Quinn Direct - any good?

doelani

My daughter has been with quinn 2 years and has never had any problems with them. Her first insurance was as a learner in her own name and when she passed her test her insurance went up by about £200. I think her first insurance at 17 was about £1000.

She had earned her first years no claims bonus when she had an accident when she lost control on ice ( one week old car ) accident happened monday evening , quinn arranged for assessor to come out tuesday morning , had her car picked up and courtesy car with her on tuesday afternoon and her car was back within 2 weeks. She had no issues with her claim and they were easy to deal with. Apart from assessor coming out she had no contact with quinn about claim , she paid access they sorted claim.

TBH I would have no issue recommending them to anyone.

dacouch

Verbyl.belch surely the test of a good Insurer is having a claim, if you have not had a claim how do you know how good they are.

I'm a broker and have seen numerous claims involving Quinn and none have been dealt with well. There are also plenty of other Insurance professionals on here who will tell you the same and plenty of MSE members who have had dealings with them.

In a recent survey of Insurance brokers, Quinn came second to last above only Tradex and there was a long gap between Quinn and the normal Insurers.

A good way of explaining Quinn to the public is they are the Ryan Air of Insurance

Walter_J

dacouch wrote: »

I'm a broker. A good way of explaining Quinn to the public is they are the Ryan Air of Insurance

I can well understand that as a broker low-cost/low-service operators are a threat to your livlihood in the same way that travel agents saw their incomes drop with the advent of budget carriers such as Ryanair.

If Quinn are routinely failing to honour their contractual obligations when a claim is made then that is an issue for the insurance authorities and ultimately the government to address. If however, they are simply offering no-frills, low cost insurance which allows a driver to meet the legal requirements for third party cover at an affordable price then what is the problem?

I repeat, I have no interest in the fancy bells and whistles of a more expensive policy. I simply want my daughter to be street legal when I take her for a driving practice in my wife's old Fiesta. In the same way that if I wanted to get to Spain cheaply I would use Ryanair or Easyjet rather than pay twice the price with BA and get a crappy meal included.

As an 'insurance professional', perhaps you could explain to me the potential problems I might encounter in the event of thid party making a claim against my daughter, wife or myself when covered correctly and legally with a Quinn policy.

dacouch wrote: »

In a recent survey of Insurance brokers, Quinn came second to last above only Tradex and there was a long gap between Quinn and the normal Insurers.

That wouldn't surprise me at all. Obviously Quinn don't pay commission to insurance brokers! Meanwhile their appearance on comparison websites is dragging down the perceived correct price for a motor policy.

raskazz

Walter_J wrote: »

That wouldn't surprise me at all. Obviously Quinn don't pay commission to insurance brokers! Meanwhile their appearance on comparison websites is dragging down the perceived correct price for a motor policy.

Er, Quinn Direct won't pay commission to brokers as they don't transact via brokers. Quinn Insurance does deal through brokers, hence their broker support site here:

http://www.quinn-insurance.co.uk/business/brokers_overview.html

Brokers rate Quinn below other insurers which they place business with because they offer poor policy cover, poor service and have a reputation for dubious claims handling.

Phlip_corter

First i was thought it is my good decision to select this company to make policy but, My very recent experience with them, is that they behave nicely on the phone, but are real jerks when it comes to actually paying out claims. I've paid quinn thousands in premiums over the years, and regret every penny I've ever given them. I am in the process of cancelling all my quinn policies, and will never go back to them.

JasonLVC

Quinn operate differently to most insurance companies.

With Quinn, if you have a bump, they send out an agent who negotiates with you there and then to settle the claim, the agent will also visit any other parties involved in the bump and do the same.

The aim is to avoid any 'whiplash' type claims and to also nip everything in the bud which is why they favour learner drivers as when they inevitably have a bump, the agent comes around, offers them £350 for whatever damage and the matter is closed. The other aim of course is to cut down on admin costs/paperwork and to stop a claim from being exagerrated or becoming protracted but for some customers it can be intimidating having a bloke come around your house and literally give you a cheque for £500 say, sign a form and that's the matter closed.

