UK Car insurance craziness?

[tankski]

Hi folks,

My car insurance is up for renewal in just over a month and I’ve been getting some indicative quotes for my Emira and they’re frankly absurd: £5500/year. About 8 weeks ago I was getting quotes for purchasing the car and they were around £1200 for the same inputs.

Im aware a lot of this could be down to my circumstances but they haven’t changed for a while. Has anyone else found their premiums go up an unreasonably large amount? I’m wondering if this is Emira-specific or if it’s just me.

 

[Eagle7]

Here in the states, we got a 17% increase across the board for all our cars. When I called and asked why, I was told it's because of the cost of EV's. They're so incredibly expensive to repair. I told her we don't own one, and she said even if you don't own one you might hit one, so they're increasing everyone's premiums to offset that.

 

[Andy H]

No, you are correct - it has gone crazy in the UK. A couple of years ago I was paying £300 for an M3 and now the Emira is nearly £1,000 and my RS3 is around £800. Also, loads of companies won't even quote for performance cars any more or price themselves out of contention. I can only assume it's being driven by theft and accident stats but it's been a huge shift.

 

[Nick Sticks]

Hi folks,

My car insurance is up for renewal in just over a month and I’ve been getting some indicative quotes for my Emira and they’re frankly absurd: £5500/year. About 8 weeks ago I was getting quotes for purchasing the car and they were around £1200 for the same inputs.

Im aware a lot of this could be down to my circumstances but they haven’t changed for a while. Has anyone else found their premiums go up an unreasonably large amount? I’m wondering if this is Emira-specific or if it’s just me.

Have you tried Compare The Market yet?

 

[Andy H]

Have you tried Compare The Market yet?

This is also my go-to. Consistently cheapest quotes. Plus you get the Meerkats membership for a year - although they've watered it down a lot over the years.

 

[Mistral]

When I first insured my Emira in January 2023 the premium was circa £450 but renewal in January this year was almost double that. I use Compare, Money Supermarket etc too. Ultimately I went to Footman James who have my S1 Elise on an agreed value policy and they insured both cars for under £1000, the Elise still on agreed value and unlimited mileage on both.

 

[tankski]

I’ve used confused and compare the market. I’ll have a look at the more bespoke insurers like Footman James, plus those not on comparison sites. Hopefully I can sort something out because if I can’t I’ll be between paying obscene amounts of money, moving the car on or SORNing it.

 

[tankski]

I have spent about an hour this morning playing with questionnaire answers on Insurance comparison sites and nothing really budged the quotes a great amount. For my amusement I changed the car to-be-insured to a 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 and the premiums were £2000 rather than £5000 for the Emira. Huge amounts of money still, but that's also a massive reduction between two different brands at the same performance/price point. The only thing I can gleam from this is that the Emira is a very risky car in the eyes of an insurer? I've also tried Adrian Flux and got quoted £16000 which is extortion.

 

[Beardedbradley]

I’ve seen no change in insurance, as I’m still waiting for Lotus Cars to decide if/when they will build it im checking regularly on insurance prices.

 

[Beardedbradley]

Just for context, I’m 52 married, clean licence. In live Kent. My quote this morning (cheapest, I wouldn’t go cheap) £468 I’ll put my son (mid twenties) on when/if it arrives and it jumps to £933, The cheapest with my son is with a black box so I wouldn’t choose that policy so in fairness I’ll probably pay around £1100

 

[Beachbum]

Just for context, I’m 52 married, clean licence. In live Kent. My quote this morning (cheapest, I wouldn’t go cheap) £468 I’ll put my son (mid twenties) on when/if it arrives and it jumps to £933, The cheapest with my son is with a black box so I wouldn’t choose that policy so in fairness I’ll probably pay around £1100

Well that gives me some hope. I live in deepest darkest Dorset and was starting to worry about £5K prices. Hopefully its the location that is driving up the prices. Although given other comments a 718 is £3K cheaper.
It maybe that the Emira is still relatively new and underwriters are waiting to see what claims are like. One downside of Lotus is the length of time it can take to get certain parts, thus driving up the cost of a claim due to increased rental car costs.

 

[Andy H]

Manning were recommended on here previously and they came up with the best price for my i4 in March at around £900. That was me only: 54 married, 3 points, living in Surrey.

