That is the norm. I value my car at £500, it is the second smallest engine available and is in the cheapest insurance group available, a year ago i was paying £1200 for 3rd party fire and theft (the cheapest form of insurance) i could not afford to insure it for a year but 3 months ago i had to get insurance so went to the same company, with 4 years no claims, and they wanted £1800 for it. In the end as per with top gear, i simply lied about my job as my job has nothing to do with them, they can get fucked, and got insured for £550 ,still more than the car is worth. Yet bizarely i requested a quote for a 4 liter supercharged V8 jaguar i have my eyes on and they only want £1200 fully comprehensive. UK car insurance is utterly fucked.
Oh, and being that this was based on them jut wanting to rape us for every penny we have, if you own a car, the claimed that too many people were driving uninsured, i wonder why, so they changed the law so that instead of just paying road tax and not insuring or driving the car, unless you declare it SORN (statutory off road notice) then you HAVE to insure it. So even if you are not driving your car because you work arou/nd the corner from home, you HAVE to have car insurance even if you do not use your car. Some people have the luxyary of a driveway that they can leave it in and declare it SORN, most don't. I had to sign ownership of my car to my parents so they could keep it at their house SORN because i oculdn't afford to insure something i wasn't using.
I can honestly say i would run around the city naked with airhorns singing and dancing if someone managed to blow up parliament while they were in session. We need us a modern day Guy Fawkes, and we need him quite desperately. Please "arab terrorists", given how much they want us to think you exist, one of you pick up a bomb and fuck them at their own game! David Cameron and most of the government should face public torture and exceution and i would be the first to subscribe for a Sky premium tv package so i could watch it, hell, i'd rent a limo to go see it in person. And i'm the least violent person you're likely to meet.