Import insurance in 2025

[Duncan]

So it looks like Lumleys are closing other than in Victoria, with the kind offer that another brand from the evil IAG multi-glomerate (NRMA) might offer insurance under their price and conditions if they want to, as an alternative.

Lunmleys was good for us because they covered JDM and USDM imports, had 2 car "stable" insurance (ie, insure many cars but max of 2 can be driven at once), covered mods, reasonable overall prices.

So, with them gone, who else should I consider? Shannons is last on my list, we used to be insured with them until we found they were helpful at taking premiums but much less helpful at claim time.

[Duncan]

sorry, "info" from Lumley here: https://www.lsvcarinsurance.com.au/about-nrma-insurance

[r32-25t]

Enthusiast is another popular one, got a quote through them still undecided if I want to swap to them yet 

[GTSBoy]

I stick with Shannons through inertia and because they had to accept some things about insuring my car that they didn't really want to, but had to when their parent absorbed my previous insurer and forced me into their portfolio. I might struggle to convince anyone else to take that on for the moment.

[Kinkstaah]

I am stuck with enthusiast and very unhappy, even though Lumley, Shannons and Famous are all options, they all require a lock up garage, and my situation (basically a walled off compound from the street) is insufficient because the car is under a carport. I'm confident to resolve the situation I need to build a roller door with fascia in-front of my roller gate which is a solid opaque metal rolling gate.

In any other universe moving the roller door 2 meters in-front of the garage door would still constitute the same amount of security but oh no. My insurance rates suck to the point of when I joined a market research for Enthusiast they were all surprised that I paid about 2-3x what other people were paying with Enthusiast when I asked them why their rates were so high. If I lie about having a garage, I save like $10 a month with enthusiast.

(It's about $2600 p.a for 5000km of driving for a very unsustainable agreed value).

Lumley has terrible reviews but @Duncan made me consider calling them when renew time came up - but their horrible reviews plus Christmas time made me... forget.

[joshuaho96]

2 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

I am stuck with enthusiast and very unhappy, even though Lumley, Shannons and Famous are all options, they all require a lock up garage, and my situation (basically a walled off compound from the street) is insufficient because the car is under a carport. I'm confident to resolve the situation I need to build a roller door with fascia in-front of my roller gate which is a solid opaque metal rolling gate.

In any other universe moving the roller door 2 meters in-front of the garage door would still constitute the same amount of security but oh no. My insurance rates suck to the point of when I joined a market research for Enthusiast they were all surprised that I paid about 2-3x what other people were paying with Enthusiast when I asked them why their rates were so high. If I lie about having a garage, I save like $10 a month with enthusiast.

(It's about $2600 p.a for 5000km of driving for a very unsustainable agreed value).

Lumley has terrible reviews but @Duncan made me consider calling them when renew time came up - but their horrible reviews plus Christmas time made me... forget.

This is less than what I pay and garage storage is required still but my age is considered too young for the value of vehicle. I'll probably renegotiate insurance on this car soon considering how little I drive it.

[Murray_Calavera]

3 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

Shannons require a lock up garage

True, but they can be flexible. 

I was at a property for a couple of years without a garage and we worked around it by parking the car in the backyard under a car cover. The car was not visible from the front of the property. I don't know if you can work some magic like this at your current place?

I only have great things to say about Shannons. 

[Kinkstaah]

For both insurers I took floor plans and detailed photos showing the location from the street. They agreed that it was not visible from the street (nothing is, it's a completely opaque solid fence controlled by electric gates that people CONSTANTLY state they cannot access to deliver shit).

There's basically a garage door or solid wall around the entire property line. They even agreed that if I put another roller door in they would consider it, in the same sentence agreeing it wouldn't make it more secure.

Prior to this I had Shannons at my previous address - Their policy was over double what Famous were at the time. I'm a guy in my 40's with no licence suspensions (no demerits at all) and no claims. They just don't wanna know about it/don't want the business.

[soviet_merlin]

Looking forward to see if you can find something decent Duncan. I'm with Enthusiast. They seem happy enough to take my money but I have never claimed. I'm also also not convinced they would pay. Because, as per their PDS:

Quote

We will not pay any claim on a Vehicle with any Modifications not
agreed by us and not listed in the Schedule.

This includes any Modifications or the fitting of a device that
contravenes the requirements of the Australian Design Rules [ADRs]
or where allowed, the Australian Vehicle Standards Rules [AVSR].
These modified Vehicles must also comply with the applicable
in-service requirements of the AVSR, or any of the general safety
provisions. Compliance with the AVSR also means compliance with
the equivalent regulations of a State or Territory of Australia.

I've ECU, exhaust, intake, intercooler, engine, turbo, fuel system, radiator, brakes, suspension and wheels listed on the insurance policy. But none of it is engineered or formally signed off. I presume that makes it not comply with ADRs. Because anything that might get defected goes against those rules, right?

 

Their other gotcha is parking on the street at home. Which is probably fine, but still.

Quote

We will not pay any amount if the incident occurs when your
Vehicle is regularly parked on the street overnight at your place of
residence on more than 2 nights in any one period of a week being
7 consecutive nights.

 

Overall,

+ Can set salvage rights on the policy

+ Able to list modifications

+ Agreed value insurance

- Question mark on whether they would pay a claim. The terms seem to hedge against it.

- Only listed drivers on the policy are insured.

