MR2 as daily hack exeeding limited ins milage dilema

[bobbyh]

I may be taking a great new job, that would mean an 80 mile daily commute.

Previously, I have always had company cars, so have no no-claims. (I know you can get some kind of letter from employers, saying you are claim free, but the last place I worked, I was only there 8 months, so it will not be a full year..)

Doing a quote for the Mk1 on 'regular' insurance (i'm 38 and live in Manchester, 3 points), was an eye watering £2k!!

Classic 4k miles policy I currently pay £250.

What would my options be? Has anyone had similar circumstances? What is the max milage on a classic policy?

It would be cheaper to take out a fresh classic policy every 5k miles, with another company!

any advise please. thanks..

[elbon50]

Was the 2k a quote for comprehensive Bobby?

If it's similar to mine the car won't be worth anything like 2k

I've found in the past that a third party quote can be very expensive

Peter

[bobbyh]

TPF&T !!

[un1eash]

Your looking at 20k miles a year give or take, i was in the same position before doing 90miles a day so instead of racking miles up on the MR2 i used an R reg diesel Vectra and kept the MR2 on classic, it worked out cheaper as the Vectra was only about £500 to insure.

[pk_090]

and cheaper to run being a diesel.
Alex

[bobbyh]

I've considered the second car, but if you factor the cost of a) buying it. b) taxing it. c) insuring it. d.) service/tyres/maintenace...

I'd rather put the miles on the MR2, it's got FSH and 108k miles at mo. yet because it's a cat D repaired, it's worth sod all.

[south_wales_MR2]

£2000 a year to insure a MK1? Seems a bit steep!

I have normal insurance on my MK2, I'm coming up to 27yr old, 3yrs ncb and I pay £500 fully comp.

Maybe have a ring around for a better quote?

[bobbyh]

FFS!! Just done a hypothetical quote on a £700 Focus diesel daily smoker..

Still £2000. No convictions, 3 points, No NCB..

Can see why somany don't bother with insurance. The fine IF you get caught will be about £250..

<shakes head>

[IanClements]

Check around for quotes, some insurance companies just don't want to insure sports cars so give higher premiums.

I agree with getting a second car, it just depends on how much you want to spend. I have a £650 Micra (the shame) that does 45mpg and almost never goes wrong so it keeps the miles off the 2 and it's cheaper to run two cars than one.

I think my Sky Insurance policy on the 2 has unlimited mileage and is sub £500 pounds a year. I'm 39, 3 points and live in Birmingham.

[IanParkhouse]

How long are you going to be doing this job for.

Buy a little diesel or LPG car and it'll pay for itself in 3 years. as you'll be using half the fuel.

[bobbyh]

ok. thanks guys..

Just phne Footman James who the car is under at present.

They do a 6k miles policy, or UNLIMITED at £1200pa (gulp), so I guess that'd be the way to go for 12months and see how the job is panning out..

[un1eash]

Have you tried ringing admiral/elephant. They now do a classic car discount. The policy works in the same way as normal insurance so you build up NCD and can drive other cars third party, mines got an agreed value of £1500.

Declaring 20k miles a year may be why its costing so much.

[alanmr2turbo]

Can see why somany don't bother with insurance. The fine IF you get caught will be about £250..

<shakes head>

Not quiet right. Yes you'll get a £250 but also 6 points on your license and you car impounded with a release fee off £150-£160 and a daily charge.

The old trick of getting around the mileage issue is to disconnect your speedo cable. Althouhg im sure thats also illegal LOL

[Lauren]

Speak to Ollie at Sky Insurance. Though they don't do Manchester postcodes. I'm Greater Manchester with a Stockport postcode.

If you have a classic policy it may not cover you for commuting to work.

You can increase your excess etc, put a lower value on the car, though I doubt that will make too much difference.

Really you should have got yourself some no claims. I live in the Manchester area, have 10+ years NCB, no points or accidents and pay £560 a year with business use on a modified car with a far higher value.

Take the plunge and go for the £1200 quote, I guess is all you can do. It'll probably drop a fair bit once you have some no claims. Tbh if you had a company car all your life, you would have been better to take an ordinary policy out on your second car, but hindsight and all that!

[kaiowas]

I'm not sure how much weight an odometer reading carries in terms of limited mileage policies. Our track car does most of it's miles on track (funnily enough), given that the insurance policy doesn't cover track use then it follows that track use doesn't contribute to the allowed mileage meaning that the insurance company have no way of reliably recording how many road miles I've driven.

[widster]

I would go cheap diesel daily hack and MR2 for weekends/evenings. If you pay the 1200 then will it reduce next year? Also, although MR2's are reliable it is an old car now. May be better and more comfortable with a newer, cheap diesel for the daily grind? Maybe use the MR2 one day a week or the odd nice day?

I run an older A4 diesel and the MR2 only does 1.5k a year at most but that is also because I need a family car for the kids/caravan/tip run etc.

[Kateg28]

Second car all the way. I have a mondeo diesel ( Lauren) and it costs me about £400 in insurance and then tax and stuff but it just never goes wrong. It is not exciting in any way but is a reliable workhorse. I then protect my MR2 and keep mileage down.

Yours may have relatively low mileage now but it soon won't. I also think some modern cars are better for daily hack as better reliability and better safety stuff/driver aids to help the daily grind.

Driving the MR2 makes me come alive but on commute I just want to get home (I use the train).

The mondeo has ABS, airbags, airbags, more airbags etc etc whereas the MR2 has, well, erm, err, pop up lights? Sometimes I want to sit in a Car and not necessarily take part in driving experience whereas sometimes I want to play!

Go boring. Dead cheap and save your car.

[cabbydave1]

If you want a spare set of clocks ive got loads here and you can have a set not that i would condone using spare clocks to get round the problem. If you want the clocks im in Stockport so you could nip over and pick them up

[Lauren]

There doesn't seem much point in the OP buying a second car and all the costs that will incur. Just maintain the MR2 well, it'll be fine.

Trouble with driving a boring dismal daily, is that you end up spending 90% of your time driving a boring car which is no fun at all.

[5705]

Couldn't see if this was already answered, but surely to get classic policy rates for the MR2 the OP must have another car in addition to use as the daily driver? Other wise classic policy is a non-starter.

IMHO, bite the bullet:
* buy an old low insurance group econobox and start building your own NCB
* see if a broker can get some NCB credit for your company car history
* if not, use Go Compare/etc to get a lowest possible quote on that car
* get a classic policy from a broker for the MR2