Insurance - New Elise Sport

[Willwors]

All

I've run a couple of quotes on comparison websites for a new Elise Sport (1.6).

I'm 28, have 6 years NCD, live in Central London and am looking for a 8k mile per year social-only policy, fully comp.

Quotes are coming out at £1,700+ which is well over three times the cost of my current Audi S1 (which is also higher mileage and a commuting policy)

What am I missing? Are Elises really that expensive to insure?

Many thanks,

Will

[Beachbum]

Soft tops in London are always more expensive.
One way of reducing the cost, is to garage the car if possible. I am on the south cost and even here some insurers would not even touch my car, unless it was garaged.
Try looking on SELOC. Insurance is frequently mentioned/discussed on there

[Willwors]

Thanks - should have added, the quote was with the car garaged.

Will check out SELOC!

[itcaptainslow]

Is this your first Elise? Typically specialist insurers ask for experience of them when insuring, as first year owners apparently make up a high proportion of claims statistics according to a couple of brokers I spoke to.

My S1 was high in my first year of ownership (was 24), then progressively dropped until I changed for a brand new S3 last year. Premium jumped again (nothing dramatic) but dropped for renewal this year which was a shade over £300 for a SDP only policy, 3k miles but crucially garaged in a reasonable postcode in Bedfordshire.

Try limiting the mileage to 4/5k pa-it seems to make a massive difference. No commuting helps too, as does garaging, an advanced driving course, it being your second car and having performance car experience. Speak to a specialist broker-I dealt with Mary at REIS for my renewal this year and she's very helpful-knows the Lotus market well!

[Darryl247W]

Might we infer that this is your first year of insuring a second car? Is the insurance company matching your 6 year NCB on this new policy?

Agreed on the limited mileage suggestion.

Try local or specialist insurers. Comparison websites will be poor for such a specialist car.

For comparison I pay around £300 for 3000miles on a 2003 111S. I'm lucky enough my policy is with Aviva who matched the NCB from the policies and clean records my wife and I have had for years with them on main cars.

Edited by Darryl247W on Thursday 6th July 20:17

Edited by Darryl247W on Thursday 6th July 20:19

Edited by Darryl247W on Thursday 6th July 20:22

[Willwors]

It's actually not my first year of insuring a second car; I've also got an old 500SL which is garaged on a classic policy and doesn't do a lot of miles.

I may swap both cars for an Elise (very, very early stages of planning, I should add) as a change in job (and availability of vehicle storage) would mean that one car (no longer used for commuting) will be more practical for me. And it needs to have a removable roof.

I'll try the specialist route. Footman James insure my Mercedes for about 50p; they may be a good port of call.

Mulling over new S3 vs. used, too. Perhaps a 10 year old S2 might help as the value of the car would be lower (and I'm sure they're essentially the same) - just quite fancy the prospect of Hethel factory collection!

[itcaptainslow]

S2's seem to be the cheapest of the Elise range to insure-I guess it's a mixture of claims statistics, cost of repair, parts availability (if memory serves S3 clams are difficult to get hold of, bumping up hire car costs!) and value. Worth a quote on one if nothing else.

I really do think you'll find the best deal with one of the specialist brokers-take a look at the SELOC Wiki page for insurance. The classic insurer I had my previous MG insured with recoiled in horror at the prospect of an Elise, especially being under 30 at the time.