Car Insurance Article Discussion

Quentin

Get them to itemise the £105 - if it is in line with their ts + cs regarding cancellation, then nothing you can do, but if they are applying any charges they are not entitled to ask them to issue a new invoice. (Without knowing your annual premium, this does sound in the ball park)

funandfrugal

Cal175 wrote: »

I just had this happen pretty much.

I also got a quote online and changed a few of the details (because they assumed so much..), the site was quoting me £700. Once I had changed the period i've had my licence from '3 - 4 years' to '2 - 3 years' the quote went up by £300. Funnily enough, by changing the number of miles I would be doing from 10,000 to 4,000 it only decreased by £50 or so.

What a rip off.

Just wasted a morning on this - all 3 quotes were by far the cheapest £188, when I went through to find out about dd cost, they just 'checked' the assumptions. By having 2 kids put the amount up by £50! All 3 are the same group - I only found this on the 3rd phone call. Then they charge nearly 40% for monthly dd. What a waste of time. Really is poor practice. I know these are 'help the site' companies but that's a real let down. Thing is if I had have done it online and paid with my credit card I would not have known and imagine the problems if I had to claim! BEWARE

MakeitgoRIGHT

Argos Comparison site might just be another comparison site, but there is a £20 cashback available from going via. Maybe this is not workable with better cashback sites, or maybe it helps bring down the pay-price, hard to say.

But should be included in the general plan, methinks.

http://www.argoscompare.co.uk/

[Deleted User]

I've been a member of the IAM for many years but have never previously found the insurance savings anything to shout about. Many companies don't ask or are not interested and the ones who do did not appear to offer much saving. I'm posting now because I think this may have changed. Yesterday, my best quote from GoCompare was £281 with a £300 total excess (or £287 with a £200 xs).

I then emailed the recommended IAM broker and within a short while they called back to discuss a quote. They came back with £252 with a £100 xs. They also had legal cover which was £16.50 instead of the £25-30 pounds of the companies in the GoCompare list. There are a number of other benefits including personal accident cover increased from £5K to £10K, increased European use cover and business use included. You may also find that protected no claims is cheaper under their policy.

I hope this will encourage existing members to give them a try and also make others think about whether it's worth looking into joining the IAM. The initial cost of getting through the IAM test is relatively high now at ~£130 but this includes help (they can't call it training) leading up to the test, the test fee, books and first year membership. Thereafter membership is only £30. I'd recommend joining even if there weren't the insurance savings for the enjoyment of driving better and with more confidence (and hopefully more safely), but it's nice to have a financial incentive also. Not everyone likes the image of the IAM or can be bothered to spend time on improving their driving, but if you can get past these things, most find it very worthwhile and you could save some money.

Who knows; if the other insurers see customers going to the IAM insurer they may start incentivising drivers to invest in some further training rather than just beating them up for their mistakes ?

I also have my bike insured with them now - so it's worth bikers checking. It was more borderline on the bike, but the additional cover benefits swung it.

I do not have any connection with the insurer or IAM other than being an ordinary IAM member.

Regards
Stuart

dacouch

Their scheme is RSA or KGM, hope they have not put you with KGM as they are not all that

10_66

dacouch wrote: »

..hope they have not put you with KGM as they are not all that (?)

dacouch: Earlier in the year, I asked on this forum, if The Co-op were ok (I hope I don't need to find out!). Before buying car insurance through them I did my best to search for reviews on the internet, and found a lot of negative comments on pretty much all insurance companies. This doesn't surprise me really, because it's usually the bad experiences that people comment on.

As you are obviously experienced on this thread, would you consider making a list of the more common insurance companies with your opinion/experience of them? Obviously, it would not be a recommendation, just an opinion, but it would be useful to those of us who don't have the same insight.

[Deleted User]

dacouch - can you shed any further light on the comments on KGM? I haven't paid yet so have a small window of opportunity to go somewhere else. As 10_66 says there are usually lots of negative comments out there about insurers (and most of the ones I've dealt with have been poor). Hats off to Highway (now part of LV) however who were third party's insurer when they ran into my wife recently. They handled our claim against their customer as perfectly and pleasantly as one would hope all insurers should.

Thanks
Stuart

Quentin

Check out the premiums via the cashback sites.

Some major insurers do £50 to £85, (lots more up to £50), and the IAM deal would have to be good to match that. (Accepted, of course, that the base premium needs to be competitive to make the cashback worthwhile)

dacouch

KGM are a Lloyd's syndicate which to a broker generally indicates poorish cover for motor Insurance. They are predominantly an Insurer that specialises in TPF&T cover. The last time I looked at their comprehensive policy it did not have very good benefits. It might have changed recently or the broker may have enhanced cover, if you can post a link to their policy we can have a look at the cover for you.

Personally I would not insure myself with them

[Deleted User]

Thanks dacouch. Looking through the policy would be above and beyond so not expected - thanks. Link below anyway. IAM members receive some additional policy benefits:-

• The Personal Accident Benefit is increased from the standard £5,000 to £10,000*
• No Claims Bonus will be protected if you have earned 4 years or more. (I think they normally need a higher NCB before they'll protect)
  
• The Medical Expenses amount is increased from £150 to £250*
  
• The Personal Possessions amount is increased from £100 to £250*
  
• The period of Free Use Abroad is extended from 31days to a maximum of 180 days in any 12 month period.
• Class 1 business use and use for observing on IAM runs is included.

These apply to both the RSA and KGM policies for IAM members aged 21-79.


In the policy, the only thing that struck me as a bit tight was cover for audio which was limited to £300 (seen quite a few at £300 and some at £1000).

A noticeable oddity on the bike policy (which I don't think applies to the car one) is that there is NO cover if you specify garaged and then the bike is damaged or stolen at the home address whilst not in the garage. Most companies seem to just up the xs (which seems reasonable).


w w w .kgminsurance. co. uk /documents/view/18/policy-wordings/private-car
(sorry I wasn't allowed to post a proper link)

I've been trying to find somewhere to get a quote on Highway since I was impressed as mentioned above, but they only deal through brokers. I agree with some of your comments in this thread and elsewhere about not just buying on price. One thing I always look out for now in the policy is whether I'm restricted to "approved" repairers. Most seem to still provide the (unspoken) ability to go to a repairer I choose, but I notice that the M&S for example now say "of our choice". Following experiences in the family and discussions with an insurance engineer friend, I want to retain the ability to go to one of the very few good repairer out there(who often seem not to be the big insurance approved repairers).


I've just been looking through review sites but can't really find anyone singing praises. One Call seems to come out well for service and claims but not sure how relevant this is as they are a broker. The policy that came up on Gocompare from them is somewhat down the table (i.e. more expensive), but actually good value if you need legal and breakdown cover which are both included.


Quentin - thanks for comments about cashback. I agree. In fact I'm also shopping for my wife's renewal and the best deal there seems to be Sheila's Wheels with Topcashback (who contrary to the cashback checker on here are actually offering £65 at the moment). I'm a little sceptical since cashback is new to me and it seems somewhat tenuous, but price is competitive anyway so probably worth a punt (have been with esure before and they were OK).


cheers
Stuart