Better late than never!

[98_Martin]

Hi all, perhaps a little late on joining the forum as I'm now 18 months into ownership of my 2005 Lotus Elise 111R but I guess part of that reason is how fun and reliable it's been. I browsed the forum last year when looking for somewhere in Scotland to do the annual service and MOT... safe to say I took it to Craig Moncrief in Edinburgh which although is a long drive from where I stay in Inverness it was certainly a worthwhile one. I can't recommend Craig enough for the service he gave me and am looking forward to seeing him again this summer with hopefully another clean bill of health.

Back to the car... I actually put a deposit down on the Elise just a week or two before the first lockdown (March 2020) but didn't get to see the car until July of that year with all the restrictions and delays but it did mean I got a winter price on a summer delivered car! The delay I guess actually gave me more time to look forward to it's arrival as I had it delivered the 600 miles between me and Snows Lotus Hedge End as it seemed the safest option and kept the millage down as it's a real low millage original car. I'm sure like many in here the car only sees daylight for 6 months of year and stays in the garage tucked up under a cover connected to a battery conditioner but that period of daylight is soon approaching again which brings me onto my first question on the forum.

Up  until recently I've been covered by Admiral on my multicar policy but after talking to Craig last summer he advised me to go with an agreed value cover so that in the worst event that the car was ever written off I wouldn't be short of a few thousand pounds. Being 23 I am struggling to find many insurers that will take me on as most have a age limit for their classic policies that include agreed value but in my benefit I will be very unlikely to drive more that 2000 miles a year and never take it to a track so don't require that cover. Does anyone have some recommendations? I've spoken to AiB who quoted me £925 but would like to shop around more before I make a final decision. 

Of course I won't finish the post without a few pictures of the car!

[Bibs]

Very nice, congratulations! I had my first Esprit at 25 and the insurance was pretty eye watering back then! 

[jep]

Welcome! Great colour, Starlight black? 

Lockton Performance for insurance.

I had my first Esprit at 25, a white S1 which cost £5k and was clean, MOT and FSH (probably). ClassicLine insured it for £120 pa fully comp....but I had to garage it overnight. It needed a new windscreen after 2 weeks, that cost over £800 in 1992. The insurance paid, no impact on NCB.

Justin

 

[98_Martin]

Thanks guys, it is indeed Starlight black. I'll take a look at Lockton Performance, thanks for the recommendation.

[Mysterae]

Congrats on the car, I'll be sure to look out for you, the amount of Lotus's in the Highlands increases all the time!

[98_Martin]

Thanks Alan, it's always typical that when I'm out in the daily driver I see another Lotus and then when I'm out in mine I never see one! Sods law...

Where about are you located? I haven't ventured far from Inverness in the Elise yet, just as far as Edinburgh for the service. If route 500 wasn't so busy with campervans and cyclists I'd maybe be more willing to do parts of it this summer. 

[TomE]

Congratulations!  I don't know how they treat younger drivers (I'm a long way gone from that!) but I've found REIS and Manning good for agreed value and limited mileage.  If you need it, Manning will do a customised mix of SD&P miles, commuting miles, business miles within the annual limit.  That's handy if you do low annual mileage mainly for pleasure but want to take the car to work a few times.

[Mysterae]

2 hours ago, 98_Martin said:

Thanks Alan, it's always typical that when I'm out in the daily driver I see another Lotus and then when I'm out in mine I never see one! Sods law...

Where about are you located? I haven't ventured far from Inverness in the Elise yet, just as far as Edinburgh for the service. If route 500 wasn't so busy with campervans and cyclists I'd maybe be more willing to do parts of it this summer. 

I'm between Invergordon and Tain and haven't had the Esprit out at all since we moved up here. That must change this year!

[Kimbers]

Welcome Martin!

Lovely car!

In terms of insurance, I am with AIB. After getting various quotes i actually found LV were cheapest for me (but I'm 54). They wanted £420 whereas I was paying £627 to AIB. I called back AIB and explained my situation and that LV were so much cheaper than them and I had a lovely lady spend an hour calling all their insurers to see what they could do. 

They recommended a different underwriter and for me to drop my mileage from 6000 to 3000 miles (I only did 900 last year) and my new quote was £397. So cheaper than LV. This year the same lady called me back and happily informed me they had managed to get it down below £360. Its well worth doing some work to get it cheaper! 

[JamieF]

Welcome! 2k miles a year is criminal, use it more haha! I've done more than that in my Exige and had it only 7 months. There's enough Lotus up here now to form a Highland club I think.....

[98_Martin]

Thanks again for all the recommendations guys, ended up going with AdrianFlux with  agreed value that I'll need to get sorted out before it begins on the 1st of May, almost ready for another summer of fun! It was about £900 in the end so all considered not bad for someone my age with 2 years no claims on the car.

 

On 05/04/2022 at 19:55, JamieF said:

Welcome! 2k miles a year is criminal, use it more haha! I've done more than that in my Exige and had it only 7 months. There's enough Lotus up here now to form a Highland club I think.....

Haha I know I know, the cars only got just over 18,000 on the clock so I'm doing my best to keep it within the just under 2000 mile a year average it's done in it's lifetime. If it ever becomes too slow I know I'll be looking at a Exige to replace it, but I don't think I'm ready for the V6 territory yet. There's a few I know off in and around the Inverness area.

[JamieF]

1 hour ago, 98_Martin said:

Thanks again for all the recommendations guys, ended up going with AdrianFlux with  agreed value that I'll need to get sorted out before it begins on the 1st of May, almost ready for another summer of fun! It was about £900 in the end so all considered not bad for someone my age with 2 years no claims on the car.

 

Haha I know I know, the cars only got just over 18,000 on the clock so I'm doing my best to keep it within the just under 2000 mile a year average it's done in it's lifetime. If it ever becomes too slow I know I'll be looking at a Exige to replace it, but I don't think I'm ready for the V6 territory yet. There's a few I know off in and around the Inverness area.

Aye there’s a few popping up here now, if you ever pass me in mine be sure to wave even if you aren’t in your Lotus 🤙🏻

Edited April 7, 2022 by JamieF
Typo

[98_Martin]

12 hours ago, JamieF said:

Aye there’s a few popping up here now, if you ever pass me in mine be sure to wave even if you aren’t in your Lotus 🤙🏻

I certainly will! 😃

[ramjet]

Welcome ro TLF Martin. 

23! Well done. I think I was 45 when I bought my first Lotus. A very nice S4. Quite sure you're going to have some fun in that. Best of luck shopping around for insurance.

Any questions or issues with using the forums, feel free to ask one of us mods. We're here to help.  

[98_Martin]

Thanks for the welcome Ramjet, starting my Lotus ownership early, I hope it's the first of many! I progressed from a BMW Z3 and MX5 so it feels somewhat of a natural upgrade but nothing else drives like it with the feeling of connection.