JZX90 Chaser Insurance

[braedv]

Hi DriftWorks,

I know these insurance posts are common but I can't stop worrying so any advice that isn't ridicule will be appreciated!

I am a 24 year old male, and I'm about to take (and hopefully pass) my driving test. I've been into JDM cars since I was a kid, and after seeing the perfect car online and chatting with the owner for a few days, decided I wanted to import a 1993 JZX90 Chaser as my first car. I have bought the car at around £10,000 FOB.

I've been quoted insurance online for the car at £1,200 a year but this is without declaring mods, of which there are many. The mods that may affect insurance include coilovers, LSD, anti-sway bars, de-cat straight pipe, rims, body kit, bucket seats, wheel without airbag, stickers, respray. The 1JZ-GTE engine is almost stock (upgraded air filter, radiator, hoses, intercooler but stock twin turbos). All of that said, the car does look very street (dark colour, rims match, not too low, doesn't have stretched tires etc) so I don't think I'm likely to be pulled over and questioned.

Tonight I tried declaring everything but I got no quotes using moneysupermarket's comparison tool. I haven't tried contacting a specialist "modified car" insurer yet as I fear the price will be too high for me.

So,

1. Am I likely to get insurance for my car if I declare all the mods, and if not;
2. Is it too risky to drive the car without declaring the mods?
3. How much is specialist car insurance likely to be?
   
4. Is this car a mistake?

TL;DR:

• 1993 JZX90 Chaser with street many mods
  
• First car; 0 years no claims, 0 months driving experience
• Insurance is ~£1k without declaring mods
• Can't find an online quote while declaring mods
• What should I do?

 

[jon07043278]

So,

1. Am I likely to get insurance for my car if I declare all the mods, and if not;
2. Is it too risky to drive the car without declaring the mods?
3. How much is specialist car insurance likely to be?
   
4. Is this car a mistake?

1. You will always find someone to insure you but the cost may be hilarious. The good thing is you haven't really added any power to the car and it is mostly all cosmetic.

2. Yes it is. Your insurance will definitely be void if you had a crash. You could end up paying for it for the rest of your life.

3. You won't get a price from any of the comparison sites, so ringing around the usual suspects is in order. Adrian Flux are a bit hit and miss, Sky insurance etc. Always worth saying you got a quote with someone else, gives them something to try and beat. The good thing is you are 24. I found at 25, my insurance decreased considerably. A likely figure could be around the £2500 for the first year, dropping to £1800 after one year and being 25 (complete guesses).

4. It is not a mistake if it is the car you want but you would be better off buying cheap run around for a year.

 

[braedv]

Thanks for commenting.

The good thing is you haven't really added any power to the car and it is mostly all cosmetic.

You're right and I think some of the mods (bucket seats, suspension) may even reduce the insurance as they arguably make the car safer.

Always worth saying you got a quote with someone else, gives them something to try and beat.

What sort of figure should I give?

It is not a mistake if it is the car you want but you would be better off buying cheap run around for a year.

It absolutely is the car I want!
I have a small garage so if insurance turns out to be very expensive, I could always garage the car for a year and buy a cheap run around to get my no claims and driving experience up. Not to mention that in all honesty, as a new driver I will be more likely to make mistakes and I wouldn't want to crash my precious import! Given that the car is modified, imported (and rare, even somewhat so in Japan these days), I wouldn't feel too bad about sticking it in my garage, covered. Am I right in assuming that the value of these cars (even heavily modified) is likely to increase as they get rarer?

 

[jay-young]

I insure my 100 Chaser through Brentacre. I think most places will laugh you out of the place because this is your first car so you have basically 0 experience.

That being said, Brentacre allow all none performance based modifications with no bearing on your premium. I'm 28 and have daily driven mine with mods declared for the last 2.5 years. Insurance is around half what you're being quoted.

 

[KillboSlaggins]

I had my s13 during my first year of driving almost 3 years ago. Declaring the modifications added like £150 I think, no power modifications like you. This was my 3rd car in my first year of driving so I'm not sure how much difference that'll make.

Try all the modified specialist insurers and I'm sure you'll find one at a "reasonable" price

In hindsight though, it makes sense to get an accurate quote before you buy a car

 

[braedv]

I insure my 100 Chaser through Brentacre. I think most places will laugh you out of the place because this is your first car so you have basically 0 experience.

That being said, Brentacre allow all none performance based modifications with no bearing on your premium. I'm 28 and have daily driven mine with mods declared for the last 2.5 years. Insurance is around half what you're being quoted.

Thanks for your comment but unfortunately Brentacre require you to have held your license for at least 12 months.

 

[braedv]

Adrian Flux have quoted me £4,100 with all the mods declared. I didn't tell them that I'd had another quote elsewhere as I wasn't sure on a believable figure. I feel inclined to ask them how I could bring the figure down (immobiliser, tracker etc).

