Fenhopper

Is it just my car, or is the drivers footwell heating a bit rubbish in the GT86? Matt.

It's just my feet that get cold, and I don't like wearing thick socks and big boots, because I like to be able to feel the pedals.

It's not so much that the air isn't hot with with my car, it's more a case of poor circulation of the hot air / poor positioning of the vent in the footwell. Matt.

I think you are right, I will do that Lauren. I've been spending too much time commuting in the car, not enough time proper driving.

We live and learn.

Thanks guys, sounds like it's not just my car. Matt.

Thanks for your reply Church. Unfortunately, I didn't get any sort of print out following my wheel alignment (which I was slightly miffed about), not that I would have been able to understand it myself anyway! Tyre size is standard 215/45/17 on standard wheels. I think your analysis may be correct, a case of more grip to the road causing the car to 'follow' (for want of a better word) the road a bit more, and me not being used to that. I'll just have to see how I get on with it over time. Regards, Matt.

About 1500 now. I do over 340 miles a week.

I think that some of these brokers don't have good lines of communication with their underwriters, either that or they just decide they don't like the sound of your voice. Earlier this year, Adrian Flux told me that my underwriter (ERS) would not allow me to add a catback and panel filter to my car because it presented "an unacceptable risk"; so, I cancelled the policy and went through Chris Knott, declared the same mods, no probs, guess who the underwriter was? Yep, you guessed it, ERS! Matt.

I Just want to close the loop on this in case anyone else faces the same issue in the future. First of all, I have to say that National Windscreens were brilliant; after phoning them, they came out the next day to assess the issue, and took it seriously. They agreed with me that the rustling noise was coming from the interior roof lining vibrating because the windscreen was pushed too tight against it. They have now refitted the windscreen, and raised it slightly so that there is a bit more clearance between the glass and the interior roof lining - this has now fixed the problem. The guys that did the work said that they had not seen this issue before. Thanks to all that replied, Matt.

Yep, they had that. I specifically asked (I called it the surround) because last time I had it replaced (only about 3 months ago) they did turn up without it and had to come back another day.

I asked them if they had the correct 'surround' and they said that they did, but I may have used incorrect terminology. What does the seal kit consist of? Thanks.

In the end, I went with Chris Knott. They were able to beat the best quote I got online, and their service so far has been excellent; fast and professional. Obviously, you don't find out how good your insurance broker is until the day you have to make a claim, but at the moment I highly recommend Chris Knott (if they are able to insure you). They have insured me with the same underwriter that I was with under Adrian flux, but with a better policy (with mods) and at a lower cost. I think Chris Knott must be a fairly small brokerage; I haven't had to wait in any long queues on the phone, and I was instantly transferred to the sales rep that I had been speaking with previously. All very stress free. Matt.

So I spent a bit of time on the phone today, trying to get insurance quotes for my soon to be lightly modified GT86; here's how it went: Greenlight: Polite and friendly, but wouldn't insure me, because my annual mileage is greater than 15000 miles. Chris Knott: Quoted price was 'OK', quick to quote; they are in contention. Prestige: Polite and friendly, but took ages to get me a quote, and when they did, it was way too high. Brentacre: Polite and friendly, phoned back with a quote quickly after I'd filled out my details on their web site. The quoted price seemed good, significantly better than the quote from Chris Knott, but did not include a courtesy car for accident repair; this is probably a deal breaker for me. I'd be very grateful for any more insurance company/broker recommendations. Thanks in advance, Matt.

Agreed, and a lot of people seem to have been compelled to post reviews on Zenith!

This evening I got a really cheap quote from a company called 'Zenith', but the online reviews for them are dreadful; however, this 5 star review for them was particularly amusing: "I don't even have a licence and they never checked and gave me fully comp cover even though dvla have revoked my licence due to my mental health. They are so lovely on the phone and even when there's no money in my bank they still keep me insured and speak to me like I'm royalty. Due to them insuring me I won't ever be pulled over for no licence....happy days"

Thanks for that. I'll give them a call in the morning.

