Carole Nash in new ownership

Neil W

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Interesting article in the BMW Club Journal this month regarding Carole Nash having been bought out by Towergate Insurance who also own Footman James Insurance .

Now call me slightly paranoid but it doesn't exactly bode well for premiums staying at reasonable levels when two of the biggest players are owned by the same holding company and can set premiums at what they believe they can get away with .
 
They are not underwriters - they are merely brokers.

It is the underwriters who compete for business, surely?

Al
 
There is still plenty of competition, especially with the might of Saga behind Bennetts. Groupama, the current owner wasn't exactly at the cutting edge of price competition, being of the old school insurer type, relying on inertia to fleece loyal customers with ever increasing premiums.

CN & FJ are only brokers anyway. Premiums are set by underwriters, and there aren't many of them in the motorcycle market. Brokers then add their mark-up.

The proposed new parent is http://www.ardonagh.com/about-us/business-portfolio which is based in Jersey according to
https://www.carolenash.com/about-us - Towergate is a sub-brand.
 
Towergate will still be able to brand it BMW (with BMW's permission) or just about anything else they like, providing it's legal.

The Ferrari branded scheme is operated by Lockton, the Porsche one by Marsh. We used to own a call centre (it was one of the first) where the chimps answered calls on behalf of Kawasaki and Boots, green screen motorbikes, blue for cosmetics. They still fecked it up.

There is still lots of competition out there but prices are rising for some buyers, who are struggling to match some of the the sometimes very low figures that are paraded on these pages. How and if Brexit will hit some of the very cheap off-shore (low cost, light touch regulation) companies - like e-bike - enjoy, passporting into Europe under the Freedom of Services directive, remains to be seen.
 
Reviving an old thread, but just getting new quotes for my XR. Seems there has been further consolidation with Saga selling Bennetts to Towergate.

Also, I notice on the MCN Compare website, every other quote seems to be from a sub brand of Carole Nash, including one labelled Mackenzie Hodgson (yes, those 2 aged racers)

Cheapest quote is a worrying £111 per annum with Express, a CN offshoot with a bog standard policy without all those bundled bells & whistles, which cost an extra £100.
 
Reviving an old thread, but just getting new quotes for my XR. Seems there has been further consolidation with Saga selling Bennetts to Towergate.

Also, I notice on the MCN Compare website, every other quote seems to be from a sub brand of Carole Nash, including one labelled Mackenzie Hodgson (yes, those 2 aged racers)

Cheapest quote is a worrying £111 per annum with Express, a CN offshoot with a bog standard policy without all those bundled bells & whistles, which cost an extra £100.

Towergate - Bit like NU in the 1970’s and 80’s who insured the whole motorcycle market with their Rider Policy

Insurers will only underwrite a market sector if its profitable and when the risk overtakes the return, then they withdraw
 
Towergate is, its widest sense, a broker who aggregates various insurers together. It is not an insurer, per-se.
 


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