Irish Mini Owners Club

Im 17 nd ive been quoting several companies for insurance both main driver nd under my parents names but the price is far too high. i am in the middle of getting my license and by the time i have finished my mini and get her back on the road i will have the full license but i need low price insurance if im going to work on my mini. I was wondering if anyone had any solutions to this problem. i didnt want to put a lot of money into the mini and then not be able to drive it. so any suggestions would great, thanks guys.

unfortunately your age is a huge deciding factor that is working against you when it comes to insurance,
that and the fact that you are looking to insure an older car (a mini)
i'm no real help as regards to finding a cheaper insurer but i'm sure their are one or two of the younger lads on here that might be able to point you in the right direction,

i wish you the best of luck in your search!

sorry, meant to mention that when ive got the full license i will be 18. thanks anyway.

Quinn direct would usually be your best bet, but they will not insure any car over 20 years old, which your's seems to be.
Have a look in the motors section over on boards.ie, there are a couple of little known insurance companies that only deal through certain brokers and I have seen them mentioned there.

I've been with Quinn since i first got my own policy 3 years ago. This year however i found http://www.nononsense.ie was the cheapest (950e Fully Comp, 750 3rd Party fire and theft, 600 3rd Party)... i went with Quinn again though for 1050e because they offer me an open drive policy.

there aint any easy way round it really, i think u just need to get the insurers on the right day. when i was 17, had a full licience and quinn was cheapest with 2600(3rd pty fire&theft) after 1 years no claim it went down to 2000 with axa fully comp. but then theres of the lads(18) that paid 3200(quinn) on a 1.3 colt with a privisonal but he got it down to 1500(same cover as before but with first ireland) with 1 years no claims and still the privisional.
basically i think that the insurers just pluck numbers out of the sky when ring em!!

yea unfortunately u may just have to take a hit this year when i started out i paid 3400 for tpft nearly halfed though after one year!! ur best bet may be a broker however or else just do a lot of shopping around. 123.ie or quinn are normally the cheapest. theres loads of new ones popping up now though so try them too. travellers insurance is another new one. good luck with it.

Thanks fellas, didnt realise id get such a big reply so quick. i will try all these sites nd insurance brokers. Thanks for all your suggestions and keep them coming the more i know the better chance i can get of gettibg it cheaper. And hopefully we can find a cheap solution for other drivers starting out trying to have a mini as their first car.

My first insurance on my Mini was 3,500 an a 95 Mayfair (1275) on a learners permit. However, I found a cheaper way around it! In the group of all my friends who have Evo's and Skylines etc. and we all also have 1ltr Swifts and Starlets etc.. What we all do is take out our own policies on the 1.0ltr car that we own (Swift, Starlet etc.) (1.0ltr because its clearly the cheapest car to insure) and then we put are performace cars (Evo, Skyline, Civic etc.) into either one of our parents (Mother or Father).Like Shane said above, we are all insured with Quinn Direct as it is the cheapest for young drivers and they also offer open drive for any driver with a full licence.

The way open drive works with Quinn direct is you are insured to drive any car that is NOT in your name and it MUST have tax and N.C.T.

So if you haven't figured it out fully, we put the performance cars in our parents names and insure ourselfs on the 1.0ltr's to avail of the open drive. It's also handy to have the 1.0ltr sitting for when you can't offord petrol and/or if your other car is off the road.

Any questions about it just ask but all of us have put months of research into it and this is the cheapest way of doing insurance, especally when it comes to Minis because the insurance is so high on them because they say they are expensive to maintain.

Stan,
I think I can hear a Mod approaching...........

I don't see why because its completely legal, you wouldn't be breaking any laws as you are sticking to your reqierments on your policy, delete away if you please though

stan, I really don't want to get into a row with you but insurance companies are not idiots.
Also, the law states that the person named on a vehicle registration cert may, or may not, be the the lawful owner of that car.
If you have a policy on a '98 micra but are involved in an "at fault" accident while driving "your mother's" honda Integra the insurance company's first question will be "Who does your mother have a policy with ?"
They will then ask her exactly where she bought the car, name and address of seller, receipt, etc.

This plan will possibly work if a guard at a checkpoint asks you to produce insurance (because you don't have an insurance disc) but that is as far as you will get.

Thats fair enough but I know many people who use this method and never any hassel, they just has to produce. I had a crash which was on my part, I reported the crash to my insurance and never heard anything more, just questions on about my insurance policy and nothing about the car.

Whether you do it or not is up to you but I'v never had/heard of anyone having trouble with it but I do see were you coming from.

i have my mini insured and have open drive, i can drive any PRIVATELY owned vehicle once once its not in my name or being leased to me, i drive the girlfriends integra all the time and put my starlet in her name also, just carry your policy and you'll be ok, i'm sure if we have any members of the garda force on the forum they will correct myself or stan on the matter?????????

Usually that type of policy is only valid if the other person's car is also insured.

Usually but not this time, I have recordings on my phone and writen conformation from Quinn Direct saying/stating once the car is taxed and tested, not in your name, like Kenneth said privately owned you are insured to drive it. The vehicle does NOT have to be insured by someone else

if it is insured by the other party YOUR insurance is invalid if THEY are driving another car!

Billy wrote:Usually that type of policy is only valid if the other person's car is also insured.

I have always thought the same lines as Stan and Kenneth.

My understanding of "Open Drive" on a policy allows anyone with a full Drivers Licence drive your car ( there are age limits on different policies). Your standard policy usually covers you to drive any other car with Third Party cover only, as long as you do not own that car. I have never noticed in my policies any mention of the other car having to be Taxed , NCT'd or insured. That said, to drive a vehicle legally on the road, it must be all three of the above (excluding Classics). To get your Tax Cert , the car must be insured at that time by a policy under the owner's name.

Ill will keep all these suggestions in mind, thanks for your help and if anyone else has any thoughts on this matter keep posting.

Thanks guys,
keith

Clearly the best advice is to check with your insurance company on what exactly is covered by your specific policy. Better to ask the questions raised in this topic now to make sure both you and your insurer agree on what is covered. When an accident happens, it's too late to ask.

forgot to mention i'm with axa

it can be a bit risky with the open driver thing. when i was with quinn i was only insured third party on the car i didnt own and i know that if i had a skyline or anything with that power i'd defo want the car to be insured. thats why i paid 200 extra this year to be fully comp, it gives me fully comp cover on what ever i drive

I am very surprised that this discussion has been allowed to continue since Thursday 1st July at 9.00 p.m. I must agree with Billy. Third party only insurance is only on offer and the vehicle must be insured.

Hibernian have a thing where they insure for 6 months free if you buy 10 driving lessons (and 1 free) of them.

I got 6 months insurance and 11 driving lessons for 350 quid.
Bargain.

thestillminis wrote:the vehicle must be insured.

When your with Quinn Direct the car that you are driving with your open drive does NOT have to be insured.