Insurance for older MB's

[cowsurgeon]

Was busy reading wagamamas post and my own personal insurance nightmare resurfaced;

If my 1980 SL is written off will I be given the market value, or will I get it's true value?

If they replace it, will it be replaced with one in as good spec, or will I get the nastiest burnt-out wreck that they can find?

I was lucky to find one with only 43,000 on the clock (yup, I do have all the MOT's), and besides a couple of minor probs it really is in fantastic nick. Is there any way to make sure I get an equal car as a replacement or the real value back in cash? Or should I wrap it in cotton wool...

Your thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated,
Anyone had this problem or solved it?

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[dave elcome]

My insurance is due for renewal in April, so i have started looking around. The best i have come up with so far, by a long way is Admiral.

 

[Bob 2316]

hi Cowsurgeon

Have you considered classic car insurance. you can get it for most cars that are over 10 yrs old. my policy for example is a fully comp policy with an agreed value. each year i have to submitt a copy of the MOT and every couple of years i have to send fresh pictures of the car all sides plus inside. the value is agreed between myself and the ins company. if for some reason they believe it to be lower i can (my own expense) have the vehicle inspected by either a person from a classic car club to give ther fair view on the vehicle or by a garage. so far i havnt had to do this.

if the car is stolen and not recovered i get the full amount of the agreed value. if the car is damaged (not my fault) the car is repaired. if i damage the car beyond economical repair car is taken away and i get my money.

the policy can be for up to 6000 miles.

to give an example merc w123 fully comp agreed value £1600.00 4000 miles per yr in london kept on driveway £182.00

hope this is of some use to you

Bob

 

[cowsurgeon]

Thanks for your help!

I had thought about classic car insurance but it's my only car, and I do about 12,000 miles a year in it, I think that's more than any classic car insurance will allow, anyone know for definite?

Chris

 

[fuzzer]

to give an example merc w123 fully comp agreed value £1600.00 4000 miles per yr in london kept on driveway £182.00 Bob

Thats almost my monthly premium :cry: :cry:

 

[GrahamC230K]

Thanks for your help!

I had thought about classic car insurance but it's my only car, and I do about 12,000 miles a year in it, I think that's more than any classic car insurance will allow, anyone know for definite?

Chris

I believe another requirement of most classic car policies is that the classic to be insured is not your only or daily used car.

As long as you are insuring it as a 2nd vehicle, perhaps the mileage limits are more leanient.

 

[Russel Weston]

I did my insurance through Peter Best, his stipulations were, I had to have another car, and cover no more than 11 000m/year. £282.00pa. Which wasnt bad. 81 W123.

 

[Bob 2316]

insurance

Hi Russel

thats really good, works out at around £25.64p per thousand miles compared to mine at about £45 per thousand. interesting but then i guess other things have to be taken into consideration like location. im sure we in London get really stung on insurance!! sounds like you have a good deal there. who is the policy with? mine is with AXA and have found them to be ok espically when i had to make a claim. (lady down the road did nt put her hand brake on properly and her astra T boned my car parked opposite) AXA sorted everything really quickly, worked out quite well because the car looks better now than it did before!

And a thought for Cowsurgeon re: will you get book value for your pride and joy.

well considering that yr car sounds really nice and that you have all the prev mots, id make sure i have lots of nice photos of the car and keep every single bill for anything related to the car and possibly have the car valued , so in case it does get stollen /trashed etc you can fight your case with the insurance people when it comes to pay out time.

Bob

 

[Russel Weston]

Bob, mine is done through Peter Best, I got his name from the MB Club magazine, the Lady who answered, Di, was very helpful and polite. In all I was very impressed with the service. No claims, not that I hope to make any, so I can't comment on their performance though.
If you want their details let me know and I will stick them on here.

Regards