1998 Supra Insurance

[Corollaboi]

Hello forum people. Hope your doing well and I was hoping someone could give me some advice. Im a 21 year old wanting to import a Toyota Supra 1998 twin turbo in to the UK from Japan. My only issue is insurance unfortunately. 

Ive contacted Adrian flux who said they couldn’t provide me with a quote. Footman James, sky insurance and elephant were also along the same lines and one the of three were asking £30,000 for a years cover!

It seems like they weren’t considering the fact that the Supra I’ll be importing will be kept in a locked car storage facility for the 95% of the time as I’m working 6 days a week. I told them I would be driving for less than 250 miles In the first year of import mainly as I’m focusing on business. This wasn’t considered as I’m sure classic cars are garaged a lot and for me it would be for my car it would be for a very long time! 

Can anyone please give me advice on what I can do to obtain a reasonable quote? I do understand I’m of young age. Will have 1 year NCB in February and have held a license for two years then aswell. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Your age, driving history (ie 1 year NCD) and the fact the car will be high performance and either a grey or parallel import, will increase your risk factor in the eyes of insurers, which translates to high insurance costs. Could try comparison sites such as Money Super Market (https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/imported-cars/), etc, or do a search for companies specialising in grey imports.

[fordulike]

At the end of the day it's a 300+ BHP, rear wheel drive monster, that requires experience to tame all that power, especially in the wet. Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm kinda glad insurance companies discourage young drivers from driving cars like these. I used to drive a Toyota MR2 Mk1 with a fraction of the power and that was friggin lethal in the wet.

On a positive note, if you're only intending on driving 250 miles in the first year, why drive it at all? Just garage it up without insurance and save a boat load of cash. By the end of the first year, you'll have accrued another year of NCB on your current car, and potentially the Supra will then be cheaper to insure.

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi,

I'm surprised that we couldn't offer any sort of premium. Did we say why we couldn't help?

Regards,

Dan.

[Corollaboi]

@FROSTYBALLS Yes. There's no hiding from the fact that I'm not an experienced driver. Have not found any import insurers but direct line associated the supra as being a high risk (the two options were low risk and high risk). For low risk vehicles, I can get insured long as I am over 21, which I am. High risk can only be insured for people over the ages of 25 so that left me out. If you know any insurers, I would appreciate it if you told me sir. Again, I think insurers are not taking my desire to keep the car garaged most of the time in to consideration.

 

@fordulike I do agree that very young drivers shouldn't have access to cheap high bhp vehicles. A young chap trying to insure a 4 or 6 cylinder BMW or some cheap ish fast hatchback like a 2003 S3 clearly shows the insurance company that the person is trying to get hold of a car to hoon around in.  However, with me spending upwards of £25,000 on a car I've been saving for years, I do think it's a mature purchase and with me garaging the car for most of the time I wouldn't be driving it much either.

@DAN@ADRIAN FLUX

I contacted Footman James, then Adrian Flux, Sky Insurance and Elephant. Elephant told me they wouldn't give me a quote and to save me time, not to contact Admiral and another company (I think it was diamond insurance) as they were sister companies. One of the companies did quote me £30,000 to insure it for one year and I can not remember which company it was. All companies I contacted I told them I would have the car in a locked secure care storage centre and that It would be driven for less than 250 miles but was told by most companies the minimum was 1.5k. If you reckon you could reconsider and offer a quote that's reasonable I'd be happy to ring again.

When asked if I was part of a owners club, I did not tell the company I was as Ive been on forums for years but only recently made an account.

 

[Corollaboi]

I’ve got a quote from an insurance company valuing the car at £18000 which is better than nothing. Thanks guys.

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.

Glad you manged to find something suitable.

Regards,

Dan.