2002 E46 : BMW Club Insurance..savings worth joining for?

[Paul S4]

As per title, I have a mint E46 318i, 2002 year, with low(ish !) miles.

The insurance is due next month: The AA have sent me a renewal which is an increase of 35% (!!) ....so I shall be looking elsewhere.

I have done the usual ie Compare the Merkat, Confused, MSE search etc and got a decent 'base line' quote, but with a company I have never heard of ...

My question is: Is it worth joining the BMW UK Car club at £65 pa to get access to their Insurance?
And does anyone know if I would get an Agreed Value on a 2002 year E46 ?

I was also wondering about Classic Insurance, which I have had previously with an older Lotus a few years ago.

The 318i is my only car, and is my daily driver used for everything, doing about 15,000 max miles a year.

Any advice, experience would be most welcome !

[Riek]

a mate of mine has an agreed value on his 2003 330d.

[d_a_n1979]

Paul S4 said:

As per title, I have a mint E46 318i, 2002 year, with low(ish !) miles.

The insurance is due next month: The AA have sent me a renewal which is an increase of 35% (!!) ....so I shall be looking elsewhere.

I have done the usual ie Compare the Merkat, Confused, MSE search etc and got a decent 'base line' quote, but with a company I have never heard of ...

My question is: Is it worth joining the BMW UK Car club at £65 pa to get access to their Insurance?
And does anyone know if I would get an Agreed Value on a 2002 year E46 ?

I was also wondering about Classic Insurance, which I have had previously with an older Lotus a few years ago.

The 318i is my only car, and is my daily driver used for everything, doing about 15,000 max miles a year.

Any advice, experience would be most welcome !

Speak to Chris Knott; they're very good IMO and did superbly for my Japanese import E39 530i Sport Touring and agreed valuation (had it at £12k) and then the same with a Japanese import E39 540i Sport (agreed valuation at £10k)

Try AF too

You need to find examples of similar cars that have sold in the past, if you can, and reams of pictures to show the condition and then they'll fight your side with the underwriters etc

[Maxus]

I use Adrian Flux for my 2003 E46 330i. On a 5,000 miles a year including commuting the policy is £260. I pay an extra £50 for agreed value. With a good E46 I think this is important. The book value is probably 1/3rd of the market value. Well worth it.

I'm sure I can get cheaper but the assurance is more important to me.

[The Conflated Outlier]

I wouldn't use Flux myself tbh.

I've used Footman James for years, always very good.

The BMW CC are very active with an excellent magazine.

I'd get an agreed value - about £2500.

[d_a_n1979]

The Conflated Outlier said:

I wouldn't use Flux myself tbh.

I've used Footman James for years, always very good.

The BMW CC are very active with an excellent magazine.

I'd get an agreed value - about £2500.

Zero issues with AF; used them a few times now

Footman James wanted over £1k for my Japanese import BMWs; limited to 6k miles a year etc...

Chris Knott and AF both under £500 with everything inc agreed value etc

[The Conflated Outlier]

Excellent stuff!

[robbiekhan]

Interesting didn't know about this, so if I join the car club for £65 then I could get discounted insurance through FJ or A-Plan according to the club website. I am currently with Hastings and my last year's premium was £312 for an E46 M3. I did a recent comparison check and it seems this year's quotes are a bit more but under £400 for the lowest still (by Sterling).

I would prefer to go with a specialist like these I guess going forwards and if they do an agreed value then that makes it more compelling too.

[Paul S4]

Hi.

Many thanks for all the replies to my OP.

I think I may join the BMWCC anyway, in my experience ( mainly with a classic Lotus Elan S4 a few years ago) the main car club does make sense, if only for access to discounts on parts etc.

I also want an agreed value, as one poster mentioned, the 'book value' of my car is way lower than the 'true value' .

My Lotus was insured with an Agreed Valuation, which required annual photos, details of work done etc etc.

My only concern, and I don't know if it would apply to a 2002 year car, is that 'Classic insurance' does not ( or did not a few years ago anyway ) involve NCD , and as the E46 is my only car, I would lose my long NCD history. Anyone got any idea if this still applies ?

As always, thank you all for the replies.

[d_a_n1979]

Paul S4 said:

Hi.

Many thanks for all the replies to my OP.

I think I may join the BMWCC anyway, in my experience ( mainly with a classic Lotus Elan S4 a few years ago) the main car club does make sense, if only for access to discounts on parts etc.

I also want an agreed value, as one poster mentioned, the 'book value' of my car is way lower than the 'true value' .

My Lotus was insured with an Agreed Valuation, which required annual photos, details of work done etc etc.

My only concern, and I don't know if it would apply to a 2002 year car, is that 'Classic insurance' does not ( or did not a few years ago anyway ) involve NCD , and as the E46 is my only car, I would lose my long NCD history. Anyone got any idea if this still applies ?

As always, thank you all for the replies.

Not sure which insurer you're going to go with, but both Chris Knott and AF had zero issues with the agreed valuation for both my 2002 BMW E39 530i Sport touring and 540i Sport, both Japanese imports

Both protected my untouched NCD also

[Paul S4]

Thanks d_a_n1979, I shall get in touch with those to see what can be done.
Paul

[dhutch]

Paul S4 said:

Is it worth joining the BMW UK Car club at £65 pa

How did you get on?