What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[skattrd]

Corsa 1.0 maybe quite low on the insurance scale, but surely theres lower ... and more miserable first cars

Marbella /Panda 750cc - Daihatsu Cuore/Perodua Nippa 850cc etc.

 

Well done to mini Cav, and good luck sorting out insurance etc.

[RedSparrow]

Shitting nora is that what prices for teenagers are now?!

Well done to Cav JR anyway.

[sporty-shite]

Billy, I was talking to someone who said that they'd been quoted "only" £1000 to insure a Lupo for a newly passed 17 year old. I believe Polos are similar.

 

I know it's a V*olksw*g*n, but maybe Cav jr should change his sights until he gets his first year's no-claims.

 

 

*Dons flameproof hat*

 

Oh, congrats, by the way.

[cms206]

Well done Cav Jr, top work.

 

As a sideways point and purely out of interest, how do elderly Volvo estates stack up? I could get insured much cheaper on a 745 than anything else when I was seventeen, but then ended up with a Motability Focus Millsomatic due to my mother being disabled.

[ashmicro]

IIRC Daihatsus have always been inexplicably high up in insurance.

[Pete-M]

Well done to Cav Jr.

 

Polos are meant to be cheap to insewer, Lupos more so. Lad who comes into work has a Y plate Lupo TDi which he bought because it was the 'least horrific insurance I could find". He's had it for three or four years now, his insurance has been triple figures for the last couple of years. He lives in St. Helens, so I imagine it's similar loadings to your neck of the woods.

[skattrd]

 

The Volvo allegedly making over 50mpg ... and the odo.

I should have reset the trip so it was 789 ... If I'd thought of it sooner I would have - yes I am that sad

[willswitchengage]

a) There's a really pretty sunset outside and

 

Sometimes I wonder if somebody more amazing than me could have been born. Discovered earlier the Justy had no fuel filler cap. A few minutes head scratching and small hole drilling later, and it has a new replacement, although there is no longer a plug for our kitchen sink.

[Cavcraft]

Thanks folks.

 

We've managed to get it down to something like £1,947 by contacting one company direct rather then go through one of those comparison sites. That's with the box fitted (which I think is a good idea tbh), the car not being garaged and a high (£1,000) excess. I told my lad it wasn't worth claiming if he smashed the car up as future insurance costs would be unreal so a high excess seems to make sense.

God knows why, but valuing the car at a higher amount (i.e £1,200 instead of £800) knocked it down a bit too. I think we'll go for that to be honest, if Merc buyer turns up when he says he will I'll use half the money for the deposit on the insurance and pay the monthly charges though my wages. He's now even more actively seeking work as not having a licence would have meant a temporary career change and he says he'll pay me back for the insurance. That's probably about as likely as seeing some really fit naked nuns skateboarding in the park whilst swigging cans of Stella and extolling the virtues of Class A drugs.

[dollywobbler]

New owner of the BX is already cracking on with it. He's so far fixed the broken headlight switch and got the hazard lights working WITHOUT the ignition! Apparently mucking about with the bulb holder in the switch sorted this. Bloody French electrics. This is exactly why I sold it - it needs a fresh bout of enthusiasm. There's a plan forming to take it to a big BX gathering in France to celebrate 30 years of straight-edged Citroen design. I might well be going along too!

[Spiny Norman]

May not be relevant, but a few years ago the lad at my work got insurance for a 1.6 Laguna cheaper than the 1.2 Clio he'd been thinking of.

 

Car insurance seems to be about 10% relevant facts & figures, 40% 'think of a number' and 50% downright witchcraft, it never fails to amaze me how some cars can be so much dearer than others.

My E320 Merc costs me less than a Rover 75 1.8 would have. I could insure a Lamborghini Murcielago using the exact same criteria I use for my everyday car for half what young Cavette is getting charged for a 1.0 Corsa.

