jagman

On further investigation ; the company were NOT repeat NOT legitimate , the owner has trousered the money around 3000 policies @£440 each and done a bunk, leaving a trail of marketing companies chasing their money! the zurich insurance co are I believe still honouring the policies as a gesture ,as I was informed the owner was an ex employee. the Police are now involved and investigating and in hot pursuit ( that means they havent left the canteen yet ,and he is away like a long dog- on a beach someplace) I have informed the FSA and you lot now . I make that 1.32 million less some initial outlay!

I have tried contacting the FSA to find out if this is kosher or not , as either way people would need to know, all they could tell me was that under the names that I gave them they were not registered , So I say to them "this is a scam then" they replied that under the trading names I gave them they are not registered , but they may be registered under another trading name so may be ligit, also they could be operating under another larger insurance co who are regulated , but have some sort of "approved" agents under their FSA registered number- So that didnt help then! But they have already issued insurance certs as I have seen one , these may or may not be just paper? IF its that easy ive got loads of paper and a printer , I can insure your single supra for a quid ,underwritten by my great uncle Bulgaria.....in turn underwritten by ... So still open verdict on this one

CJ - I dont know is the simple answer , but I suspect yes just buy 2 fixed policies? I still dont know 100% that it is real , it does seem radical for insurers I hope it is... I think a call to the FSA is required , but if they are advertising in max power every man, and his dog ,and his dogs best friend is going to want to know about it and every shitbox fiesta/corsa/uno/ group 1/2 insurance car will be worth less than a skip!!!

the zurich thing is on the cert of ins I have ,and I was passing on what I was told , It could all be an elaborate scam but I would not think it would be that hard to find out ,couldnt someone call the fsa? or indeed zurich ins?

there are undoubtedly better insurance policies out there if you can afford them but for those who cant? the real test of insurance is when you claim,and I for one have had major grief from some big insurance companies.there have been a number of supras crashed on the board how many had a trouble free claim with the existing insurance companies?how many have been sneaking into garages having to remove exhausts etc?how many got a fair value for the car?how many are still waiting settlement?how many are in fact not insured because of undeclared mods? is your car insured when off road at a car show for example? or not parked up in a garage at night,or perhaps your alarm is not thatcham ,this is the situation at present that the insurance cos have put us in and we all play the game

FSA/BIBA would not allow a company to become underwriters an "do a runner" jazz1 what exactly was the size of wager that it is a scam?

apparently you all seem to base a companies validity on the quality of their website,surely if you wanted to scam people- easy just have a fantastic website! you lot would be hooked:) on the certificate of insurance I have here it states Zurich insurance co is a ltd co registered in the canton of zurich no CH-020.3.583-0 uk registered branch in england BR105 authorised by the financial services authority no 207639 enquiries tel08000887584 should not take much to verify that. eeasy brokers is the trade name of double easy brokers ltd reg co number 05885504. as to weather you can buy back your car after it is written off I dont know you would have to ask them, but who on here know what exactly is the situation with that under your present policy,who in fact has read their present policy? Why has no one heard of this yet? because its new i guess and I just happened accross it in advance and thought I would give people the heads up on here . It could be a scam but I dont think so,it would not take much effort to find out one way or another,

I suggest you look in the spirited driving section and then blame the 17 year olds:)

continued ; private domestic,social & pleasure use only to from work included, DOES NOT COVER commercial activities,racing,competitions,track days,4x4 off road events, does not cover airport aprons,use by motor trade,or hiring. NO requirements for thatcham alarms,NO requirements for garaged at night, windscreen covered subject to £500 excess,hi fi covered to a max of £500 , legal cover to a max of 10 times the car value or £50000 max. NO cover of vehicle if being towed or on trailer, CAR INSURED FOR MARKET VALUE or new car of same spec,so yes you can have mods without loading but they only pay market value on claim less £500 excess, NO postcode loading its a fixed price policy,NO import car loading, they will have a claim line number on the website and claims settled same as any other insurance company. They are clearly targeting the younger / modified market as oldies like myself would not really benefit except for paying for the kids insurance:) they expect the youngsters to use them for the first few years then move on to other insurance companies for NCB when they are older,or for modified/import cars ,all in all a result for some and a major result for others.

