Its that time of year again and my Bennetts renewal letter dropped on the mat this morning, said letter was opened whilst sipping the first post Friday night "kick start" cup of coffee. Now, a strong double espresso normally jerks my reluctantly slow nervous system back into action within a few minutes however the contents of the renewal letter shocked me back to life in a much more brutal manner. £ 423.59................... that's £210.36 more than last year, the bikes value has lowered and my NCB has increased. So WTF. I did a bit of internet searching and am getting results showing much better costs as below, in some cases with lower compulsory excess and protected NC which I noticed has been removed from my renew letter: I have only listed a couple that look like the best value: MCE - £ 173 Performance Direct - £ 230 The question is whilst I have heard of MCE I haven't heard of Performance Direct. Can I ask if any one has or has had insurance with either of the above and what experiences they have had. Thank you in advance. In the meantime, I think I should dump the espresso and stick to instant as my BP will be spiking enough every time I glance at the Bennetts letter on the coffee table.
Was with Performance Direct a few years ago, had no issues at all with them, Customer Serice was friendly and helpful at time of taking out the Policy, Luckily never had to use them for anything else for the whole year so cannot confirm how good they are with Claims etc. When i bought the Blade my current insurer wouldn't quote me on it as i had less than 5 years NCB so went with MCE, as above very friendly and very helpful, Quote was better than anywhere else by a long way but the downside is they have a £1,500 excess so in the event of an accident i very much doubt i will claim! i rung them 2 weeks into my policy and told them about my colour change and they were fine and it didn't change my policy or incur any admin fees which i was chuffed with, but the biggest thing going for MCE was last week the bike blew a fuse and i had no tools with me to take the seat off and get to the fuse box, i rang them to ask about my recovery deal on the policy and within 30 mins they had a van out to me and had me loaded up and on my way home!! only the week before my mate had his Stator fail on his Gixxer and had to wait over 2 hours for his insurance company to send out a recovery, so for this reason i think i will stick with MCE until they upset me
I've insured mine with MCE last couple of years as best quote, not had to claim so can't say how they are re that. Pain in the button to get thru to them but ok if you ring at opening time
I have two classic cars, both quite modified with Performance Direct. Probably been with them for 5 or 6 years. No problems, they always managed to knock a bit off if you speak to them at renewal. They always phone at renewal, which is handy and you get to barter. Not claimed with them which is always the test. I'm not sure who owns them, when I first started with them they were quite small company and very friendly, it seems when the little guys get bought out it all goes to s**t. I'm with Bennetts for bike. Bought policy online but phoned once when I wanted to switch bikes to CBR. Much sucking of teeth and 10 mins on hold, then it was "no chance mate" (grrrr) as "Fireblade is like an R1, you know 1000cc" err, have a look at my current bike you d**ck Anyway if I stick with Bennets this year, it will be online through comparsion website, less hassle.
^^^^ I always use Go Compare or Compare the Market to get an idea then ring the lowest 2 or 3 to see if they can do a better deal, when i rang MCE to insure the Blade they quoted more than Compare the Market but were more than happy to match the price and also added Pillion Cover at the same price as a good will gesture (i never normally have pillion cover as don't like passengers, but took it as it was free)
I also use use gocOmpare or confused.com at renewal time. when you look at quotes specially the cheap ones whatch out T&C and exclusion. the nasty ones are: -if you bike is in your locked garrage, then the steering lock must be engaged -theft within 1/4 mile of your home is either not covered or you pay x ???? you excess (so if you stop at the F&C ON the way home and you bike is gone< you are screwed!!) - in case of repairs you either have to use your insurer's repair agent if you don't then you excess goes up by trillions you don't get something for nothing i m affraid
Bennets you say!!! Well that's funny, they wrote to me this month wanting £200 to renew, but having checked the usual sites they then came up cheapest @ £128.80 Fully Comp inc. Legal cover & NCB protection and a £350 excess. Plus I get a free Meercat too. Needless to say I cancelled the auto renewal, cheeky sods
Was with MCE last year, had a minor bump, other party at fault but contesting it. I had the extension for legal costs. Case was pursued and was close to court when opponents capitulated, I got paid, so result. All in all the service was good. As has been mentioned contact by phone a pain. Mike.
I just renewed my 2 bikes insurance, was with Swinton last year for them both but this year they seemed a bit pricey, around £300 for the 2. Anyhow, I compared the Meerkats and got both bikes covered for £170, £78 for the 600 Suzuki with Devitts, and £92 for the Blade with Bennetts. Both fully comp, so it pays to shop about...ask my old man who never does... He's 80, drives a Rover 1.8 45, full no claims, lives in a semi rural location and is as stubborn as a mule and stuck in his ways. Wont hear of using internet or comparison sites, like to deal face to face with local brokers. My mother said the he came back from shopping and informed her he'd sorted out his car insurance renewal with the local branch of Swinton.. £700... Robbing feckers Could have got it for about £100 if he wasn't so bloody minded..
