007 supercars a double no-no, say insurers

Prince Harry and the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge, Kate and William, arrive at the Royal Albert Hall in London last night for the world premiere of the new James Bond movie 'Spectre', in which Daniel Craig plays 007 for a fourth time

James Bond might get the sort of company cars that most of us can only dream of, but it seems that he would struggle to get insurance for them.

A UK insurance company, Privilege, decided to work out the premium it would charge him for cover on an Aston Martin. It was uninsurable.
Privilege said: "Mr Bond is often involved in high-speed car chases, providing cause for concern about his road safety and significantly increasing his propensity to crash.
"His cars often have specialist modifications such as ejector seats, machine guns and even amphibious capability, all of which pose a significant risk.
"He is always on the vodka martinis, which causes concern that he has a lackadaisical attitude to drink-driving.
"Can a spy actually give us his real name? If not, he would be committing insurance fraud by providing a false name on his application."
The Telegraph also decided to compare the fictional world of James Bond to that of a real-life operative in Britain's MI6.
Two current M16 officers - "Kamal" and "Kristy" - said that being a spy was far a more mundane affair than the 007 movies suggested.
For one, Bond, and all the true-life men and women who work for MI6, are not "secret agents". They are intelligence officers.
Another is the "double 0" prefix, the licence to kill. "Absolutely not," said Kamal.
" The methods 007 employs - crash-banging across cities in both hemispheres - is entirely misleading."
Yet some myths turn out to be true.
The Chief is still known as "C" and is the only person allowed to sign papers in green ink. The gadgets and innovations department depicted in Bond as "Q" branch really exists.
"The fact we need to ensure we continue operating in the shadows means we wouldn't dream of having anybody like Bond in our organisation," Kristy said.