Mini clubs to join? Forums you'd recommend?

[TheStoat]

Evening all,

Been for a test drive today in a 1968 Mini 1000 (with a few modifications) and I'm going to buy it Question is what owners' club would you recommend joining to reduce my insurance premium? While I'm asking for advice, is there a particular forum favoured by you guys? I'm assuming that while this is a fairly well used forum here there are busier dedicated Mini sites around

Thanks for any advice,

Andy

[DanGT]

There are a lot of good mini clubs around. For me look local as it is easy to get to meatings get hands on help etc. The good thing is there are not many bad clubs.

[TheStoat]

Thanks for that I've found a forum called MiniFinity (http://www.minifinity.co.uk) that seems to be well set up. I've also found another forum / club called British Mini Club (http://www.britishminiclub.co.uk) that can be joined for £25. I might mention that to the insurers and see if the price comes down...

One thing I would mention is that while insurers don't mind modifications up to and including complete engine swaps they seem to baulk at removing the rear seats?!? Happily Adrian Flux and a few others don't mind that but it's a bit weird to find out that reducing the number of possible passengers in your car can actually increase your premium Ah insurers - bless them and their quirky rules...

Anywho, here's a picture of my car blatantly stolen from the PH classifieds:



Can't wait to pick it up and start driving it. Will be a real change from the Dodge Viper but just as much character I reckon!

Cheers,

Andy

[Pixel-Snapper]

Lovely looking 68 stoat....

Although there is a wealth of knowledge in the classic minis section here and they do know there stuff, ive recently joined www.theminiforum.co.uk some really great already well documented articles posted and enough material to keep you reading for hours.

The parts for sale sections pretty good to.

[TheStoat]

Pixel-Snapper said:

The parts for sale sections pretty good to.

That sounds dangerous

[guru_1071]

TheStoat said:

they seem to baulk at removing the rear seats

they view it with suspicion for two reasons,

1) in an accident the passengers are more likly to be hit / hit a sharp metal parts rather than a nice soft padded part - so injuires are more severe.

2) the only people who remove interiors are assumed to have done so for racing purposes - so a higher risk is assumed.

just like people who fit roll cages and then moan......


insurance companies are not idiots when it comes to modifications - ive always found that if your honest and upfront, then you wont have any problems.

[Pixel-Snapper]

TheStoat said:

That sounds dangerous

QUITE....

Theres a guy on there selling titanium radius arms at £780

[TheStoat]

guru_1071 said:

they view it with suspicion for two reasons,

1) in an accident the passengers are more likly to be hit / hit a sharp metal parts rather than a nice soft padded part - so injuires are more severe.

2) the only people who remove interiors are assumed to have done so for racing purposes - so a higher risk is assumed.

just like people who fit roll cages and then moan......

insurance companies are not idiots when it comes to modifications - ive always found that if your honest and upfront, then you wont have any problems.

Yeah but that raises another problem for me:

(i) In the event of an accident the Mini has to crumple all the way from the back through the rear passenger section to the front to injure the driver and front passenger. But if that same accident happened with rear seats and passengers in place... well nobody wants to spend time thinking about the consequences of that but let's just agree the consequences would be worse. Or in clinical insurance terms "a lot more expensive"
(ii) The insurance company specifically asks what the vehicle is going to be used for and after accepting your response of "social and commuting" they then load the premium on the assumption that because the rear seats have been removed you must be lying about your intended use

It's not the end of the world because my premium is far from excessive, even allowing for a nice low excess on the policy but it does grate morally when the premium is loaded despite your statement of intended use. No point grumbling about it though, the insurers aren't going to change their minds any time soon. However it's worth noting that if anyone finds their premium a little high for their classic but modified Mini there is an alternative. I can confirm that an 8.3 litre, 195 mph Dodge Viper costs the same to insure. If you had one of those on your drive (complete with left hand drive, no rear seats, roof, roll cage or traction control) the same premium might feel like good value Before anyone asks - no, I haven't asked the insurers to justify those premiums. I think I'd die of amusement if they tried

Edited by TheStoat on Friday 10th June 16:12

[davejf]

As has been said, theminiforum is a good source of information. Another good national club is the Mini Cooper Register.
Very nice looking car by the way.

[P5Nij]

Great looking Mini there Andy.... just looked it up on the DVLA site, I see it was first reg'd on 9/2/68, is it actually a late Mk1 that's been sat around a dealership or an early-ish Mk2 that's had a Mk1 grille retro fitted at some point...?

We need more pics and info young man!

N.

[TheStoat]

Cheers. It's a Mk II body shell but there have been a few tweaks. Rather than bore the pants off everyone with 'death by cut and paste' here's the link to the PH advert

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2400677.htm

Plenty of info there, some of which I even understand

Andy

[TheStoat]

And some pics



















Andy

[P5Nij]

Good buy that, well done Andy!

The red commission number plate on the slam panel means it started out as a Mk2 anyway, most of them end up in the bin though when the front panel gets replaced at some point. A nice mix of old and new there, Mks 1,2 & 3!

Nidge.

[TheStoat]

Cool! I'm learning already

[Mr POD]

My Virus protection won't let me open the Britch mini club website, so I had a problem joining a club that my insurance company were happy with. However a Guy at work put me on to dcmoc.co.uk - £6 a year which my insurance company were happy with.

looked at minifinity and not much going on to be honest.


theminiforum pretty good

[Classicminiandy]

Looks a very nice mini, get on the mini forum they are good on there.