Memory Lane - take a trip down here ->>

losgiganteskid

Off the top of my head a quick list of Motor Insurers that had been and gone - (bust that is!!)

Vehicle and general
Irish-American
Craven
Falcon
Fire Auto & Marine
Midland Northern & Scottish
London & Cheshire
Competitive
Drake
Independent
London & Wessex
Coventry
Brandaris
Gibraltar

I'm sure there are many more - feel free to carry on...

iceicebaby

Oh yes Drake!

What a mess that was. Remember having to deal with the backlash of that in work at the time.

Wasn't very pleaseant

mattymoo

The Vehicle and General Crash in Feb 1972 still had an impact when I started my insurance career 15 yrs later in 1987. The number of renewals in February was totally out of proportion to the rest of the year because everyone who was insured with V+G had to take out a new policy or have no cover.

Was it the V+G crash that featured in a famous David Frost interview ?
EDIT - no, it was Fire Auto and Marine and the interview of Emil Savundra. Gripping TV and well worth watching if you have not seen it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Savundra
The clip can be seen here - under the Frost Programme.
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/itvlondon/rediffusion-progs.html

As for the Independent, it is worth taking a look at
www.theindietrial.co.uk for details of the ongoing trial of Michael Bright and his co-defendants. Interesting reading. You have to register but it is FOC.

stooby

A few modern classics...
Wren
RB
Warwick
Wellington
Hermes/Abbey
ITT London & Edinburgh
Municipal Mutual
Shead

Edit: sorry, you wanted companies that had gone bust rather than disapear into nothingness...

losgiganteskid

Yes Stooby - most of those are (were) Lloyds syndicates.

L&E are now of course part of NU and still underwriting in the L&E name

Other syndicates - a blast from the past Mitre, and Acme. They didn't really go bust merely absorbed by other syndicates.