rx8 insurance

[Yvonne]

Dear Sirs,
I am expecting delivery of my new Mazda RX8 (232ps) at the end of the month. In preparation I have been getting insurance quotes.  it has become apparent that the whole car insurance industry, has the wrong capacity listed for the engine.
 
The car is listed by all the insurance companies as having a 2.6L engine.  Whereas surely it has a dual rotary engine with a total 1308cc capacity (2x654cc). Have I got confused somewhere?
 
In fact when I point out the mistake to brokers they say they cannot quote me because I am obviously talking about a different car.   So I have had to agree that the capacity is 2.6L just  to get a quote but its not right.
I am concerned to take out an insurance policy where the facts are not correct.

I have emailed a few insurance companies but don\'t know what can be done.
 
Any ideas?
Yours
Yvonne Parkins.

[J4P RX]

I suspect that you will have to have it down as the 2.6, its exactly the same as we have getting RX7 insurance.  If you try and tell them its a 1.3, they get all funny and wont quote you.

You will probably have to tax it as a 2.6 also...

Cheers
Lee

[Fish]

This is due to an early agreement that Mazda came to with the DVLA when the RX-7 came out.

I think that Mazda were going try and re-agree this figure with them.

Dan

[clive]

Hi Yvonne,

I was talking with AON yesterday and they now have a couple of RX-8\'s on cover so they defiantly know about them and be able to insure you O/K..
 
Please have a look at this thread as it should more than help with your problem.

http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2268

Hope this helps.

All the best Clive
clive@mazdarotaryclub.com
//www.mazdarotaryclub.com
//www.mazdaRX-8club.com

[Yvonne]

So what you are saying Lee and Dan is that Mazda have agreed with the insurance companies that the engine is double the capacity that it actually is.
Well, I can see that the RX7 and RX8 behave more like 2.6L cars than 1.3s and I get that the insurance may need to do that to get the correct level of cover for these sporty cars.
However, the whole plan rather falls down when the brokers are saying that if the spec is incorrect, then you are not legally covered.

Are there any other strange anomolies that I am likely to come across as I move into the world of rotaries.

Y

[iaint]

Hi,

I read an interesting article trying to work out the actual equivalent piston engine capacity or the rotary engine, I\'ll try to recall the basics.  \'m sure those who know these engines well will correct the mistakes.

In a 4 cylinder piston engine only 2 cylinders fire per revolution of the crank.  So in a 2l engine 1l of work is done.

In a rotary each rotor fires on each revolution so we have 1.3l of work being done (this may be wrong as I also read somewhere that each rotor fires twice per revolution but the maths works better this way ).  Doubling the 1.3l of work gives us 2.6.

The main problem is that it\'s totally different from pistons and doesn\'t compare well.  There are enough of us insured though that the companies can\'t weasel their way out of paying up!

Iain

[Yvonne]

well one of the insurance co.s I wrote to suggested I contacted ABI (assoc. of british insurers) they tell me that it would be quite possible for an insurance co to not pay a claim based on the discrepancy in stated capacity.

I said all it needs is for the capacity to be stated as an equivelency but as it isn\'t, the cover is suspect.

The guy at ABI said that he would like a ride in the RX8 when it arrives but I told him that surely a man in his position could not risk travelling in a vehicle with suspect insurance.

they have suggested I get onto Thatcham and I will do that.

This is really a bit weird.

all the best
Y

[Yvonne]

ok it is Thatcham who are responsible for this info. i just spoke to a guy there who says that the info on the engine comes from Mazda itself and is based on the highest possible capacity of the engine which is 2.6L.

is this correct? does the rotary engine have a variable capacity?
let me know please
Y

[Fish]

It comes back to this. At any one time each rotor will have fuel in at least two of the three sides. So yes 2.6L is correct, the remaining 1.3L will be ejecting at that point.

Dan

[eddy doyle]

here in Ireland the RX8 is going to be 1744cc and thay have done the same with the RX7 from this year.

Eddy

[clive]

Hi Eddy,

Most strange, any more info on this one as l have never heard of that capacity being calculated at that figure before.

Yvonne did you ring AON and find out about problem which was gaining insurance for your RX-8 ?  

All the best Clive
clive@mazdarotaryclub.com
//www.mazdarotaryclub.com
//www.mazdaRX-8club.com

[Yvonne]

thanks for advising on AON.
I didn\'t phone them before because I don\'t keep my car in the garage and so cannot use the classic car policy. However, they were able to offer another policy but it demands the fitting of a tracker which is expensive.

Their quote was in line with the cheapest quotes I have found elsewhere but the necessity of a tracker makes the deal uneconomical at present

There answer about the capacity is that it is listed that way to reflect maximum output and shouldn\'t be problem.

all the best
Y

[clive]

Hi Yvonne,

They should still cover you if your car is just off road over night on your property , the inline with other companies quote should drop considerably if you were able to present them with a club membership number.

BTW incase you are wondering why l seem to be pushing AON it is purely because  we set up a very special scheme through them for insuring rotaries ( RX-8\'s included) and will add that most car clubs receive a remuneration in return for sending people to them ,\'\'we don\'t\'\' as this has been set up purely to give our members the best possible prices for their cars providing they qualify but l will remind every one that the quotes must be directed through Adam or Chris Jones.

All the best Clive
clive@mazdarotaryclub.com
//www.mazdarotaryclub.com
//www.mazdaRX-8club.com

[Martiny]

All this cc stuff is Bullshavings to me. If I buy a 50cc scooter, is it a 100cc if its a 2 stroke???

If I buy a 1000cc Turbo car, isnt the capacity actually more than 1000cc because I am burning more fuel than a normal 1000cc??

I think people are just jealous of the Rotary, and have to justify its superiority somehow! To me its a 1308cc and thats that! If its good enough Mazda and the Japanese registration, thats good enough for me.

[Yvonne]

I just did an online quote at esure and it was over £300 cheaper than the cheapest I had found anywhere else.
that quote is so low I am skeptical about it, perhaps I made a mistake but I don\'t think so.

I think it was them, but not entirely sure but they had the cars capacity as 2616cc which is even more odd.

Y