UPDATE, sorry I cant be arsed to reply to PMs so I will just put on here what I have found out today , Firstly it is not a scam ,(am I the bringer of good news or what?) The underwriters were until 2 days ago eeasy brokers and zurich insurance 75/25% but eeasy brokers have bought out zurich insurance 25% so now 100% eeasy brokers , they are new to car insurance underwriting having been shipping/boat underwriters before,so its a new field for them,I passed on to them that the website looked a bit pikey ,(your comments ) and they have changed it .I spoke with their company rep/marketing chap and explained that most would find it too good to be true , he replied that fixed price policies are not new and many countries like the US have had this for years and it is only new in the UK and that people would soon get used to it,however they are FSA /BIBA REGISTERED and would be putting that info on their site The policies are £275 TPFT AND £440 FULL COMP , The maximum value of car is £16000 , NO restrictions on modifications ,NO restrictions on age ,NO restrictions on vehicle, TPFT UK only COMP covers all EU countries,only DRIVER covered and ONLY on the insured vehicle ,£500 excess MANDATORY. NO restrictions on points,however you must inform them if you gain more points (as we all will) there is no "no claims" scheme -its a fixed policy

I will certainly ask any and all questions put up and would suggest he put all the answers on his website as if the questions you ask would be asked by the general public as well ,so it would make sense for him to put on the web . thinking about it is £440 that cheap or is it we are all just so used to getting ripped by insurance that it seems to good to believe? strikes me that every big city I go to the biggest and best skyscrapers are all owned by insurance companies yet they constantly tell us about massive losses on earthquakes/tsunamis/landslides/floods/terrorism etc etc

track day insurance as well! you are taking the piss,but I will ask ,also for europe wide cover which I doubt,I will also ask about agreed values but I suspect it will be book values,how would you value the modifications? especially as most of them are done with second hand parts-well on this board they are:) pikeys

I know of a MINI cooper S engine that ran 430bhp on stock internals -then the head flew off through the bonnet due to head bolts stripping-but the bottom end did not fail!

The owner is an ex met policeman -so it could be dodgy:d only joking officer

I believe they have issued policies already but not on line yet as it is a new company I will find out more

Mista v - as an underwriter how exactly do they assess risk and premiums? if this happens surely all the insurance companies will have to re think policy? it does sound too good to be true-but so did flying to spain for a tenner seven years ago

I am meeting with the owner of the insurance company tommorrow afternoon so If anyone has questions please post up and I will try to get the answers but so far it looks promising-got to say I wish I had thought of it! As soon as I heard about it I thought I would post it up as there would be a likelyhood of interest(understatement of the year)

I think this post may generate some interest,I have been contacted by a new insurance company that will insure your car on line -nothing new in that-BUT they are doing a fixed price cover for £440 fully comp ,ANY age ANY mods,ANY car as long as its under £16000 value , NO loading for points on licence,only the driver on policy and a fixed excess of £500. the website is new and still under construction and change but is now live and telephone number is fax, they are going to advertise in max power but I have given you the heads up in case your policy is due renewal http://www.4allinsure.com they are underwritten by ZURICH insurance and had a feature in that well known mag insurance monthly! this I think will shake up the insurance market . 1st sept is the launch date for the site on line I will post up more details as I know them

It may be worth checking the propshaft center bearing ,grab hold of the prop next to it and give it a good shake

