The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

Hi everyone.

Just joined this forum and have to say it's a treasure island for knowledge about FTO's. Very handy.

Now, to the point.

First, a word about myself. The name is Bart, 30-year-old male with almost 10 years on driving license (EU - issued in Poland) with 5 years NCB.

Two days ago after seeing yet another two messy Mitsubishi Galants for sale in Dublin area I followed an instant urge to get me something with a bit more kick. There and then I decided to get me an FTO, which was being sold close nearby. Great condition FTO GPX Mivec 2.0 200BHP etc. I came back to Cork and on the following day I picked up phone to have it insured. Three hours and hundreds of grey hair later I came to conclusion that IT-IS-NEARLY-IMPOSSIBLE to have it insured in Republic of Ireland. As new business that is - I sold my van two months ago and have cancelled previous policy.

I have three options as I see it:

- take the XS Insurance Policy, with excess of 4000 euros, for around 700 euro.
- go to AXA personally and talk to the agents there, as I've been advised by one of their pople on the phone (they can't give out quote for this car unless they see NCB cert and car paperwork)
- do as richardc9052 has proposed: have an open policy on another car that I have (named driver on Opel Astra G 1999) and have the FTO registered on somebody else's name.


Now, as for the third option, could anyone please explain how it works in a bit more detail? Why the car has to be in sb else's name?
Also, if anyone can think of any other options/insurance companies/brokers/magic tricks, please post them here. I'd appreciate it a lot - and potential new buyers as well, I'm sure.

Honestly I wouldn't go with the third option, I know Richard did it but I believe that if the authorities want to catch you for no insurance then this is the easiest way to catch someone, by not having a disc on the car. Its not like America or some other countries where its the driver thats insured, here its the car thats insured, thats why insurance is so ridiculous.

Try Quinn, or Setanta, or if that fails try calling into different brokers cause sometimes they can get you a quote when an insurance company will tell you know. Also don't give up on the first attempt, its not unusual for one person in a company to tell you they don't insure the car, but then you ring back and get a different person and they will insure it.

I presume that you have tried all of the companies listed in the Insurance section of this Forum ?

You should definitely be able to get a few quotes - although they may not be pretty. However you are over 30 with a good NCB so it should be possible - there are guys on here in their 20s with less credentials than yourself.

now, I did try every broker there is on this Island, with little to no luck - I have received one quote, which originated from AXA, stating that if I pay them 1.300 euros in extortion fees, I will be able to use my car freely!

Just for the record, I tried following companies:

McCarthy Insurances (broker)
AXA - 1300 for TPTF, 1400 COMPREHENSIVE
Allianz
Tesco
Setanta thru broker
Travelers thru broker
Hooper Dolan broker - offered me same rate as AXA, for insurance in AXA
Quoteme.ie - that's XS Insurance if I'm not mistaken. Got a 667 euro offer with 4.000 excess or 1400 with 1.000 excess
O'Mahony Insurance broker
First Ireland
top quote
carole nash
Britton Insurance
Quinn Direct - was most disappointed with them not giving me any quote
123.ie
Aviva
AA


Did I miss any major companies? I am really at my wits' end here and even though I just finished my 2-hour valeting session with my baby, I'm seriously beginning to consider selling it.
Every time I spoke with an agent who refused me insurance I asked him/her whether "it's about me" or the car. Every time I was told they just don't insure these "high-performance" cars at all. I know that replies vary from agent to agent, but throughout every conversation I have had today, replies were disturbingly consistent ._.

Guys, help me not to make one of the bigger mistakes in my life by selling this treasure. My girlfriend fell in love with it already, who know what will happen if I get rid of FTO Any ideas how to keep my relationship running?

IIts never anything to do with the licence being Polish is it? I doubt it would make a difference as there are a lot of non-nationals on the site here but you never know with the crooks that run these businesses. For the record, its easier to insure a 300+ bhp Evo than a 197bhp FTO, they dont know what it is so they dont insure it. People working in these places usually havent got a clue about cars, they see it on a lit and it might as well be a 1000bhp Veyron.

1400 is brilliant - go with it!!!

hi again and thanks for such quick replies.

@dragonheart
As a matter of fact my friend has had his polish licence swapped for Irish for insurance purposes, but that only netted him a discount, and not a substantial one. I'd prefer to pay extra 100 euros per year in insurance than have my "no penalty points can be put on my licence" perk gone Not that I drive like crazy, you just never know what you'll get penalty points for (a good example - got 2 points recently for driving onto junction 0,5 second after green light turned yellow. Left the junction well before lights turned red, but had gardai driving behind me and, as the law states, "I drove onto junction when it was safe to stop", safe to stop being the magic word.). Got a bit carried away here, back to the topic at hand. So, Dragonheart, I'm actually stuck with that only quote? What options have I got? Should I get another, smaller, car, have it insured in my name, and ask for transfer onto FTO?

