Bennetts Insurance - Beware Hidden Costs

[John Armstrong]

On another note - I phoned them to see about getting another bike added to my multi-bike policy, saying that it wouldn't be kept at my house, but in a different part of the country...............

Only another £40, but not to insure anywhere outside a 10 mile radius of my house.........

What difference does it make - 10 miles or 300??

Anyone had any experience of this?

Recently added the airhead onto my BM combined policy. No extra cost for keep a bike in a wooden locked shed 2 miles away compared to the others in an integral garage

Similarily, swapping bikes around and "consolidating" the first quote was an extra £60 = 25%, queried that there's less bikes and less value now, wtf! They called the underwriter, and now they're giving me 10% back

 

[Wapping]

When was the last time you bought fish and chips????

Thank you. It makes my point exactly. Insurance is cheap.

 

[TonyJ]

Bennets

I had an insurance policy with Bennets. When it came to renewal time I found a cheaper quote £80.00 cheaper. When I phoned Bennets to inform them that I didnt want to renew, they managed to meet my new quote. I didnt renew on principle. Why couldnt they quote me £80.00 cheaper on my renewal. She gota little nasty about that.

 

[piebaps]

Another ex-Bennetts Customer

I've just left Bennetts too.

I bought a new GSA last August, but still had my old 12 to sell. I wanted a couple of months cover for both, so I could give the 12 a run out once a week just to prevent it from stagnating.

Computer said no! Apparently, the policy I had bought from them just the month before specifically excludes additional bikes and I would have to cancel, suffer the cancellation charge and then start a fresh policy.

Now I know I should've read the policy small print but I would expect to have something like that in the key features.

I didn't renew with the feckers and now have a policy which was £100 cheaper and allows additional bikes to be added.

 

[thosoneill]

i too have given bennets a bodyswerve - now with post office motorcycle insurance underwritten by NIG royal bank of scotland via devitts ins services - half the cost of bennets

 

[TRANSPORTER]

I too will be getting rid of my BENNETS insurance policy when it expires, mainly due to them not informing me of a change to the company i pay my direct debit to, and that the monthly premium went up from £8.00 a month to £14.20 a month. A rise that I was surprised with especially as i havnt claimed and that the bike was moved from outside to a locked brick garage.
The old collection company "Amber select" were excellent always friendly with no hassle. the new company "CLOSE BROTHERS FINANCE" what a pain in the rear these are, due to a slight lack of funds now and then I missed a payment, well I wouldnt of if they stuck to the correct direct debit date, they seem to change it by a day or two every month or so, so they end up collecting the £14.20 which I pay by debit card over the phone and also a £20.00 charge for missed payment.
I have tried to change the direct debit date but they say that it cannot be done due to the start date of the policy?????
Anyway the moral of the story for me is to make sure I have the money in the right bank account at the right time.
BUt it will be Hello CAROLE NASH insurance soon hopefully they will supply a better service to me who up until now had been a loyal customer to Bennets for over ten years.
Oh and there has been the incident of one of their empoyers having a computer crash whilst on the phone to me which in turn led them to losing all my details and history so I had to start afresh as a new customer.

 

[NorthernBoy]

I let my insurers know this year that I would not be working for a while, and they nicely told me that that's add £100 to the policy. This seemed a bit steep, given that every bike on there is on restricted mileage, so there is no legitimate claim that I will be doing a lot more miles than I'd agreed on before.

They then decided that I am no longer insured to ride bikes which I don't own, either, as this is a "privilege" not granted to people not working.

I pointed out that I may well be choosing to be retired, and am not claiming benefits or looking for work, but that didn't matter.

I don't think, come renewals time, that I'll be sticking with them.

 

[craig77]

After taking out a polciy with Swinton I found that it was cheaper to add my new bike to my existing bikes policy.

Called them up to cancel my policy and was told that it would cost £60 odd (£50 cancellation fee plus a months notice).

