The Car's the Star!
| Author: Irene Robertson | Published: 3rd April 2007 21:02 |
The Car's the Star -But Watch Out for Catches Insuring Classic, Retro and Vintage Cars
With the UK's celebrity obsession growing stronger by the day, many of us now long to emulate the glamorous lifestyles and jaw dropping looks of the modern day gossip column A-listers. Though much of this, including owning a fleet of flash motors like David Beckham or P Diddy, may be financially out of reach for most, say BeatThatQuote.com the multi-award winning price comparison website, the dream can be made a reality, at a fraction of the cost, by turning your focus to the originators of cool - the iconic stars and classic cars of the silver screen.The 1969 Mini Cooper driven by Michael Caine in The Italian Job could cost as little as £152 a year to insure compared to its contemporary cousin, the 2006 Mini Cooper, which costs around £700. Although it would need some modifications to actually run on rubbish like it did in the film, the 1981 DeLorean DMC12 driven by the Doc in Back to the Future, would set you back the relatively modest sum of £465 to insure.
For the Peckham set, there's the 1973 Reliant Regal 21E-750 - Del Boy's choice of transport in Only Fools and Horses. The three-wheeler would cost £141.02 to insure; that's nearly 50 per cent cheaper than its sleeker, more chic 1994 Reliant Robin SLX relative.
"Classic cars can be relatively cheap to insure if you are prepared to shop around for a specialist insurer but you have to pay attention to the definitions and the terms and conditions," said Sophie Neary, product director for BeatThatQuote.com.
- Veteran Cars describes cars manufactured before 1903.
- Vintage Cars were manufactured between 1903 and 1933.
- Classic Cars: Are usually pre-1973 or at least fifteen years old.
Classic car insurance policy restrictions include:
- The car must be garaged between the hours of 10pm and 6am
- May not be used for racing, but touring rallies are covered
- Agreed value/guarantee: A genuine agreed valuation is the value guaranteed by the insurer should the vehicle be stolen or damaged beyond repair which is a very infrequent occurrence. Make sure to check that your valuation is 'guaranteed', some insurers may refuse to pay the full amount, despite the owner believing that they were fully covered. Insurers usually make a small charge for an agreed valuation but not to take advantage of their offer could have expensive consequences.
Movie Star Cars
- 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 - the very same model driven by secret agent 007 in The Spy Who Loved Me. Costs less than £500 to insure.
- 1973 Reliant Regal 21E-750 - the official vehicle of Trotters Independent Trading Co in Only Fools and Horses. The original was auctioned in February this year for £44,227. In reality, a similar model can be yours for a couple of hundred pounds, and will cost under £150 to insure.
- 1955 Lincoln Futura - otherwise known as the original Batmobile, which was bought by the Batman show's producers for allegedly $1 (51p).
- General Motors' Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Solstice, Hummer H2 and the GMC TopKick medium-duty truck are about to become big stars of the new Transformers movie out in the US this June.
- Ford Gran Torino - the ultimate retro cool sports car as driven by Starksy and Hutch.
- 1983 GMC van - as driven by the A Team. Die-hard copycats could purchase a standard black Volkswagen Transporter SportLine van as a close equivalent. The signature red stripe would have to be customised, but be warned - pimping that vehicle will add hundreds of pounds onto your car insurance quote.
All car insurance quotes are based on one retired driver with no other cars and no offences, claims or medical conditions, assume the car - worth £12,000 - is kept in a garage and doesn't do more than 10,000 miles in a year.
What do you think?
You will need to sign in to post a comment to this article. if you do not have an AboutMyArea account, you can join now for free.