 

I treat and drive the car like I am not insured.

[r32-25t]

A thing I wasn’t happy with with enthusiast was during the initial phone call they told me they’d insure it for 130k but needed photos.
 

I then sent them photos and they told me $80k as there were other cars either similar modifications available for around that price, I told them to send me the links to said cars so that I can buy them.

i then sent the modification list with prices of the parts (no labor) and the price then came to 115k, which is still shy of the 130 that was agreed in the initial phone call 

[MBS206]

My stuff is all with Shannon's, granted, I don't really have imports I'm driving on the road, however, I've had multiple cars at the same time with them.

Presently we have the Landcruiser on laid up cover, Sarah's Kluger on full cover, and the house insured.

About 18 months ago Sarah wrote her Subaru Liberty GTB off, insured with Shannon's, and the payout, and buy back of the wreck was super quick.

In 2020 we had the VF Commodore totalled in a major hailstorm. Storm was on the Saturday, I called on the Sunday and lodged it, vehicle was towed on Tuesday night, assessment team called on Wednesday to say it was a total loss and get payout details, money was in the bank on Thursday morning.

Have had a few other claims both at fault, and not at fault, over the years, and never had an issue with them.

 

Funnily enough, they're also the cheapest insurer I find for things like Sarah's Kluger.

 

I will say I'm less impressed dealing with them lately around "the experience", as a lot of their staff that you deal with aren't car enthusiasts. Shannon's has a much more main stream feel ever since they decided to become "big corporate", laid a heap of staff off, and then hired a bunch of non enthusiasts. At the same time they've been making a push to be less "call us and we'll personally have someone who cares help" to "hey, this computer can do stuff for you" and are trying to get more square pegs to fit round holes. (That's just the vibe I get from them). Again, have had no issues with claims with them, but get a bit of a "less personal" feel from them.

[Duncan]

9 hours ago, r32-25t said:

A thing I wasn’t happy with with enthusiast was during the initial phone call they told me they’d insure it for 130k but needed photos.
 

I then sent them photos and they told me $80k as there were other cars either similar modifications available for around that price, I told them to send me the links to said cars so that I can buy them.

i then sent the modification list with prices of the parts (no labor) and the price then came to 115k, which is still shy of the 130 that was agreed in the initial phone call 

I had the same previously, and it really shits me. They just run off red book averages or whatever as the maximum insured, there are never good quality cars available to buy for anywhere near those prices.

I don't even understand why they do it. Sure having a customer overinsure then false claim is a risk, but how often does that really happen in the world, 1%? 0.1%? On the other hand, all 10-20% above redbook listed prices and charge 10-20% higher premium, surely that is more profitable for those cockroaches

[Kinkstaah]

The max they would go for me is 50.

[silviaz]

On 3/10/2025 at 12:19 PM, r32-25t said:

Enthusiast is another popular one, got a quote through them still undecided if I want to swap to them yet 

Yep. @Duncan also shannons they will rip you dry and will be probably limited on how much you can drive. Also keep in mind that you always have to have it garaged with Shannons, with enthusiasts as per their PDS you can have it 2 times per week on the driveway for example. 

Edited 19 hours ago by silviaz

[silviaz]

9 hours ago, Duncan said:

I had the same previously, and it really shits me. They just run off red book averages or whatever as the maximum insured, there are never good quality cars available to buy for anywhere near those prices.

I don't even understand why they do it. Sure having a customer overinsure then false claim is a risk, but how often does that really happen in the world, 1%? 0.1%? On the other hand, all 10-20% above redbook listed prices and charge 10-20% higher premium, surely that is more profitable for those cockroaches

Because it is financially convenient for them lol. Why wouldn't they want to give you the lowest possible valuation for your car?

Edited 19 hours ago by silviaz

[MBS206]

1 hour ago, silviaz said:

Yep. @Duncan also shannons they will rip you dry and will be probably limited on how much you can drive. Also keep in mind that you always have to have it garaged with Shannons, with enthusiasts as per their PDS you can have it 2 times per week on the driveway for example. 

I've not had issues with this for Shannons.

It has been many years since I had a Skyline insured, but had things like the XR6T, and Subaru Liberty GTB. The most restrictive I've had is that it couldn't be parked on the road.

[silviaz]

18 minutes ago, MBS206 said:

I've not had issues with this for Shannons.

It has been many years since I had a Skyline insured, but had things like the XR6T, and Subaru Liberty GTB. The most restrictive I've had is that it couldn't be parked on the road.

Ah ok, I called a while back and they told me that. From memory I couldn't see anything in the PDS but I called just to ask questions.

[GTSBoy]

Shannons absolutely require Skylines to be garaged. And I guess anything else that they feel has a higher theft interest level than less .... wantable? .... things like Falcons and Libertys.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Here's the thing, has anyone actually put in a claim?

I am with Enthusiast too, however technically our cars aren't 100% road legal. In the event something happens, would they just go "oh stiff shit lad, yeah nah, your car isn't road worthy, we ain't paying you a cent"

That's what I'm afraid of, even though I've listed all the mods on the policy (max out the box).

[Milkmun]

That's the worrying thing about Enthusiast, haven't heard many if any claim stories.

Whereas Shannons you do, the good and the bad. I'm with Shannons and with my premium going up every year, I've been tempted to call around but just haven't out of pure laziness and the unknown.