Good Insurance Cover

[bonney54]

Hi, I am new here.

I bought my first ever Lotus Last Sunday. I pick it up this week end.

Its an S3, French Blue? and beautiful. As a woman I won't be doing the greasy bits but I will be driving it quite hard. My normal car is a quick golf.
I've always wanted an Elan now I've got one!

I want some help with insurance, this is my first Lotus and first classic car so can some one tell me of a good company to use. I want good cover at a decent price, I know classic insurance is not expensve anyway so I guess I want a company that gives good cover and will pay up and be sympathetic to my car if I have a bump. Any suggestions, I have just looked in the suppliers list here and the offer there looks good so I'm going to ring them now. Anybody got any other recommendations?

The guy I bought the car off told me about this site and its fab, everything a girl could want, if only I could do the greasy bits as well I would understand what some of you are talking about.

I want to join another Lotus club, I joined Club Lotus but they don't seem to do much other than the Donington show which is great but I want to drive the car. I live south of Nottingham, anyone know of another club that might do road runs and stuff, I just want to drive my new Lotus as much as possible. Last year at Donington I saw the Lotus drivers club? They seemed like a friendly bunch but there were only newer Lotus's on their stand, does anyone know if they cater for older cars as well.

Thanks
Bonney

[neilsjuke]

http://www.classiclineinsurance.co.uk/

Neil

[peterako]

Welcome Bonney!

A new world of love and hate (hopefully more love than hate) awaits with the Elan

Being in Ireland I cannot help too much with the UK specific queries other than to point out that Club Lotus can point you in the right direction re Insurance.

I think they have 'deals' with at least two, Footman James being one.

Their magazine lists these, and a phonecall to Jane or Ann Marie may be a place to start.

The greasy bits are fairly easy, really....well mostly.

Enjoy the car! It really is special!!

Peter

[stuartgb100]

Hi Bonney,

Welcome !

A few points you may care to consider regarding insurance:

1. Most insurers will bundle AA (or similar) cover in with the policy. If you're not mechanically-minded, you might want home-start too ?

2. Go for an agreed value to cover a write off - less aggravation.

3. Most premiums are affected by your annual mileage, so consider what you will need.

4. Some will also give you European cover.

One last point (possibly it will become the most important). I understand that insurers will be vigourously looking to see if (in the event of an accident) a vehicle has been modified. Unless previously agreed, this would render the policy invalid !

I would recommend you have the car looked over by someone competent on this point, and then notify the broker (in writing) of any modifications.

I did this for my Sprint last Summer ... it added nothing to my premium, but I gained peace of mind ! And the mods on my Sprint run into 2 pages, and include a race engine. So it may not be too painful.

In fact, come to think of it, I recommend you confirm EVERYTHING in writing.

Some of us have also made sure that we have first option on buying what is left of the car, in the event of a write off.

Just my few thoughts. Others will add, no doubt.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has used/contacted Abbott Insurance, and their opinions.

Regards,
Stuart.

[ppnelan]

I live south of Nottingham, anyone know of another club that might do road runs and stuff, I just want to drive my new Lotus as much as possible. Last year at Donington I saw the Lotus drivers club? They seemed like a friendly bunch but there were only newer Lotus's on their stand, does anyone know if they cater for older cars as well.

Yes, LDC members have a wide range of cars and you are in the ideal area for their events! Among other things, they do an 'Introduction to Sprinting' at Curborough.
See www.lotusdriversclub.org.uk

Matthew

[paddy]

Hi,

Also you need a policy that allows you to choose where any repair work is done, rather than just being able to go to one of their approved garages.

Paddy

[miked]

Carole Nash have been good. Do agreed values and dont have that tie up with valuation at certain dealers & clubs. Good car, good photos and a detailed write up allows an agreed valuation.

I found a lot of old boys stuff with originality with some club/dealers views to insurance companies. You will find that there are many very good and nice cars with upgrades not always blessed by Club people.
If you had to rebuild it would still cost loads of money.

I am saying that your value can be talked down in certain circles. C. Nash were ouside this expert circle. Sorry! Same crew are different if they happen to be involved with the sale of a modified car.

P.S. S4 on Strombergs with Sprint colours and a syder chassis. Need I say more. I like it! But the purist would have me burned at the stake. Shame on me.