[vulgalour]

Congrats to mini Cav and on the insurance side of things, the reason for a policy being lower if the car is valued higher is that it displays the desire of the owner to look after his car. This is, of course, complete bull poop, but this is what I have been told by a man on the inside of the system. Valuing the car at about £2,000 seems to be the magic number, regardless of the car and a limited mileage policy of 4,000 per annum is likewise magical. Certain colours are more expensive to insure, particularly black and red while others are cheaper such as beige and yellow. Saloons and estates are usually cheaper than hatchbacks too, the assumption being that a teenager with a hatchback will always lie about modifications so the insurer assumes the car is modified even if no mods are declared.

 

Most important of all: Insurance group numbers mean diddly squat.

[wuvvum]

Got overtaken by a Honda NSX on the A47 this evening. Bugger me those things sound nice for a V6. Proper snarly.

[triumph1300]

How exactly can the colour of a car affect insurance premium???? Its never come up when insuring the large number of cars I have had..

[vulgalour]

It can and it does. Metallic paint costs more to insure than flat paint too, I know this because it came up when getting quotes for the Polo. Leather interior costs more than cloth/vinyl, just so you know.

[triumph1300]

how do the insurance companies know this? i got quotes for 2 different volvo estates, both different specs and colours, both came back at £180.43...

[trigger]

In 15 years of driving I've never been asked if my car had metallic paint or leather seats and it's never been listed on my policy, even my wife who used to do motor insurance for the CIS says it makes no difference.

 

Unless your telling them cars been modified in which case your paying more for a modification, not because it's metallic.

[vulgalour]

I can only pass on what I was told by insurers, metallic paint and leather interior put the premium up, but if it were flat and cloth it didn't. I don't understand it either. But then, the road to getting insured has been a bumpy one for me so I probably had my name pulled out of the insurance hat to be That One Person We Don't Like.

[Tayne]

how do the insurance companies know this? i got quotes for 2 different volvo estates, both different specs and colours, both came back at £180.43...

 

Well if you gave the registration numbers for those cars...

 

Statistically red cars have more accidents.

Not sure if this still holds true (given the amount of silver and grey) but once upon a time most sporty cars were red, driven harder and more likely to go through a hedge backwards.

Now if you have the red GLX the insurers will think you bought it because it looks like the GTI because its red, you'll drive it harder and will be more likely to go through a hedge backwards.

 

Now the sensible amongst us will buy a used car on condition and spec not colour, so insurer logic should only apply to people who buy new cars?

Not so, I know one woman who was faced with the choice of two used Subarus. There was an N/A model with a low-box less miles and comparable spec that was six months newer than the turbo yet only £250 more.

The low box and sensible wheel tyre combo would have suited her better, been more economical and both were in budget.

She chose the turbo model because it was green.

 

I would question the leather interior aspect. I don't disbelieve that it makes the car more attractive to thieves looking to strip a car and sell the parts but the last four cars I've owned have had it as an available option (two with and two without) but I've never been asked about it by an insurer.

[Spiny Norman]

Statistically red cars have more accidents.

 

That's because red cars go faster, common knowledge, innit?

[Tayne]

Statistically red cars have more accidents.

 

That's because red cars go faster, common knowledge, innit?

 

Absolutely.

40% of my cars have been red.

My only accident happened when I was driving a blue car.

[willswitchengage]

Absolutely.

40% of my cars have been red.

My only accident happened when I was driving a blue car.

 

QED

 

Good news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19329200

 

Interesting news, according to the paper, the average horsepower sold in EU cars is now 138hp - a record high.

[wuvvum]

I wonder how many of those seized cars were actually uninsured, and how many were just not on the database due to an insurance company / MID fuckup?

[DSdriver]

Statistically the least stolen car colour is pink.

[messerschmitt owner]

Statistically the least stolen car colour is pink.

statistically, the biggest cause of divorce is marriage!

[Cavcraft]

I wonder how many of those seized cars were actually uninsured, and how many were just not on the database due to an insurance company / MID fuckup?

 

Or how much of it was just bollocks. Recall they had a clamp down on people riding mini-motos on the road/other palces they shouldn't and in the local paper the coppers made a big deal of how many they'd seized and crushed. The picture in the thread showed a metal yard I used so I asked them about it and they said they'd hardly seen any at all and it was rubbish.