A few things i noticed on the quote:

• 5,000 miles max - pretty low...
• Comprehensive cover - third party would probably suffice
• £0 voluntary excess

 

[Driftben12]

Your better off ringing around and declaring everything mod wise (if your able to afford the insurance).
my advice is to go get yourself a little cheap shed for a year or so to get a bit of road experience under your belt before you jump into your chaser. if you have an accident in the first year kiss having anything "quick" good bye for a while lad!
just my two cents

 

[braedv]

Your better off ringing around and declaring everything mod wise (if your able to afford the insurance).
my advice is to go get yourself a little cheap shed for a year or so to get a bit of road experience under your belt before you jump into your chaser. if you have an accident in the first year kiss having anything "quick" good bye for a while lad!
just my two cents

I appreciate your two cents, and I think this is what I may have to do. I have a garage so I can store the Chaser there where it will be safe and dry. I knew this wasn't a good time to import but I really liked the car so no regrets . Do I need to be aware of anything while it's sitting? Just start it every couple weeks and let it idle long enough to recharge the battery?

 

[Driftben12]

Has your garage got any power? id try and keep damp out as much as you can and maybe also try and clean and underseal the thing as soon as it arrives. This shit box of a country's weather consumes standing cars.
Also a nice air freshener wouldn't go a miss while you sit in it and make drift noises while its idling a nice service while its in the garage if your spanner handy.
its a good project to get and id look at it as an investment for the time being.

 

[Blitz.]

declaring mods on my JZX100 actually lowered the quote. I'm with Adrian Flux and declared all the mods the only catch is that I've got limited miles. And it's not really much of a catch as I don't drive far.

How I found out was before I imported the car I called around to get an idea what the ball part figure would be for a bone stock X100. Once I had a good idea I bit the bullet and bought the car. Flash forward to a few days before collection I call up AF give them all the same info and also give them the list of mods and shockingly it was lower.

I think it's important that AF is a broker so a middle man. So with mods it went to a modified car specialist.

 

[braedv]

Has your garage got any power? id try and keep damp out as much as you can and maybe also try and clean and underseal the thing as soon as it arrives. This shit box of a country's weather consumes standing cars.

My garage has power but it's small and keeping damp out is going to be hard. The door doesn't seal particularly well and I'm renting so there's nothing I can do about that for now (besides put some cheap/old duvets along the floor or something?). How much is undersealing likely to cost at a local garage? The garage is small so I'd have to pull it onto my "drive" (single parking space in front of the garage ) to work on it which is fine and has plenty of room!

Also a nice air freshener wouldn't go a miss while you sit in it and make drift noises while its idling

Hahaha, I absolutely will sit in it, revving and making drift noises lol

a nice service while its in the garage if your spanner handy.
its a good project to get and id look at it as an investment for the time being.

I'm having the owner change all the fluids so it won't need much of a service. Interior will be valeted ASAP.
I also think it's a nice project and an investment!

 

[braedv]

declaring mods on my JZX100 actually lowered the quote. I'm with Adrian Flux and declared all the mods the only catch is that I've got limited miles. And it's not really much of a catch as I don't drive far.

How I found out was before I imported the car I called around to get an idea what the ball part figure would be for a bone stock X100. Once I had a good idea I bit the bullet and bought the car. Flash forward to a few days before collection I call up AF give them all the same info and also give them the list of mods and shockingly it was lower.

I think it's important that AF is a broker so a middle man. So with mods it went to a modified car specialist.

Haha I bet you were happy to find out it was lower. Do you mind me asking what you pay?

 

[Japtorque]

declaring mods lowered mine , uprated brakes is always a plus , even if its just pads that counts as uprated, your gonna stop quicker
get a trickle charger if your gonna store it , and top it up once a month so its fresh. if your importing they drain the battery before shipping so you may need a new battery anyway if it won't charge back up after draining.
the big sting will be from import fee's and tax . you mentioned 10k FOB so be prepared to pay a good 2.5k in fee's when its landed

 

[braedv]

declaring mods lowered mine , uprated brakes is always a plus , even if its just pads that counts as uprated, your gonna stop quicker
get a trickle charger if your gonna store it , and top it up once a month so its fresh. if your importing they drain the battery before shipping so you may need a new battery anyway if it won't charge back up after draining.
the big sting will be from import fee's and tax . you mentioned 10k FOB so be prepared to pay a good 2.5k in fee's when its landed

Well, seeing as I'm storing the car, I have plenty of time to work on it and uprate components. Anything else that would help lower price?
Cheers for info regarding battery. Is it alright to leave fuel sat in the tank for a long time?
The car was £7k in Japan. Export and shipping was £2.9k. Tax will be around £3k
I see a lot of cars for sale in the UK at a much lower price than my total of £13k, but they just aren't the same for me. I'll post pics at some point!

