Sprocket
Registered user
I've just had a bad experience renewing with BMW Motorrad Insurance. Renewal quote was £305, up from £265 last year. Having had good service from them when I was pushed off from behind by an overzealous Audi S4 in 2008, and being with them since my first GS in 2005, I was prepared to go with them again despite much cheaper quotes being available.
However, with the change of underwriter to Allianz from NIG, a “Statement of Fact” was attached to the renewal notice. This document had a couple of errors (my status for one) and several omissions, which had not been captured by NIG (e.g. and an unsettled no-fault accident my partner had under my car policy, number of children, number of credit cards held, current mileage of bike). Since I knew I would have to call to have the changes recorded, I used the website to check if the changes were material, and sure enough the quote came back at £391, £86 higher. I unwound the changes to see which of the changes I made was material, but was surprised to find none of them made any difference, with the quote resolutely staying at £391. No matter, I did the decent thing and rang Devitts to record the corrections and changes (BTW, they told me responses to the greyed-out questions were not needed) and of course they had to re-quote to see if any change was material to the premium. Of course the new quote was £391 “because the changes must be material”.
After some discussion and explanation Devitt accepted that had I made no changes to the statement of facts, a re-quote would have been £391 and that is what I would now have to pay, regardless.
Would I be right in surmising that under the terms of the contract with BMW, Allianz must increase the premium within an agreed percentage over the previous year’s premium and can only apply a higher amount for a change to the material facts? If so BEWARE, you will probably find errors and/or omissions in your Statement of Facts and will pay for the pleasure of correcting them.
I don’t react positively to being held to ransom and have voted with my feet. I can’t see that I will return to BMW Insurance while Allianz remains the underwriter, as they don’t have a track record in providing motorcycle insurance in the UK, and are rapidly gaining the wrong sort of track record, which is bad news for BMW.
However, with the change of underwriter to Allianz from NIG, a “Statement of Fact” was attached to the renewal notice. This document had a couple of errors (my status for one) and several omissions, which had not been captured by NIG (e.g. and an unsettled no-fault accident my partner had under my car policy, number of children, number of credit cards held, current mileage of bike). Since I knew I would have to call to have the changes recorded, I used the website to check if the changes were material, and sure enough the quote came back at £391, £86 higher. I unwound the changes to see which of the changes I made was material, but was surprised to find none of them made any difference, with the quote resolutely staying at £391. No matter, I did the decent thing and rang Devitts to record the corrections and changes (BTW, they told me responses to the greyed-out questions were not needed) and of course they had to re-quote to see if any change was material to the premium. Of course the new quote was £391 “because the changes must be material”.
After some discussion and explanation Devitt accepted that had I made no changes to the statement of facts, a re-quote would have been £391 and that is what I would now have to pay, regardless.
Would I be right in surmising that under the terms of the contract with BMW, Allianz must increase the premium within an agreed percentage over the previous year’s premium and can only apply a higher amount for a change to the material facts? If so BEWARE, you will probably find errors and/or omissions in your Statement of Facts and will pay for the pleasure of correcting them.
I don’t react positively to being held to ransom and have voted with my feet. I can’t see that I will return to BMW Insurance while Allianz remains the underwriter, as they don’t have a track record in providing motorcycle insurance in the UK, and are rapidly gaining the wrong sort of track record, which is bad news for BMW.
