Beware of Octagon Car Insurance

dacouch

JuneS wrote: »

So any answers to this part of the question???

Aviva through a broker, NFU or Direct Line and Zurich

JuneS

dacouch wrote: »

Aviva through a broker, NFU or Direct Line and Zurich

Zurich get 2 stars - on a par with the Octogan Economy policy

Aviva & Direct Line get 4 stars ... like Octogan Extra gets


So that just leaves NFU Mutual :cool:

dacouch

June Quinn are an Irish Insurer registered in Ireland but thanks to the EU are allowed to trade in the UK.

Sean Quinn in effect gambles on Anglo Irish Banks shares who in turn had massive exposure to the Irish property market which failed massively in the recession.

Insurers need to have large amounts of liquid cash that is not tied up in investments to cover predicted claims and disasters to ensure they stay solvent at all times. The Quinn family used elaborate systems to borrow money from Quinn Insurance (Which they should not have done) to bet on Anglo Irish's share price increasing. The loans were covered up and when AI's share price collapsed due to the recession it had a massive effect on Quinn Insurance who went into administration and were bailed out by the Irish government.

The losses were approaching a billion, you can see what the family are like by how they've hidden assets from the courts.

The last UK regulated Insurer to do something similar was Independent Insurance in 2001 whose collapse led to the very strict regulation we have in this country. The chances of a UK registered Insurer being involved in this type of thing is very small due to the strict regulation and requirements for ring fenced liquid assets.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b4ba5912-0c76-11e2-a776-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Hn9CG6Nj

dacouch

JuneS wrote: »

Zurich get 2 stars - on a par with the Octogan Economy policy

Aviva & Direct Line get 4 stars ... like Octogan Extra gets


So that just leaves NFU Mutual :cool:

I did say Aviva through a broker which is 5 stars.

You're looking at a budget version of Zurich, the standard policy is 4 stars or 5 stars if you buy through a broker.

As I mentioned the Defaqto ratings are easy to manipulate by tweeking the parts of cover that defaqto monitor but are worth taking into account.

Direct Line are a reasonable company with a well worded policy and good customer service.

You asked me to recommend companies that offer good cover, service and a reasonable price which is what I did using my experience in the market.

If you take the time to read through the Octagon and Zenith policies et al you will find lots and lots of small print restricting your cover

JuneS

dacouch wrote: »

I did say Aviva through a broker which is 5 stars.

You're looking at a budget version of Zurich, the standard policy is 4 stars or 5 stars if you buy through a broker.

As I mentioned the Defaqto ratings are easy to manipulate by tweeking the parts of cover that defaqto monitor but are worth taking into account.

Direct Line are a reasonable company with a well worded policy and good customer service.

You asked me to recommend companies that offer good cover, service and a reasonable price which is what I did using my experience in the market.

If you take the time to read through the Octagon and Zenith policies et al you will find lots and lots of small print restricting your cover

So what you are basically saying is to get a better policy than Octogan, go via a broker.

... which of course you would say wouldn't you

(I've just checked and NFU don't give online quotes either)

I'm not sure I've ever got good value cover from a broker. How can you when you have to pay the wages and rent of the middleman?

I don't see the suggestion here to go to a broker either
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/compare-cheap-car-insurance


Still, keep up the good work. There aren't many of you left nowadays :cool:

dacouch

JuneS wrote: »

So what you are basically saying is to get a better policy than Octogan, go via a broker.

... which of course you would say wouldn't you

(I've just checked and NFU don't give online quotes either)

I'm not sure I've ever got good value cover from a broker. How can you when you have to pay the wages and rent of the middleman?

I don't see the suggestion here to go to a broker either
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/compare-cheap-car-insurance


Still, keep up the good work. There aren't many of you left nowadays :cool:

I don't really sell much car insurance as there is no money in it and it's to time consuming. I only offer it to friends, family and large commercial customers which is why they buy on quality of cover rather than price.

Brokers have their uses for car insurances which is typically the more unusual stuff or for people who want the level of service most (Not all) provide.

With regard to MSE, they do make mistakes in their recommendations on how to buy insurance including errors in facts, which are normally pointed out to them by the posters in this part of the forum.

MSE were recommending Quinn for young drivers...

dacouch

JuneS wrote: »

Presumably for similar reasons to that which made Amazon decide to register in Luxembourg or Google decided to register in Ireland (or even Burmuda!)

This link explains the advantages of registering a company in Gibraltar
http://www.gibraltaroffshore.com/gibraltarnonresidentcompany.htm

[STRIKE]
(Sorry, it seems I'm not allowed to post links still)
[/STRIKE]
It appears Insurers have been flocking to Gib. for over 10 years now.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2843209/Insurers-flock-to-Gibraltar.html

Is there any evidence over those 10 years to support the allegation that insurers registered in Gibraltar are at higher risk of failing than those registered elsewhere?

Your link from the Telegraph tells you the main reason why certain Insurers register in Gibraltar, they don't need the same amount of solvency as UK registered Insurers. If you read my earlier post, this is why I said Insurers register there as well as the tax breaks, more lenient regulation and it's quicker to get registered than in the UK due to the higher regulation in the UK.

So if an Insurer in Gibraltar needs to have less liquidity than a UK registered company in which country do you think they're more likely to fail ?

The chances of a Gibraltar registered Insurer are very remote but certainly higher than a UK registered Insurer. My original point was that the type of Insurers who registered in Gibraltar (Which I'm assuming you work for one of them) tend to be at the cheap and cheerful end of the market which experience has told me to avoid.

Have a read of the numerous threads about 1st Central, Markastudy and Octagon on MSE.

NMSE12

Hi.
I'm in a complete panic after reading how awful Octagon are.
I was hit Saturday morning by an Octagon policy holder. I have tried and tried and tried to ring them. My car is un-driveable in my opinion as it has tyre damage on top of the cosmetic damage. Has anyone been hit and dealt with Octagon?

dacouch

NMSE12 wrote: »

Hi.
I'm in a complete panic after reading how awful Octagon are.
I was hit Saturday morning by an Octagon policy holder. I have tried and tried and tried to ring them. My car is un-driveable in my opinion as it has tyre damage on top of the cosmetic damage. Has anyone been hit and dealt with Octagon?

All Insurers will be inundated with claims from their own and non customers due to the extreme weather.

Companies tend to get extra staff or out source companies in to assist within a few days so keep trying.

Also try at unusual times of the day eg don't try at lunchtime when their own staff will be on breaks and their customers ring as they're on a break.

weejonnie

With regards to Gibralterian Insurers - recent trade reports have advised that THREE of them have had to go into liquidation due to using bonds that appear to have been worthless.

Investigations are ongoing so it is not clear whether the fraud is the person selling these worthless bonds or not. http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=27605

With regards to de-faqto ratings - these can be manipulated by emphasising levels of cover under certain sections, but the star rankings don't show how good the service or speed of payouts are.