Its that time of year again and one which I dread because of the obvious trawl for quotes and going through the same particulars over and over again and wondering what kind of experience is in store for me together with the all important result. Last year I was insured with MCE and have been highly delighted with their service and customer relations, having had to change my email address because someone thought it would be a good idea to send all my contacts links for look younger by 30 years soap and viagra by the ton at very reasonable rates. All documents were sent to my new address and a confirmation done to check that all was tickety boo. So far so good. Apparently sending out a given quote within 30 days of your policy ending is not allowed and your insurance company can only remind you of the fact that the renewal is due, and so leaves the door wide open. This I took advantage of and found some very interesting and diverse offers to say the least. Not happy so far so decided to go back through the door of MCE and see what was on offer. Well I spent nearly an hour chatting and informing this lovely and very friendly person(female, name withheld for obvious reasons) all about my bikes and the fact that some wazzock had run into the side of my car and declared everything as required by law to be given a very reasonable quote way under anything the competition had offered. I know some of you have had a raw experience with insurance, but I think having a good experience also deserves a mention because being the stuff that makes us makes us very quick to condemn and exceedingly slow to praise, and this is the reason for this post. Praise. The whole process was comforting and I almost regret ringing anyone else regarding my renewal, long may this continue. P.S. Being a policyholder entitles you, me, to all manner of benefits regarding the BSB circuit including not having to queue with the riff raff and can proceed to the front waving my MCE membership card all the way. Now that is service.
That is excellent news, I tried Carole Nash in 2011 to insure my then 848 Evo, she wanted a grand full comp. After ringing a few more all coming in around the same price bracket I ended up speaking to my local dealer where I purchased the bike who suggested Ducati. I have never looked back, I now have a dual bike policy. the 899 and the 84 Streetfighter came in at £400 this year at renewal. Admittedly I don't get the benefit of BSB tickets and have to queue with the riff raff but they are good to deal with IMHO
I too have a multi bike policy, up to 5 bikes and can even ask over winter storage months to reduce the cover to TPF&T reducing the cost even further.
Insurance not due to till September now, so might have to ring round and see what's what. I know my car insurance went up by £300 at renewal I phoned them and asked if they were taking the piss. needless to say I did not renew with them. I wouldn't mind but it was same car and nothing had changed no accidents and no convictions.
The only possible real reason (as opposed to the BS "it's the underwriters" lameness they spout) for ludicrous price hikes like this is that this is a ploy to move your policy to another broker. The only reason for this to be true is that the industry has agreements in place to distribute policies amongst themselves - a clear contravention of anti-trust legislation governing market-sharing. I welcome an alternative suggestion of what is going on here as I don't really like the thought that the insurance industry is, to all intents and purposes, unregulated. So tell me - and make it something believable. PS. sorry for hijack, I'll repost if OP requests.
Loz, I just think that they hike the price up and hope the end user thinks OH MY GOD inflation and doesn't bother to look anywhere else, Chances are for every customer they lose they probably got 5 new ones. My years premium was £400, the renewal was £720, I shopped around and got it through AA for £240.
MCE as I understand now underwrite their own policies, so this idea of dynamic customer movement would not make it logical, could I be wrong?
I've been with MCE for four years now, they are extremely efficient at taking my money, haven't had to claim yet but hope they will be as efficient if I do. Steve
I have formed my opinion over many years concerning how motor insurance companies seem to operate. If I don't fully understand a mechanism, I look for a "who benefits" solution to a puzzle (this applies to all manner of things, not just insurance). No. I do not understand why insurance broker 'A', whom I've been with for many years and whose premiums go up or down by no more than around ten percent each year will suddenly attempt to increase my premium by anywhere from 50%-100%. Broker 'A' won't budge from this increase when challenged. I then go to the market, and move my insurance to broker 'B', whose premiums are within that 10% plus-or-minus that broker 'A' should have been offering. And - rinse and repeat. This cycle has been repeated many times. If it was just me, I would take it personally but having read biking forum posts for eleven years now, I see that many others have similar experiences. The mechanism isn't always simply to catch lazy policy renewers who can't be bothered to shop around. Most recently, I had my long established insurer hike my premium by 50% and when I attempted to negotiate a sane renewal quote, they raised it to a 55% increase. I shit you not. This is nothing to do with the industry raising premiums as a whole as I have been able to move to another broker, at a reasonable premium, whilst retaining the same conditions in my policy. The model as observed by me makes no logical sense whatsoever. "Brand loyalty" is just about rewarded for a few years but then, out of the blue, you have no option but to move your policy. I've had silly (but non-negotiable) premium increases, I've even had a broker tell me that the underwriter was moving out of motorcycle insurance all together (despite the fact that other people I know having been quoted by the same broker/underwriter within the same time frame). Maybe during all of this, if I had moved house from West Sussex to, oh, Kosovo, it would make some sense but no - I've lived in the same house under the same circumstances. So please - explain to me what is going on
They didn't like the use of your English language skills. Watch out or Speed Triple will be on your case. I don't understand it either, same address, same car, no change what so ever, each year it went up by £20 or there about's then all of a sudden they wanted to double it. So I got a quote else where, when I phoned existing insurer to cancel they ask why, then proceed to tell me they could match that price, WTF, why then did you try to sting me for almost double, I told 'em to feck off.
Simply the best distraction robbery ever...I went back to this image 10 times before I realised some scouser had got away with the rear wheel.
Find the gap between her legs....... then down three feet...... then left two feet..... Missing rear wheel.
Well I'm glad the image just had the bike up on chocks. Looks like she's about to get one hell of a mosquito bite just above her left ankle.