[Pete-M]

Prompted by a discussion earlier over on facebook about it being a mystery to one chap why Cortinas are going up in value I've been thinking a bit about the kind of cars I like, and the ones I really don't see the attraction of despite plenty of people fawning over them on a regular basis.

 

I think a fair few of the folk on here know what they like, some big fans of old Volvos, Rovers, Citroens, FSOs and old BL tat. We've even got fans of Vauxhalls. Some of us like big old barges, others choose to run diesels on veg oil. Some like gadgets, auto boxes, aircon and DRLs. Others prefer their windows to fold or clip on.

 

When it comes to market values of some stuff and it really is mad out there. You could buy a good 1980's Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 and a good Bentley Turbo R for the price of an immaculate (and working) Citroen SM. An Escort Cosworth is worth less than a DS, but a Mk2 RS1800 Escort in mint condition could cost more than the four put together. You can buy an immaculate Audi A8 for less than the price of a scruffy Passat TDi, or a good Bristol for less than a mint Rover P5B Coupé - but the P5 3.0 Coupé is still pennies in comparison.

 

Y'know what? I can't work it out.

[Des]

It's a whole acting like sheep / just not very bright thing, not many have the ability to work out for themselves what they want, and will seek the most hyped up model, as decided by pub bores, magazines, beardys. Paranoid at splashing out on the 4 cylinder model and then being constantly reminded they should have got the 6 cylinder by wankers who have driven neither.

Trouble with acting like sheep though, just a matter of time and the farmers going to give them what for.

[dollywobbler]

It is a funny old world for sure. A really nice, late Bentley Brooklands Turbo is £20k on a dealer's forecourt, but a really early Range Rover will probably be more. Both eat fuel in an alarming manner but I think I'd take the Bentley.

 

Buy a nice MGB roadster and you'll need at least £8k these days, possibly more. Buy a nice TR7 and you'll have change from £3000. Even with a rather necessary V8, a TR7 is still only £5-6k. A Stag on the otherhand is increasingly the wrong side of £12k.

 

A Mk2 Jag? £14k upwards in 3.8 form, and that'll be an iffy one. Far better to spend £12k on an S-Type instead. Better suspension, better gearbox and much cheaper to buy. Insanity.

 

Or there's pretty much anything French that isn't an iconic Citroen. Renault 5s are great cars, but hard to get more than £800 for. The Peugeot 205 is arguably the car that saved Peugeot from a life of building utterly uninspiring cars, but they're worth sod all. Choose your future. Choose autoshite.

[messerschmitt owner]

it's true - I've always liked microcars and back in the day you could pick them up for £50 or so.

 

Here's my list of microcar purchases from 1987-91

 

Isetta - £525

Messerschmitt - £200

Isetta - £50

Nobel - £200

Trojan - £350

Bond MkC -£350

Isetta - £500 (T&T)

Fiat 500 - £100

Fiat Giardineria - £150

Berkeley T60 (x2) £700

Berkeley B95 - £2000 (with £3000 numberplate at the time)

Trabant P50 - £700 (T&T)

NSU Prinz - various from £50-300 (T&T)

Trojan - £200

Trojan - £75

Heinkel A0 scooter - £125

lambretta Ld125 - £100

Lambretta Li150 - £50

 

There are more but those are the notable ones - now the real bubble cars would be £3-10k in unrestored condition and most of the others over a grand a pop. I've scrapped microcars that today would be restored.

 

My Schmitt was £200 with a spare engine, manuals, tools, plus other spares - now £10k would just about buy it (solid but needing a body resto, retrim and repaint). I think what I could buy for £10k now:-

Porsche 911/912

Lotus Esprit turbo

Ferrari 308

Maserati (Merak or similar)

WW2 Jeep

Dodge Weapons Carrier

 

there's lots of stuff I could buy and have change -

vauxhall PA Cresta

Bedford CA Camper

Land Rover Series 1

Porsche 928S

Opel Manta A

Opel GT

E Series Vauxhall

a choice of TVRs or Lotuses