Insurance

[Grip Fast]

Just received my renewal notice - £220 with £200 excess. A quick comparison of meerkats found the cheapest at £90 with £450 excess (Bennetts) or 2nd is £102 with £175 excess (Swinton).

it's strange how I have to switch every 3 or 4 years on average to keep my insurance cost down. Second year it is up a bit but not enough to make me change, then 3rd or 4th year it's double what I can get elsewhere, so I move again.

And I've never gone back to one I've previously been with, they just don't seem to figure again. Is this a loss leader scheme to get new customers, in the hope they won't bother looking around again, so they make their profit in later years?

[conkerman]

Pretty much, otherwise known as a lazy tax.

[Merecat]

I was with Swinton for a couple of years. They try to flog you breakdown, personal accident cover, legal cover, kit cover etc etc.... All of which is "free" for 6 months. If you accept them you then have to go through the hassle of cancelling before they start to fleece you and they don't like taking no for an answer.
Then Swinton ring you at renewal time and pester you to renew.
I ended up having the £89 autotrader policy than renewing for £220

[GerryB]

I think its almost criminal the way the insurance company suddenly ups the cost dramatically in the third year !!!

But I suppose it keeps the comparison sites alive .

I too found bennets the best for me at about £86 a year , compared to hundred & plenty from the others .

[timbox2]

Ive been with Bike Sure for the last 3 years, and was very surprised when this year(The 3rd Year), the quote was down on the previous 2, pretty sure this is the first time this has happened but needless to say I stuck with them

Forgot to say the first year I went with them they were £200 less than what Carole Nash wanted for the renewal. When I phoned Carole Nash to say I wouldnt be renewing with them I got the normal "Oh, well lets see if we can match that", "F... Off", or words to that effect was the response, "Wheres your customer loyalty".

I shouldnt be surprised, the world revolves around money now my company is no different, the latest phrase is "Risk Management" which translates to "How crap a service can we get away with before the customer shouts"

[Herb]

Pretty standard.

I was with Carole Nash for 10 years and I had the battle over renewal every year, but they would always price match. Annoying, but the right result.

This year they wanted £265 and MCE were about £100 less for 15 months. The Carole Nash rep called my bluff and told me to go to MCE if they were cheaper. So I did. Carole Nash lost a 10 year customer. Poor show, they would not even come down a little bit.

The annoying this was, if I put my details in as a new customer I got a much cheaper quote.

[Gromit]

I was with Swinton for a couple of years. They try to flog you breakdown, personal accident cover, legal cover, kit cover etc etc.... All of which is "free" for 6 months. If you accept them you then have to go through the hassle of cancelling before they start to fleece you and they don't like taking no for an answer.
Then Swinton ring you at renewal time and pester you to renew.

^This^

I'm presently with Swineton - for the 2nd year. For the first year they flogged me personal accident & breakdown insurance (neither of which I needed) but for 4 months free I thought 'what the hell'. For the 2nd year's renewal they did the same but all I asked for was the bare miminum to ensure my bike was legal for the road. They carried on taking payments for the other bits despite me telling them I didn't want it.

Good news though is that they have to give me all those monthly premiums back now as I was mis-sold it. Bike insurance is up for renewal in Jan so will be looking forward to their 'dear Mr Joyce is there a specific reason why you won't be renewing with us'.

Same with the car insurance I had on my little Pug 107. Have been with Admiral for the last year (it was due this week) they do the 'automatic renewal' thing. I triple-checked that there was a tick box to state 'I do NOT wish this policy to auto-renew' when initially taking out the insurance. However there wasn't one. Made me laugh when the letter comes through 'Dear Mr Joyce we're sure you have a million and one things to do so we've made it easy to continue your car insurance hassle-free by renewing automatically'.

My premium had gone up by £80 so it was 'No effing way' (or words to that effect).

Went onto Confused, got a renewal quote of £130 cheaper than the Admiral renewal. Rang Admiral who firstly said that the would take all my details (they already have them) and would ring round to see if they could reduce my premium. They couldn't get near the quote I had with M&S. Admiral then went on to say 'Are you sure that M&S would provide the same excellent service we have given you?' That made me laugh out loud, especially when I had to say...

'At what point in the last year have you provided me with a service? The only time an insurance company provides a 'service' is when the policy holder makes a claim'. That completely stumped him, and believe me I kept on pressing him to give me evidence of them providing a service. They continued to ring me up 4 times over the following week to try to get me to renew with them. 10/10 for effort, I'll give them that.

[cornishflat]

After 41 years in the saddle its all too familiar. In the early days before we had a phone I would go to my local broker, later years pre internet it would be via the phone and now thank goodness via the internet. But always chasing a cheaper or matching quote when the "sprat to catch a mackerel" time has gone.
Seems by the replies its the way things are

[bikesnbones]

What irritates me is they all seem to have this "admin charge" they apply when anything changes.
For example, I just moved house, and Carol Nash charged me £35 to update my details.
Money for old rope.

[slparry]

I'm with e-bike, and any changes I do myself with no stupid admin charges. One of the reasons I left Bennets was their charges