comfort insurance

[charleydog]

Got a nice cuddly email from comfort suggesting that I spend my time cleaning and polishing my van while I can't use it. I wonder if we will be offered a reduced premium next due, as the risk, this year has been , for the insurers, also reduced. ;-)

[Brian Kirby]

charleydog - 2020-04-09 9:48 AM

 

Got a nice cuddly email from comfort suggesting that I spend my time cleaning and polishing my van while I can't use it. I wonder if we will be offered a reduced premium next due, as the risk, this year has been , for the insurers, also reduced. ;-)

Might you be ever so slightly overlooking the cost of all those motorhomes damaged and written of during the recent floods? 8-)

[webby1]

As we are on Comfort I want to promote their recent decision to bear the cost of extendin the Green Cards of those of us still stuck in Morocco.

 

Aviva were undecided so Comfort have undertaken to fund it themselves.There are lots of companies who need to be remembered for bette,r or for worse, when we all get back to normal.

[stevec176]

If you want to reduce your insurance while its off the road you can always change it to 3rd party, fire and theft. I wouldn't recommend tho as vandalism and damage wouldn't be covered. Even while your van is doing nothing but sitting there it's still a risk that needs covering, unless you can afford to cover the damage yourself, I cant!

[arthur49]

Brian Kirby - 2020-04-09 12:40 PM

Might you be ever so slightly overlooking the cost of all those motorhomes damaged and written of during the recent floods? 8-)

 

..................... and the considerable cost of theft .......

[fesspark]

I think you will find the latter 3rd party is,nt much cheaper than fully comp; fesspark

[david lloyd]

In amongst the very nice emails I also received a renewal notice that is quite a bit higher than others. I always ask them if they can review it and the simple answer was you could reduce your mileage band from the current 8000 miles. I replied referring them to their own emails which acknowledges owners may wish to shop around but they should make sure that the quotes tHey are getting are for the same level of cover - and that the quote I have is for 8000 miles and a much better premium. Their next answer was well we always quote the best price first time so nothing else we can do.

 

Been a loyal Comfort customer for 9 years but it's time to change.

 

David

[charleydog]

Flood damage, covered by dealers insurance. others, the number is minimal,How many are stolen in reality,few. All are driven carefully by owners, Only suggesting one years reduction,after all, it is a profit making business.

[aandy]

charleydog - 2020-04-11 12:28 PM

 

Flood damage, covered by dealers insurance. others, the number is minimal,How many are stolen in reality,few. All are driven carefully by owners, Only suggesting one years reduction,after all, it is a profit making business.

 

But Comfort are a broker, not an insurance company. The companies whose policies they sell will be exposed to a far wider range of risk than is represented by Comfort's custom and may well have had to pay out on flood claims.

 

Either way, when so many are facing very real hardship and even personal risk as a result of the crisis, saving a few quid on insurance is way down my list of priorities.

[charleydog]

Motorhome premiums are based on ...Driver history,value of vehicle ,where kept.and most of all.milage on road,where the greatest risk is.So it follows that if this lockdown is extended for the whole season,it does not seem unreasonable to expect any increase in premiums when they occur, as the last criteria ,is greatly reduced over the whole insurance industry.I.M.O..Just a thought! :-D Of course,I totally agree with the above,stay well all.

[BruceM]

Whilst the sentiment is absolutely correct it’s not entirely how the insurance money machine works.

 

If you talk to the execs of motor insurance companies they will trot out the old chestnut that they pay out more in claims then they collect in premiums. This is entirely correct. It’s a competitive business and low premiums attract custom.

 

The way motor insurance companies turn a profit is through ‘unearned income’ . This is income derived from investing the premiums collected prior to having to pay them out in claims. To put this in perspective, for a few years I worked for a small insurance company. They collected about £300M in premiums each year. Cleverly invested that can generate a reasonable sum of ‘unearned income’ to subsidise premiums (so gaining more business and more money to invest) and to turn a net profit.

 

The trouble is though that when interest rates fall insurance companies generate less ‘unearned income’. So low interest rates translates to higher insurance premiums whilst high interest rates translates to lower insurance premiums. With the economy in recession and interest rates at historical lows we must expect the cost of buying insurance to increase.

 

I fully agree that the smart insurers will take into account the drop in claims with so many vehicles being off the road. However, insurers are risk averse and given that all vehicles may be back on the road in three months I suspect they’d rather wait and see what happens when they have their year end results and understand the impact of the recession rather than try to pre-guess financial impact.

 

[vindiboy]

I have just had my van Insurance renewal through Comfort, been with them for years, & 7 years no claims 10,000 miles a year full breakdown cover and legal protection ,protected bonus and £200 excess on claims , I am 75 , van kept on my drive , only driver, and the van is 16 years old 3,5 tonnes,Right hand drive, no convictions or health concerns, it comes in at £465 this year , £40 pounds more than last year, it seems very expensive to me, I usually shop around each year on renewal but go back to Comfort each year because the others are much the same and cover varies, I am hearing that ABI [ I think } is very competitive so am going to try them this time and see what they come up with.

I have my van sorned at the moment and am not Insuring on renewal on the !st May so I have plenty of time to shop around,

[charleydog]

Thanks Bruce M for the interesting and informative info.Never thought abought how it really worked

[BruceM]

Well there’s an interesting marketing gambit https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-admiral/insurer-admiral-offers-refunds-to-customers-driving-less-due-to-lockdown-idUKKBN2230W1?il=0

 

Admiral Insurance offering a £25 refund to drivers for staying home and so driving less. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s an actual refund or it’s applied at renewal. Good PR though and may help them to increase market share. I’m not sure that motorhome insurers will follow suit though, we can live in hope.

[Derek Uzzell]

Details of how the Admiral £25 refund will be awarded can be obtained here

 

https://www.admiral.com/stayathome

[Tracker]

Laid up cover used to comprise Fire, Theft and Accidental damage, subject to the policy excess but excluding all use when on a public highway or anywhere other than parked at the nominated address or location.

 

It used to take the form of what used to be known as LUR (laid up rebate) which was a reduction from the next renewal premium. Not perfect but it worked OK in the pre internet days.

 

I've been out of insurance for too many years to know how it works now.

 

In over 50 years and a few miles of owing and driving motorhomes I was fortunate enough never to have needed to make a claim but unless the insurers make a profit they will be unable to fully meet their claims liabilities, so grumble as I did every renewal, I just had a quick look at reputable well known quotes from a select few companies before renewing or switching.