Insurance

Message

D-Rider · #1 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:33 am

Just received the insurance renewal for the car .... bit of a shock.

No changes in circumstance this year - except that all drivers have another year under their belt (it covers me, my wife and two of my sons who are on provisional licenses).
Well Norwich Union have decided that we should be paying 41% more than for the current year!

41% uh!?

Of course, there is absolutely no explanation for this with the renewal notice.

Now although this is for the car, makes you wonder what the robbers will be doing to our bike premiums in the coming months!!

Samray · #2 Post by **Samray** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:37 am

Loyalty is penalised .... introductory come-ons are the way to go it seems.
Just check the small print to make sure the cover is comparable as you shop around.

Aladinsaneuk · #3 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:12 am

I just got the renewal notice for my Falco..... wow, holy shit batman!

was about 300 quid - new quote is £537 !!! (Sounds like the 41% you were referring to - I can't be more specific as I had two bikes under the old policy)

Best quote I have found so far is with Norwich union for £318

Rickyrock · #4 Post by **Rickyrock** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:51 am

It doesn't pay to be loyal any more, shop arround and you will save money. I bet if someone with the same circumstances as you approached NU they would get a better quote than you as an existing customer.

Get a better quote and ask them to beat it, if they don't take your business elsewhere.

It's a shame that we have to do it but it seems to be a fact of life now.

Gio · #5 Post by **Gio** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:21 am

Samray wrote:Loyalty is penalised .... introductory come-ons are the way to go it seems.
Just check the small print to make sure the cover is comparable as you shop around.

I'd agree with that.

My insurance on the GS was however £154, with BMW and I didn't get a discount, they said I'd get one this year tho (30%).
Mind you for a 12k bike its cheap IMO.

Falcopops · #6 Post by **Falcopops** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:24 pm

That is a good price Gio, but then again you are older than god

Samray · #7 Post by **Samray** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:35 pm

Gio · #8 Post by **Gio** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:14 pm

Falcopops wrote:That is a good price Gio, but then again you are older than god

Makes you wonder if God rides a bike

HowardQ · #9 Post by **HowardQ** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:18 pm

With Insurance renewals it's always worth having a good argumemt over the phone. I have had my car insurance with RAC for 3 or 4 years and had swapped my car 6 months before the end of last years policy, so did not have a 12 month figure on the new car. So before my renewal last year I did a few quotes online including one with RAC and got a figure from them of £335, which was pretty good. Got my renewal by post from RAC at £761.40 for exact same cover.
So armed with the quotes I gave em a ring and asked initially if there had been some sort of a silly mistake on the renewal quote, came back and said no, so asked to talk to a manager and had it checked again, same answer. So then explained I had obtained 3 other quotes online, mentioned the other two first (at £340 and £365), then explained how I had a quote from somebody called RAC at £335!!
After the expected "quote from who?" comment and the quote from YOU reply, I gave them the quote reference and asked for an expanation as to how how a existing customer can get a renewal quote of £761.40 but get a quote of £335 as a potential new customer online, I got a load of bollocks as an explanation. Seems that they only sample a certain percentage of renewals for better deals and just add the agreed annual increased premium. When applying on line they always sample fully! Was going to tell them where to shove it, but they came down to £330 with slightly better cover, i.e. Just under half price!
Can't wait for this years renewal in a couple of months time, but was definately worth the phone call.

D-Rider · #10 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:39 pm

HowardQ wrote:........ I gave them the quote reference and asked for an expanation as to how how a existing customer can get a renewal quote of £761.40 but get a quote of £335 as a potential new customer online, I got a load of bollocks as an explanation. Seems that they only sample a certain percentage of renewals for better deals and just add the agreed annual increased premium. When applying on line they always sample fully! Was going to tell them where to shove it, but they came down to £330 with slightly better cover, i.e. Just under half price!
Can't wait for this years renewal in a couple of months time, but was definately worth the phone call.

Any other business and Trading Standards would be unleashed!
Why do we just accept that this is the way it is with insurance?

I guess it's because we have to renew within a week or 2 of getting the renewal noitice and there's no time to take them on - particularly as without insurance you're off the road!
I guess we either pay up or, more likely, find somewhere a bit cheaper - so we then forget about it until next year - particularly as to challenge these things takes time and life's too short .............

Aladinsaneuk · #11 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:21 pm

well dust me down with glitter and call me scarlett....

just did an online quote with bennetts, owned up to my 6 points and the quote was 200 quid cheaper than the renewal notice from bennetts....

so, I called them - and we got it down to 280 for the year - not bad with 6 points and only one years NCB :)

HowardQ · #12 Post by **HowardQ** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:16 pm

So the general plan would seem to be, when you get a renewal, always do an online quote just to check, it could save you a fortune, well £331 with the same company in my case. I'd thought that mine was just a silly one off, seems it wasn't.

Goldie · #13 Post by **Goldie** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:13 pm

Got my renewal from Bennetts last week... £217.48 and that's £19 cheaper than last year. Does that make me old???

Gio · #14 Post by **Gio** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:28 pm

Goldie wrote:Got my renewal from Bennetts last week... £217.48 and that's £19 cheaper than last year. Does that make me old???

Deffo not, my son who's 24 next month has just had his renewal quote £395 fully comp for a Thundercat, which is parked in Fulham. He's got 2 years no claims.

Moose · #15 Post by **Moose** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:41 pm

You would think it was based on risk wouldn't you?

Insurance salespersons (how PC) have quota's to meet

end of the month price can be a lot cheaper than the start

A friends lad 17 CBR400 £1600 FC for the year, I checked two months later (with another company that would not touch my mates lad) for my lad VFR and CBR400 came up £800 each. My mates lad rang his insurance to cancel and take out the cheaper option and low and behold they dropped their premium to £780 for the year, obviously the two months riding experience made the difference

Not all crooks carry a swag bag

How much do you save with your Thatcham approved alarm??
according to a letter I read in Bike/Ride sometime ago a £350 alarm saved the owner £1.28 per year

I know we don't just fit them for insurance savings but that is taking the mick