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Interesting Insurance experience.

6K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  saabtech-uk 
#1 ·
Hi Guys,

I have just bought a 9-3 Aero and obviously i had to do all of the usual phoning around
and playing one against another.... you know how it goes?!

I ended up getting a good quote from Aviva, but along the way i tried the Co-op
insurance service.

After all of the normal questions regarding me and my history i was asked "what make of
car is it you are looking to insure"? "Saab", says i....

"Oh, we don't insure saabs" says the girlie who sounded as she would prefer to be doing
her nails rather than be on the phone to me. "why not" i said, almost incredulously...:crazy:

"It's because they have gone under, and we find getting spares and doing repairs far
to awkward, now". I just muttered about that being a complete load of bull and hung up!

I wonder.... has anybody else encountered this nonsense whilst searching for insurance??

I have to say i had absolutely no hesitation in buying this '57 plate car, none whatsoever!!

Trev :D
 
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#2 ·
No, insured my 9-3 Aero 2.0l with no problems whatsoever around 8 weeks ago. Funnily enough Aviva where almost twice the price that my broker got. I phoned around just to make sure i was getting a good deal.
 
#3 ·
spares is now up & running,spares side was a seperate company to the car factory..

might ring them up see what they say to me..

i've had no letters from my insurance co about not insuring me(not yet anyway..lol)
 
#4 ·
Hey Jon,

I wouldn't expect you to get any letters to be honest!

I reckon it is just a knee jerk reaction by a very stupid ins. company
just doing a whole load of "back covering" because they see their existence
as something we should bow and scrape to and jump through all of their hoops!

Trust me, i phoned around for England and must have rung about 15 companies
and aside from the odd.. "Christ... how much"???!!! not one other mentioned this silly
rule to me.

Slightly deviating, ( i have just turned 50 with everything good) the worst quote was
an Irish outfit who wanted to fleece me out of, wait for it...... £1900! What a bunch
of T*ssers!!!

I'd be interested to see what the Co-op did say to you, actually Jon, if you were to
phone them?

Trev :)
 
#6 ·
Jezz1

You are quick to make a judgement for an attempt at humour.


I highlighted this instance with the Co-op to make people aware of what i found and what i will say (although i really should not have to explain myself) is that i have a situation where i HAVE to explain a couple of things to an actual person, whereas an online form would have no provision for this issue!

OK?
 
#7 ·
All i can say is if the co-op dont do saab insurance, whats going to happen when one of their clients hits a Saab and does repairable dammage, does this mean they will right the car off due to non availability of parts even if the dammage is minor. very strange indeed!!
 
#8 ·
Just had mine repaired new drivers door after some prick who cant drive decided to park in the bay next to it. No issues getting a new door none whatsover. 93 on a 09 plate. Think I will phone the Coop up and get a quote on a Delorian !
 
#9 ·
I had a whole new rear quarter fitted on my 05 93 SS in Feb without problems apart from with the crappy garage namely Rye Street Coach works who not only are crap at repairing they have no care in the world for the car briefly -
Black hand prints all over the cream trim
trims not clipped in properly
over sprayed on the boot lid
damaged the boot lid
marked the black plastic on the pillar
light fitted now has condensation
bumper does not line up
damaged window seal on rear window
brake light and trim cover fell off the other day where it was not clipped in properly
used up all my fuel
paid extra to have the wheels refurbed, came back with 3 gloss and 1 matte
Scratched the front arch walking past with tools or something
There was a lot more too

They had a second bodge at it for ease with the insurance and still the work is pants now it is going to the garage I had requested all along to have over 2k's worth of rectifcation AVOID them at all cost.

This was also down to the insurance company DIAMOND who authorised a repair despite asking from day one do not repair it anywhere except chosen repairer.

The insurance company is the biggest heap of $hit money can buy the premium is just under £2500 and the company is very quick to point blame at it's own customer!!! Despite being stationary in traffic and hit from the rear by a lorry yet somehow I am at fault because it was where I had joined the motorway from the slip road which I can agree with but if I had joined and was stationary then hit from the rear how can I be liable?

The third party even had the cheek to try and say I had pulled across which is why the front of the lorry was pulled forward when in actual fact when the lorry was stuck in the car I had to pull forward to get clear of the motorway which then it was pulled forward.

Currently an ongoing battle, had to fork out £600 excess too!!!
 
#21 · (Edited)
premium is just under £2500
At least your drive a nice car, a 19 year old lad bought my wifes Clio 3 1.4 dynam'q last year- insurance premium £3k !!!

I'm 42 - my 2009 TTID Saloon £340 pa incl. breakdown cover & legal cover £250 excess - no named drivers, 8 years no claims discount :) My truely beloved 350z in 2007 cost me £480 a year!
 
#11 ·
Hi Trev,

I find this sooo interesting. Insurance is a service. We have to legally have it, however the industry is still a service provider.