Could it be your postcode? I've heard some horror stories about thefts in the Birmingham and Wolverhampton areas. Maybe try a different postode just to see what effect it as. I'm not suggesting you move house but at least it might go some way to explain those ludicrous quotes!

 

[Man.v.Cars]

I have spent about an hour this morning playing with questionnaire answers on Insurance comparison sites and nothing really budged the quotes a great amount. For my amusement I changed the car to-be-insured to a 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 and the premiums were £2000 rather than £5000 for the Emira. Huge amounts of money still, but that's also a massive reduction between two different brands at the same performance/price point. The only thing I can gleam from this is that the Emira is a very risky car in the eyes of an insurer? I've also tried Adrian Flux and got quoted £16000 which is extortion.

Part of the problem is how long it takes to repair an accident damaged car, they have to provide you with a car while it's in for repair. I'm waiting for both doors to be replaced and been told to expect February onwards for them to receive the doors. No doubt they wouldn't send it to the local repair shop with it being a Lotus so you're talking dealership hourly rates.

In 2022 I had a Cayman S written off because the parts would have taken approximately 6 months to get hold of, 6 months of a hire car + repairs made it uneconomical. A small electrical fire under the drivers seat meant new loom, seat, carpet, steering wheel, stalks and various trims. I could have repaired with parts off eBay for £3,500, Porsche quoted £27,750 + cost of hire car. It was written off.

Crazy quotes you've got, I pay £87.50 pm including the written off Cayman against me. Whereabouts in the UK do you live?

 

[tankski]

Part of the problem is how long it takes to repair an accident damaged car, they have to provide you with a car while it's in for repair. I'm waiting for both doors to be replaced and been told to expect February onwards for them to receive the doors. No doubt they wouldn't send it to the local repair shop with it being a Lotus so you're talking dealership hourly rates.

That goes to explain a fair bit of it, I wonder if insurers have had to pay out for anything on these cars recently?

Crazy quotes you've got, I pay £87.50 pm including the written off Cayman against me. Whereabouts in the UK do you live?

I live in a bit of West Coventry called Tile Hill. I haven't heard much about (car) thefts or any crime in the area recently but maybe there's something to look into (crime rates).

For further context on my situation: I'm 29 with a clean license. My partner is a named driver but we aren't living together (yet, that'll change in ~6 months) and I am not a home owner (yet). I know I'm not in a "good" bracket for insurance on a performance car and I accept there's a price to pay here, but that doesn't explain why I was previously quoted £1200 for 1 year of insurance and now it's £5500.

Admiral (my current provider) are quoting £3000ish for a new black box plan which isn't ideal but I can stomach that over £5500. I've previously had a black box in another car and I can live with being boring with the car for a few months while I've got the box installed. I am also going to get quotes with a few of the more specialist insurers (Manning etc) to see if there's anything there.

Thanks to all of you for your time so far! I really appreciate it.

 

[Man.v.Cars]

That goes to explain a fair bit of it, I wonder if insurers have had to pay out for anything on these cars recently?

I live in a bit of West Coventry called Tile Hill. I haven't heard much about (car) thefts or any crime in the area recently but maybe there's something to look into (crime rates).

For further context on my situation: I'm 29 with a clean license. My partner is a named driver but we aren't living together (yet, that'll change in ~6 months) and I am not a home owner (yet). I know I'm not in a "good" bracket for insurance on a performance car and I accept there's a price to pay here, but that doesn't explain why I was previously quoted £1200 for 1 year of insurance and now it's £5500.

Admiral (my current provider) are quoting £3000ish for a new black box plan which isn't ideal but I can stomach that over £5500. I've previously had a black box in another car and I can live with being boring with the car for a few months while I've got the box installed. I am also going to get quotes with a few of the more specialist insurers (Manning etc) to see if there's anything there.

Thanks to all of you for your time so far! I really appreciate it.

You could always do the Bradford/Birmingham/Luton thing, get plates copied.

Here in West Yorkshire coverage is crazy, parts of Bradford get no insurance offered. I know someone who lives in, shall we say a particularly sh*t area, and he pays £1500 for a 12 yr old Passat that is worth £500 at best. 45, max no claims, no points, anything newer and he struggles to get cover.

 

[Beardedbradley]

Just seen this on the Lotus forum, might be worth a look