Struggling to find insurance for a 2004 ST220 estate at a reasonable level – does anyone have any recommendations? Done the usual price comparison sites and also some of the more obscure insurers but most are quoting crazy prices, (best I've found is £500.12 which is okay, but would like to reduce it if I can).

I don't have a history of making claims, and my last SP30 was way back in September 2005 and I turn 32 on Monday.

Any ideas?

Adrian Flux look after my chipped and modded Golf, reasonable but no idea on service if I was to make a claim

good luck – car insurance has gone bonkers this year.

last year i paid £650*, i've been good all year and now i'm paying £900.

i've been told that it's because the investment banks behind most 'car insurance companies' need to make more profit, or something…

£500 sounds alright to me, and yes i've tried shopping around.

balls.

(*sp30 + a car-park reversing bump, both 2 years ago)

good luck mate I am now paying more now for insurance on my octavia 1.6 estate at the age of 41 than I ever did for my lancia, 205 gti, xr2i and various other so call hot hatch's when I was in my 20's. Its a bloody rip off

See that thing sticking out of my arse? That's an insurances mans shaft. They love putting it up there.

£500 sounds okay to me.

This is the first year (apart from when I clamed 6 years ago for vandalism damage) that my insurance has gone up. £460 for 35 year old in the middle of nowhere with a 335d.

Checked them all – Swiftcover were cheapest but went with BMW Insurance. Slightly more but way better cover.

Not very handy for an ST though!

Adrian Flux often recommended but they've never had great quotes for me.

Adrian Flux are complete rubbish.

Customer service is non existent if and when you need it.

Most regular insurance companies will refer you to a specialist if they are unable to quote you.

Try increasing your excesses and/or adding a lower risk driver.

I used Brentacre last year, they couldn't touch admiral this year though.

Currently £215 pa fully comp on an Audi RS2 through RSA as a 44 yo, max no claims, no convictions and a low risk area. I think that's reasonable.

Paul

Cheers all. Tried Adrian Flux but they were way off. Guess I'll have to go with what I've got 🙄

Annoying advert but try Aviva, quite a bit cheaper than go compare a meerkat etc for me

I've had great service from Admiral – they insured my VR4, fully comp; no NCB; 32 years; no convictions but a write off 3 months prior for £450 – which I thought was well good – explained it was an import and I had no idea what the original spec was…no probs they gave me a good price – got royally shafted when that was written off but the next car quote was stupid cheap as well (as it was on the multi-car policy)…this year it's gone up to over £600 (due to a few things in last 3 years) – now insured with 1st something and they seem to be doing the job for £380 (but the car is now a Fiat Bravo Sport T-jet so not as powerful as the VR4).

Admiral have been great up until this renewal but looking around all the main players were miles away from what I eventually found.

That sounds like a bargain to me. I'm paying £480 for a 2.0 TDCi mondeo.6 years no claims, no fines etc

Try adelaide insurance, based in Ireland – 08456031355

If you've passed your IAM advanced driving test they are usually the cheapest by some margin. Still worth a try

smurf

smurf – cheers; I've got the IAM so will try them in the morning 😀

Second RS4KEV, Aviva very cheap & good cover, high excess though.

I pay about £500 for mine (30, 6 years NCB, Mondeo ST TDCI).

Just out of interest, what do you think of the 220? Changing ours and for the prices they're going for at the moment, the 220 estate is too good not to take a look at.

Elephant always seem to be VERY cheap for performance cars, as long as there are no crazy modifications.

My old MR2 Turbo was £480/year f/c with 2 years ncb
My current Legnum VR4 is just shy of £600/year f/c, and that's with 0 ncb, SP30 and a written off MR2 Turbo last year 😳
I do the 10 month bonus accelerator thing though. For comparison, Adrian Flux were £800+ for the VR4.

Also try Sky insurance, Footman James or Reis, although Reis only do modified cars.

Another vote for Brentacre here. No one else could get close on my renewal this year (it is for a heavily modified car though).

I too would recommend steering well clear of Adrian Flux. I had the misfortune of having to make a claim through them a few year ago.

Never found IAM that cheap despite being a member for 12 years.

Phlemo – RS2 – cool!

1st Central Insurance Management – online only I think – cheap for my distinctly unperformance mpv, you may get a deal as from what I can see on application and renewal they make their money on people paying by instalmants (24% apr 8-)) – stick it all upfront and you may get a decent price. renewal is also the same price as last year, though I'll find out in a minute whether they charge extra for CC payment or not.

Had the Elise with MoreThan for under £500, when I chopped it in for the Leon Cupra it went over that – transferred to Admiral, and it went to 350 for one year then nearly 500 on renewal. So I think it will pay you to shop around a bit. Is there an owners club? I used a deal with the MX5 owners club that was pretty cheap, maybe you can get something similar.

Brentacre again. Always been cheaper than anyone else for me.

paid 400 per year for a Subaru Impreza Turbo with A-plan (3 pts, 1 non fault accident). They have a special 'Subaru' number they advertise on forums and so on. They might do a similar thing for ford??

However, as everyone else has said, insurance does seem to have jumped up this year. Mines just gone from 230 to 350! shopped around, but they're all the same.

i've also used directline, aviva, admiral and privilege (who've all turned out to be the cheapest at one time or another).

the comparison sites are all awful.

I insured my Golf TDI 150 with Admiral.

Best price by far.

However, making a claim through them when I drove the car through flood water and trashed the engine turned into a nightmare of biblical proportions.

My father spent his life working in the car repair industry, and working with insurance companies on a daily basis. He ended up going into battle with Admiral on ny behalf and said that had never come across such a shower of sh!t as Admiral.

You pay's you money etc.

If Admiral were the last insurance company left on the planet I would sell my car to avoid any dealings with them.

Anyhow, back to the orignal question. £500 sounds entirely reasonable to me.

Shop around and don't just use the comparison sites.
I rang a few and the best was Aviva on a Subaru impreza wrx sti(with the Prodrive performance pack) £398 per year. That was £220 cheaper than my renewal from Bell Direct(admiral).

As well as our Mondeo, my modified Polo GTI is insured via Brentacre. They were the cheapest by far for that car.

I pay £700 for my smart forfour brabus (39, no points or claims living in Brum) through Aviva and I had to shop around for that (most quotes where £1000+) so I reckon £500 is a good price.

Just spoken to Adelaid and they have beaten my best quote by £80, so well chuffed with that – cheers smurf I owe you a beer (if I ever make to one of the STW rides) 😀

DaveyBoyWonder – only test driven them so far – pick mine up on Saturday, but like you thought that for the money they were just too good to ignore – I've ended up getting mine for a steal 8)

I suspect it'll cost me a fortune until I get bored of thrashing it everywhere 😆

Next week I am doing a tour of Welsh Trail Centres and doing some road riding so will see what it's like to live with.

Itinerary is loosely;

Sunday – Shakespear 100 mile Sportive
Monday – day off in Hereford
Tuesday – Cwm Carn
Wednesday – Nant-yr-Arian
Thursday – Roadie around Bala Lake
Friday – Snowdon (get up at 6am to be off by 10am)
Saturday/Sunday – Penmachno and/or Marin

Its going to be epic, and will probably change along the way 🙄

Agree that comparison sites are absolute cr4p.

I'd jump at 500 quid! Im 24, 2 years NCB and my seat leon cupra r cost me 850 quid!! Well over a grand if I'd wanted to pay it monthly. 😆

Nice motor to have at 24 though!