalds, and as such they make it difficult for you to be insured.

It's all stemmed the amount of lowered, altered and remapped (VW group and BMW cars especially) that get taken back for warranty work (when the owners have not declared them) and then try to make out that the car is now a warranty issue as it's 'standard'

Lots of people don't declare mods for the issues you are finding or for the costs involved..

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One question then fella, how do drivers ensure super cars and other high performance cars with twice as much power as mine?
 
#11 ·
One of the insurance companies that sponsors the Babybmw site will not offer insurance to first time RWD drivers at the moment. They've been telling guys that their underwriters just won't accept it.


The M135/140i is one of the cheaper performance cars on the market at the moment due to PCP deals. I've a horrible feeling that claims are going through the roof due to amount of young guys jumping right in 320bhp+ cars and running out of talent.

Out of interest I just ran a quote for the M2 to see that I got. I'm getting quotes of £223, which is less than what the M235i is. :confused:

This insurance profiling works very strangely. There's obviously something in your profile that is harming you.
 
#14 ·
One of the insurance companies that sponsors the Babybmw site will not offer insurance to first time RWD drivers at the moment. They've been telling guys that their underwriters just won't accept it.

The M135/140i is one of the cheaper performance cars on the market at the moment due to PCP deals. I've a horrible feeling that claims are going through the roof due to amount of young guys jumping right in 320bhp+ cars and running out of talent.

Out of interest I just ran a quote for the M2 to see that I got. I'm getting quotes of £223, which is less than what the M235i is. :confused:

This insurance profiling works very strangely. There's obviously something in your profile that is harming you.
I've had similar to that quote Kerr but the problem is that I have the mods fitted and some wont replace like for like in the event of an accident.
 
#26 ·
Glad i didnt go down the M2 route now, think it cost me an extra tenner a month, do about 400 a year. I am the best part of 50 so you would think it would be less but i live in a dodgy area of a dodgy town, police helicopter over our flat most nights, parked on the road etc so i think i got off lightly to be fair.





Watch get royally fleeced when the renewal comes up now :lol:
 
#53 ·
if only i was in a position to be able to afford one :lol:, lovely looking car. This was just under my own insurer as they have been the cheapest more or less for several years now on both the Fiesta ST (£263) and the little mk6 diesel (£303). Just went through comparethemarket and the M2 came out at £477 with a 600 excess which surprised me
 
#32 ·
Check your profile, certain jobs throw you out, e.g. Working in the automotive world, transport, catering or service industry etc.
Civil service and certain office jobs give you a better and easier quote.

The quote you have is not bad, but have a look at a company called "original" they guarantee that in case of an accident everything is replaced with original parts.
I get decent quotes every year.
 
#36 ·
Check your profile, certain jobs throw you out, e.g. Working in the automotive world, transport, catering or service industry etc.
Civil service and certain office jobs give you a better and easier quote.

The quote you have is not bad, but have a look at a company called "original" they guarantee that in case of an accident everything is replaced with original parts.
I get decent quotes every year.
I've checked out Original and one of the criteria you have to meet is to not have your car modified, it goes completely against my gripe with these insurance companies.
 
#33 · (Edited)
+1 for keith michaels, but you have to speak to the right guy.

One guy there, cant remember his name ( but specialised in Subaru insurance) insured me on my forester sti (jap import) with all mods declared and a like for like replacement and it was only £450 a year. This included Tein electronic adjustable coil overs, performance remapped and exhaust, intercooler and turbo upgrades, and bigger race spec brake upgrades. But when it come to switching to my audi s4 cabriolet it went up to over £1000 for a quote. so changed to direct line who quoted £320 for it.

What i did find with Keith Michaels, was you had to speak to them direct rather than submit an email enquiry and that could be easier said than done.


Speaking of insurance
Ive just got the renewal for my wife on her car, shes (not gonna thank me) 52, 20+ years of driving, 12+ years ncb, the car is an unmodified 2015 toyota aygo 1.0 excite value about £8500, parked on a locked driveway covered by cctv, shes a housewife and does less than 5000 miles a year. Last year she paid £229 (inc monthly installment fees basically it was just continued from her previous vehicle) the renewal from "More than" was £395! So some online searching and I've got it down to £195. I think there was one insurance company at the bottom of the page was happy to quote £5200 per year!
 
#38 ·
With mods, it doesn't matter if they are dealer parts...If they were fitter after leaving the 'Production Line' then its a mod.

I bought a Clio with loads optional extras on, I though they were there from factory...turns out they were fitted afterwards and are classed as a mod. Had to ring Renaut to get the original options list for the car to find out what was what.
 
#48 ·
OK chaps, I have settled with Adrian Flux:

£630 including with £150 excess, legal cover up to £100,000, windscreen cover, courtesy car, protected NCB and roadside assistance and they will replace like for like in an event of an accident, they have given me 5% discount on my dash cams also so all in all I an satisfied. I will make a note of all those other insurers that you guys have listed in readiness for 2018 renewal.

Wheel Tire Vehicle Hood Car
 
#55 ·
OK chaps, I have settled with Adrian Flux:

£630 including with £150 excess, legal cover up to £100,000, windscreen cover, courtesy car, protected NCB and roadside assistance and they will replace like for like in an event of an accident, they have given me 5% discount on my dash cams also so all in all I an satisfied. I will make a note of all those other insurers that you guys have listed in readiness for 2018 renewal.

View attachment 49329
Glad you got it sorted, next year will be better as you will have owned the car for a while, and this makes a noticeable difference high performance motors.

Out of interest, which insurance company did they put you with?
 
#49 ·
I've found it really difficult to declare mods to cars as some of the people you speak to just don't have a clue what stuff is and what it does.

I gave up trying to declare a DTUK pedal box on the Golf R as every single person I spoke to wanted to put it down as a power upgrade. It wasn't, it does nothing for the power of the car. It just adjust the throttle responsiveness. They couldn't understand so I gave up.

I managed to declare the extra power for the DTUK Tuning Box. The only way that was possible was to pay £26 for 25% more BHP. It's not listed as a specific modification, just a 25% power increase.
 
#52 ·
some of the people you speak to just don't have a clue what stuff is and what it does.
:D

Reminds of a convo I had many years ago when I was declaring a stainless steel dump valve that replaced a plastic broken one.

"We don't cover cars with dump valves, sorry, we'll have to cancel your policy"
"You've covered me for three years while the car had a standard dump valve?"
"If we'd known the car had a dump valve we wouldn't have covered it"
"It's always had a dump valve since it left the factory"
"Sorry"
"So what's the situation if I get a new factory fit dump valve and fit that?"
"You've told us it has a dump valve so that's on file and we can't cover you any more"
"It's always had a dump valve since it left the factory"
"Sorry"

This went round in circles for some time then I gave up
 
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