That festive time of year is nearly on me again, the one where I get to fork out a load of cash to the insurance broker.
Only this year, I'm looking at buying a second car to use for commuting as I've bought a house much further from work than I was previously (I've escaped to the country!), and the commute from that distance in the ZS was averaging a tank per week, ~250 miles (urban rush hour traffic).
So, I've been looking at economical diesels
, particularly ropey old Saab 9-3 1.9 TiDs, but with my no claims tied up on the ZS, the insurance policies were coming out at >£800. "Hm", I thought, "thats a lot of petrol."
Then I thought, as the ZS is now 10 years old (04 plate mk2), "I wonder if this qualifies for a classic policy?". Gave Peter Best a call, and yes, it does! (just!). For a 5000 mile, SD&P (i.e. no commuting) policy, they quoted me £106!. A hundred and six quid! Best bit, as classic policies don't generate or require no claims, it frees up my NCD to use on the policy for the commuter car, which has halved the insurance quotes I'm getting for that. Result!
Moral of the story, if your ZS is only doing a few thousand miles a year (5000 miles is the maximum I could get on the policy), it might be worth your while to investigate a classic policy for our (regrettably ageing) cars.