mark d

Elephant have just dropped me a letter to inform me that my insurance will be increasing by approx. 50% because my Prodrive Sti 7 is an import and not full UK spec.

Am I being stupid here, I thought the type UK (the name gives it away) Sti 7 Prodrive only came as a UK spec?

Am I stupid or is Elephant showing it's usual lack of knowledge about cars?

mark d

My initial post was not very well written - I bought my Prodrive Sti 7 at a UK Subaru dealer, but it was second hand (a month old). I was told it was a UK car and because I was under the impression that Prodrive Sti 7's have only one spec. (the UK spec) I didn't check any further.

I have since been rear ended and the insurance assessor saw the car and claimed it was an import - I want to know if this is possible?

dhorwich

ask subaru to do a VIN check and send the info to elephant...!! thats if it is a type uk..

Dan

mark d

Thanks, I'll do that.

It is a Prodrive Type UK Sti 7, looked exactly the same as the other ones at the dealer when I bought it with the exception of being a couple of grand cheaper as it already had 700 miles on the clock...

walton

Strange.

I was quoted 10% *more* for a uk turbo over a Jap WRX, and an additional 10% for an STI over UK turbo £.

I even explained that the UK car had better security (don't discount for any security), & less power, but they still said a UK car would be cheaper than the Jap equivilant. Maybe they don't know anything about cars!

walton

Sorry that should read.... UK Turbo was more expensive to ensure than WRX.

Crush

I've had a few stupid quotes from them before. It seemed that they didn't really have much of a clue IMO, which put me off using them.

Tim-Grove

Big insurance company’s aren’t as professional as you would like to think, they will try to con and deceive you just like any back street cowboy would. A work friend of mine had his motor insurance renewal come through from Dxxxxx Lxxx (better not say on a public forum) for his Land Rover Discovery TD5. There was a letter attached to his renewal explaining that his premium was going up £300 because his vehicle insurance group classification had gone up from group 13 to 16 (16!!!! That the same as a 172). Well my mate was suspicious of the price jump, so he did a bit of investigation into the matter. He did a bit of ringing around getting quotes and asking other insurance company’s if they had any knowledge of the grouping rise. None of the insurance company’s had any knowledge of this nether did Land Rover. He had got cheaper quotes elsewhere but by now he had the bit between his teeth and wanted to confront Dxxxxx Lxxx about this. He called Dxxxxx Lxxx and faxed them with the info he had found, and they did not budge and inch. By this time he had to cover his Landy with another insurance company because the renewal date had come and gone. Still mighty pi55ed off about this he followed up the case further by contacting the insurance ombudsman. Insurance ombudsman contacted Dxxxxx Lxxx and they backed down immediately and offered my friend a discounted premium and a letter of apology stating that there had been a clerical error. To which my mate turned down because he already had another insurance policy, he had reached his goal to publicly embrace this insurance company. You might remember about 2 years ago this case was on the BBC’s Watchdog. Anyway the moral of this storey is that big national insurance company’s will not hesitate about feeding you with bare faced lies to make a few extra quid.

Tim.

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

My son Chris went with Elephant last year with a brand new STi uk Prodrive at £845 (he's 27 and it was £50 cheaper with me as a named driver!) This year it went up 10% He's now with Bell Direct at £779
By the way, I would have thought an imported car would not have "Type UK" on the back?
JohnD

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Long live "Rip-off Britain"![img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
Alcazar

mark d

You would have thought the "Type UK" badges on the back of the car would imply it was a UK spec...

Apparently not to Elephant though

Tim-Grove

Trust me mate they know exactly what the car is, they are just trying to get more money out of you hoping you will accept this and cough up the money.

Tim.

Boyakasha

iTrader: (2)

I was £584 with Elephant for my STi 8, before I took the policy out I asked them how much it would be if I got the PPP and they said it would be the same. Phoned them up again and this time they quoted me £900 with the PPP [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] So I just added added an exhaust which put it up £35 to £620, then later on I will ask how much to change the ecu and see what they say