Insurers Quake When I Say "k&n"

[Special Red]

Hrun - I agree, I never declared my induction kit as it was a replacement part fitted by a garage, so therefore why should I. I'm sure you can apply the same to a SS exhaust as you can say its a one off purchase and wont ever need replacing so therefore it was bought for financial reasons, I am talking about 5 years ago but times have changed alot since then.

[dirty dan]

Hi all,

Renewal time is looming now, so I'm getting some quotes. I tried all the companies that people suggested, and a few others, and the one that came out cheapest - by £100 - was Swiftcover.com. DirectLine wanted £100 on top of Swiftcover's quote, and most of the others wanted another £100 or so on top of that.

So on the face of it, Swiftcover seems to be by far the best option for me. Has anyone used them / heard any horror stories about them?

TIA

Tarby

PS: All of these quotes are based on me taking the 57i out and going back to the standard airbox, which I shall do...

[frodo]

Not sure that you would get away with it, but it does raise the question that if someone buys a second hand car, and is not mechanically minded, insures the car as standard, crashes the car, and the insurance inspector finds modifications that the current owner doesn't realise are modifications, where do they stand, legally?

There must be a lot of people that have bought a second hand car that has had some 'minor' modifications, and have insured the car as standard, purely because they didn't know any different.

An exhaust is very good example. A s/s exhaust has been fitted to a car. How many joe public's will know its a modification? Not many.

[Special Red]

Don they have to prove that it affects performance above the accepted levels put in place by the insurers, before it can be labelled a Mod??? I have a pretty good company who dont care about minor mods which is nice but you have to notify them about the NOS!! ;)

[Black1]

Don they have to prove that it affects performance above the accepted levels put in place by the insurers, before it can be labelled a Mod??? I have a pretty good company who dont care about minor mods which is nice but you have to notify them about the NOS!! ;)

what company are you with Special red? i'm sure i've read somewhere that you paying around 400 for insurance. how old are you? cos i'm 27 and i'm paying 700 for my insurance.

[Special Red]

Don they have to prove that it affects performance above the accepted levels put in place by the insurers, before it can be labelled a Mod??? I have a pretty good company who dont care about minor mods which is nice but you have to notify them about the NOS!! ;)

what company are you with Special red? i'm sure i've read somewhere that you paying around 400 for insurance. how old are you? cos i'm 27 and i'm paying 700 for my insurance.

Im with Sterling 08700765450 and have been for 5 years. I was shocked by the amount it cost. I payed £330 or £380 not sure exactly as Its monthly Direct debit so its slightly more. The thing I have going for me is that i have had over 7 Group 16+ Cars in the last 5 years and so they know a GT is nothing I have not experienced before. Im 26 and have 5 years NC and NCP and had my licence for 9 years. Whilst my license is clean they also know I have had 9 Points! Also car does NOT need any alarm or immobiliser (It does anyway) so if your car has'nt at least you can get one fitted at a later date. I have a £300 excess which is high but I can afford £300 every day of the week, so am not bothered about spending a bit of cash as loosing my no claims will cost me more! I think alot of the price difference is to do with the fact my car is under the £2500 mark and with most insurance companies they set that as a limit that when exceeded you insurance goes up due to the fact your more likely to claim!

[Black1]

Don they have to prove that it affects performance above the accepted levels put in place by the insurers, before it can be labelled a Mod??? I have a pretty good company who dont care about minor mods which is nice but you have to notify them about the NOS!! ;)

what company are you with Special red? i'm sure i've read somewhere that you paying around 400 for insurance. how old are you? cos i'm 27 and i'm paying 700 for my insurance.

Im with Sterling 08700765450 and have been for 5 years. I was shocked by the amount it cost. I payed £330 or £380 not sure exactly as Its monthly Direct debit so its slightly more. The thing I have going for me is that i have had over 7 Group 16+ Cars in the last 5 years and so they know a GT is nothing I have not experienced before. Im 26 and have 5 years NC and NCP and had my licence for 9 years. Whilst my license is clean they also no I have had 9 Points! Also car does NOT need any alarm or immobiliser (It does) so if your car has'nt at least you can get one fitted at a later date. I have a £300 excess which is high but I can afford £300 every day of the week, so am not bothered about spending a bit of cash as loosing my no claims will cost me more! I think alot of the price difference is to do with the fact my car is under the £2500 mark and with most insurance companies they set that as a limit that when exceeded you insurance goes up due to the fact your more likely to claim!

not fair, i might have to go and get a quote off them, cos that sounds good!

