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Insurance...... What do we think? What do we need?

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:29 am
by qdos
The topic of Insurance crops up quite regularly amongst our conversations and threads here.

The majority of Insurance companies like to work from nicely pigeon holed categories and of course electric vehicles are not a common occurence at the moment, but this is changing gradually. We've quite a mix of EVs that our members own, have converted or have built from scratch and if they are on the roads then they all have to be insured. It's often a bit of a tricky issue as the mainstream companies like to just deal in Mr Essex and his Ford Focus with 2.4 kids and a dog.

So representing all our members via the pages of our magazine Plugged In I'm going to write to Insurance companies and ask them questions you would like answers to.

Let me have your Opinions, Questions, Thoughts and Experiences with insurance companies you've used or made enquiries of and I'll put together a questionaire and an article for Insurance of EVs. If you pop them down here in this thread along with links to any Insurance companies let's see what I can find for you all.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:28 am
by PHEV
Good idea, much needed!

I went with Footman James for my motorcycle, my one compliant is that they insure the vehicle for the same premium as the original petrol version. If I convert a 150HP motorbike, using a 50HP motor, they will charge me the same as the 150BHP version.
I understand that if you own a 150 bhp bike, and restrict it to 50bhp the premium is generally lower...i'd like to see the same structure for electric builds!

Steve

Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:02 pm
by qdos
I don't ride a motorcycle butt I'm wondering who people have insured their electric motorcyle conversions with and how easy / difficult has it been to get a sensible quote?

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:50 am
by Nigel P.A. Smith
Hi qdos,

Have just got insurance, even after threatening to withdraw all my
other insurance from my local broker, because I like to keep them all at the
same place, every one of them asked loads of questions, then said we'll call
you back etc. but could not touch a converted EV with a barge pole, not
even a high quote,

Peter Best was not only the best, they we're one and only Co. to give
me a very good price, at £167 fully comp and road side assistance, and
being a BVS member helped me find them to,

Thanks for setting them up, :wink:

Nigel

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:53 am
by PHEV
I tried Nash and footman James for quotes on my motorbike, Nash was too expensive, and so was Footman James...but I had no choice!

They charged me £180 including discount for being a BVS member (40 year old on a 125cc! for comparison, Bennets want £60 for an original RS125)

Steve

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:07 pm
by EVguru
I have a Footman James classic multi-bike policy. The Cagiva Freccia EV was the most expensive bike on the policy and the Tornado 650 the cheapest. The premium in my case is almost totally based on age of bike, the older the cheaper. Anything over 12 years old (I think) counts as a classic on this policy.

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:32 am
by ChopperMan
I recently insured the R2, on the chassis number as I am still waiting for a DVLA appointment, with Footman James. Agreed value £30K, must be locked inside our premises at night, no commuting from home for me, for £147 fully comp on a 3,000 mile policy. They didn't want to know any details about the motor, controller, battery voltage etc.

It has been registered as an MEVR2ELEC by the vehicle manufacturer with the SVA centre, so considered it a standard vehicle! They got the vehicle details by Googling it, can you believe that the insurance company found out what it was from Google, not DVLA!

Qdos, PM me next week, my family have a lot of connections within the insurance industry and we have already discussed over Sunday Lunch the apparent hole in the market for a specialist insurer.

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:53 am
by booboo
I've renewed the insurance for my mini-el with Peter Best, they were near enough the same price as last year.

I was very surprised to find that my choices were limited to Peter Best or ......Peter Best. I couldn't find anyone else, it would seem that 3-wheelers are being phased out by insurance companies :evil: