Why is it so expensive...

[Chillidoggy]

On 14/06/2023 at 08:44, pete said:

wouldnt trust trustpilot personally,only people who going on there are complainers

 

Yes, but 92% of the 1,778 are complainers. I'd say that's a pretty good indication to steer clear of them. 

[910Esprit]

I have some 'insider' knowledge - All I would say is 'Yee ha'.

However, I looked at Coop, who used to be underwritten in house, but are now 'Markerstudy' under the Coop brand.  Oddly, their Trustpilot score is pretty good at 4.1  

[andydclements]

Brand seems to alter perception of identical situations. the company I work for deliver multiple versions of the same app, same core code. The customer satisfaction ratings vary quite a lot.

[Colin P]

White label products can garner a different experience as the brand fronting it will be interested in their customer bases experience and be pushing the provider to perform. In some instances they may actually administer it themselves. There is every potential that Co-op run it themselves and Markerstudy are just the capacity provider.

That said perception can be a big influence. I'm aware of a scheme where Air Source heat pumps were installed to replace gas boilers on a large scale. The occupiers were complaining that they were not heating properties up quickly enough on demand. Even when education around how to use the systems efficiently was provided the feedback was still poor. Eventually a "Boost button" was installed on the systems. There was witnessed an immediate improvement in customer satisfaction.

The fact that the button wasn't connected to anything had seemingly no effect.

 

 

[910Esprit]

1 hour ago, Colin P said:

There is every potential that Co-op run it themselves and Markerstudy are just the capacity provider.

No - I was part of the migration team

[C8RKH]

4 hours ago, Colin P said:

The fact that the button wasn't connected to anything had seemingly no effect

This just confirms my suspicion that the majority of the population are just plain dumb. Stupid. And a waste of oxygen.

Harsh? Probably.

[Rambo]

14 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

 

Yes, but 92% of the 1,778 are complainers. I'd say that's a pretty good indication to steer clear of them. 

92% of 1778 complainers was enough for me to bail out. And I'm glad I did as, in the event of a claim, they sound disastrous.

[pete]

No reply from AIB who use marker study 

[milesofsmiles]

Thanks of the input guys... Here's some feed back on my journey and what I went for...

After speaking to a few of 'specialist' insurers who couldn't insure me... I did gain much info from them.

Apparently there may be many factors conspiring against me in 2023... and they are...

1. The Postcode levels 1-7 have my leafy west London area as a 6!  Why, I am at a loss to?!  But my Twickenham postcode, which is a lovely area to live in, is also unfeasibly high for insurance issues.  Something I cannot change.

2. The insurance industry has been thumped by Covid and last year made a loss.  So, insurers have upped their prices to claw back their losses. Knowing that industry wide increases means customers will have to pay. Also an industry wide legal agreement apparently providing fairness, set in place a couple of yeas ago, preventing cheap opening offers or hefty discount to repeat custom, is stopping (thats what they told me) any ongoing discounting or types of reduction expected. 

3. The car has not helped. Because it has been placed into a niche in the insurance industry which is thus working against me.  Why? The car is placed into a limited mileage, garaged, specialist bracket by underwriters and that means that it it falls out of those self-imposed predetermined brackets, it is simply not in the insurers remit.  A case of - if we don't understand it, and we don't bother trying. Goodbye.

4. The car is 'modified'.  I was told a few times that whether it is a cheap plastic spoiler or a serious doubling of the bhp... 'modified ' places the car into a one fits all bracket, often without understanding.  And again, the insurers don't bother trying. Goodbye.

5. Lack of effort in personally understanding specific cases is born from an increasing pool of business. Insurer don't need to try.  Every specialist spouted... 'the underwriter....' in their reason for their price. Some, were unable to give any reason for their price or ack of offer.  Computer says no!... or Specialist is not really a specialist any more.

6. The track cover I had last year, proved to be non existent with almost all policies I found.  Why? Because it's a cost that insurers and their recent losses are removing. So, I was told to keep with my current renewal, simply to keep the track cover, if that was important to me.  

I did find that it was typically offered on sub 3k mileage policies.  Meaning that they gave and took away at the same time. Not really a realistic option for many.

7. Mileage was a big issue for the insurers.  Although they would tell 'me' that I had an issue with my mileage!  Some only offering me a policy if I stayed below a minuscule 3k miles level. Because of them classing the Elise in a niche they proved unable to remove it from. 5k miles was often seen as ridiculously high.

8. So in summary - 

The insurance world has haemorrhaged from Covid over the last two years and in cutting costs and offering less, they are dealing less and caring less, about non-mainstream cars. They are also unable to take cars genuinely on an individual basis. A case of computer says no. Whilst postcode and the type of car additionally conspired against me with my hands effective tied. Add in the term 'modified' and I effectively had an extremely small catchment of insurers interested, regardless of their Micky Mouse price quoted.

Meaning that I, after a week of proper searching and trying my best... had really only two options under £1000.

A bleak and really sole destroying activity, which makes me fully realise why people don't care about policy accuracy or indeed, wrong as it is, insure at all.  Trying to do my best and be legal and correct took hours and treated me like an obtuse, wants everything, criminal.  Ridiculous.

What summed the wrongness of it up for me - was the ease at which insurance companies can refuse to recognise, my use of bike or camper van. Simply because they decide thats what they want to do... possibly pushing a premium up.

Who did I go for?

After  30+ companies , including the slue of typical specialists recommended on here, I went again with A-Plan and Markerstudy at £750ish. As I was looking at double from others, when Lotus mates are paying £300-500 for similar mileage and use. 

[pete]

But are they?. I have never been able to get insurance at rates people quote on here and the specialists have always been the dearest. Interestingly the 911 is cheap to insure at £250