Re: Insurance rates + Euro/US Naming

[Andy Yule <yuleat@prl.philips.co.uk>]

Chris Ice (cmice@mke.ab.com) wrote:
>
> When pricing out different insurance companies for my 90Q, I heard something
> very interesting.  Was wondering if anyone can comment...
>
> While searching through his risk rating book for the above car, he found the
> Audi/Quattro section and asked "Is this a CS?".  I said "No, it's a 90Quattro,
> no turbo."  He mumbled to himself, and I think this is what he said, "Doesn't 
> matter, they all have the same rating anyway..."
>
> Is there any truth to this?  Could I have gotten a 20V and not paid any more
> in insurance???
>

Well, insurance is probably a bit different in the UK, but initially I
had the same problem with my Coupe Quattro 20V - the insurance company
assumed it was the same as THE Quattro (20V or 10V does seem to
matter).  In fact, only considerable agitation on my behalf led to
them to recheck and realise that they'd made a mistake.  It seems that
very few understand that there are Quattro variants of all Audis, so
the Q word causes them to go beserk!

You may be interested that in the UK, most insurance companies work on
a risk rating scale of 1 to 20 (for the type of car).  My Coupe
Quattro 20V is rated as 16, whilst a "proper" Quattro would be rated
as 20.  Strangely, the 90Q (which is pretty much the 4 door equivalent
of my Coupe) is rated by most insurance companies as 17 or 18.  This
is all the more strange when you consider that the S2 is also rated
as 18.

BTW I thought I understood the differences between the European and US
names for the Audis, but now I'm not so sure.  Am I right in assuming
that the 4000 is effectively the same as a European 80 (4 door,
largely 4-cylinder car, squarish in shape 'til about 1987, more
rounded since then), whilst the 5000 is a European 90 (much the same
as an 80, but with mainly 5-cylinder engines and higher spec)?

                    Andy Yule

------------------------------------------------------------------
yuleat@prl.philips.co.uk  ----  Philips Research Labs, Redhill, UK