The porting on the cooper s head alone gives about 16 hp the other 16 hp is from larger valves,but the original head is a poor design,the original post said the head was coming off anyway so the cost of removal is there anyway,what the exact gains are ported or unported are a bit of an unknown until someone does dyno testing pre/post porting I suppose only then bang for buck can be established,bear in mind the quantity of product already being sold with claims of power increase,and the troubles gone to in order to get more air into the engine ,surely the faster you can scavenge exhaust gasses the better. I dont really think a whole bank of gauges is good value for money who can look at them at full tilt,and engines fail despite having them. Dandan the works conversions are very costly for what they are ,the supercharger they replace is identicle and it only the pulley size that varies so you pay for a charger unnecessarily ,the head is only cnc machined at the outer edges of the port and not into the ports,valves/cam all remain stock,the manifold/exhaust combo is mild due noise constraints and the airbox only comes in after 4000 rpm but they sell the shit out of the conversions due warranty fears and very good marketing,they even offer upgraded injectors to 380 cc which we have tested at length and found NO benefits from except pub bragging rights! Badge engineering again ,the stock cooper s is 163/170 we often get 240-275

a couple of psi is a whole world of heat,I know the americans dont go a lot on porting the supra head but I dont understand why,once upon a time it was the starting point of any tuning ,yes factory heads are better but not perfect,I am a believer in treating the engine as if it is an air pump the more air through by any means = more power,just add fuel and in the case of the supra lots of it:d the by product being heat which tends to bugger everything it touches,its more complex than than this but this has always worked for me

Interesting Digsy that you consider it a waste of money to port/polish/cc/skim the head,surely if the point of fitting cams is to flow more air then why not allow the head to do the same?would not better flow through of air move heat out of the head,would not increase in flow/heat spool the turbo faster?the cc ing would make sure that each chamber gives similar power accross the engine,and a skim if necessary to ensure it is straight/true.multi angle valves may be of dubious value but the width of the seats could be of value.We often fit ported heads on the cooper s (supercharged) and show an increase of 32 bhp over stock,and an equal gain in torque,the head on gamers car was done and that seems to make good torque numbers

Hi Gaz,Im sure the hks unit works well enough and is good value for money,and it sure would make sense for Japanese cars in Japan to use locally sourced products with local backup,would it not make sense for us in the UK to do the same when we have a wealth of tuning experience ,I dont advocate motec as the "must have " or HKS "dont touch". http://www.dtafast.co.uk is another local source for engine management and mapping and not that expensive,and very good.My own preference is to whenever possible use UK specialists and suppliers,and have someone on the end of a phone who can help and is interested to help as it is their product with the problem or difficulty,with some of the larger generic tuning houses I doubt it is so simple.I would be the first to admit my knowledge of ECU mapping is limited but its always nice to "know a man who can":d

when in come to electronic items especially critical electronic items the selection of components is critical ,the tolerance on each item ,the ability to cope with temperature variations,vibration,humidity,dust,static build up,and compatiblity within circuits/chips and heatsinks and voltage stability. any of these and more can cause failure or glitches ,just look at your average home computer which just locks up and requires rebooting. If this happens in your zillion pound race car -you just lost! all the preparation up to the race wasted. Motec hand pick components and im sure they are hand soldered circuits as this is the best way of assembly ,the japanese flow solder everything and keep costs down, great,but there will always be failure problems not an issue if its your camera or Hi Fi,more concerning if it is your life support machine!.this is one of the reasons the Jap HI Fi dont compare with the high end British stuff but are affordable.What exactly do HKS know about electronics?and do they build in house?strange their expertise stretches to turbos,and exhausts,and plugs,and instumentation and.....What do motec do...engine management/data systems for race cars full stop.I believe you get what you pay for and if you want the finest go to a specialist in that field.

very nice results you must be pleased,interesting comment about the limitation of 600 bhp with stock head,I think more is possible but not without failures,I am suprised at the amount of people tuning the supra for big power without porting/polishing/cc ing the head as this can up the airflow upto 15% or more,and reduce cylinder/valve temps dramatically,seems to me that losts of effort and cash spent getting lots of cold air to the engine and from the engine but when it gets to the engine just cams and or big valves done.surely the faster that you can get air through the head the better.Motec has to be the way to go .