Whereas an insurer such as DirectLine will just send the driver a form to fill in, then you get a call to book the car into a local garage and no money exchanges hands so to speak.

So the RyanAir comparrison is fairly accurate - your car is road legal and insured for a cheap price, you have a bump you deal with a 'salesman;)' who negotiates your settlement and away you go. It does keep their costs down, hence the lower premiums but remeber you are dealing with a large irish, family owned firm (they are big in aggregates/quarries, hotels, etc as well as insurance).

Walter_J

I know absolutely nothing about Quinn apart from what I have read here. A have to say that for my circumstances as described in my OP they sound perfect!

If they can keep costs down by avoiding dubious claims - great!

I am never going to make a claim as all I am interested in is the legally required 3rd party cover.

Insurance companies are nothing more than bookmakers. It sounds like Quinn have developed a very efficient business model.

I have to say though, that the disguised suggestion in the above post that the Quinn family are a bunch of violent !!!!!! is a little disquietening...

mattymoo

Walter_J wrote: »

As an 'insurance professional', perhaps you could explain to me the potential problems I might encounter in the event of thid party making a claim against my daughter, wife or myself when covered correctly and legally with a Quinn policy.

One potential issue you face is the failure of the insurance company.

Quinn made a large operating loss this last year.

Sean Quinn has been prosecuted and heavily fined £2.4m for internal money laundering between his various firms. He was then forced to step down from the board.

Moody's the rating agency have withdrawn their rating which stood at B iirc at time of withdrawal. A rating from one of the main firms (moodys, S+P, Fitch etc) is a fundamental requirement of transacting insurance. Without it nobody can see if you are solvent.

Quinn tread a rocky road, often on the wrong side of the regulators. Their claims manager was nearly held in contempt of court for the manner in which they handled one particularly large claim.

If a motor insurer fails, you will be left with a worthless piece of paper and will need to arrange alternative cover.

Quentin

Walter_J wrote: »

I am never going to make a claim as all I am interested in is the legally required 3rd party cover.

In line with your requirements, (cheap/not intending to claim), have a look at swiftcover.

You may find that their comprehensive policy with £1000 voluntary excess is cheaper than anything. And you'd get the windscreen cover included.

dacouch

Walter have a read of this exclusion in their policy

Duty of care
12 You or any insured person must:

e make sure the vehicle is kept in a roadworthy condition
and, if necessary, has a valid MOT certificate.

For example:
• the tyre-tread depth must be within the legal limits;
• all lights and mirrors installed on the vehicle must be
working properly; and
• the vehicle’s brakes (front and back) must be working
correctly

You will not find an exclusion as onnerous about the roadworthyness on a normal policy (They just state the vehicle must be roadworthy with no mention of the MOT or mirrors etc). The RTA will make an Insurer still pay out however if the car does have any problems they will initially try and not pay out the claim which could mean you daughter starts getting nasty letters and possible court summons from the other side. When / if Quinn do pay out under their obigations under the RTA they could then recover their outlay from your daughter as she had breached the policy condition on roadworthyness.

Jasonlvc gave a good description of how Quinn deal with a claim, the "Salesman" (Regional Manager) will also check the car was roadworthy when they come out.

There is a current thread on MSE where the poster's MOT had expired by 10 days and Quinn are refusing to repair his car and deal with the third party claim. We are currently advising him on how to make Quinn deal with the claim.

As Matty points out Quinn do deal with brokers, its just most brokers do not place business with them, they are very very cheap but most brokers do not see it as good business. If there is a claim the client is generally unhappy and the broker will lose the client, if they place them with a normal Insurer a claim is an opportunity for the broker to demonstrate how their worth.

Here is a survey of brokers about Insurers in relations to commercial Insurance For example:

http://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/images/ITW_041208_16.pdf

By all means use Quinn, but be aware of any potential problems and make sure the car is always roadworthy.