I just thought of something I am still 29 according to calendar, gonna turn 30 on 16th of June. Reckon it might be a good idea to try in 10 days and ask what brokers' system will say?

@ optical illusion
1400 is not so brilliant really... I was/am redy to pay up to 800/900 for comprehensive, but this quote is well above anything I considered. Every car I had had been insured for less than 600, and now?


Also, what bothers me the most, I've read through different topics in "Insurance" section of this forum and most of the drivers seem to be below 30, with less NCB/licence history/etc. and got insured anyway, and for less than my 1400, with companies that openly refused to insure me. Would it be a good idea to talk to the insurance company and remind them that "two of my forum friends have had their identical car insured with you, why are you refusing me then?". Voice your opinions please

As for everyone out there reading this topic - did anyone get insured recently as "new business" or as a transfer form previous car onto MIVEC GPX? If so, please post with which company. You'd help me a lot here, with that info I might be able to grab these insurance "people" by the... neck

I would ring them and say that you know of people who are insured with them with the same car. See what they see, if might or might not help. I myself am paying €550 for fully comp, 31 since Novemeber, and 4 years NCB. Have an Irish licence for over 10 years. Some peoples insurance has gone up this year so maybe that has something to do with it too. If you bought a cheap second hand car, insured it, and then asked the company for a quote they have to supply you with one.

k, as I understand you're still with Setanta through O'Malley Griffin brokers? Still, I wouldn't be able to get a quote from setanta as they withdrew from insuring FTO's - that's what I read here, in these forums at least.
As for insurance companies being forced into giving me a quote, they still can offer me 1400 or something similar I suppose - for them the sky is the limit, you simply can say "no" and go somewhere else, right?
Also, would I have to buy a small car to have it insured in my name, or there may be different solution to have insurance transferred? Right now I'm on my girlfriend's policy as named driver in Tesco, on Opel Astra. Both cars are in my name. Any ideas?

As far as I know Tesco have to supply you with a quote then if you're already insured with them.
I'm with Setanta through O'malley Griffins correct, I don't know if they did actually stop insuring FTOs, it was just that there was a few of us got it at the same time that it raised a query. I'd still try them again.

however good this idea might be, I'd need a confirmation that Setanta actually WOULD provide me with a quote, and that it would be acceptable in price. Are there any forum members who have friends within insurance company that would be able to run a simulation? Or can I ask any insurance company agent to run it? Like "I'll buy a Corsa 1.0, then after a month I'll get my FTO, what will the price be?". WHat do ye think?

I know 1400 is a lot but I'm just saying, that is what you are looking at for new business and even old business, I've been quoted a lot more than you.

I'm nearly 1200 fully comp, and I'm a woman.

Im with Aviva through a broker- O'Malley Griifin and Im paying €600 fully comp with break down cover included. This topic is live on the dc5 forum now too- a member is finding it very hard to get a quote!

Alright folks, I weighed all my options and I am left with little choice here.


1. Get my Astra extra-insured with Aviva (not through broker as with brokers I gues you cannot choose which insurer you will go with - correct?). By extra-insured I mean leave my current insurance with Tesco on which I am named driver and get insurance from Aviva on top of that. Then get the Aviva one transferred to FTO. This option will cost me whatever I'd pay for these few weeks of having Astra double-insured with Aviva and doesn't guarantee that Aviva will give me a better offer than Axa. Risky, but I'll be considering this option more than other. (PS. Why would I have to wait for 3-4 weeks, as I've read it on these forums, to transfer the insurance? Can't I do it after a week or so?)

2. Wait until I turn 30 for another week, then make all the calls to all the brokers again and pray. I'd loose another week, but on top of that - no extra costs.

3. Wait for heavens to give me another idea, which will solve all problems. Heavens or this Forum.


OR sell the car.


I'd prefer not to sell it as it just flew through NCT today like an arrow:]


So, bak to you, good people. Any thoughts on these options?

BTW, thanks for your support so far.

Don't wait till you're 30, it means SFA nowadays.

You can choose who you want to go with a broker, more often than not they will give you a couple of quotes to choose from. They are on your side, if you take the offer they get business.

Try with the astra first, and insure it for a few weeks so as not to be so obvious to them. If all else fails you can sell the car then, but at least you know you tried.

Lastly, good luck!

