Bye Bye New Car :(

[Bailes1992]

Rather pissed off now...

Quinn Direct would have insured me on a Peugeot 406 HDi 110 SE for £250 extra over my Focus.

Until now Quinn kept us on their old prices even though prices were rising. So my renewal of £750 which turned up 2 weeks ago was more than expected.
But today I had a letter saying Unfortunatley they made an error and it's £2182.

Admiral will insure me on my Focus for £1300 for the simple fact, my car has had one owner since new, everyone else wants £2000+
If I was to try insure an identicle Focus to mine with Admiral that I just bought it would cost over £2000.

So there we go, going to have to keep my Focus for a while longer yet, gutted.
If I'm going to keep it I might aswell enjoy it.
The £2000 I have will be spent on getting the Bodywork sorted, getting rear electric windows fitted, ST24 alloys and Eibach Springs/ARBs and a new interior.


Sort of thing I'm going to go for, nice menacing look


Ah well.

[steve_earwig]

Bleedin' 'eck! I dunno, half of me says "yeah, make it so all the youngsters can't afford anything too powerful so they live a bit longer" and half of me feels really sorry. Mind you, when I was your age I was driving old Avengers and the like with "modest" power outputs and the insurance was a few hundred quid for just them (this being more than a quarter of a century ago). Everyone said once I build up my no claims and get a bit older it'll be a lot cheaper but you know what? It's never got any cheaper! 25 seemed to have been that "magic age" but when I got to 25 I had to be 30, so when I got to 30 insurance costs went up!! Out here I have my full NCB, I can't get much older but I'm still paying about 600 quid for 3rd party only

Are you sure you want to blow all this cash on that car? I thought it was a mass of problems and it seems like you're giving yourself more! (Especially if your insurance vultures find out...)

[FarmerPug]

the problem is sean quinn doesnt own quinn insurance anymore, he got mixed up in the whole irish banking crisis and the whole quinn empire is currently in a bit of a pickle, so its not actually the same quinn insurance we were used to, the administrators are running it at the moment.

[Bailes1992]

I'm not 100% sure at the moment, No. But I'm doing 100+ miles in it every day at the moment. It turns on every morning, it sits at 80mph on the motorway, it gets given a good blast up the dual carrigeways and it still gives me 40-45mpg?
It really has been growing on me, and the fact I'm clocking up serious mile means in a few months it's going to be close to 100k, and after that it's worthless.
Ok spending £2000 isn't sensible, it's stupid! But if I get another 5 years of enjoyment out of it? Why does it matter?

Or spend £2000 on insurance for one year ontop of what I would pay for the Focus just to have the 406 I want?

Oh and Admiral will put my other half on my insurance for only £200 more.
I wouldn't usually do it but we been together 3 years now, we spend allot of time in the car and it would be nicer if we could share the driving during journeys.
When I asked Quinn if they would insure Becca on my car they flat out said no.

[FarmerPug]

have you went on go compare, compare the market etc, sometimes the prices bop up and down one week you could get insurance the next week no chance.

[steve_earwig]

...in a few months it's going to be close to 100k, and after that it's worthless

So it's still the old Ford 100,000 miles -> scrapheap mentality then, I guess they'll never get over that one. You're right about blowing it on insurance for one year though, that's even more nuts. I still wouldn't spend money on wheels and other modifications, purely because if you have any problems the insurers are going to make your life miserable. And it'd be a copper magnet. Spend what needs spending, keep it looking standard, stick the rest of the cash under the mattress and leave the funky wide wheels and ground-scraping aerodynamic stuff to the rich and daft.

[Bailes1992]

...in a few months it's going to be close to 100k, and after that it's worthless

So it's still the old Ford 100,000 miles -> scrapheap mentality then, I guess they'll never get over that one. You're right about blowing it on insurance for one year though, that's even more nuts. I still wouldn't spend money on wheels and other modifications, purely because if you have any problems the insurers are going to make your life miserable. And it'd be a copper magnet. Spend what needs spending, keep it looking standard, stick the rest of the cash under the mattress and leave the funky wide wheels and ground-scraping aerodynamic stuff to the rich and daft.

Well plan was to keep the engine OEM, wheels OEM and the Bumpers OEM. Standard exhaust, nothing loud etc etc.
Suppose I could go for a more subtle colour...



Thing is I'm a petrol head, I don't smoke, I don't drink so all I have is my Car
So I might aswell have something I am proud of?

[steve_earwig]

What happened to the girlfriend then?

At the end of the day it's up to you, just remember if you modify your car in any way then you should tell the insurers and they're likely to start planning their next holiday. If you don't tell them then if you have a wee small prang they're likely to use it as an excuse to not pay out. Finally it's a very bad idea to do anything that might attract the rozzers to yourself, if you make your car more attractive you can expect to attract the wrong sort of attention...

[Bailes1992]

What happened to the girlfriend then?

At the end of the day it's up to you, just remember if you modify your car in any way then you should tell the insurers and they're likely to start planning their next holiday. If you don't tell them then if you have a wee small prang they're likely to use it as an excuse to not pay out. Finally it's a very bad idea to do anything that might attract the rozzers to yourself, if you make your car more attractive you can expect to attract the wrong sort of attention...

Tell the insurance everything anyway.

And the girlfriend... She just lies there and stares the the cieling now

[steve_earwig]

I can think of another potential financial disaster there but I don't think we need to go into that...

Tell them first so there's no surprises!

[Bailes1992]

I can think of another potential financial disaster there but I don't think we need to go into that...

Tell them first so there's no surprises!

Admiral are pretty good providing the don't up performance silly amounts, but I will.

[Bailes1992]

I may just go for the ST170 look to be honest...


But keep it the original colour so it stands out as not being an ST170?

[waue1978]

I may just go for the ST170 look to be honest...


But keep it the original colour so it stands out as not being an ST170?

That sounds like the most sensible idea with it so far. ST interior is a nice upgrade too & for wheels the Mk2 Mondeo Ghia X wheels are readily available for little money. It shouldn't attract too much attention as it isn't obviously (& in most cases ridiculously) modified & best of all, if you have somewhere to keep the standard bits, you can easily return the car to standard come resale time & get a better price for the car & the extra money for the upgrade bits.

[Bailes1992]

Yeah heading more towards ST, simply because it's hard to make a MK1 look good and keep it OEM.

Thinking of going just plain old red so it's easier to touch up in the future too. Vauxhall Flame Red anyone?

I'm heading towards ST200 wheels...

ST200...


Pleanty of time to think about it, just gutted I couldn't get what I wanted

[waue1978]

Yeah heading more towards ST, simply because it's hard to make a MK1 look good and keep it OEM.

Thinking of going just plain old red so it's easier to touch up in the future too. Vauxhall Flame Red anyone?

I'm heading towards ST200 wheels...

ST200...


Pleanty of time to think about it, just gutted I couldn't get what I wanted

It'd be more sensible to stick with the original colour. Colour changes are expensive & it'll be a nightmare to sell on when you do. Up to you obviously, but it sounds like you're settling for the Focus rather than committing to it so it makes sense to make any modifications easily reversible & as cheap as possible - hence my suggestion on the wheels. ST200 wheels are nice, but they aren't cheap & it'll be bumpy, whereas the Ghia X 1s still look good at 16ins & there are loads about.

I had them on my 1st Mondy & thought they looked great: