Hi all, just wanted to vent a little.
First of all, insurance in Canada is different from province to province so I don't expect many people to share my frustration, but it is really wearing my patience thin.
Let me begin by describing the car in question:
In 2009 I purchased an e30 touring from a couple in Alberta. They had imported it around 2006/2007 but didn't drive it very much. It only had 80k km on it and it was an auto. The paint was tired, but a very cool blue (lazur blau). It already had ACS type Is on it. No rust.
After purchasing the car I had it insured and registered in my province and started to sink money into it. The list includes:
- respray oem lazur blaue to freshen the paint
- recaro cloth seats
- mtech II alcantara wheel
- s50 swap
- CAI
- 5 speed swap (ZF)
- Borla Cat back exhaust
- Alpine head unit and infinity speakers and subwoofer
- z3 torsen LSD
- new coils and plugs
- wilwood 310mm bbk (not yet installed)
plus other routine maintenance.
So, I was getting excited to take it out of storage when spring finally hits, so I was going through my folder of BMW related things. I noticed on the insurance policy that the VIN didn't look quite right. I checked it against my bill of sale and noticed that the VINs were different. I immediately called my insurance company and it became evident that when I originally got insurance whoever I dealt with could not figure out how to enter an import VIN into the system so he or she just put in a different vin number. Not sure how the hell that would have held up in an accident!
SO, I give them the correct vin number. They tell me that the VIN number is not a North American vin. I say "no shit". I have told them this is an imported BMW from Japan, thus, it would not have a North American VIN.
They tell me that they can only search NA VINs to confirm if it is valid. SO, I contact BMW and get a printout that confirms that the vin I am presenting to them is a valid vin number belonging to a 1990 e30 touring.
They send that to their underwriters and it comes back as a "no, we cannot confirm it is a NA vin, so we will not insure it"
I spoke with some friends who have imported skylines about their insurance. They gave me a name of a company and agent that they deal with.
Went through the same process with them, and they are reserving coverage until I can present them with a qualified appraisal and inspection of the vehicle, but are still having issues with the vin (apparently because it somewhat follows the same format of NA vins- same length, where as other imported cars they have dealt with are shorter vin numbers)
Anyways, long story short, this is eating up a shit ton of my time to figure out and it has got me wondering if it is worth it all. Anyone else have any similar stories or any advice? (other than "give me your s50 swapped touring and be done with it") At this point I'm still not 100% sure I will be able to insure it in the spring.
First of all, insurance in Canada is different from province to province so I don't expect many people to share my frustration, but it is really wearing my patience thin.
Let me begin by describing the car in question:
In 2009 I purchased an e30 touring from a couple in Alberta. They had imported it around 2006/2007 but didn't drive it very much. It only had 80k km on it and it was an auto. The paint was tired, but a very cool blue (lazur blau). It already had ACS type Is on it. No rust.
After purchasing the car I had it insured and registered in my province and started to sink money into it. The list includes:
- respray oem lazur blaue to freshen the paint
- recaro cloth seats
- mtech II alcantara wheel
- s50 swap
- CAI
- 5 speed swap (ZF)
- Borla Cat back exhaust
- Alpine head unit and infinity speakers and subwoofer
- z3 torsen LSD
- new coils and plugs
- wilwood 310mm bbk (not yet installed)
plus other routine maintenance.
So, I was getting excited to take it out of storage when spring finally hits, so I was going through my folder of BMW related things. I noticed on the insurance policy that the VIN didn't look quite right. I checked it against my bill of sale and noticed that the VINs were different. I immediately called my insurance company and it became evident that when I originally got insurance whoever I dealt with could not figure out how to enter an import VIN into the system so he or she just put in a different vin number. Not sure how the hell that would have held up in an accident!
SO, I give them the correct vin number. They tell me that the VIN number is not a North American vin. I say "no shit". I have told them this is an imported BMW from Japan, thus, it would not have a North American VIN.
They tell me that they can only search NA VINs to confirm if it is valid. SO, I contact BMW and get a printout that confirms that the vin I am presenting to them is a valid vin number belonging to a 1990 e30 touring.
They send that to their underwriters and it comes back as a "no, we cannot confirm it is a NA vin, so we will not insure it"
I spoke with some friends who have imported skylines about their insurance. They gave me a name of a company and agent that they deal with.
Went through the same process with them, and they are reserving coverage until I can present them with a qualified appraisal and inspection of the vehicle, but are still having issues with the vin (apparently because it somewhat follows the same format of NA vins- same length, where as other imported cars they have dealt with are shorter vin numbers)
Anyways, long story short, this is eating up a shit ton of my time to figure out and it has got me wondering if it is worth it all. Anyone else have any similar stories or any advice? (other than "give me your s50 swapped touring and be done with it") At this point I'm still not 100% sure I will be able to insure it in the spring.
