Quinn Insurance in administration

Tasha70

Apparently it's not going to affect any Quinn UK customers, as my son who is with them rang up just to make sure he was ok, as he's only passed his test.

spendaholiceejit

my DH only took out his insurance with them 2 weeks ago for the year . He's had two accidents in the past 5 years (one his fault, one not his fault in the one that was his fault he wrote off our car 2 days before we got married, by braking for a bl**dy bird on the road and rolled over the ditch!) It left him so expensive to insure that he was stuck with Quinn.

I suppose it's not a huge surprise when you think about it. They have got very very big.

36square

spendaholiceejit wrote: »

I suppose it's not a huge surprise when you think about it. They have got very very big.

There appears to be nothing wrong with Quinn Insurance itself. It's Irish business has been consistently profitable and although the UK book may be unprofitable it is a relatively small part of the total. The problem was that Quinn Group had pledged the insurance company's assets as security for loans to other subsidiaries.
Given Quinn Insurance's strong position in the Irish market, there should be no difficulty in finding a buyer for it. Definitely nothing for anybody to worry about unless they happen to be an employee.

shaz77_2

Hi All

As an employee at Quinn Direct Insurance I would like to point out a number of facts:

All policies within Quinns are completely safe and we continue to write new business policies for customers within the Republic of Ireland.

Anybody with a UK (including Northern Ireland) policy that is up for renewal can get it renewed up until the 13th of April.

Since the shock announcement on Tuesday we have had a large number of calls from customers who were keen to either renew their policies or take out new ones to show their support for a local business, this is very necessary and much appreciated.

Quinn's UK market is very profitable and it seems that the regulator has misread the figures, in fact we have been making a profit of 20 million Euros per month, this would be a dream for most other companies and it would not be possible without the UK market.

There is a court case on April the 12th during which we hope to have the decision reversed as this seems to have come about as a personal attack on Sean Quinn rather than being based on looking after customer's interests.

In the meantime we are committed to supplying low cost insurance and high quality customer service and we want to thank our 1.2 million customer for their ongoing support.

Didier_Donkey_Kong

Quinn Insurance were a bunch of cowboys. Terrible underwriting standards.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

shaz77_2

I would just like to point out that Quinn Insurance is also not in Administration, it has currently been placed into temporary provisional Administration and is being run as a going concern.

pwinky69

Tend to agree with Didier Donkey Kong. You can only write cheap policies for so long until the claims costs catch up. I personally wouldnt insure with them now. My own experience being insured with them is they will do everything they can to try to avoid paying your claim.

Tasha70

shaz77 wrote: »

I would just like to point out that Quinn Insurance is also not in Administration, it has currently been placed into temporary provisional Administration and is being run as a going concern.

So Shaz ...if all goes well - normal business could resume from the 13th April onwards. As this is a temporary measure then ?

shaz77_2

Tasha70 wrote: »

So Shaz ...if all goes well - normal business could resume from the 13th April onwards. As this is a temporary measure then ?

That is certainly the plan.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Perhaps you'd all be interested to know that Quinn going in to administration has been discussed on the Insurance board:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2372645

In this thread you will find all sorts of useful information, including the fact that Shaz has refused to confirm what their position is within this failing insurance company after providing what is believed to be incorrect financial information about the company, or whether they have Martin's permission to post on the boards as a company representative.

You will also find links to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme website (which you may need in the future) posted on Page 2. To Summarise the purpose of the FSCS:

The FSCS was set up to protect people in the event that their insurer or broker went bust and couldn't cover premiums or losses. In these events, the FSCS step in and act as the insurer.

Now there are 2 ways that the FSCS works:

1. For all "compulsory" insurance (such as someone making a claim against you for running them over) they will cover the full cost of the claim.
2. For all "other" insurance (such as the cost of repairs to your car in an accident) they will cover 90% of the costs AFTER the deduction of your excess.

In other words, if Quinn is wound up and unable to cover the cost of claims, your insurance remains completely valid with regard to claims made against you, but for claims you make for your own possessions, you lose your excess and 10% of the balance of your claim.

If someone tries to tell you that you are covered fully for the first £2,000 they are out of date; the rules were changed by the Financial Services Authority in 2009 and from January 2010, you only get 90%.

The FSCS is funded by compulsory donations from all the other insurers. In other words, whether you insure with Quinn or not, you could be paying for their mistakes by increased insurance premiums to cover the FSCS costs.

Quinn got greedy, just like the banks, and tried to grow too quickly. They've moved into areas of insurance that they do not appear to have adequate knowledge of, just like the banks, and as a result, you will all pay for their folly.

By the way; the FSCS also covers the banks....