Adrian Flux

We get many visitors to our website who are searching for the guys over at Adrian Flux.

If you have found Homeapproved on your way over to obtaining a competitive quote from Adrian Flux, please don’t don’t forget to like us on Facebook!!

Final Post for 2009

This will be the last time that the Homeapproved team will be blogging this year!

Many thanks to all our readers who have visited our blog and the Homeapproved UK Car Insurance website.

Our last few posts both here and on the main website have tried to drive home the need for all motorists to drive sensibly and safely over the Christmas and New Year period.

We look forward to hearing from many of our regular readers next year (and new readers) on all matters motoring and insurance.

Have a great Christams and cracking New Year!

Safe motoring

Regards

Homeapproved Car Insurance Team.

Swinton Specialist Car Insurance

Swinton car insurance always deliver a competitive quote for motorists across the UK by searching the top UK car insurance companies. They can save you money by offering you up to a massive online 25% discount. However, not alot of people realise that they can also help if you drive a specialist classic, performance, modified or imported vehicle.

The company can help if you have unique requirements. Their specialist team are dedicated to getting a great deal for you. They understand the market and will recommend the policy that best suits you.

In particular if you have a car with modifications. Unlike many insurance companies, they can arrange like for like cover for modifications and it won’t always affect your motor insurance quote. Swinton will consider every vehicle that’s modified and do their level best to deliver a great value quote.

Importing a Car into the UK – 90 Second Guide

This week we focus our 90 second guide on the subject of importing a new car into the UK. Bringing a vehicle into the country really took off around 10 years ago when all the rumours about rip-off Britian and unfair pricing began to circulate. By using the power of the internet to locate a suitable vehicle, smart buyers dismissed their local dealership and headed of to the EU to save hundreds if not thousands of pounds.

This quick guide will assist you in understanding the legal requirements of importing a vehicle into the UK. All the relevant information can be found in greater detail on the Directgov website – Importing a Vehicle. 

There are procedures you will need to go through and documentation you will need to obtain to register an imported vehicle. If you intend your vehicle to be permanently kept/used in Great Britain (GB) it must be registered and taxed as soon as possible after it arrives in the country.

The vehicle should not be used or kept on public roads until the registration and vehicle tax formalities have been completed.

However, if the vehicle needs to have a single vehicle approval (SVA) or MOT test in order to be registered, the vehicle may be driven to and from the pre-arranged test appointment. Thereafter, the vehicle must be kept off the road until the registration formalities have taken place.

Grey Import
If you have found a car of interest but it has the tag ‘grey import’ this means that the vehicle has never been Type Approved for Europe. Be aware, though, you may have to carry out some small jobs to make the car UK roadworthy.

Registering a previously used vehicle
As part of the registration process, DVLA will need to be sure that an imported used vehicle, that is less than 10 years old meets both European Type Approval standards and UK Construction and Use and Road Vehicle Lighting legislation.

Cars, motorcycles and light goods vehicles first registered in another European member State will need to have a certificate issued by VCA under the Mutual Recognition Scheme. Larger goods vehicles will need full UK Type Approval before they can be registered.

Adrian Flux Babes!

One of our favourite insurers Adrian Flux (Specialist Car Insurance provider in the UK offering quotes for all risks including hot hatch, modified, american, kit cars, etc..) recently launched the Flux Babes website.

The ‘Babes’ are the promotional girls for Adrian Flux Insurance Services. However unlike most promotional girls who are hired from model agencies, they all work for the company in various roles, including renewals, customer service, underwriting and marketing.

Click through to the Flux Babes site where you can read all about the various girls, see hundreds of their pictures from various shows and photoshoots, and watch their video.

Guide to Car Insurance Groups and Ratings

UK insurance companies, brokers, providers and intermediaries take advantage of the car insurance group ratings system to provide the correct level of motor insurance.

Group ratings are purely advisory and insurers put car models into twenty groups. This means that each model of car can be accurately banded with cars of similar characteristics. 

Insurance bands are used by many car insurers as just one of the many input factors in calculating premiums. As such, they can provide a useful indicator of the likely relative cost of insuring a particular vehicle. Insurers are not required to follow the advisory group ratings.

The factors used to calculate group ratings are:

Damage and Parts Costs
The likely extent of damage to each car model and the cost of the parts involved in its repair. The lower these costs, the more likelihood there is of a lower group rating.

Repair Times
Longer repair times mean higher costs and the greater likelihood of a higher group rating. Different paint finishes on modern cars are an important factor. These, too, are taken into account

New Car Values
The prices of new cars identify the higher specification models within a model range.

Body Shells
The availability of body shells (the basic frame of the car) is taken into account in group ratings because they are essential for certain accidental damage repairs.

Performance
Acceleration and top speed are important factors. Insurers know very well, from their claims statistics, that high performance cars often result in more frequent insurance claims.

Car Security
Security features fitted as standard equipment by motor manufacturers can help to reduce insurance claims costs. Such features include high security door locks, alarm/immobilisation systems, glass etching, coded audio equipment, locking devices for alloy wheels and visible VIN numbers.

If you’re looking to save money and get a cheaper car insurance premium, it’s worth thinking about how the insurance group your car is in affects your car insurance premium. Cars in lower insurance groups attract a lower premium, so it’s worth understanding how insurance groups work.

For more information on how the insurance groups are worked out you can visit Motor Insurance Information sheet, provided by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Asian Motor Manufacturers Gather Momemtum

Driving on UK roads over the last 6-12 months I have noticed a number of attractively styled, impressive looking saloons, sports car and 4×4’s. On closer inspection these vehicles proudly display their manufacturers badges:

• Kia
• Hyundai
• Daihatsu
• Proton
• Ssangyong

There can be no doubt that Asian car brands have been experiencing strong growth in the UK, at the expense of more well known, trusted? auto brands.  The combination of high specification, improved quality and designs that appeal to European tastes, have made Korean vehicles more attractive to consumers.

However, these companies are not blazing a new trail. Think back to the mid-to-late 1960’s and early 1970’s to conjure names such as the Datsun automobile marque, Nissan and the first Toyota’s on UK roads.

This well trodden strategy of continuous, incremental improvement pioneered by the Japanese is now being brought to bear in the UK, EU and US by progressive, dynamic Asian motor manufacturers.

Just this week Chinese cars also took a step closer to Europe with the granting of European Type Approval to the Landwind X-Pedition.  This 4×4 copy of a 20-year old Vauxhall Frontera is the first Chinese car to get full approval in Europe. It will face the New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) crash test early in November (2007), with the first right-hand-drive sales in the UK slated for next September (2008).