[kirst_ie]

Have you tried adrian Flux yet? There brill my insurance for last year was £550 TPFT 3yrs NC and no excess.

But ive had a quote from Churchil for this year and they want £435 TPFT and £527 FC thats with £200 excess

[Black1]

Have you tried adrian Flux yet? There brill my insurance for last year was £550 TPFT 3yrs NC and no excess.

But ive had a quote from Churchil for this year and they want £435 TPFT and £527 FC thats with £200 excess

churchill wanted 700 for fully comp on mine, maybe that my wife is still young thats why they want so much

oh well, i will have another look around and see if i can get a better deal!

[chris202]

Adrian flux , aye right , max power (lax) rave about them - £2025 they quoted me fully comp . Direct line were the best hands down , and i tryed what seemed like hundreds of companys . I'm 23 - 6 points - 2 write offs in 3 years :D lol (one wasnt my fault , honest) and i reckon £1000 fully comp for a group16 car isnt toooooo bad . Companys were quoting me £4000 and up !! I dont know what they'll say on friday about me new ss exhaust though , i'm gonna argue it has a lifetime guarantee therefor i did it to save $$$'s not enhance performance - see if they buy it . Things like my spoiler blocks - should i mention them or not and "if" anything were to happen argue they're standard !

[Black1]

Adrian flux , aye right , max power (lax) rave about them - £2025 they quoted me fully comp . Direct line were the best hands down , and i tryed what seemed like hundreds of companys . I'm 23 - 6 points - 2 write offs in 3 years :D lol (one wasnt my fault , honest) and i reckon £1000 fully comp for a group16 car isnt toooooo bad . Companys were quoting me £4000 and up !! I dont know what they'll say on friday about me new ss exhaust though , i'm gonna argue it has a lifetime guarantee therefor i did it to save $$$'s not enhance performance - see if they buy it . Things like my spoiler blocks - should i mention them or not and "if" anything were to happen argue they're standard !

thats alot of write offs, i havent had an accident in the 10 years i've been driving, no convictions no points or anything, the only problem i have is the fact i was insured under my mums name for the first 7 years of driving, which i think wasn't a good idea. as when i went to get a quote of my own, i was well up shi* creak cos they wanted a bomb.

oh well, the price you have to pay for a nice car.

[chris202]

Adrian flux , aye right , max power (lax) rave about them - £2025 they quoted me fully comp . Direct line were the best hands down , and i tryed what seemed like hundreds of companys . I'm 23 - 6 points - 2 write offs in 3 years :D lol (one wasnt my fault , honest) and i reckon £1000 fully comp for a group16 car isnt toooooo bad . Companys were quoting me £4000 and up !! I dont know what they'll say on friday about me new ss exhaust though , i'm gonna argue it has a lifetime guarantee therefor i did it to save $$$'s not enhance performance - see if they buy it . Things like my spoiler blocks - should i mention them or not and "if" anything were to happen argue they're standard !

thats alot of write offs, i havent had an accident in the 10 years i've been driving, no convictions no points or anything, the only problem i have is the fact i was insured under my mums name for the first 7 years of driving, which i think wasn't a good idea. as when i went to get a quote of my own, i was well up shi* creak cos they wanted a bomb.

oh well, the price you have to pay for a nice car.

I know , to be honest... ok the first was my fault - driving my prelude too fast in the wet.... :!Removed!: round a roundabout BUT the other i actually swerved to miss an old biddy who pulled out in front of me and tryed to avoid anything else but i hit a steel fence and cause it was an old mk1 Golf they just called it a write off...

[Black1]

Adrian flux , aye right , max power (lax) rave about them - £2025 they quoted me fully comp . Direct line were the best hands down , and i tryed what seemed like hundreds of companys . I'm 23 - 6 points - 2 write offs in 3 years :D lol (one wasnt my fault , honest) and i reckon £1000 fully comp for a group16 car isnt toooooo bad . Companys were quoting me £4000 and up !! I dont know what they'll say on friday about me new ss exhaust though , i'm gonna argue it has a lifetime guarantee therefor i did it to save $$$'s not enhance performance - see if they buy it . Things like my spoiler blocks - should i mention them or not and "if" anything were to happen argue they're standard !

thats alot of write offs, i havent had an accident in the 10 years i've been driving, no convictions no points or anything, the only problem i have is the fact i was insured under my mums name for the first 7 years of driving, which i think wasn't a good idea. as when i went to get a quote of my own, i was well up shi* creak cos they wanted a bomb.

oh well, the price you have to pay for a nice car.

