The day is finally here for me to collect my MK Indy RX-5 kit car kit from MK Sportscars. I ordered my kit on 02 Nov 21 and was emailed by Neil on 14 Apr 22 – so just over 5 months from ordering to be ready.
I had watched the weekly MK Sportscars YouTube videos with interest to gradually watch my name get higher and higher on the list each week. It worked out in the end that I went up roughly 1 row per week but occasionally 2 rows. It took about 10 weeks to go from the bottom to the top of the list for me.
I arranged a collection date with Neil. I decided I would collect the kit myself rather than getting MK Sportcars to deliver it – which they can. It would be a 350mile round trip and MK Sportscars charge £1 per mile, so it would have cost me £350 for them to deliver to me.
Van Hire
I decided to hire a Long Wheel Base VW Crafter Van from Sixt which was a very competitive price of £152 for a 2-day hire with unlimited miles. For most other hire places it was over £200 for the same size van. I collected it the night before the trip and then dropped it off the morning afterward. This meant on the day of the collection of my kit from MK Sportscars I didn’t have any constraints on van hire time.
The Journey
I managed to enlist the help of my best mate Dave to share the driving to MK Sportcars. We set off at 06.00hrs on the day of collection with an empty van. I had put in a bag of dust sheets, towels, ratchet straps, and tape to help secure everything on the collection.
We had a really good run including the obligatory stop for coffee and a bacon butty on route. We arrived at MK Sportcars just before 10am in the end. Neil greeted us and made us a cuppa straight away. After chatting randomly about cars for a bit and after Dave gave Neil a few tips on car wax application for the Carhackians feature, we set about packing the van. My mate Dave is a detailer so check him out at Silicone Valet on Facebook. I settled up the final bill with Neil after adding some MK Sportcars merch to the bill.
It turned out that there was plenty of room in the van. We probably could have got away with the standard length version instead of the long-wheelbase version we had. But I would rather have more space than struggle to cram it all in. Simon also popped over (as he lives local to MK) to show us his finished K20-powered MK Indy. He also kindly gave us a hand to pack the van. It was great seeing his car finally finished. I saw it in the early stages of the build when I went for a test ride a few months before. Once we were packed and after the obligatory ‘thumbs up‘ photo for MK we set off for home.
We arrived back mid-afternoon after another good run-through. The van was soon emptied into the garage and garden shed with help from my son. We had to avoid opening every box otherwise we would have been there a very long time! 12hrs after we had set off that morning we were back home with the kit all safe and sound! What a great day!
Kit Insurance
Before I collected the kit I made sure that I had kit car insurance in place. This was to cover the journey and the build itself. Before the kit is registered you can insure it on the chassis number. Neil provided this to me before the collection day. I looked for recommendations on the forums and A-plan Thatcham branch kept coming up time and time again. I gave them a phone and spoke to Richard who was brilliant. He clearly knows a kit car from a daily driver! Richard was polite with good conversation and was enthusiastic. He made the whole experience a pleasure – not normally something I say about getting insurance quotes!
I ended up with build-only insurance. This covers the full value of the kit during transportation and the full build process for £100 per year. This does not cover me for any driving, but that can be easily added on later on. It is well worth doing and gives you peace of mind throughout the build.
Collection Timelapse Video
Summary of Build Costs and Hours
Here is a summary of the costs and person hours (total number of hours for every person that has helped) for the build so far. This should hopefully help others with the planning of their builds, by providing cost and time actually incurred for this build. A more detailed breakdown of all the costs and hours worked on the build to date can be viewed here.
| Car Build Costs This Post | |
|---|---|
| Van Hire | £152 |
| Fuel | £80 |
| MK Indy RX-5 Module 1 | £2,200 |
| MK Indy RX-5 Module 2 | £1,920 |
| MK Indy RX-5 Options | £6,490 |
| Totals | This Post | To Date | All Posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person Hours Worked | 0 hrs | 211 hrs | 363 hrs |
| Car Build | £10,842 | £12,348 | £12,342 |
| Tools / Consumables | £0 | £314 | £459 |
| Total Cost | £10,842 | £12,662 | £12,801 |
Great read love to see an update!