I do not understand if the company does not want to insure you (and to be frank your money is better spent elsewhere if that is the attitude),The Saab owners club have an insuraence comapny specifically for Saabs. I would try them. Just because the manufacturer are not in business (hopefully for the time being only) does not mean that a policy to insure a client should not be sold! Silly them and great for business NOT! they need to do their research as saab parts are still guarenteed for many years. It is just the manufacturing side that are not here.

Saab parts are more avialable than ever. There is a contract in place for availabilty for quite a few years. Buy with confidence and if you ever have to deal with another 17 year old, non willing, lazy, mum pays for everyting anyway 'i deserve it all on my plate; teenager again, then that insurance company took too many cost cuts for you to want to buy their policy from anyway.

happy Saabing for as many years as they come!
 
#12 ·
Hi,

and you are certainly reading from the same page as myself, Saabtech!

I do now own the 9-3 Aero and like i said before.... i have no concerns
at all about owning one as far as the "gone under" thing is concerned.

It was not a case of the Co-op not wanting to insure me personally, it was them
baulking at the fact it was a Saab!?

I have to say your description of the "sales person" who i was speaking
to sounds so accurate it's scary!!

And just going back to the phoning over online methods for obtaining a quote,
i will repeat..... I have a couple of things i have to explain about and online
box ticking simply DOES NOT cater for these issues. To perhaps highlight
another benefit of phoning, let me run this by you.

When i travelled up by train to buy the car i had a quote given to me by
Aviva (prepared a couple of days previous, on the phone) and it was pretty
competitive. The day before i went to buy i did some more phoning around
and was given a virtually identical quote by another firm, so i ring Aviva again
and ask if they can improve any more. After a bit of button pushing they came
back with £20 less... nice one. So this quote was now in place for me to initiate at the sellers
home (by phone) once i was happy and the car was bought!

When i rang Aviva to complete and begin the policy i said "while were here can you
have a quick look to see if you can do anything to improve it any"? "Ok" she say says
and after a few minitues.... i have ANOTHER £20 knocked off. My point is pretty
obvious here. I ended up with £40 taken off of what was already a good quote and i
am certain that this is not possible by the box ticking route. Online form filling doesn't
have a box for "if you don't ask, then you don't get"! So long as you can set aside a
little while for what may be for some... "old school" methods, then you really can benefit and
so long as you use http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php for any numbers that
are not free then it is all at no cost.

It's not my first Saab and i plan on keeping this one for a good long time so good to be here!

Trev :thumbsup:
 
#13 ·
£40 would not make a dent on mine would need to be more like a £600 discount and even then it would still be over double what you guys pay.

Oh the joys of being young.

Completely agree with you though I work with a guy who did the online route took a plane to Scotland to buy the car and when ringing up the company they said no its coming out at £4000 yet prior to this it was around £1500 stuck in Scotland unable to insure the car he was very lucky in this instance as he has another car which he managed to get a multi car policy and this was by ringing around.
 
#18 ·
Hi Deano,
Next time you renew try Keith Michaels Insurance. I have been with them for 5+ years and they still come up with the best quotes my policy covers me and my partner. I usually shop around just to make sure i ma getting good value and they are usually half the price. My partners MR2 convertible is £347 fully comp, she is 44 3 yrs no claims.

http://www.keithmichaels.co.uk/contact-us/
 
#22 ·
So guys,

I think what we can make from this is to get that computer quote then phone directly. The initial use of these search engines seems fine, however it seems to not cater for us individually.

I would not take the cheapest quote as in most things in life you get what you pay for, however there is taking the michael!, I always prefer to do business with a person and some times going to those small brokers on the high street means that when insurance really does count (like after your Saab has killed another car) that the service is good and they look after you.

Insurance premiums can be high on Saabs because of the panel costs (proper metal that saves your life and not plastic!), and as we all know, they are not really slow cars even on standard form! However insurance costs have jumped on average 40% in the past year due to non insured (supposidly due to, european drivers that don't bother with insurance and drive drunk on vodka then return home if they crash and your insurer has to suffer the bill or should i say we do) etc or so i've heard.

That might be a rumour above, but what i do know is a family relative had her renewal with the same company. Golf GTI (traitor to me) and her premium was £440 last year. At renewal (as in sent a letter with automatic renewal,( only contact us if you can find the phone number and have the time)) and we will automatically renew for you at ----£860! No accidents, no claims, no speeding (which i found most shocking) So, she put her details into a search engine just to find that the same company where quoting - £430.00! She phoned and they said,' Sorry, you are an existing customer and this is for new business'! So that means the carrot to me and where has loyalty gone? In to a computer that munches figures and statistics and not emotion or dealing with people.

The conclusion for me is, take time to do your research (i know we are all busy). If you can deal with a small company/broker that you can deal with personally then it will help and also know that your policy is your own. Use your own repair centre in the event of an accident and someone you can trust and not a cut down on price centre that don't care as much for your Saab as you do! Remember it is your policy and you can take your car to the repair centre of your choice (i think that might be EU law block exemption, but don't quote me on it!!)

PS - Deano - It's because it is a very nice quick non s£an%a*d Saab!

Happy Saabing xx
 
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