I know , to be honest... ok the first was my fault - driving my prelude too fast in the wet.... :!Removed!: round a roundabout BUT the other i actually swerved to miss an old biddy who pulled out in front of me and tryed to avoid anything else but i hit a steel fence and cause it was an old mk1 Golf they just called it a write off...

i suppose shi* happens, and theres not much that can be done about it. I think i need to start testing the limits of the celica, not really pushed it that hard yet.

[celsteve]

Would an insurance inspector be able to tell the difference anyway? I mean they can't possibly have knowledge of all cars, knowing what type of filter it has, suspension setup, exhaust etc and would they really check every part to see if it is standard or not. Some things are fairly obvious, but things like my trd panel filter, which i haven't declared, is supposed to increase performance but will an inspector really check this sort of thing? I've never had any dealings with insurance companies before (12 years NCB!!!!!!) and don't really know how thorough they are.

[Tarby777]

I think i need to start testing the limits of the celica.

I've already found them! I'm amazed at how easily the 2WD gen6 spins out on corners when it's the slightest bit wet. Even with tyres in good nick and inflated to the right pressure, there are a couple of bends on my drive into work where I have to be really careful. One day last week when it was bucketing down, I came round one of them at about 30 and the car span round 540 degrees! Admittedly, it's a really tight bend on a crappy country road, but even so

I ended up facing the wrong way, on the wrong side of the road, which was a little disconcerting. Lucky for me, there was no traffic behind or in front and I didn't come off the tarmac. Scary all the same... :o

If anyone's interested, go to googlemaps.com and enter 53°23'57.93"N, 2°22'48.03"W to see the bend in all it's glory. Satellite view is best.

Cheers,

Tarby

[mikeb]

I think i need to start testing the limits of the celica.

I've already found them! I'm amazed at how easily the 2WD gen6 spins out on corners when it's the slightest bit wet. Even with tyres in good nick and inflated to the right pressure, there are a couple of bends on my drive into work where I have to be really careful. One day last week when it was bucketing down, I came round one of them at about 30 and the car span round 540 degrees! Admittedly, it's a really tight bend on a crappy country road, but even so

I ended up facing the wrong way, on the wrong side of the road, which was a little disconcerting. Lucky for me, there was no traffic behind or in front and I didn't come off the tarmac. Scary all the same... :o

If anyone's interested, go to googlemaps.com and enter 53°23'57.93"N, 2°22'48.03"W to see the bend in all it's glory. Satellite view is best.

Cheers,

Tarby

Assuming your car is in good order (tracking, tyres, suspension etc), you would have to do something really crazy to spin a celica. They are designed to be very understeery for stability reasons. I have to really provoke it to get the back end to break traction - like lifting off sharply right in the middle of a sweeping corner in the wet.

[chris202]

I think i need to start testing the limits of the celica.

I've already found them! I'm amazed at how easily the 2WD gen6 spins out on corners when it's the slightest bit wet. Even with tyres in good nick and inflated to the right pressure, there are a couple of bends on my drive into work where I have to be really careful. One day last week when it was bucketing down, I came round one of them at about 30 and the car span round 540 degrees! Admittedly, it's a really tight bend on a crappy country road, but even so

I ended up facing the wrong way, on the wrong side of the road, which was a little disconcerting. Lucky for me, there was no traffic behind or in front and I didn't come off the tarmac. Scary all the same... :o

If anyone's interested, go to googlemaps.com and enter 53°23'57.93"N, 2°22'48.03"W to see the bend in all it's glory. Satellite view is best.

Cheers,

Tarby

Assuming your car is in good order (tracking, tyres, suspension etc), you would have to do something really crazy to spin a celica. They are designed to be very understeery for stability reasons. I have to really provoke it to get the back end to break traction - like lifting off sharply right in the middle of a sweeping corner in the wet.

Yeah sorry but i second that , the one thing the celica does tremendously well is corners . I thought my golf before handled well but i've taken a few corners quite quickly by mistake in the celi and been amazed at how it just grips and grips with very little body roll .

[Black1]

I think i need to start testing the limits of the celica.