I'm with MCE also, not had to claim yet, but good price and includes track day cover, of sorts will use them again next if price right
Did a comparison website check last week. Bennetts were £10 cheaper than MCE....lower excess too (still 1k though)
Wife's renewal came through on her NSR. £88 fully comp from Devitts, don't think I can be arsed to spend 2 hours trying to sort out a cheaper quote, would probably only save a fiver.
I've been with Bennetts since the mid-oughties. I had a shop around once and found the same policy with the same under writers on two different broker sites, each one progressively lower than my existing quote for renewal. I phoned Bennetts and explained to the girlie who answered, the fact that I could buy the exact same product, noticeably cheaper elsewhere, and to her credit, after checking that I wasn't spinning her a line, she admitted that the reason was down buying power. The online brokers insisted on paying 'X' for the policies and Bennetts just didn't have the same clout. She apologised that she couldn't match the cheapest quote, but could match the middle one and sweetened the deal by including protected no claim bonus within the price. Now, I hate points being scored off me, and high on my list is the kind of double glazing salesman 'halving the original price when you say you're not interested' points. To many people these days the buzz of believing they've 'negotiated' a price seems to blind them to the fact that the cheap suit in front of them was about to defraud them out of twice the cost of the work. I'm old fashioned enough to believe that the price you charge is 'the' price. But, that's just me. However, I'm also a lazy bastard, and I saw an opportunity to get a bit off the price and a little bonus for no extra effort other than a phone call. So, with a 'ok, but don't let it happen again' tone in my voice I agreed to, what I considered to be an honest admission and explanation. Spin on a few months, and I right off the bike. Not a massive amount of damage but not economically viable. Bennetts sent a van to collect the bike and ship it to their assessment centre, they kept me briefed constantly of the progress on the phone and the assessor phoned me personally with the bad news, complimented me on what good condition (other than the obvious) the bike was in and said that because of that he saw no reason to offer me any less than the quoted value on the policy, despite the fact that said value was what I'd paid for it three years previously. A couple of days later the cheque arrived, a couple of days after that a package arrived from the assessment centre containing my tool roll, which I'd forgotten was still under the seat and my tax disc for refunding purposes. Spin on a few more months and I but the Blade. I phone Bennetts and speak to a chap who sympathises because he'd written off his Gixxer in similar circumstances the previous year. Despite the pay out, some technical thing that he explained but I didn't understand, plus the fact that it was a FireBlade, set off alarms on his system and wouldn't let me upgrade. But he could start a new policy for me and waive the admin fee because it was the system causing the log jam. Now. I've heard and read all of the horror stories based around dealing with the necessary evil of insurance and there's no doubt about it, insurance companies are like some kind of dodgy bookmaker that the law insists you take a bet with but are reluctant to pay out when they lose, but I must also speak how I find, and my own experience has been that when my dealings with them have begun to unravel, speaking to them and being honest with them has, up until now, returned satisfactory outcomes.
just renewed i change every year and go the lowest this time £104 full comp 8yrs no claims on a fireblade covers europe clothing and breakdown cover thats with mce also gives you VIP TO EVERY BSB MEETING IN THE YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET IN done thruxton last week amazing pitt pass the works
Bennetts tried to load me over £50 when i informed them I was Type 2 Diabetic, I challenged them on this action and they came up with a different excuse (so I'm still with MCE). Seeing all the variety of quotes on here it's obvious the insurance industry are the biggest crooks going!
I swap between Bennetts and Carole Nash pretty much every year. After a year they always up the premium, I swap to the other, come back the following year. Performance Direct was set up in 1995 as the general insurance arm of the financial services firm Grove & Dean who do many things that aren't insurance related, wealth management, tax stuff etc.
weird that they did the same with me whacked it right up, called them couldnt do anything about it..... used thebikeinsurer oh and paid less than less than lass yearthough to bennetts. i checked site and checked everything was the same.... .
People make this mistake all the time The insurance companies don't think loyalty, etc. An actuary is at work constantly with his computer. its just like a bookie, If the company is overexposed in an area, he'll put the price up to a daft value. If someone is daft enough to pay, well that's his lookout. the game must be played by the customer to stand a chance of getting a fair deal. Mike.
I have been away on business this week, but Bennetts left a message on my private phone, a bit garbled, but the gist is they are moving and I need to call them. (Sorry if I am a bit distracted but I am catching up on Cats do countdown on 4HD and Rachel is looking especially ravishing, I cant decide if she is wearing a bar or not. Brace yourself L its nearly the weekend !) Interestingly I had a conversation with a colleague whilst I have been away and in the US insurance companies don't seem to give a damn about modifications, ok if you are adding stuff that increases performance they have a bit of an issue but stuff like tail tidy's, carbon, exhausts etc. don't seem to faze them. Anyway, thanks for all your help guys and I will call Bennetts in the morning when I eventually decide to get out of bed and see what gives and revert in due course.
