Damn insurance

[Quirky]

So i'm trying to get full cover on my new car, Toyota Levin, which I only got on Monday, and yesterday i had it fitted with a 5 star alarm.

Rang them up, only a few minutes ago, with State, and they refuse to cover me, because they say its a high risk car, a powerful car, and i am not experienced enough to drive it. They will happily accept my mum but not drivers under 25 years of age, and i am no where near that age, surprise, surprise, i'm 17 and a half years old.

So i tried AMI, no difference.

State did however advise me to try National Auto Club, yea they accepted me as a driver, but i will have to pay $1000 for insurance a year! Personally, i think thats a lot, its more than half what i had to pay when i had my Corolla.

I did tell them my Levin had the words Corolla on it, so its still in someway just a coupe Corolla, they didn't buy it...

If i can't get insurance on this car, i cant drive it, if i cant drive it, damn useless to me, what can i do? probably sell the car and get something more reasonable...

What can I/should (I) do?

[Mr Revhead]

go INTO an ami branch.

NAC are under the same umbrella as state.

fyi with NAC say you have a $1000 excess. thats per claim
and with them, that means say you hit one car, and bounce into another
then thats 2 claims..... and two excesses...

[Quirky]

Would going into a brand better my chances of getting insurance?
Whats different about over the phone?

[Mr Revhead]

it maydo

iv often found going into to my local branch gets me a better deal than quoted over the phone
though that was in nelson. small town ftw!!1

[Leon]

noelene@johnrae.co.nz

Insurance broker.

[Quirky]

This is making things difficult, i may have to sell the car back to the dealer.

How do the insurance company determine whats a high risk car?
i hardly say 150 actual horsepowers is a lot....they keep saying the car is too powerful for someone of my age...to powerful for doing what? i never do anything apart from driving to school... Or is it high risk because it gets broken into/stolen more times then others?

Baffles me...

[2LTR Rona]

The first thing you should have done before buying the car, was scoping out insurance before even thinking about handing over cash (not being a prick about it, just being realistic) because now you have an uninsured car sitting in your driveway & it if gets stolen / broken in to, you're out of pocket straight way.

What can you do in this situation.....

Pay the insurance through NAC & just accept the fact that its going to be high for the first year, if you have a clean slate after that then it may come down.

Personally I would have contacted an insurance broker and had them do all the leg work for you, they usually contact a number of insurance companies and let you know the best result.

What do you mean by a better brand?

And what are the details of the car? what mods has it got, if any?

[BZR4AGE]

I drive a BZR and I am with NAC, but only for third party. Its about $350 a year for my third party. Full cover I had it quoted for $1300 (thats covering the mods I've done too) - thats after being with them for 3 years and having a good record and no speeding tickets.

Could try Pioneer Insurance if your car is standard (NO MODS AT ALL - that includes an exhaust). My mate have a RX-7 stock standard, and he is paying $900 a year for full cover. If you have mods they will increase a lot, Myself I got quoted for $1600 per year.

AMI, State, AA..all these I've tried and won't do it unless you are 25 (probably because I totaled a car before 5 years ago when I was with AMI, so now they won't do it for my unless 25)

[TURCEL]

Baffles me...

Wait untill you get a quote.. then you will hit the roof... I remember I was 20 trying to get a quote for insurance on a BZ-R... was something along the lines of $6000 full cover.

[2LTR Rona]

noelene@johnrae.co.nz

Insurance broker.

Additional contact details to what Leon posted

Noeline McCready
John Rae Insurance
New Plymouth

Ph 06 7588440
Fax 06 7586625

Very easy to deal with, I did everything via phone / email for insurance on my KE25, never had to leave my desk at work

[Mr Revhead]

they qouted me $8 more a month than i was getting all ready

but in this case, every option is worth pursuing!!

[sigma]

A friend of mine was buying an AE111 from a yard on finance, of course before he drove it off the yard they wanted him to have full cover. He called up AA, with whom he had previously had full cover on a turbo Silvia, and a WRX.. 'I'm sorry we can't cover you, its a high risk performance car'. He got the same answer from State, AMI, Tower.... NAC said yes, but they wanted $1000+ a year, and the cover wouldn't start until he had put the first payment down. He ended up getting a bank loan so he could buy the car in full without insurance.

My guess is because so many young drivers got them as their 1st cars, and then crashed them and claimed... they were losing money by insuring them in the first place, so put them in the 'not till you are 25' bracket. Thats business.

My advice? Just get 3rd party and hope the alarm works.

[2LTR Rona]

they quoted me 8 goats more a month than i was getting all ready

but in this case, every option is worth pursuing!!

I would have thought you'd have taken them up on that offer


If he wants to keep the car then really there is no option....get dialing:!:

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

other option that seems to work well nowdays is insuring your stuff thru your bank - im with TSB Bank, and Tower provides their insurance.
get a discount and can do AP's whenever for no fees

[flat_0ut]

You could try insuredirect? They seem keen to give people insurance and I found them cheaper than NAC when I was finding insurance.
Goodluck, Took me ages to find insurance, same age.

[rolla_fxgt]

other option that seems to work well nowdays is insuring your stuff thru your bank - im with TSB Bank, and Tower provides their insurance.
get a discount and can do AP's whenever for no fees

yes but same issue with the standard insurance companies, my bank advisor tried to get me to insure my ae101fxgt thru them, i reminded her what sort of car i had (her daughter had 1) & she laughed & said oh yeah dont bother they wont insure it.

I got mine through AMI origionally (when i was 18) & now with state, have no problem insuring it ever, but then i had been on my parents policy for 2 years before i brought it. Though AA & Tower wont touh it & neither will Toyota insurance, which i laughed at. But yeah get your parents to threaten to take all their insurance to another insurer & what ever company your parents have insurance with will quickly insure your car easy as.

For some funny reason insurance companies doent like loosing business. Expect to pay around a grand for the 1st year, but it goes down pretty quick after that.

[neo]

Ive found you cant get a quote unless you have the car. I tried before I brought my first fx, but no one would quote me unless I had the exact spec's ,rego number etc (which was hard as the car was still in transit from Japan)...

My racecar is with Johnray and is cheaper than my road car which is through insuredirect (and they are both the same execpt the mods to each)

You sure your parents dont own part of the car? All the cars Ive had interest in - pre the racecar are owned by my parents and thus the insurance must be taken out by them (and I pay it), and Im the primary driver... Sweet as cuz

[2LTR Rona]

Ive found you cant get a quote unless you have the car. I tried before I brought my first fx, but no one would quote me unless I had the exact spec's ,rego number etc (which was hard as the car was still in transit from Japan)...

Really? I have personally never come across that myself, but then again I am old and almost qualify for discounts on public transport

[tsoob]

hey while on the subject how many turbo levins etc out there have insurance, i will have mine on the road 4agte corolla etc, im over 25 thou who out there will insure me??

[Alex B]

The easiest way to get cheep insurance is to get a history. My corolla 4wd was $150 with AMI for the first year, cheeper the second etc. The Mr2 for 3rd party is now less than $100PA.