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Post by naughtyfox on May 18, 2018 8:38:22 GMT
Wrote to our insurers, Collidge & Partners, yesterday, as they seem to have forgotten our boat insurance is up for renewal in 2 weeks' time. The details of our next bill seem OK but a £15.00 "Policy Fee" has suddenly appeared - not had this before! I've written to them to ask what it is.
Could it be a deliberate 'kick in the bollocks' because sellers are no longer allowed to make a charge for the use of a credit card? And so they make up a 'fee'?
CRT have also been charging us £7.50 for the cheek we have of paying them by credit card - I imagine they don't care anymore about this £7.50, with slapping around £38 on to our next licence "in line with 4% inflation", which I find deceitful as statistics and percentages are easy to manipulate. I cetainly haven't had a 4% wage rise since we bought our current CRT licence last July.
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Post by kris on May 18, 2018 8:46:54 GMT
You might have to stop giving £38 a year to the iwa then
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Post by naughtyfox on May 18, 2018 9:17:04 GMT
Yes, Kris, that £38 will not go into Ivor Caplan's pocket but into Richard Parry's. Winner takes all!
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Post by kris on May 18, 2018 9:20:24 GMT
Give unto ceaser what is ceasers
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Post by peterboat on May 18, 2018 11:08:38 GMT
You might have to stop throwing good money after bad with that £38 a year to the iwa then I have altered it for you Kris to make it more truthful  |
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Post by naughtyfox on May 18, 2018 16:16:57 GMT
Reply came:
"The policy fee has been introduced by Green Insurance Group who now operate the
business, they introduced the charge to be in line with most other insurers in
the market. Unfortunately it cannot be removed but I can offer free protected no
claims discount( Which is usally worth £10-£15) which helps balance it out."
But... err.. we already have a no claims discount of £54. No explanation of what a 'policy fee' actually is. Others have it, so we gotta have one? Smells fishy. Ever since we entered the world of canals it scams, cons and thievings every way we look. Consolation is that those with bigger boats are paying more and helping us out.
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Post by jam on May 18, 2018 19:33:19 GMT
Reply came: "The policy fee has been introduced by Green Insurance Group who now operate the business, they introduced the charge to be in line with most other insurers in the market. Unfortunately it cannot be removed but I can offer free protected no claims discount( Which is usally worth £10-£15) which helps balance it out." But... err.. we already have a no claims discount of £54. No explanation of what a 'policy fee' actually is. Others have it, so we gotta have one? Smells fishy. Ever since we entered the world of canals it scams, cons and thievings every way we look. Consolation is that those with bigger boats are paying more and helping us out. No different than most motor insurances then. New business = Policy Fee @ £30 Renew Policy = Renewal Fee @ £30 I avoid this by getting a better deal online which overall is lower than my existing quote for car insurance. Luckily I have not had to do this with the boat, the renewal gives no indication of any fee, just an annual sum. Last year was £173, this year £139, so if there is a fee I will suck it up  |
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Post by naughtyfox on May 19, 2018 6:33:19 GMT
Our insurance basic sum was £138.60 last year, this time £141.12. Then there's the new £15 'policy fee' slapped on. Then £13 'Marine Legal Cover' (that can go in the bin!). Then the new £75 costs of 3 call outs plus 2-hours tow if needed from River-Canal-lump-of-wood-and-hammer-Rescue-Brigade, who wanted twice this amount for 4 call outs if we bought the service from them direct!
I now realise the 'protected no claims discount worth £10-15' means that if we were to make a claim, our bonus would be unaffected. Perhaps we should crash into something to make it worth having, after all, we have to pay the new £15 'policy fee' for nothing.
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Post by bodger on May 19, 2018 6:48:11 GMT
I now realise the 'protected no claims discount worth £10-15' means that if we were to make a claim, our bonus would be unaffected. Perhaps we should crash into something to make it worth having, after all, we have to pay the new £15 'policy fee' for nothing. may not be strictly true. AFAIK the no claims discount is not usually fully protected - for example if you had 9 years NCD and you had an accident then the NCD at the next renewal may be reduced to 5 years. |
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Post by naughtyfox on May 19, 2018 6:50:17 GMT
Well.... maybe we can just chip a bit off something, then.
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Post by IainS on May 21, 2018 18:29:49 GMT
I now realise the 'protected no claims discount worth £10-15' means that if we were to make a claim, our bonus would be unaffected. Perhaps we should crash into something to make it worth having, after all, we have to pay the new £15 'policy fee' for nothing. may not be strictly true. AFAIK the no claims discount is not usually fully protected - for example if you had 9 years NCD and you had an accident then the NCD at the next renewal may be reduced to 5 years. Even if the no claims discount is fully protected, all the blighters do is jack up the premium. I fell foul of this many years ago, when the car was hit (hard) from behind while in a stationary queue of traffic. The next year's premium was just about doubled. I changed company, but still had a slightly increased premium, due to the "Any accidents in the last five years" question. |
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Post by naughtyfox on May 21, 2018 18:38:06 GMT
We're with Collidge & Partners as that was the choice of the boat's previous owner and they seemed as good as any. I'm quite happy with them still, and their communications. But I do keep an eye on the 'premium' (basic amount). They have save us around £70 with the 3 callouts from RCR deal, compared to what we had with RCR £140 for 4 callouts. (We haven't had any callouts so far as I look after our engine, it's just for peace of mind, like the AA / RAC. I do fear that RCR will send a bloke with a lump of wood and a hammer as his skill set. They really fucked their reputation up with the Newton Heath incident).
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