Hi all, I feel that I should be polite and introduce myself after having made a number of posts on this forum now. I'm Matt and I live close to the Essex/Cambs border. My GT86 is a red 14 plate, which at the moment is completely standard. I bought the car two years ago with less than 5000 miles on the clock, I've now gone past the 37000 mile mark; the car is my daily driver and my commute is a 68 mile round trip. I have some minor modification plans for the car over the next few weeks which are, upgraded tyres (probably Yokhama Advan 105's), a resonated cat back, and a performance air filter (when my insurance is sorted). Hopefully this will be enough to satisfy my modification itch for the time being. Regards, Matt.

I took out insurance for my bog standard GT86 through the Broker Adrian Flux in January. They set me up a policy with a firm called Equity Red Star, and assured me that I would be able to add vehicle modifications to the policy for a small fee at a later date. So the day came (today) when I wanted to add modifications to my policy - catback and air filter; here is the sequence of events that followed: 1. Phoned Adrian Flux to enquire about adding the modifications. Put on hold for >15 mins. Had to end the call. 2. Emailed Adrian flux to enquire about adding the modifications. Email response from Adrian Flux stated that my policy doesn't allow for modifications and I'd have to cancel my policy and take out a new one if I want to add the after market exhaust and air filter to my car! 3. Phoned Adrian Flux to find out why my policy doesn't allow modifications when I was specifically told that it did when I bought it. Transferred to another department, after ~15 mins waiting on hold, ended up back at the same department and had to go through the story again! Put on hold for a further 5 minutes (BTW these are not free calls), told I had no option but to cancel my policy and buy one that is £150 per annum more expensive! Asked what had changed since January, or was I sold the policy under false pretenses? Was told that they would find out and call me back; they didn't call back. Obviously I'm pretty pissed off with Adrian Flux. The company generally seems to have quite an amateurish feel to it when you call them, the frontline staff sound very junior and unsure of themselves. I'll probably put the modifications on hold now until the policy expires in January. I'd be grateful for some recommendations for my next insurer; I'm 43 and have never made a car insurance claim. Thanks for reading, Matt.

Result: Adrian Flux have now agreed to pay me a full pr-rata based refund and waive all cancellation fees including the cancellation fee to the underwriter (Equity Red Star) as soon as I notify them by Email that I would like to end my policy. This is a satisfactory conclusion for me, but it's a shame that I had to argue for it when they were clearly in the wrong. I will now be spending some time getting insurance quotes. Thank you all for your interest and supportive messages. Matt.

Sorry Dan, it was just bad luck that they called at the one time of the day I was away from my phone. I will make sure my phone is with me for the rest of the day at all times until 5pm. Regards, Matt.

Agreed, and thanks for the advice on contacting the underwriter directly. It's all a bit baffling to me, I only want to add a catback and panel filter, I'm 43 years old and have never made a motor insurance claim since I've been driving. Others appear to have far more extensive mods on theit 86's with the same underwriter. Matt.

Update on this: Adrian Flux did phone back; the person that I spoke with gave two different reasons for the modifications being refused in the same conversation. I was told that the terms of the policy changed during the year, then I was told that the salesman wasn't trained properly and sold me the wrong policy, clear as mud! I stated that I felt I had been mis-sold the policy, the young lady that I spoke with said that I wasn't mis-sold, the terms changed; I then pointed out that I was never informed that the terms could change regarding modifications, so I still think I was mis-sold, I didn't get an answer to that. I received an Email from Adrian Flux today which stated that if I cancelled the policy, then they will offer a pro-rata based refund and will waive their cancellation fee; however, they say that I will still have to pay the cancellation fee to the underwriter (Equity Red Star). Summing up I think it's all a bit shabby, I don't see why I should have to pay for their mistake/mis-selling/incompetence. Sorry if I'm boring you all to death, but writing it all out on here is like a therapy session for me. ;-) Regards, Matt.

PM sent. Thank you.

Thanks for the recommendation. Unfortunately, my car is worth well under £20k now.