Insurance companies (and brokers) taking the piss.

[Skub]

Experts in punishing loyalty = insurance companies.

[asmethurst99]

I didn't post at that the time but renewal/change on my NC750 was ridiculous nearly 900 quid .
My own fault for not shopping around .

[Supermofo]

I'm with Bennetts. Last year was 122 on the 690, renewal came in at 140 I think. Confused check showed 102 was cheapest and Bennetts was 104. I called them and they dropped to 114 so went with it. 16 quid didn't seem worth my while to swap Carole Nash as I'd have to double check all the details and add my mods on to the policy.

I've had to do this every year, with every insurance company. Car and bike. Its the game init. I don't think Bennetts are any worse than any others.

Case in point my car is with More Than. Paid 300 last year, renewal was 330, on confused More Than were cheapest at 245.

[Yorick]

If any of my pension pots have invested in any insurance company, I want them to hit customers, hard

[Dodgy69]

I'm with Bennetts. Last year was 122 on the 690, renewal came in at 140 I think. Confused check showed 102 was cheapest and Bennetts was 104. I called them and they dropped to 114 so went with it. 16 quid didn't seem worth my while to swap Carole Nash as I'd have to double check all the details and add my mods on to the policy.

I've had to do this every year, with every insurance company. Car and bike. Its the game init. I don't think Bennetts are any worse than any others.

Case in point my car is with More Than. Paid 300 last year, renewal was 330, on confused More Than were cheapest at 245.

Can you just cancel any auto renewal and just take their online price. I've done it before and can't recall any new customer only stuff.

[Mr Moofo]

Never, ever allow automatic renewals ...

My car insurance came through a 767 GBP with the comment "it's cheaper than last year".
That dropped by 275 GBP just by using Compare the market - same company, same cover. Did they want to explain the difference - no !

[Supermofo]

I'm with Bennetts. Last year was 122 on the 690, renewal came in at 140 I think. Confused check showed 102 was cheapest and Bennetts was 104. I called them and they dropped to 114 so went with it. 16 quid didn't seem worth my while to swap Carole Nash as I'd have to double check all the details and add my mods on to the policy.

I've had to do this every year, with every insurance company. Car and bike. Its the game init. I don't think Bennetts are any worse than any others.

Case in point my car is with More Than. Paid 300 last year, renewal was 330, on confused More Than were cheapest at 245.

Can you just cancel any auto renewal and just take their online price. I've done it before and can't recall any new customer only stuff.

Yes think you can just cancel renewal and then take out new policy. I tend to phone and they generally accept the lower price and I pay there and then and the policy rolls over

[Yorick]

Any company has a legal duty to maximise profits for its shareholders.

So no point in moaning. They aren't stealing anything

[Cousin Jack]

Any company has a legal duty to maximise profits for its shareholders.

So no point in moaning. They aren't stealing anything

They aren't encouraging customer loyalty either. It must cost more to set up a new policy rather than renewing one where nothing has changed.

[Dickyboy]

You'd think adding a second bike to an existing policy would be easy but no I've had to take out a second policy which I will then need to pay £55 to cancel, so I can then take out a multi bike policy when the first one reaches renewal time, at least I'll have some ncb by then (did have max ncb but stupidly let it lapse for more than two yrs during a period of not riding). Footman james seem the most human to deal with & will be getting my money.

[Trinity765]

A lot of insurers will give a discount to brokers for new business which the brokers pass on to their customers resulting in it being cheaper to change insurers each year rather than go with a renewal. The cost is decided by underwritters looking at your risk group, postcode, age, experience etc. Underwritters can be haggled with so always worth asking your broker to have a word for you.

I've just got a Six Wheel Policy (car + bike) from Carole Nash as they came in cheaper than other, individual quotes and it includes Euro breakdown cover with homestart

[Scootabout]

Is it cause lots of new riders have CB500s so the risk rating is really high?