 

[Japtorque]

I agree, nothing beats a fresh import, then you can wrap it up every winter when they start salting the roads (thats when I pull mine off the road) I find out from my local gritting teams twitter account , I guess it depends on where you live but mine started gritting NOV 18. should be done by mar/apr ?

your car will arrive with minimal fuel, they don't want all the cars full of fuel on the boat . but it smells like race fuel as the jap fuel is a lot better than our crap!
you wanna use V-power or tesco 99, you probably know this already! .
I normally keep little in the tank and add a fresh jerry can when I get it back on the road and then head straight to the petrol station to add some fresh stuff.
if it comes with an aftermarket ECU get it mapped right away, I had detonation occurring due to advanced timing when I got mine mapped, and it was way overfuelling too for some reason , probably just a bad mapper in japan, not sure but worth a check. stock ECU should be fine on 99 fuel

 

[braedv]

I agree, nothing beats a fresh import, then you can wrap it up every winter when they start salting the roads (thats when I pull mine off the road) I find out from my local gritting teams twitter account , I guess it depends on where you live but mine started gritting NOV 18. should be done by mar/apr ?

I hadn't even considered this. Do they not grit the roads in Japan?

your car will arrive with minimal fuel, they don't want all the cars full of fuel on the boat . but it smells like race fuel as the jap fuel is a lot better than our crap!
you wanna use V-power or tesco 99, you probably know this already!

Is our V-Power and Tesco 99 comparible to the Japanese fuel? Are they the best we have?

I normally keep little in the tank and add a fresh jerry can when I get it back on the road and then head straight to the petrol station to add some fresh stuff.
if it comes with an aftermarket ECU get it mapped right away, I had detonation occurring due to advanced timing when I got mine mapped, and it was way overfuelling too for some reason , probably just a bad mapper in japan, not sure but worth a check. stock ECU should be fine on 99 fuel

Thanks for sharing - I believe I'll have a stock ECU so I'll see how it runs.

I'm so excited

PS: Thanks for the advice so far everyone. I wasn't expecting such friendly responses!

 

[Japtorque]

happy to help
your living the dream with a car like this at your age , especially for your first car !

- I believe they don't salt the roads, they use more advanced methods,

- not sure if 99 is comparable to the Japanese fuel as all blends are different , but I accidentally started filling up with 103 race fuel at silverstone. it was £3.20 per litre ! so I didnt put that much it about £20, but it did smell just like Japanese fuel , a kind a sweet clean smell. the smell lasted even after I put another £50 worth of local council pop in there.

- stock ECU's are fine , its just the aftermarkets that can be tuned wrong sometimes. unless is was done at TOP SECRET or a HKS main dealer , somewhere reputable like that.

Good luck with it all , do you have someone to wire up the fog light and get it through an MOT ? if its decatted you might wanna get a freindly MOT place , although a 93- 95 era import is a non-cat test so it should sail through emissions no matter what exhaust it has !

and us throw up some pictures lad ! I wanna see it

 

[braedv]

happy to help
your living the dream with a car like this at your age , especially for your first car !

Thanks man!!

- not sure if 99 is comparable to the Japanese fuel as all blends are different , but I accidentally started filling up with 103 race fuel at silverstone. it was £3.20 per litre ! so I didnt put that much it about £20, but it did smell just like Japanese fuel , a kind a sweet clean smell. the smell lasted even after I put another £50 worth of local council pop in there.

WTF that's expensive lol
According to Wikipedia, Japanese premium unleaded fuel is 100 ron.

- stock ECU's are fine , its just the aftermarkets that can be tuned wrong sometimes. unless is was done at TOP SECRET or a HKS main dealer , somewhere reputable like that.

I've asked the owner but I'm fairly sure it's stock. I'll leave it stock for now.

Good luck with it all , do you have someone to wire up the fog light and get it through an MOT ? if its decatted you might wanna get a freindly MOT place , although a 93- 95 era import is a non-cat test so it should sail through emissions no matter what exhaust it has !

I know a "friendly" place so I'm not worried about the de-cat Is the fog light something people leave on or take off after MOT?

and us throw up some pictures lad ! I wanna see it

Unfortunately I can't post anything until maybe next week as I'm still in the process of buying
I promise I'll link the owner's instagram and post some pics here!

 

[Driftben12]

I know a "friendly" place so I'm not worried about the de-cat Is the fog light something people leave on or take off after MOT?

Id recommend using one of your two reversing lights as a fog, at least that way you dont have to fix a horrible bastard fog light onto your bumper somewhere.
have a switch in the front somewhere with a switch line going to the drivers side rear reverse light. pop a red lamp in place of the clear one and jobs a gooden, a sneaky MOT acceptable fog light you dont have to worry about

I was lucky with my PS, the battery was still charged and is spot on even after 2 years after it landed, if your picking it up though defo take a jumper pack or spare battery just as JAPTorque said.

where are you based?