Guys,

Because of our third world roads, and winter fast approaching I was considering a second car to save my bimmer. However, the problem is that the car I want to change to is a scoobie because of its power and 4 wheel drive. I've seen a nice tidy estate model, Irish car for under €7k and it suits because of it's large carrying capacity. However, insurance is the problem. I can insure the Scoobie immediately for €1,200 and the BMW for €750 separately, but I wanted to insure the scoobie now, and transfer insurance to the BMW early next year, and maybe change again at short notice, but the company in question have limited the number of transfers to one in 12 months, which is very limiting.

DO any of you guys know a company that are more flexible, and especially with higher powered cars. I cannot see what the difficulty is especially when you are limiting yourself to one car at a time, and they are given good notice of the change over. 

Try a broker in Dublin called St Pauls (at least I think they're a broker).  No contact details.

Also, if you carry passengers, check the back for legroom.  I had a loan of one a few years ago, and there was more space in the back of my Civic Coupe!

Lastly, if you have another car (wifes?), why don't you check out fleet options?

Fey,

It was more the load space in an estate that I was thinking about, because if I was carrying stuff to the dump or even loading furniture, it would be handier than using my trailer. Also the 4 wheel drive and power is a big bonus.

My missus insurance is only €300 so it isn't a big deal. I'm sure fleet insurance would be dearer than the two policies combined. I think St. Paul's are fairly saucy, and their cover is very limited.

Did you try Brittons Insurance in donegal they are good for high performance stuff..

http://www.brittoninsurance.com/ - http://www.brittoninsurance.com/

Cheers, I'll be looking at it tomorrow, so i will know more then.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I checked out the Scooby Wagon on Saturday and it's in good shape. Allianz have agreed to cover me for the remainder of this policy, ie 9 months for an extra charge of €110.00 so that is fine. I'll switch back to the Bimmer in the Spring when roads should be less crappy.

I've been told that it isn't a good idea to turn off the engine in a turbo straight away, as the turbo needs 30 seconds or so. Is this correct, and if so what damage can be done by turning off the engine too early ?.

For more about turbos, I know that it was discussed in detail on another thread (I think it's in the 5 series forum, but I can't find it).

Just remembered something:  if your insurance is on the scooby, then you can't drive the BMW under the 'driving of other cars' part of your insurance as it is registered in your name; driving of other cars only covers you for cars NOT registered to you.

Way around this - transfer BMW into your wifes name.  Unfortunatley, that adds a previous owner.

AHEALY wrote: I've been told that it isn't a good idea to turn off the engine in a turbo straight away, as the turbo needs 30 seconds or so. Is this correct, and if so what damage can be done by turning off the engine too early ?.

Turbo's generate a lot of heat when spinning.  At the end of the journey, if you just switch off, the heat soak from the turbo can only disipate in to the oil in the blower.  The heat can break down the oil and causes sludge to build up.  This shortens the life of the turbo and replacements generally ain't cheap.  Letting it spin over on idle lets the oil continue to circulate and the heat disipates more evenly, with less damage to the blower. 

The other way to achieve this is as Eamo has suggested.  In my own mind I'd be uncomfortable with that from an insurance point of view.  I'd imagine that this could be exploited as a weakness by a tea-leaf.

Ludo, If I suggest moddin' to the misses, I know i'll be the one ending up being modded/skelped. She ate the head off me when she heard I bought a second car.

Just for reference purposes a skelp is the removal of human tissue without the aid of surgical procedure .