Insurance Renewals etc

I've had a few questions from fellow club members following a post on "996 Market value" thread so I thought I'd start another on this spin off topic for possible benefit of others. I recently had to renew having enjoyed (and fortunately claim free!) insurance with Swift.com. I found them initially very competitive for the first year with a fully comp premium of around £440 for an '02 C4S. I'm 35 yrs old, no convictions, maximum NCB protected, garaged etc so I'm as clean as they come (fingers crossed). Things got a bit pricier upon my invitation to renew so I shopped around and more importantly asked some questions along the way which influenced my decision of where to insure. I didnt take the cheapest quote this time (though not a huge disparity) due to the following; I asked each insurer where my car would go in the event of a repair- most said their "approved repairer". I confirmed after some robust questioning that these repairers are not neccesarily Porsche approved, in other words come part ex with a dealer they would be wanting £££'s off for non approved parts/paint etc. It would also stand to invalidate warranties. Some of these insurers would not be moved other than to say I could select a garage of my choice but I WOULD HAVE TO PAY THE DIFFERENCE over and above the price given by their non approved repairer. I think most of us would find this unacceptable. The insurer I eventually chose who met and understood my needs and were'nt far off the mark with price was Norton Insurance via one of the brokers in the Porsche Post. Much to my amusement one of our full colour page advertisers didn't answer the phone to their advertised number for a quote on 3 consecutive days????? I'd hate to have a claim with them! When I bought the car which came from my local indie I bought a 3 year warranty with it which my indie recommended from his experiences with them. It is a firm called Autoprotect. I haven't had to put it to the test yet, has anyone had any experiences with them good or bad? As part of this I bought some "Gap" insurance. This wasn't something I'd come across before and for those like myself what this is for is to insure the total value of the car in the event of a total loss; ie it makes up the gap between the current market price the insurer will pay out and the price you paid on the car. This was £370 for three years which I thought was prudent and good value potentially clawing back ££££'s. I hope this answers members questions re this. I'd be interested with all experiences you may have had relating to these topics, cheers.

Hi Matthew. Interesting stuff! My 2003 C2 996 is due for new insurance in March and I've already started thinking about whether to stay with Direct Line or not. I'm 38 and clean with NCD at 18 years but I'm now wondering about who would repair the car - God forbid - if it were necessary. There's a Porsche approved place about 20 miles up the road from me who I know are excellent, but I'm not sure that it would have been them to do the (potential) work. Did you agree to increase your excess to get the premium down? My compulsory excess is £500 and I agreed to £500 voluntary as I just hope (at under 2K miles a year) that things should go ok. (I'm really risking it now!) Anyway, I might try Swift and see what they say. Any other recommendations?

Adrian, if you haven't looked at Richards Insurance thread its worth a read. there does seem to be a large disparity on whats on offer. My excess is £500, I asked about raising it but it was a fixed value with this policy. I'd be happy with a £2000 excess myself. Each insurance company varies its minor details and they vary from time to time too. Swift were cheap but it was the approved repairer that I had the hang up about. I think Norton Insurance who have come up trumps this time come under Heritage Insurance who advertise in the Porsche Post. Also from memory Adrian Flux were near the button too. Let us know how you get on.

When I had a claim with my insurer a few years back on a TT, they wanted me to us their approved repair shop. My response was that the bodywork warranty demanded an approved repair shop and they relented - the only penalty was that they withdrew the free hire car facility which was no loss as the repair people provided me with a courtessy car! So, I reckon an interesting question would be, can an insurance company who insures a car with a manufacturer's warranty on bodywork insist upon carrying out works which would invalidate the warranty. I doubt it. Peter

Peter, I don't think they can but in practice they do because people either don't realise until its to late or they mistakenly believe that they can. There is however process that be followed to recoupe your losses against the insurer responsible if you can show you have been disadvantaged. The name of this escapes me but I'm sure theres folk out there with some experience of this. Ultimately time spent in reconnaisance is seldom wasted so sound out your insurer before you take the policy, the cheapest premium isn't always as good as it looks! The safety net is gap insurance.

Matthew How about adding your details to the "Ultimate" thread. There's a template at the top. It would be useful to add your Gap premium in the notes too. This particular thread will disappear off the bottom of the page in time, and it would be nice to have a more permanent record. Thanks