I've already found them! I'm amazed at how easily the 2WD gen6 spins out on corners when it's the slightest bit wet. Even with tyres in good nick and inflated to the right pressure, there are a couple of bends on my drive into work where I have to be really careful. One day last week when it was bucketing down, I came round one of them at about 30 and the car span round 540 degrees! Admittedly, it's a really tight bend on a crappy country road, but even so

I ended up facing the wrong way, on the wrong side of the road, which was a little disconcerting. Lucky for me, there was no traffic behind or in front and I didn't come off the tarmac. Scary all the same... :o

If anyone's interested, go to googlemaps.com and enter 53°23'57.93"N, 2°22'48.03"W to see the bend in all it's glory. Satellite view is best.

Cheers,

Tarby

Assuming your car is in good order (tracking, tyres, suspension etc), you would have to do something really crazy to spin a celica. They are designed to be very understeery for stability reasons. I have to really provoke it to get the back end to break traction - like lifting off sharply right in the middle of a sweeping corner in the wet.

Yeah sorry but i second that , the one thing the celica does tremendously well is corners . I thought my golf before handled well but i've taken a few corners quite quickly by mistake in the celi and been amazed at how it just grips and grips with very little body roll .

Hmm, i've not done anything like that yet, but i do find in the rain if you put your foot down, the front end starts squirming a little, not overly, but just enough to scare me, i suppose i should check all the tyre presures and get the tracking done. i know it handles well generally cos i have slammed it round roundabouts and not had any trouble in the dry.

[frodo]

When I had my 2wd ST182 I found that the front would slide wide in corners if they were attacked in the wet, which was quite fun, but not the quickest way round the corner. But I never had the rear turn on me, ever.

[mikeb]

As with any relatively high powered FWD car, the celica will understeer into the nearest field if you try to accelerate hard mid corner. But (like most FWD cars) they are specifically engineered to keep the back end stable, so the car generally understeers. An oversteery FWD car is an accident waiting to happen for most drivers - the natural instinct is to lift off the accelerator when you feel the back of the car start to slide, but this is the worst thing you can do, as it just makes the front grip harder and the back give way completely. You actually have to accelerate out of the slide, which takes some practice to go against the natural instinct.

The fastest way through a corner in a FWD car is to go in fast gently lifting off the throttle to keep the front tucked in and the back near the limit, then balance the car on the throttle. Not that I recommend you practice this on public roads of course.

[Special Red]

By going in fast you need to make sure the car is at least going to turn, personally I would accelerate through the corner only backing down when the car hits what I think is the limit and at least then you know by either lifting of or applying brakes you will get the grip back. On country road I always go into bend on the opposite side of the road if I get caught out as, at least you can see if anyones coming when entering the bend, and also when then exiting you can keep to the left and so not having an unexpected head on meeting with another vehicle. Saying that there are a few occasions when I have had to hope and pray I make the turn, long time ago now but something I wont be forgetting in a hurry!

Also, try driving my Astra in the wet, and then give an opinion on the handling of Celicas!! lol

Have you tried adrian Flux yet? There brill my insurance for last year was £550 TPFT 3yrs NC and no excess.

But ive had a quote from Churchil for this year and they want £435 TPFT and £527 FC thats with £200 excess

Sterling are part of Adrian Flux but for some reason they are that little bit cheaper(In my case anyway), strange but true. either way I went to Privilidge for two months as they had a price promise and I ended up getting messed around that much I rang up Sterling explained I wanted to come back and they offered to match the price! Thats good service as far as Im concerned. I also found that theh have a bit more of a personal touch than other major insurance companies.

[frodo]

You shouldn't go into to a bend fast. You are supposed to go in carefully, and accelerate out of a bend

[Dan_Q]

ooooooh! onto handling now.

I think the celica (gen 5) with standard suspension is quite a lift-off-oversteery motor to be honest.

Before i uprated the springs, a rear drift wasn't that uncommon- please bear in mind I was younger and less wiser then ;)

thats when this happened:

needless to say i learnt my lesson, nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged (except the car) so i got away with it!

Since uprated springs have been on i've never managed to break the rear free, despite ******* rear tyres and a rear strut brace

[FourBin Labs]

On most cars the standard airbox is more than capable, for example the standard air box on a supra twin turbo mk4 is ok up to 500bhp. So any supra running less than 500bhp using an induction kit is a waste of time.

when you put a turbo on a car, you don't need a big filter because your forcing all of the air into the car. but when a car is natural aperated, poor airflow can make a bigger difference. i also own an F150 5.8L wich is naturally asperated , the K&N filter for that is about twice the size of the Filter for my friends GMC with 1 6.5L turbo diesel.