Hi all,
Apologies if this post is possibly not in the right section, seems I dont have permission to post in all forum areas and this was one that seemed near in terms of subject.
I just bought a Tourneo - 9 seater, (8 + 1 driver seat) on eBay - so far looks to be a good van but the thing that has my reeling is the insurance. Managed to get a quote that is just about manageable (albeit albeit double my car policy fee) for this year from the very helpful Connect Insurance in Stoke-On-Trent. This year I just have to take it on the chin - I should have done my homework way better in terms of how much it would cost before buying the van. But I cant keep paying this sort of annual renewal so my plan is potentially:
- Remove the rear 3 seat bench (just like its *designed* to do)
- Get the V5C back to DVLA with section 7 requesting a change to both number of seats and Body Type to 6 and VAN respectively (supported by photo evidence, covering letter etc.)
- Re-insure this time next year as a van for hopefully way less money and aggro.
Just wondered if anyone had been down this road before me and had any advice / experiences to share please?
DVLA say on the phone that it doesnt sound unreasonable, but each case is decided in its own merit. A couple of the insurance companies I ran this past said it would probably then be considered as a 'modified' vehicle which might cause difficulties/extra cost when re-insuring. Some even suggested that I might have to get a 'professional' to weld the holes up in the floor once the seats were gone just to prove that it wasn't just me pulling a fast one to get the insurance down and then putting the seats back. Sheesh.
What really gets me is this vehicle is basically just a Transit with windows instead of panels as far as I can see. Removing the rear seats is a procedure actually documented in the owner's manual and just involves a Torx tool to undo the bolts and a couple of hefty folk to handle the 89kg bench lift-out. No angle-grinding, no welding - just as it was designed to do by Ford.
I guess the safest option would be to just wait till my current minibus policy is about to expire, whip the seats out, play the DVLA game above and then hit up the insurance companies to see what happens. And if they all say they cant insure it, then I put the seats back, re-re-classify it at DVLA and go back to being a pricey-to-insure minibus. Or flog the van, which'd be a shame. All in all its a headache and I could do without having to find space for storing a 3-seat bench in case I need to go back as above.
So just wondered if anyone had been here before me and had any words of wisdom, thanks in advance for any help or info.
Cheers
David