Mike

[johnsimister]

Or Hagerty Insurance at Silverstone. Very flexible and helpful. Cheap too, especially compared with Footman James which I have now abandoned after many years.

John

[Old English White]

Hi, I am new here.

I bought my first ever Lotus Last Sunday. I pick it up this week end.

Its an S3, French Blue? and beautiful. As a woman I won't be doing the greasy bits but I will be driving it quite hard. My normal car is a quick golf.
I've always wanted an Elan now I've got one!

Bonney

... Welcome abord, Bonney,
Seems that you get the one I was searching ... 5 years ago!
"OEW" should have been french blue. Too late. I'm under influence!
When she is insured and back home , show us your baby !
Christian.

[bonney54]

Hi everyone, especially Peter, Stuart, Mathew, Paddy and Mike who sent messages and anybody else I might have missed out.

Thanks for your help.

I got my insurance sorted today. After all your advice I ended up with a quote of ?92.50 for agreed value, ?11000 and a mileage of 3000 miles. Which I thought was great. I have paid a bit more (my choice) to have an extra cover. ?20 or so, I can?t remember what they called it but basically if the car is near to being written off they will pay more for repairs than the agreed value. I hope to keep the car for a long time so I didn?t mind paying a bit more, they were really good explaining everything.
Some one warned me about modifications to the car so I got a list from the present owner, some of it did not mean a lot to me but the guy at the insurance place seemd to understand what they when I told him and these have been put on the policy. My dad came to look at the car with me, he works on tractors and harvesters, farm stuff so he will look after the car for me but he said they were not daft changes. They say that lots of owners preffer to work on the car themselves so if I do have a bump I can choose where it?s repaired or my dad can do it which is cool or we can buy it back if it is written off and do it. I hope we don?t need to. My dads on the policy as well so he can drive it.

I tried some of the people you all suggested, some were good but some did not seem to know much about the car, some sounded like they were not even old enough to drive! Anyway thanks, here?s to the start of my love not hate relation ship with ?Molly?.

Thats what I?ve decided to call the car, when my dad saw it he said ?good god? which reminded me of good golly miss molly the song, so that?s going to be her name.

I can?t wait for Sunday, hope it doesn?t rain I want the top down.!

Bonney
?B?

P.S. How do I put up an avatar I want a pic of my car there if I can?

[hatman]

Well done Bonney - but who are you with Oh, and welcome to the ranks by the way. If (when?) things don't go as you wish and you start to question your own sanity, this is a very therapeutic (and helpful) place to unburden yourself (Lotuswise that is).

[bonney54]

Hi everyone

Sorry, I'm just so excited.

I got the insurance from the guys on the vendors page, Abbots. They were great they took lots of time to explain things and told me loads of stuff I didn't know. Nice to deal with.

Anyway, 14 hours 9 mins till I pick up the car.
I won't sleep, it's just like christmas!


Bonney
"B"

[bonney54]

Hi everyone,

I picked up "Molly" today.

Brilliant, cold overcast day but top down for a bit!

I found the first two problems of Elan ownership!

No 1 Fuel Consumption.
I live 36 miles from where I bought it and I must of used 4 gallons getting home! I did go the scenic route and did 142 miles getting there traveling the countryside route. Hi to the red new shape Elan who flashed and waved, sorry I did not flash, couldn't remember how to do it quick enough and they had passed.

No 2 Jaw Ache
Is this a common side effect?
I can't stop grinning!

Bye for now

Bonney
"B"

[SADLOTUS]

35 to the gallon!! Tell me how!!

the grin grows...turns into a maniacal sort of howling and YEEEEHAAAH!
... could be the moon causing that.

Some of my best drives have been through the night with the top down.

[msd1107]

Remember, that is an Imperial gallon.

And that translates to a thermal efficiency of roughly 10% - ie 90% of the BTUs in a gallon of gas are going some where else than pushing the car down the road.

For comparison, I have seen 45 US mpg at 60 mph in my first Elan on a 500+ km trip, about 20% thermal efficiency.

A Prius can get close to 30%.

On the test bed, a SI IC engine can get to 40%, and a CI IC engine can get to 50%.

However, the fun of driving the Elan more than compensates for these theoretical percentages. And remember, we are driving almost 50 year old technology. Not bad.

David
1968 36/7988