Insurance Woes

[Ardesco]

Well I've had a bit of a crappy time with insurance since I put the car back on the road.

 

First of All Direct line decided they did not know my car was an import when I paid for the renewal (despite the fact I had a long conversation with them about it being an import when I originally took the policy out) and decided to double my insurance and tell me that I could not drive it unless I paid them the extra insurance straight away. So I did what any normal person would do and binned them.

 

I got a nice new insurance policy with Admiral and then last week got a crack in the windscreen. It started off at about 2 inches and is now about 12 inches and I've been told I'm looking at 17th August, or a minimum of 10 working days for them to find out if they can provide a replacement.

 

I phoned them up and had a few strong words this evening and suggested that if they cannot make my car roadworthy they should supply me with a courtesy car while mine is not drivable, and it came out that admiral do not provide courtesy cars if your vehicle was manfactured for sale outside the EC. So despite owninf a fully comprehensive insurance policy and paying extra for additional hire car cover to ensure I will have something to drive should the worst happen, it now transpires that I will never get a courtesy car from them if I am involved in an accident no matter who is to blame .

 

Looks like another company to bin, anybody got any recommendations as I'm not going to have any hair left if this carries on....

[introspect]

Adrian Flux have always been good for me, and they specialise in imports and modified cars.

[njlee]

Hello mate

 

While I don't endorse them in any way, all I can say is that I have been with FIrst Alternative for about 5 years now and they have almost always treated me well.

 

A few details: due to my legendary poor luck with women, one of my girlfriends wrote off two of my cars, of which I was the main policy holder. At the time i was with Fortis who were part of Sun and Alliance I believe. Both accidents were deemed her fault - one because either a) it probably was, or she did a bad job of explaining it, and the other because some uninsured idiot hit her and about 5 others while they were parked up. So both accidents went down on my policy.

 

Not to tell you my life story, we split up and I ended up driving a £200 Rover 214 from my mate for a year or so, until it started leaking petrol! I traded it in for £50 and bought my Ford Puma (which appears elsewhere in my posts), and Fortis charged me £200 per month for the last few months of the policy! As you might imagine, that was a bit of a crimp in the lifestyle!

 

When it was time to renew the policy, I rang around, and First Alternative were the only guys who said they would not take the accidents into account because the driver was no longer on the policy. Which was awesome.

 

So, I've been with them for probably 5 or so years now, and they've been great. Well, apart from when my BMW got stolen last year - I have to say they were a pain - but it wasn't them I think it was the agency they basically put in charge of all that kind of thing - vehicle recovery agents or whatever. They argued a lot over the payout, and it took a long time to sort it - pretty incompetent people in fact.

 

On the upside, my premium has gone up only £15 per month as a result of the theft, for the 350Z over a BMW330cd which I think would have increased anyway.

 

So, after all that rambling, I suggest giving them a go! But bear in mind my cars have all been UK models not imports - even so I got the feeling they were pretty flexible in taking various things into account.

 

Cheers, Nick

[ATTAK Z]

Hello mate

 

While I don't endorse them in any way, all I can say is that I have been with FIrst Alternative for about 5 years now and they have almost always treated me well.

 

A few details: due to my legendary poor luck with women, one of my girlfriends wrote off two of my cars, of which I was the main policy holder. At the time i was with Fortis who were part of Sun and Alliance I believe. Both accidents were deemed her fault - one because either a) it probably was, or she did a bad job of explaining it, and the other because some uninsured idiot hit her and about 5 others while they were parked up. So both accidents went down on my policy.

 

Not to tell you my life story, we split up and I ended up driving a £200 Rover 214 from my mate for a year or so, until it started leaking petrol! I traded it in for £50 and bought my Ford Puma (which appears elsewhere in my posts), and Fortis charged me £200 per month for the last few months of the policy! As you might imagine, that was a bit of a crimp in the lifestyle!

 

When it was time to renew the policy, I rang around, and First Alternative were the only guys who said they would not take the accidents into account because the driver was no longer on the policy. Which was awesome.

 

So, I've been with them for probably 5 or so years now, and they've been great. Well, apart from when my BMW got stolen last year - I have to say they were a pain - but it wasn't them I think it was the agency they basically put in charge of all that kind of thing - vehicle recovery agents or whatever. They argued a lot over the payout, and it took a long time to sort it - pretty incompetent people in fact.

 

On the upside, my premium has gone up only £15 per month as a result of the theft, for the 350Z over a BMW330cd which I think would have increased anyway.

 

So, after all that rambling, I suggest giving them a go! But bear in mind my cars have all been UK models not imports - even so I got the feeling they were pretty flexible in taking various things into account.

 

Cheers, Nick

 

Nick ..... can we have a precise please ?

[Ardesco]

I'll have to look at Adrian Flux and see what they offer.

 

First Alternative don't sound so great if you had problems when making a claim. I'm really looking for a company that will just make life easy and deal with it if I ever have to claim.

 

Touch wood I'll never have to claim (I have 10 years no claims atm), but if there are problems I just want the insurance company to fix my car and give me something to drive while mine isn't available and give me decent lawyers if it ever has to go to court so that if I'm not at fault I definitely win (Went to court as a witness for a mate when I was 19 and the lawyer they gave him was terrible. Despite having all the evidence backing him up she still managed to lose the case on the day...).