Insurance companies

Opportunistic sods or kind hearted benefactors?

Have had a slightly interesting time with my insurance recently, as
I've had to change companies due to having two bikes atm.

When getting original quote, I was asked if I would be taking pillions,
so I said to do a quote for with and without. Would you believe that
there's no difference in price? So why the hell ask the question then?
Is it to suggest to customers that if they declare no pillions, they're
getting a discount? Does that mean that I spent the last few years not
having cover for a pillion for nothing then?

Then there was the alarm... 9R has a datatool evo on it, which I
declared to the company for the original quote. However, there's no
paperwork to prove it, so I asked them just to take the alarm off my
declaration. Again, there was no change in price - why bother with an
alarm then? Or were they just being magnanimous?

Soooo, either the insurance company is leading the customer on by
giving the impression that restrictions such as no pillion and having
an alarm are giving you a better premium when in fact it makes no 'kin
difference

Or

They're kind hearted souls who are doing the customer a big favour by
cutting their own throats by keeping the premium the same when it
should be much dearer.

Mind you, I have to say that I've been pretty happy with the service so
far - have had regular phone calls from the broker (Express Insurance)
to keep me up to date with things.

 

It's possible, of course, that the figures they base their premiums on show
that factors like pillion carrying make a difference for some clients and
not for others.

Perhaps, to pick a wild example, young lads are more likely to have an
accident showing off when they're got a young lady riding pillion so they
get a small discount if they agree not to carry passengers.

Just a thought, like.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1, Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

Beelzebub@Work emerged from their own little world to say

Some underwriters consider it significant others don't.

Premium might be the same but is the excess higher without an alarm?
Perhaps your postcode is a utopian paradise without theft

Why grumble then? You have used a broker with access to a range of
underwriters. Sounds like they have done their job and found you the best
value deal after assessing what they consider pertinent variables.

 

Or, if they're a broker, they might be asking the question because some
insurers will use it as a factor in calculating their quote. It could be
that your premium hasn't changed because the insurer from which the
broker got the best quote didn't use that as a factor.

One would hope that a broker is doing their best to find you the
cheapest premium from a range of insurers, each of which may have a
different set of criteria they use for their premium calculation.

That hardly seems likely.

That's about the best you can hope for, as far as insurance is concerned.

 

Also had a similar problem with the hog insewerance last year.
When I insured the hog with HD [1]insurance a couple of years ago, they gave
me a quote, and on taking up the offer, we went through the details again
and they asked the garage I kept it in was brick or concrete built. At that
point it was a specially built wooden shed. The upshot of this was "well
that doesn't count as a garage, sir, and we will load you 20% on the
policy". Ah well, fair enough, as I was getting my garage built the
following year.
Comes renewal time, I let them give my quote, as per previous conditions.
Then when we about to settle the deal I mention that it is now kept in a
purpose built brick/concrete garage, expecting to get the 20% loading
removed. I was politely told, that they had made a note of the change, but
no discount was offered. I queried this, and even if you take into
consideration the 20% loading the policy went up over 40% anyway.
I told them that their policy was a rip off and went elsewhere.
ILTB HD have now changed companies because of the high number of complaints
against Boncaster Insurance.
I'll be with Aunty Carole later this year as her 2 bike policy was quite
good, when taking into account the breakdown (inc European) cover.

[1] flame me - fire extinguishers at the ready ;o)