insurance bum rape.

[EssDeeWon]

Flux were great when I was about 21, insuring me on anything from a Golf GTi to a Rover V8 but there is no way I would use them now. Despite being much older with full NCB they now try and take the piss with ridiculous quotes on stuff worth bugger all. Just dont get it...

[Skoze]

Agreed, as a yoof Flux are great for me. 3 litre Capri insured with them, tuned to 160bhp at the wheels, £350 fully comp. 

 

The concept of being charged to cancel always baffles me, unless the extortionate fees are on pay monthly policies, why would they charge at all...? You're paid up, and you're saving them money by not being a risk anymore. 

[alf892]

I think they all got big by being good and probably had genuinely enthusiastic staff................then they sell out to some mob who operates massive call centres whose only interest is maximising profit from each customer.

 

Sometimes these big ones wise up when profits drop off........in my experience Direct Line have done this and really upped their service level although others will no doubt have a different experience.

 

I'd really like to use a small firm where I had to call in their office in town.............but I probably helped kill off such businesses when I started shopping to absolute minimum price..........

[brickwall]

Aye, flux back in the day was the place to go, even with the weirdest of cars. Now, I'd stay clear.

[barefoot]

I have recently moved from direct line to an Aviva multi car policy. At renewal, we'll see how much use that really is. Suspect that LV, the old Liverpool Victoria is also a decent company to deal with.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Well....I got an Email this afternoon, informing me that I will be refunded approx £250. Not the £40 that I was told yesterday.

Funds have not appeared in bank account yet so I'm not going into celebratory mode just yet.....

I wonder if some kind of Autoshite mojo has affected Lancaster towers.

[Uncle Jimmy]

The net result is I've signed up with 'A-plan' who actually have a man in an office in Cheltenham nearby.

[eddyramrod]

All insurers are shit.  Swinton gave me the best quote I could get on the Vectra, but it still doubled the purchase price.  Fucking arseholes.  Direct Line?  Not if they were the last insurer on Earth, I'd rather walk.  They criminally undervalued MrsR's Proton when it was smashed up by a third party.  Tesco?  Don't get me started, shit doesn't even begin to describe Tesco.  Avoid at all costs.

 

Insurance is not a topic calculated to cheer me up.  Ever.

[andy18s]

I insured the Disco when we were still at the old house in N Shrops,£250ish all in with The Co-op

Now we've bought a house in N Staffs,I called up to swap the details over

They only wanted to increase it to over £800 !!  Wouldn't give a reason why either...

Whilst I was having a heated discussion with the phone operator,I must have mentioned that I wanted to swap the vehicle as well

When I gave her the details of the Rangey,she said they were unable to provide cover for it at my location and would therefore have to cancel the policy....

She wasn't very subtle in her tone of voice,but it was clear she was trying her best to help me out of the policy

Especially when she told me that there would be No cancellation fee,as it was the Company who were unable to help

Could have been worse,so I kept my mouth shut for 5 mins whilst the operator went through the motions...

 

Ended up going with Lancaster,reasonable price but with a higher excess than most other companies

 

I've got the Iveco covered with A Flux and got a good deal I think

I'm obviously using my NCB on the Range Rover and thus was expecting to get fecked over for the van

Flux came up with an offer to mirror the NCB onto the van,even though I don't have any other dealings with them

Less than £200 makes me a v happy chap !

[brickwall]

Yep, logic also flies out the window with these people. Are there any industry insiders on this forum? I have some questions.

[Bren]

Pete Best were recommended but trying to get through to them would need the resources of GCHQ.

[Keymaster]

Pete Best once took my money but didn't actually bother to insure me.

 

A month or so after I paid them, I realised I hadn't been sent a certificate so checked askmid and then had a very heated discussion with them about what could have happened if I'd crashed/car had been nicked/pulled by the bizzies/tried to use the breakdown service etc.

 

They eventually located a record of the transaction & blamed the error on losing the paperwork during an office move.

 

To be fair to them they did give me a very healthy discount to apologise for the fuck up & that in turn set a renewal baseline no other insurer could get close to for years!

[Justin Case]

 

I'd really like to use a small firm where I had to call in their office in town.............but I probably helped kill off such businesses when I started shopping to absolute minimum price.

.....

II do exactly that, I use a small independent brokers (CJN in Tenbury) who  I chose because they had an advert for traction engine insurance in their window. They have an office with real people behind the counter who also answer the phone. They even automatically check with different companies at renewal time and let me know if they can reduce the cost . Fortunately I haven't had any claims since I've been with them but I'm sure that the service woould be equally good.

Only snag I can find is that they deal with a limited number of classic insurance so quotes aren't too competitive for some cars and there is a minimum age of 15 years, which rules out some of the newer clasics

[barefoot]

Are there any industry insiders on this forum? I have some questions.

 

In another lifetime, I was the man from the Pru and wrote motor insurance from a very simple rate card.

I had a book full of cover notes and everything.

Every van on the planet was rated group two (of nine) & they never charged any kind of admin fee for anything.

My commission was 10%.

[fairkens]

Yep, logic also flies out the window with these people. Are there any industry insiders on this forum? I have some questions.

I'm in house Legal Counsel for an insurance co, so might be able to answer some qs, I don't know much about motor underwriting though

[Christine]

Chuffed i went with Avivva a month or two back. Not the cheapest by any means , but if i change the cento sporting to the Baleno  (for sale on here)  or Honda hrv in a months time ,and sell on the Suzuki , its free of charge and both cars incur no additional premium !! 

I just checked in "My Avivva " !

[Clanger]

American system works well.

 

However, my 1987 Renault, valued at $1600 costs about $960 a year to insure fully comp, on a bundle plan with miles limited to 7500.

 

Is not without that caveat.

 

Phil

WTF?  We have three cars, no mileage restrictions, fully comp and it's about $100 less than you're paying for the year.  The 62 VW Bug is on a classic policy with 6,000 miles, again fully comp and is only $120 per year.

 

There is no such thing as an "American system" as this is essentially fifty countries kinda sorta united under a federal government.  I couldn't tell you the particulars of how it works here on the lefty coast, but the vehicle must be insured in order to get your registration tags (same as road tax), drivers are added on a named basis.  You can of course get insurance, get registration and then cancel your insurance as quite a few people do... Not sure how it works in other states - I think there are some places that include a basic insurance along with registration.  Apparently the following states do not require a vehicle owner to carry insurance:  Virginia, New Hampshire and Mississippi - that's sorted that out, I am steering well clear if I see one of those fuckers on the road.

 

Here in the sunny part of the country you can be "self-insured" by posting a cash bond with DMV in a minimum amount of $35,000