Our insurance for the R53 JCW was coming up before Chris Knott came on board, but Alan (The Gismo Man) gave me Tim's details and suggested I give him a call and see what he can do.

As most of you (NMS Members) know there's hardly a single MINI out there that hasn't been modified. Chili pack, bonnet stripes, optional extra wheels, almost anything makes your car "modified". The majority of the web sites - even the "we check 4 billion other sites for you" web sites are useless at being able to explain that if you add "go faster" stripes it doesn't actually make your car go any faster. So the only other option was to call some of them, on the basis that you are talking to a human and you can explain what modifications you have on your car. Even this is hit or miss. I spent 20 minutes trying to convince an Elephant that my car really DOES have a JCW kit on it and it IS an automatic transmission. He was arguing black is white with me that it's not possible to have a JCW AND and AUTO on the same car. Gave up.

Called Tim Slater at Chris Knott. He passed me on to one of his colleagues who took all my car details, knew what I was talking about, didn't argue that the car on my driveway can't exist and ended up giving me a reasonably competitive quote. it wasn't groundbreakingly cheaper, but at least I know I'm covered, all the "mods" are included and the guy didn't argue with me.

It's a bit like any other shopping experience these days.... Tesco, ADSA, Morrisons etc., are all fine and well. But sometimes you want to visit the butcher or the fishmonger for some good old fashioned customer service and common sense. That's where Chris Knott came into it for us.

Recommended!

A.