Hi folks!
I'm Johnny from Leeds, in West Yorkshire, in the UK (as if you didnt know). I'm new to the world of kit cars, but I'm a fairly competent amateur mechanic and engineer and I have lots of friends who are mechanics (and welders!) which I hope will set me in good stead for what I hope to do.
The major reason I'm considering buying a kit car is that I've heard that the cost of insuring these non-standard vehicles can be surprisingly low. Now I've had a driving licence since I passed my test first time at 17, although I'd been driving and restoring Citroen 2CV's and Dyane cars since I was 12 years old when I used to live near a farm that me and my pals would race round the fields in these wacky stripped down cars.
However 2 years ago I was driving home from work in my Ford Escort estate car when I was pulled by the police who thought that I was smoking a cannabis joint - I wasnt, I was smoking a roll-up of golden virginia, I dont smoke cannabis and I certainly wouldnt have done it if driving, surely that would be like driving along while drinking from a bottle of vodka!
Anyway as the policeman was a bit miffed that he'd not caught me red-handed using drugs while driving, you know what the cozza's are like, they will try and get you on anything else they can instead. Anyroad, they asked who I was insured with and I dutifully told them the name of my current insurers, which was e-car or something, I cant remember, but anyway they rang the insurance company as I was sat in the back of the police car, and to my horror discovered that my policy had been cancelled due to a months payment having defaulted!
However I'd not noticed this as the amount that the bank were charging me in fees for the direct debit having defaulted cos of some shortage of funds was roughly similar to my car insurance payment! So at a quick glance at my balance the last time I was at a cash machine, all looked well. The insurance company had sent me a letter to my home address to notify me of the policy been in danger of being cancelled if I didnt pay the outstanding monthly installment.
The reason I hadnt seen this important letter was because I had just got engaged to my fiance and had been living at her address for a couple of months and I'd neglected to visit my own home and collect any mail. So I guess in that respect it was my fault. But considering that in over 15 years of driving I'd never had a single accident, nor a single point on my licence and never any speeding - or even parking tickets!
When the case went to the magistrates court I tried to explain this yet the magistrate still went ahead and put 8 POINTS on my licence, plus an INM10 conviction which is for driving without insurance, so obviously makes you look like a reckless nutcase! PLUS a £625 fine! And they revoked my licence which will cost me a furthur £70 to apply for a new one with all the points and conviction added.
Additionally mine and my fiance's car, the Ford Escort estate was towed away by a police recovery truck and the amount of money they wanted to get it out of the police pound far outweighed the value of the vehicle! As you can imagine I was totally appaulled, but the worst part of all this is that it has made applying for car insurance totally out of my price range, listen to this, I recently got a quote for an 800cc Fiat Cinquecento and the cost of THIRD PARTY ONLY insurance was going to be over £1750!!! And of course I'd have to pay this monthly which would bump up the cost with the interest to over £2000! Thats over £40 per week! - more than I spend on my families grocery shopping per week! I simply cant afford that on my wages. Also I lost my 4 years no claims bonus as I've not been able to afford another car since all this happened in 2010, so that also makes the cost of insurance ridiculously high.
I was hoping that I might be able to get a more reasonably priced insurance premium quote for a kit car from Adrian Flux insurance, I've been looking particularly at the Rickman Ranger's which I quite like as I used to like the old Escort MK2's as they were a doddle to work on, I can recall back in the late 1980s / early 1990s me and my friends bought one of them for £20! It was a good runner too, it just had no MOT, but it was great for racing around the farms lanes in.
Does anyone know if its likely I will be able to get a reasonable insurance quote given my tragic circumstances with this horrible conviction on my licence? I feel like I'm in the same group as people who were convicted of drink driving etc, infact I know of people who were convicted for drink driving who got a lower fine than me! What a joke! So please if anyone has any advice for me on insurance and taking my first leap into the fabulous world of kits cars please help! My email address is
johnnyleedsuk@yahoo.co.uk. Sorry to have babbled on so much but I felt like my story needed to be told so anyone reading my post could get an idea of the problems I'm having getting back on the road.
many thanks
Johnny
New to Kit Cars - Advice needed please!
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