Car insurance Hire and Reward

SVts

Well I guess this thread answers everything.

Amazon Flex is a no no unless you want to gamble your main insurance policy 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5873222/had-personal-insurance-cancelled/p1

400ixl

Hastings are one of the last insurers I would risk doing anything outside of the absolute right thing. They are renowned for finding ways to get out of claims, or to increase policy costs.

You are very wise to not be risking anything with Hastings involved.

Grey_Critic

Does nobody use Insurance Brokers anymore?

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

Does nobody use Insurance Brokers anymore?

Hastings are an insurance broker @Grey_Critic ?

You can see from the footer of their website it states Hastings Insurance Services Limited, trading as Hastings Direct, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Any company that is an insurer will be authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA. Any company that is authorised by the FCA is a middleman.

You'll also note on the other recent thread about Hastings that they said none of the insurers on their panel were willing to offer renewal terms to that OP... hence again showing they are Brokers not an Insurer (not an MGA or tied agent as the alternative forms of middlemen)

Grey_Critic

They are an Insurance *Provider* as distinct from an independent broker.

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

They are an Insurance *Provider* as distinct from an independent broker.

They are a broker, hence their website highlights they won "2014 British Insurance Awards, Personal Lines Broker of the Year" @Grey_Critic

"Insurance Provider" isnt a defined term in any meaningful way but award companies use it to mean anyone that sells insurance to the public so includes brokers like Hastings but also direct insurers like Aviva and other intermediary types are all considered against each other rather than separate awards for each. 

There are different types of broker out there, those that have a single set of wordings that a panel of insurers independently price for (like Hastings) and those that sell insurers own off the shelf products so terms vary depending if they say Aviva or Allianz have the best price. 

Neither type are strictly tied agents but in principle its easier for the later type to approach a new potential provider than the former. They still however need to sign up to TOBA with the company and unless the broker is approved by Lloyds, would need to go via a wholesale broker if they want to approach any syndicate in the Lloyds market. 

anonymous12124

Bumping the thread.

I could use some additional cash so have gone through the process of registering for Amazon Flex. I had 2 blocks booked this week but due to the absolute circus around insurance I've decided to forfeit them and close the app permanently.

You can get insurance but companies like Admiral charge so much for the standard policy its not worth it. This leads me to conclude that many are driving without being properly insured either without knowing or deliberately.

I was looking at 2 blocks per week for a few weeks. I estimated a pre-tax income of £200-£220 per month based on what I can see in the app.

Well if you do this legally you need to get a H&R policy like Zego provide or Inshur topping up your existing SPDC policy. Zego gave me a quote of £1700 and for Inshur I'd need to switch to Admiral who are quoting £1100. My current policy is £400 for SPDC. I'd have to pay a cancellation fee to my current insurance since they don't do H&R, fee of £45. 

With no guarantee of local slots and the fact you need to pay a substantial amount to get properly insured, it's simply not worth it.

DullGreyGuy

Why look at an annual policy if you are only doing occasional hours and not a Pay As You Go option? 

camaj

anonymous12124 said:

Zego gave me a quote of £1700

That doesn't seem right. It'd be cheaper than that to get annual hire and reward insurance. How does Zego know how many hours you're going to work before you've done it? You say you'd have to switch to Admiral for Inshur but surely you'd have to do that regardless of what top up insurer you use?