Told them I thought this was unreasonable for a £105 annual premium that had only been running for a month.

To cut a long story short the policy was cancelled but I refused to pay the £60 odd. A few months later I got a letter through saying "thanks, we've taken the money you were due us from your account - the one you paid the initial deposit online with" !!!

I now pay my insurance up front in one installment. Beware.

 

[laverdakeith]

They are not all bad...

Just been reading through previous posts here and I thought I would share a bit of insurance good news.
I have for the past ten years or so been insured by Footman James on a classic policy, insuring my Laverda RGS as my main bike and whatever BMW I have at the time as a second bike. When I bought my latest GS earlier this year I got a whopping quote back from Footman James, apparently the GS is considered high risk and the reason for the big quote is that no no-claims bonus applies to a classic policy. After a bit of discussion with the very helpful staff I decided on a new modern bike policy for the GS, Footman James agreed to give me the full 9 years no claims discount. So the result was all bikes fully comprehensively insured on two policies for less money than the previous year’s classic and one modern (R1150RS) premium. Result

Keith.

 

[Rasher]

I had similar issues with Bennetts when looking to change bikes, they would not even quote on new one unless I cancelled my policy and would only give me a (stupidly high) quote to upgrade my TPFT policy to cover new bike.

If I wanted an FC price I would have to cancel, get quote and if I did not want new bike due to insurance cost I would need to re-insure.

Obviously I went elsewhere, after selling old bike I phoned to cancel the old policy, 5 months into a 12 month policy I had paid in full, after "fee's" I "owed" them £7, so I said don't bother cancelling.

They told me as they knew I no longer owned the bike they would cancel the policy and get a debt collection agency into me, I paid up as I did not want to risk credit rating damage (probably what they rely on)

I then got on the the FSA and put in a compliant, I got £50 compensation back after my complaint was upheld.

Do not think Bennetts is the friendly company it once was, it is no owned by a large organisation who obviously bought it for the good name and to exploit its loyal customer base.

With Carole Nash these days, much better, have also used Hastings and found them very good, Carole Nash just seem to have the best European cover.

 

[swissrob]

They told me as they knew I no longer owned the bike they would cancel the policy and get a debt collection agency into me, I paid up as I did not want to risk credit rating damage (probably what they rely on)

a debt collector has no legal powers, the 2 year old down the road can set himself up as a debt collector today.

bennets would have to take you to court, they would have to win, and then you would have to refuse to pay after 28 days - then you would get a CCJ.

For £7 they wouldnt bother as its £25 for an online application.

 

[Redrooster]

I wont use them again neither. My policy expired on the 14th of October. I was sent renewal docs and the price had gone up by a silly amount. Wasnt bothered as i had sold the bike and was letting the no claims amount. Because i didnt let them know they ajtomagically renewed and took the money from my account. I rang them and they said they would cancel the policy. I said i didnt want it in the first place. Wouldnt help and said i would be charged £20 as they had sent the documents out. My bank are not interested. The girl at Bennetts was very flippant to. Oh and i got an add of £10 on top of my policy what for i dont know. So far no refund. i am guessing no refund till i send the policy back. Deffo wont be insuring with them again. Yours mightily p'd off

 

[Rasher]

a debt collector has no legal powers, the 2 year old down the road can set himself up as a debt collector today.

bennets would have to take you to court, they would have to win, and then you would have to refuse to pay after 28 days - then you would get a CCJ.

For £7 they wouldnt bother as its £25 for an online application.

I was more concerned about some black mark appearing on my credit score and wanted to avoid that possibility.

Made a profit after the complaint anyway

And I too found them very arrogant.

 

[airwave]

Was completely stiffed by Bennets.
As long as my bottom continues to point down, I will _never_ insure a bike with those shysters.

(auto renewal, missed it, had sold bike policy referred to, was threatened with legal action as soon as I spoke the the stiff wristed chaps about it)

I despise that company so much and can't imagine why _anyone_ would insure through them.