I did do it online, but still was 7 quid dearer than original. Totally agree about going elsewhere. Sometimes it's a fine balance between maintaining principles and doing ourselves a disfavour.
I wanted to go with Bemoto, but they couldn't do a competetive quote either for my two bikes with mods. Ended up with Bennetts as they were about £150 cheaper with the full monty leathers/breakdown cover etc.
More Bennetts. I suspect most insurance companies are the same, but cop this: Phoned 'Beenutts' just now to cancel C90 insurance because I sold the bike. Insurance commenced 1 May 2018 at a cost of £75.91. Today's cancellation fee? £50.00! I'm starting to wonder whether there's enough firepower on this forum to make a submission to brokers for a group deal. I think if we could gather 50 interested parties it could be a starter. On the down side though, I suspect we would be a very small voice in the pool of motorcycling clientele.
£50 is taking the piss, should be a fair charge regarding the length of time they actually provided cover. Mine's up with Bennetts in Sept, i'll post the renewal up for a laugh when i get it. Took them ages to do me a quote so I don't think the computer will be able to handle an auto renewal with the mods
It's designed to take ages because we're paying through the nose on an 0300 number! I get insanely annoyed when we give OUR business to a company and then they CHARGE US premium rate to do the deal.
As I mentioned I'm into my 3rd year renewal with them, it just came in over £743. Last renewal time I had to call to see where the reminder was and was told it was sent, but would be reprinted and posted again. 3 days later the original letter turned up and the following day the reprint. The supposed reprint was £120 more expensive. When I called up and asked "wtf", I got some half arsed made up answer that I wouldn't swallow. So she she trotted off to get her manager to authorise an "additional discount", which then made it £3 cheaper than the original. So then after about 4 months I realised they'd taken no payments from my account and remember this was a renewal, not a newly setup policy. I then made 8 calls over the following months, firstly to confirm I was still covered and secondly to try to pay. Each time I got a different excuse as to who was dealing with it and who's problem it was. It went from "computer says no" to its the accounts department and someone was always going to call me back. I even offered to pay the entire policy off, but they refused payment in case it cocked things up! Needless to say I've been waiting for the policy to end so that I can get rid. The £740 renewal was just icing on the cake. I'm betting the real fun will begin when I tell them I'm not renewing and I'm taking Hastings up on their £236 offer.
Went to insure the sp1 today told to pay anther £500 for the year and needed a tracker so called around and got 343 for fully comp with the same insurance company I am with so cancelled current policy and start again work that one out total bollocks..
I had similar with Hastings a few years ago. Quoted me £260 with a 2002 Mille and the new 2015 Blade on the same policy. Sold the Mille before picking up the Blade and they wanted another £250 for the Blade on its own. Did a quote on their own website whilst on the phone and it came out at £240. They agreed to cancel the current policy with no charge if I took out the new one.
So I've just cancelled my renewal with Bennetts after telling them their renewal was £500 more expensive than my new quote. They didn't even try to compete. Now to see if they try to charge me for the last year?? Tried Bemoto as a last shot and they didn't even bother to give me a price, just told me they weren't competitive as I'd not owned the bike a year. Even though they understood I've had 7 previous Blades. Hastings it is again.
EXACTLY the response I received when pitching for a 4-bike multi deal. They wouldn't have a bar of the SP2. There's frig-all risk in it - it sits in my lounge room most of the time. On another note, Aviva gave me my car renewal price today: 304.00. Did the 'Meerkat' compare and whoa - 207.00 from 'esure'. Never heard of them but surely just a broker prepared to work to a fine margin. Posted this only to show that it sure pays to shop around. So, DF, you definitely staying with Hastings now? I'll look them up for my next renewal, or pursue my multi-bike proposal to various companies.
Slightly off subject but still insurance related. I was helping the Wife sort her car insurance yesterday. She rang the old insurer to cancel the autorenewal (spawn of the devil as far as I am concerned), and they definitely weren't a girl's best friend when it came to listening. Drone on the phone was doing everything except what the Wife wanted, and eventually the wife simply said that I was sorting it and she wanted it cancelled. The drone then tried to insist that she speak to me and so the Wife said she would ask if I was free, I was actually sat next to her on the sofa. Wife asked me if I would like to talk to them about the renewal whilst turning the phone towards me. Apparently the response of "I'm not effing interested in hearing their script" is the magic phrase to get what you wanted 5 minutes later her new insurance was sorted via another company on the Meerkats and we had saved the best part of 25% on the autorewal quote. Do insurance companies/brokers really think we are that stupid?
Damn right they do, and they're prepared to take advantage of it! I just pity those who are easily influenced and can't say 'No'.
Yes, the deal is done with Hastings and my new policy is in the portal, all mod cons, unlike good old re-print and the price goes up Bennetts. I used Hastings for a few years before I moved. They did their usual thing of a decent renewal the first couple of times and then a stupid one, so I moved away. So they've got my esteemed business for another year.
They've never come up in my MCN Compare bike quotes. Only this year decided to double-check that Aviva weren't taking the 'P'. As illustrated, it turned out that they were!
Esure are a bigger name in homeand car insurance than they are for bikes. Think they own go compare and Sheila's wheels.
Just got my renewal from Bennetts. No prizes for guessing yes it went up from £256 to £468, even though I went on to Go Compare a couple of weeks ago and got a quote for £254. MCE quoted £158 on Go Compare so I decided to go to MCE's web site, entered all my mods and it came back as £128. Happy days.
Now THAT is winning!! I am convinced that for both cars and bikes the 'comparison' sites offer much cheaper quotes than if calling the insurer direct. We have seen many times on here that those prices appear to be 'made up' by trying to hoodwink the unsuspecting into instantly renewing without making any checks. Unfortunately, many must fall into the trap!