The way i insured the car was grand.. i went through multiple checkpoints and it takes them a min or 2 extra to check it out over the radio but as long as you have the cert in the insurance disc holder it was grand for me.. worst they can do is give you a 60 euro fine for not havin a disk.. and that didnt happen to me once.. it was in my gf name and the gard said to me it does look like a girls car.. i wans very ready to give him a mouthful but why bother, it just means its more believable when your stopped! garda dont seem to know what the car is either.. handy out. especially if you will be driving the astra day to day too (for fuel consumption reasons ) it is again more believable - i was driving my almera a few days a week (when it would start lol)

Does the car not have to have a policy in its own right- I had 2 civics at one stage and had to swap over the insurance each time I wanted to drive the other one???- I wasnt allowed do this extension thing and I had fully comp insurance, 6yr full drivers licence?? I am of the belief that if you cant insure it and have a proper disc in the window- you shouldnt be driving it! I mean I have to pay for my insurance on my high performance car...so I dont agree that this method of insurance is 'grand'. If you cant afford it- dont buy it.

Go through a broker and they will get you a better deal....they did for me.

Hi again and thanks for extensive and quick replies.

@optical illusion
I will do the Astra trick and see how it will go. Brokers I can't rely on really as no options are available every time I ask - out of 27 insurance companies queried, none of them (save for AXA provided I would be 30) offer to insure me. That means - they DO take age (30+) into consideration after all.

@richardc9052
So, you're suggesting to "sell" the car to my girlfriend, have Astra insured in my own name and have this "option to drive other cars for up to 30 consecutive days"? That would allow me to drive FTO nice and easy, but I'd have to cancel my gf's insurance wth Tesco - and since it's her first year of insurance she'd have to pay up the premium for the entire year anyway. I'll go with the extra Astra policy and have it transferred after a month or so.

@threediamonds
Again - brokers are useless for me, for some unknown reason. I'd have no problem having the car insured and paying for that. I do have a problem if nobody wants to insure me, and if I finally find one, it's premium is through the roof. I'm 30, I'm well past my wild years (and Insurance companies' analysts know that when calculating premiums), yet they wish to charge me more than I paid 5 years ago, with no NCD. As long as insurance companies will act like they roll a dice every time they insure somebody with a sports car, I will try and find "loopholes". Ok, I didn't want to get into this discussion, so I'll stop now. I hope I didn't sound hostile or anything - I appreciate your input a lot

Bottom line - getting another car insured in my name, then have insurance transferred to FTO.


I'd like to take this opportunity and thank everyone involved in this discussion so far. If you have other ideas, please feel free to post them here - maybe there's a better solution out there. In the meantime, may I ask what companies you are insured with? I'm just trying to figure out which companies would possibly accept FTO as a transferee.

I've got Setanta, Aviva, Axa so far. Any other out there?

I joined up with Quinn 1 year ago as new business.

Before that Britton (brokers) sorted me out with Travellers for anothe few years

I'm not sure if you've read my thread about my insurance woes but out of interest, what do you do for a living?
I had loads of trouble getting a quote this year (dropped by my insurer ect.) as I'm now technically in the motor trade

@kace

thanks for sharing that, Quinn comes up a lot in different insurance-related converstaions on this site, I'll try them as well. May I ask what premium were you offered and for what car? If I'm being nosy, just ignore that question

@Bernard
Just found your thread about finding insurance. It's a load of interesting information, too bad it might have outdated a little. I will ring up some of these companies though and see what happens. As for living, I'm in the middle of staring my own business, but not in motor trade.

You're not being nosey but honestly you don't want to know what my current premium is as you will cry.

I would say if you can get something in the €700-€900 you should be happy with that.

€1400 does seem like something is wrong given your age and NCB stats

Is your 10 years driving experience in your own name on the insurance polices you had?
On a little side note I have my girlfriend on my insurance as a named driver and she is giving me cheaper insurance, only found this out when I went to cancel her off my insurance as I don't let her drive it

Heres the deal - its difficult to get a decent premium rate when insuring an FTO, this situation has not changed since FTOs started appearing on our shores in the mid to late 90's. Theres a lesson to be learned - don't go out and buy a performance car before first shopping around for an insurance quote.

Bart, I can't offer any additional advice that hasn't alreasy been discussed in this forum, have a good read through the insurance posts for further info.

CJ

@Kace
fair enough. This is the price bracket I was looking for anyway, so I'll try either transferring the insurance from extra policy on Astra or... look at the bottom of the post.

@StewyD32
10 years is not the driving experience - it's how long I've had my licence for. I passed exam in 2001. As for getting my gf insured - sure, it probably would be a good idea, but my girlfriend has Provisional Licence. And that's a no-no for a sports car She did however net me cheaper insurance when I quoted for insurance on Astra. A 29-year-old male with 10 years of driving experience and 5 years ncd is more prone to cause an accident than a 28-year-old lady driver who just left the class room and sat down behind the wheel for the first time And yes, this IS the jealousy talking

@CJ Lesson learned indeed. The hard way. I do have a question though that I did not find anywhere else when browsing through the forum...


...is 2.0l GX easier to insure? I am indeed considering selling my GPX and getting a modded GX off one of the fto-ireland members. Any thoughts on it? If the story will be similar/same as with gpx, I might have to look for another make/model. Thanks in advance