thatcham security and insurance

[fidoe]

hi guys,

i'm renewing my insurance at the moment and have been quoted a variety of prices, with the lowest being £697 (nearest offer to that was around £900). However, they stipulate i must have thatcham level 1 or 2 security fitted and i currently only have the factory fitted alarm/immobiliser. Can anyone tell me how much i should look to pay for a thatcham alarm (inc fitting it) and whether it is really worth it?

cheers
John

[Jamo]

Yes they are worth it but only if fitted correctly!

If i was you i'd pay Alastair C to fit a toad AI606 cat 1 alarm and then have it inspect for a certificate as he did a cracking job on the one in my motor.

Your looking if you go to a main alarm place maybe £250 fitted but you can pick up the alarms themselves cheaper than that and have it fitted.

[dan_b]

You should get one for sure as Jamo says - you could also consider a Tracker system as these have come down hugely in price recently and give you significant reductions in premiums too.

[LHD_Kid]

I worked in the insurance industry for a number of years, despite what people may tell you, a Thatcham approved alarm will not necessarily make your quotes cheaper, but many companies will not quote at all without one.
A tracker , on the other hand, is a pro active unit to help locate your car, and therefore means it affects your premiums.
I would still have an alarm fitted on mine, as it is convenient for closing windows, locking everything, etc, and will give me advance warning if there is a problem on my drive or in my garage. If an alarm goes off in public, most people walk past thinking 'another alarm going off for no reason', everyone except the owner ignores it...!

[Alistair C]

Totally agree with what Chris has said about the most useful thing being the convenience thing.

Tracker is, IMHO an essential for high risk cars like Imprezas, Evos, new Rangies, Mcars Scars etc, but the beauty of the S2 is that no-one knows / values it enough to want to nick then that much. As such, I recon its a bit overkill for a std S2. An alarm will norally imply theres enough work involved to deter an opportunist.

For my current £600 monster, I'm going with a Thatcham 3 - a mechanical lock. It's enough to stop an opportunist but without the expense of having an alarm fitted.

Having said that, I'm still contemplating a Toad for the convenience thing. And then maybe transfer it to the next (3rd!) S2 when it comes along. Especially if it has had a Clifford shoddily fitted as most of them seem to be!

For info, you should be able to get a transponder type Cat2 for about the £100 mark. I had a Clifford IntelliKey2 and I actually liked that.

[Jamo]

I worked in the insurance industry for a number of years, despite what people may tell you, a Thatcham approved alarm will not necessarily make your quotes cheaper, but many companies will not quote at all without one.
A tracker , on the other hand, is a pro active unit to help locate your car, and therefore means it affects your premiums.
I would still have an alarm fitted on mine, as it is convenient for closing windows, locking everything, etc, and will give me advance warning if there is a problem on my drive or in my garage. If an alarm goes off in public, most people walk past thinking 'another alarm going off for no reason', everyone except the owner ignores it...!

The thing i found with trackers is, the amount it reduced my quote by was the same as the damn annual fee for the tracker

A one off fee is about £500.....

If you know of a good tracker then post up.

[s2driveruk]

i have 2 immo's - could never see the point in an alarm for exactly the reason u mentioned - nobody gives a toss when one goes off.......the number of times i have been asked to start my car by garages re-assures me its not going to go anywhere quickly. I figure the car will be trashed by a thief anyway (broken window, forced entry marks, broken cowling around the steering lock etc - but at least it will remain stationary.

I have a toad and was £130 fitted 6 years ago in addition to the spyball which was already on the car. A tracker is the only think I would replace with but they are so expensive

[s2avant95M]

The factory fitted alarm/immobiliser is Thatcham Cat 1 Approved, well my one certainly is. There is a thread on here somewhere about it from last year. I will try and use the search feature and find it for you.

[dan_b]

RAC TrackStar is now down to £399 all in

http://www.ractrackstarplus.co.uk/

[Markarina]

RAC TrackStar is now down to £399 all in
http://www.ractrackstarplus.co.uk/

All EXCEPT subscriptions, and even though you can move it from vehichle to vehicle, you can't get a true life time subscription, you can only get duration subscriptions, which are for as long as you own the vehicle, not transferable between people or cars.

[rotoryboy]

RAC TrackStar is now down to £399 all in
http://www.ractrackstarplus.co.uk/

Yep but that is plus

Annually £120.00 (inc. VAT).
The subscription Charges can be paid for in one of the following ways:

* Monthly by direct debit £10.00
* Quarterly by direct debit £30.00
* Annually by direct debit £120.00
* Credit/Debit card £120.00 annually
or
* Duration £325.00 (inc. VAT) payable by Credit/Debit Card only

[Alistair C]

The factory fitted alarm/immobiliser is Thatcham Cat 1 Approved, well my one certainly is. There is a thread on here somewhere about it from last year. I will try and use the search feature and find it for you.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news - but no factory fit alarm / immo on the S2 is thatcham approved. You may have convinced your insurer, but unless it is on the Thatcham 96-page compliance list, it isn't approved.

http://www.thatcham.org/security/pdfs/compliance.pdf

Every system is re-evaluated and even older Clifford & toad alarms are now being de-listed - (both concpt 50 and Toad ai600 are now no longer valid)
The link above lists all approved systems - both original fit and aftermarket.

[fidoe]

guys, thanks for all the advice here. seems like maybe the best option is to go for something like the toad AI606 cat 1 alarm, tracker seems a little expensive for me right now.

any advice on where best to get one fitted? I'm based in central london but am working out in Dublin monday to thursday hence only around at weekends to get this done...

cheers
JF