We've been with Norwich Union Direct for a few years with our 1992 Eunos. The insurance paperwork has always said "1998 MX5 Cabriolet".
1998 is the year of UK importation. I pointed this out to NU originally, but have since thought nothing of it.Whenever I use one of those inrance quote websites where you type in your car reg and it then 'knows' what your car is, they always say YofMan = 1998, so it must be something to do with the dates in the DVLA database that insurance companies pull in.
Well this year I was shopping around as the NU renewal was up £50 on last year, and the best quote I got was with the Owners Club Insurers (Aon). I had rung about 3 or 4 times to try and get NU to match, but they weren't having any. I was about to sign up with Aon, when I thought I'll just check the regn date with NU, as maybe they're insuring my car as being newer and therefore more valuable than it actually is.
Well whaddya know, it shaved £70 off the premium. I must have been overpaying for the last few years!
So my tip is to check that Year of Maufacture on your insurance schedule.
Let me know if this helps,
Dranz