Perhaps, but since I have had a full motorbike licence for over 50 years, and have over 20 years motorcycle insurance without a claim, you might think they would cut me some slack

It's hard to see how they could think it's good marketing. They've lost a customer, probably for good, who might otherwise have been loyal. And, as you say, a broker is supposed to get the best deal for their client. For an industry that's supposed to be at least semi-technical/professional it seems to have gone off the rails in the past few years. You seem to have to haggle as if you're in a Moroccan souk to get a reasonable price.

[Bigyin]

You'd think adding a second bike to an existing policy would be easy but no I've had to take out a second policy which I will then need to pay £55 to cancel, so I can then take out a multi bike policy when the first one reaches renewal time, at least I'll have some ncb by then (did have max ncb but stupidly let it lapse for more than two yrs during a period of not riding). Footman james seem the most human to deal with & will be getting my money.

I want to do the same in a few months, my difficulty is that there are about 2 maybe 3 companies that will insure me as a bike instructor for business use so limited for choice. If i was insuring for normal use it would be a lot simpler but using the Ducati for some of the instructing work allows me to write off a lot of the servicing costs as "expenses" against my tax bill so i'll take the grief

[Nidge]

Any company has a legal duty to maximise profits for its shareholders.

There is no legal duty to maximise profit in the UK or US (and probably not in other jurisdictions but I can only speak for the jurisdictions I work in). There is a duty to successfully promote the organisation as well as a host of regulatory requirements but maximising profit above all else is not one of them. Ethical and societal governance quite often negatively impacts profit for instance and it would be wrong to hold companies accountable for not maximising profits because they supported corporate and social responsibility initiatives

[cheb]

Maximising profits needs a bit of qualifying IMO. Yes, you can gouge the current customers for every farthing, but ruin your reputation and go out of business in a short while. Or you could set reasonable profit and return on capital ambitions and stay in business for the long term, hopefully growing as you go.

My ignorant and ill informed scepticism suggests to many companies are nearer the former option. But then customers don't help by demanding one thing and then doing another, saying they prefer to shop locally at independents but then buy from the big supermarkets.

[Cousin Jack]

Update.

After getting a zillion quotes, all cheaper than the Bennetts renewal price of £365-70, the cheapest was £103-26 with ...................

Bennetts!

Words fail me

[Whysub]

The vagaries of insurance. But then they have to look at the model of bike, where you live, and the claims made for that model of bike in the area you live, before anything else such as NCD is taken into account.

Like Yorick, I pay a lot to insure my bikes here in mainland Spain, as does everyone. About £550 for my two sub 700cc bikes forTP,F&T whereas my 1200 Guzzi (which I keep in the UK) I've just paid £125 fully comp with a named rider and my not being resident in the UK.

Rewarding loyalty means nothing to insurance companies, and as many of their policyholders just renew automatically without shopping around, they can (and do) charge more.

[Whysub]

I have had a different experience with insurance on a modified car I had. Mods included engine, turbo, injectors, remap, suspension, brakes, wheels and hifi.

Was cheaper to insure than the older bog standard model I had immediately before my modded one. For three years at renewal the price was around the same (lower for two years, small increase on the third). Could not get a lower quote from specialised brokers or from using all the comparison sites.

[KungFooBob]

I've just got the renewal through for my moped.

It's £95.

Which is quite a hike from last year.

I've just read through the breakdown of costs.... the insurance is £70 and they're charging me a £25 renewal fee, WTF!

Not that it matters, it's not turned a wheel last year and it worth fuck all, I'm going to leave it uninsured until we're allowed to go on holiday again (it lives in the motorhome).

[BARNEY 20]

Dropped a right bollock about three yrs ago. I had over nine yrs no claims running on three individual insurance policy's for 3 sports bikes,fire blade ,zx10r and gsxr thou.
Decided to get them all insured on a multi bike policy as I would only have one renewal date.Worked out a small saving but lost the no claims on two bikes as the zx was classed as the main bike and accrued the no claims.
Now I could insure multiple bikes on individual policy's if I,d kept my separate no claims cheaper than my multi bike policy never mind trying to add a new bike to the policy.