Ive written before about the mental mindfield that is insuring your motor. I moaned about how a company refused to accept two claim-free policies held consecutively over 24 months as being a legit two years no claims. Ive pondered why it is premiums only ever seem to go up, and Ive reported that even the Government have probed the murky workings of this strange industry.
So I wasnt surprised when I discovered the renewal quote for the classic car policy covering my MGB GT had gone up. Again.
Even though Id been tootling to and from car shows for the best part of two years without so much as a scratch the cost of a years cover had gone up by £30 from last year, which was itself £30 more than the year before that. I know full well that classic policies dont accrue a No Claims Bonus in the same way as your run-of-the-mill policy would - thats part of the reason why its so much cheaper - and £200 a years hardly a deal breaker, but in the interests of getting even a slightly better deal I thought Id do a bit of shopping around.
First call was to my insurers chief rival, who said they were sure theyd be able to find me a better deal and immediately fired off the questionnaire you always get when phoning for cover. A quick blast of Fleetwood Mac after being put on hold later and they had the answer; it was £150 dearer. Not surprisingly, I politely declined.
But heres the interesting bit - rather than sound apologetic and let me get on with my Saturday afternoon, they put me through to another insurance company, who gave me the standard insurance questionnaire a second time, and when they couldnt find me a quote, they put me through to another insurance company. It was like a bizarre game of Pass The Parcel, where someone racking up a huge phone bill has to be passed around before the music - Fleetwood Mac, which seems to be the soft rock band of choice for people putting you on hold - stopped playing.
After 35 minutes on the phone, I was getting just a little bit annoyed. So you can imagine how I felt when insurance salesman number four offered me "a competitive quote" of just £520. Ill say that again - a "competitive" quote of just £320 more than Id started with. I was furious, particularly when I pointed to him out my renewal quote was less than half the price of what he was offering.
"Is it really?," he replied sarcastically.
Dont get me wrong. Ive nothing against the principle of car insurance - its a legal requirement and you can, after all, never be too careful - but the way the industry operates makes little to no sense. These are the same people who refused to acknowledge my better halfs six years of faultless driving because it wasnt British enough, and the same ones who upped the price of covering a mates souped-up Mini from £600 to an eye-watering four grand because theyd changed their underwriter. Theyre the same people who once asked another pal for £8,500 to insure a Ford Capri worth less than £500 when he bought it, so it shouldnt really surprise me that, in their eyes at least, a £520 quote is "competitive" to someone whos been offered exactly the same thing for £200.
I couldnt help but conclude the UKs car insurance industry isnt a group of people or companies but just a single mysterious machine, bereft of common sense. It made no difference to them that Im a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, have four years of No Claims Bonus on my everyday motor and only ever use the MGB for smoking to shows and back. As far as they were concerned I was a journalist (one of the highest risk professions there is), a twentysomething (one of the most dangerous ages to be) and a male (which used to mean I was the most dangerous gender, until a European court ruling forced them to think otherwise).
It finally came to a head last night, when yet another insurance company rang me up, didnt even give me enough time to tell them I was in work and would they mind calling me later on, and immediately put me on hold for another helping of Fleetwood Macs finest.
I hung up.
Incidentally Im a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac - Rumours is one of my favourite albums. I just resent the car insurance world using Dont Stop and Dreams as their phone holding tunes of choice...
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