It’s that time again…….
My long-time insurance broker has retired….and the business taken over by another broker.
Last year was the first year with the new guys, and I was pleased with the result. See photo.
Less so this time- although according to the renewal notice they’re “still searching and will be in touch”. I suppose by taking out the “breakdown cover” like last year (RAC member) then the increase is more acceptable? Still 35% and nothing different.
Just for reference, this is Comprehensive, insured & (1) named driver, 63 years old, 2010 MX5 1.8 SE, 5000 miles per annum, no accidents etc . Living in Northern Ireland- which usually doesn’t help.
Peter James wants £ 348.69, despite Mx5 owners club membership.
Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, gratefully received.
Thanks DC
Insurance in general much like everything else has gone up. That said, I must say £350 does seem a lot (not knowing the difference NI makes), but I’m not going to be paying much more than that for a heavily upgraded and turbocharged MK4, 42, 5,000 miles no claims or accidents.
I know it’s not helpful but 350 for car insurance in NI doesn’t sound too bad from the stories I’ve heard. Similar to premiums in the south of England. I can’t speak for the same age group but it’s about what I pay as a 40 year old with max no claims, it’s a second car and my missus is on there.
When I queried my premium at renewal time (as it had gone up a little) the phone operator said ‘just be grateful you don’t own a range rover or jaguar’ as the premiums for things like those have rocketed and are (in her words)’ eye watering’.
So far I’m sticking to my own broker and their Ageas quote for £242.91 ( £272.91 less the £30 breakdown cover) - which is significantly below the £350 quote, especially since it’s with the same insurer, just different broker
I generally find a phone call is helpful- will follow up the renewal notice with this on Friday….sometimes you can get a better deal, sometimes you have to make do with sympathetic noises….
Sometimes they waive their fee to get you to take out a policy then when you see it on there the following year it looks like an increase. Had this with a plan but each time they’ve waived it to get me to take it out.
Decent response from Lancaster.
£217.50
Got to speak with an advisor, as opposed to an “on-line” quote and he was understanding and pleasant.
So, finally I phoned my existing broker- the one that sent out the Renewal Notice- just to give them a chance before accepting Lancaster.
Again, spoke to an advisor and like Lancaster he was helpful……his system quoted £220.00 ( again declining the Breakdown Cover) . In light of the Lancaster quote he then discounted that to £200.00 , remarking that the broker fee was “high”.
I was pleased to accept that, and I’m now covered for another year.
Seems the “automated” quotes tend to be higher……Peter James, Footman James .
It would appear that actually talking to an advisor can be very productive.
So phone your insurance company, have a chat with an advisor and you never know!
The things that helped were, the value of the car, and the annual mileage.
Thanks for all contributions to this saga- much appreciated.
DC
And when was the last time you worked for £11.59 less vat for which you have to turn the lights on and pay someone to answer the phone to silly questions? However I strongly expect that extra admin of dealing with breakdown cover and the paperwork and questions that go with it will have a strong influence on that.
And there is always someone convinced the world is cheating them. I very often wonder, after reading posts on the internet, what peoples profession is or was, since a great number of people seem to have little concept of the necessity of a business to make money so that they can provide a service. Does this mean that their working lives were in industries that were public funded? Or at very least they were sheltered from the harsh realities of ever having to worry about profitability?
What I see there is a piece of paper that has had to be printed, put in an envelope and delivered to an address. That is at very minimum £1 to me, but could be more. Since that is a renewal quotation, that letter cost has come out of that £11.59 fee from the year before, the £11.59 which is actually £9.65 or two Starbucks Coffee’s before vat, which, since you like percentages is 10.3% of the fee, and out of that they have had to send policy documents already, so the office is down to one coffee already. I wonder what the costs are on the office space, the utilities, the wage bill and how much they have risen this last 12 months of high inflation? Since the ABI has said that average insurance increase over the last 12 months is 25%, “driven by the record increase in costs to insurers to pay claims” then a 5% increase in Broker Fee across the whole premium, that also now includes the complication of breakdown cover seems entirely reasonable. Since the world and his dog decries the outsourcing of all sorts of call centres to places where you struggle to understand the dialect of the person you are talking to, allowing a company to make a modest fee of 5 Starbucks coffees to allow them to provide a service when you need it seems a good trade.
