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Will a modified Morris Minor be difficult to insure?

I've come across a garage that specialises in selling Morris 1000. They also improve/modify them by fitting disk brakes, brake servos, Inertia reel seatbelts etc. The garage in question is https://www.morrisminor.org.uk/cars-for-sale. Would this type of vehicle be difficult to insure from the start, as well as difficult to change insurers each year (as I do presently) to find savings? Am I right in assuming that each modification would reduce the value of the car?

Asked on 19 February 2018 by Dr G Simmons

Answered by Keith Moody
There's a lot of elements to this question, so I'll do my best to answer them - although some answers will depend entirely on your own personal circumstances. Let's start with the garage - this is Charles' Wares Morris Minor Centre. World-renowned and long-established, you're in good hands. Next: 'modifications'. These are really just improvements to either make the car safer (eg disc brakes, seatbelts) or more able to keep up with modern traffic (1000cc engine). A Morris Minor with these kind of upgrades shouldn't present too many problems - although you'll need to let your insurer know. Is buying a car like this a good idea? Depends entirely on how you want to use it. If you want to take the family out and drive on a motorway, most people would consider seatbelts and better brakes a positive. And, crucially, you're not putting extra stress on the car by, for example, fitting a V8 that will put a big demand on the transmission and the shell. While there will always be a hardcore of buyers who aspire for originiality at any cost (and yes, they probably still do run a minor on crossply tyres) many Moggy owners will have made similar upgrades themselves so I don't think you'll reduce the value of the car (unless the upgrades are garish or in bad taste.... like taking all the paint off the roof to give it the rusty rat look). Finally to insurance savings - classic insurers each offer different policies with different levels of cover. As such, it's hard to find 'like for like' quotes. We'd always encourage shopping around at renewal time, but we often found that 9/10 our existing insurer was still the cheapest.
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