Salvage Rights Car Insurance – Enthusiast
The worst has just happened. Through no fault of your own the car you have washed, polished and cherished has been damaged and because parts are hard to find your insurer isn’t prepared to repair it. Worse still, if you want to chase down those parts and have the car repaired yourself, you need to […]
History of Australian Car Industry – Pre and Post 1948 – Car Insurance From Enthusiast
Some people think that Australia’s automotive industry dates from 1948 when the first Holden was built. Not so. Australia began making motor vehicles when the Nation was still a conglomerate of British colonies. One of our automotive pioneers was Victorian Herbert Thomson, who in 1900 drove his steam-powered ‘horseless carriage’ from Sydney to Melbourne. History […]
What is a Vintage Car & Getting Insurance – Enthusiast
No one alive today will have owned a vintage-era car from brand new and very few would remember even riding in a new car built before 1930. That’s the internationally acknowledged cut-off year for a vehicle to be designated ‘Vintage’. Even more exclusive are Veteran models which need to have been built before 1 January […]
Insuring Modified Cars & What you need to know – Enthusiast
You can hear it in the voices of car owners whose attempts to complete an on-line quote have been foiled by an ominous message popping onto the screen. Usually it will read something like; ‘Vehicle Does Not Meet Underwriting Requirements, Please Contact Insurer’ and translate into ‘We Don’t Want Your Hot-Rod Here’. If the company […]
Laid Up Car Insurance For Cars That Are Not Roadworthy – Enthusiast
At Enthusiast Insurance it is common to hear from car owners wanting to insure their partially restored vehicle ‘once it’s finished’. Some are quite shocked to learn they can insure practically any vehicle, even dismantled and unpainted, so long as it’s properly stored and protected against storm or malicious damage. Enthusiast’s ‘Laid Up’ cover is […]
Insuring a Hot Rod or Street machine – Enthusiast
What do you do when older brothers or neighbours return from fighting a war in Europe and bring with them a nifty sports machine that makes your hand-me-down Model A look very old and sad? If you lived in late-1940s USA you lowered your Ford as far as the ancient chassis would allow, acquired a […]
Insuring a Tribute or Replica Car – Enthusiast
Once upon a time (back in the 1990s) it was possible to see a crowd gathered around a car that resembled a Shelby Cobra or D Type Jaguar, debating whether it could possibly be the genuine article. Given the scarcity of such exotics in Australia, scenes like this were unlikely here. In Britain, Europe and […]
Insuring an Imported (Grey Import) Car – Enthusiast
During the 1990s you couldn’t pick up a specialist motor magazine or the classifieds section of your weekend paper without being peppered by advertisements featuring Toyotas, Nissans, Mazdas and other Japanese models with quite unusual names. If you wanted a Gloria, Silvia, Soarer or Starlet somebody with an import quota would sell you one. Imported […]
Should I Let Someone Drive Who Is Not Insured – Car Insurance From Enthusiast
Consider this. Just last week the car that has occupied every spare hour of your life for the past few years and most of a year’s salary finally acquired its registration plates. Today you’re headed off on a run that will include showing the finished product to a cousin who has been hankering for a […]
Cars from the 1980’s – Where Are They All – Car Insurance From Enthusiast
At Enthusiast we subscribe to a service that lists (almost) every passenger vehicle that has been officially sold in Australia since 1960. Among the earliest listings are a lot of familiar names; cars like the Holden EH, XR Fairmont, Jaguar XJ6, Mini Cooper S etc that you can rely on to appear at one or […]