Brokers are a pointless waste of space

So i have an accident yesterday and call the claims hotline. After fifteeen minutes of going through everything i ask what next? "Well you have to call the insurance company." What? So what is the point of the last 15 minutes? "Oh we are just the broker." Yes but i asked you what was the point of the last 15 minutes. Silence. Is there anybody there? This is not an existential question, hello. "You have to ring the insurer",......which i did and they were efficient and sorted it all out after telling them the same things i told the claims hotline!

I then get a call from the broker asking me if i had been able to contact the insurer! FFS what is the point of these people?

No doubt socrates of E1 will have the answer

Is this a by product of having the cheapest policy you could find, via bikeinsuranceinaportacabin.com ?

I insure my cars with NFU. When I've had a claim or other issue they tend to say "Don't worry we'll sort it out"

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

stolzy said:

I insure my cars with NFU. When I've had a claim or other issue they tend to say "Don't worry we'll sort it out"

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

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Me too, last time I had a claim NFU insurance managers actually rang and email me

Tarka said:

Is this a by product of having the cheapest policy you could find, via bikeinsuranceinaportacabin.com ?

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Almost certainly. Pay peanuts, get monkeys (or chimps).

Captain jack said:

No doubt socrates of E1 will have the answer

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You were calling about your washing machine dilemma.

People still struggle with the difference between a broker and an underwriter.

stolzy said:

I insure my cars with NFU. When I've had a claim or other issue they tend to say "Don't worry we'll sort it out"

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

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Nice, the last time I tried the NFU, they were a lot more expensive. So I'm not going to pay ££££ just in case I have an accident and then the NFU can sort for me. I am quite capable of ringing the insurance company direct if needed. But if you an afford to do that, good on you.

casbar said:

Nice, the last time I tried the NFU, they were a lot more expensive.

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And that’s the thing. For some bods insurer XXX is cheaper (or more expensive) than for other bods, often simply down to nothing more than a post code, the type / value of the vehicle(s). You did nothing more than ring around. Had the NFU have been cheaper than the motor insurer you did select, you might well have been writing: “That’s good to know, as I am with the NFU, too”.

casbar said:

Nice, the last time I tried the NFU, they were a lot more expensive. So I'm not going to pay ££££ just in case I have an accident and then the NFU can sort for me. I am quite capable of ringing the insurance company direct if needed. But if you an afford to do that, good on you.

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Like I say, sometimes you get what you pay for.

Tarka said:

Is this a by product of having the cheapest policy you could find, via bikeinsuranceinaportacabin.com ?

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more likely a by product of not reading the policy booklet or pdf that gives the correct claims helpline to ring after an accident...

wessie said:

more likely a by product of not reading the policy booklet or pdf that gives the correct claims helpline to ring after an accident...

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Again, almost certainly true.

Wapping said:

And that’s the thing. For some bods insurer XXX is cheaper (or more expensive) than for other bods, often simply down to nothing more than a post code, the type / value of the vehicle(s). You did nothing more than ring around. Had the NFU have been cheaper than the motor insurer you did select, you might well have been writing: “That’s good to know, as I am with the NFU, too”.

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No, I think you missed my point. The first thing is, I don't just ring around for the cheapest quote. I generally only deal with certain brokers, IAM, Principle, BMW (Carol Nash) or for the first time ever Bennetts. Between them I look at the product and the cost, so cost value analysis, discount the stuff I don't need etc. So it is not a case of "you get what you pay for" at all. NFU has historically been a lot more expensive, so it's a risk/benefit analysis. Paying more just in case you have an accident and the NFU bod sorts it out, vs having to phone the insurance company and they sort it out. I like the OP do not see the point of phoning a broker accident help line if they just tell you to phone the underwriter. But then again I wouldn't really expect anything else, they are just middle men. I can afford to pay whatever I want for anything luckily, but not to throw money away for a perceived value.

The vast majority of motor (and other insurers) settle multiple millions of claims every minute of every day of every year very quickly and, more often than not, at a level equal to (or in excess of) the amount the policy holder might well have expected.

Whether NFU do it ‘better’ than Royal Sun Alliance or Aviva or Hiscox or Axa or anyone else is never entirely clear, as they all by and large do it well, as posts on this site testify, even if they start life with: “Insurance is a feckin’ rip off and the feckers never pay”.

If anyone wants to get really technical with a ‘cost / benefit’ analysis, that’s up to them. Me, I went with Hiscox as they, almost uniquely, we able to insure seven or more vehicles of very assorted ages values and kept in assorted locations - some on the road - for a price, under one single policy. NFU came a close second but were not at all happy about my motorcycles in London E1. In other words, NFU might have worked for me, but they didn’t - for whatever reasons - work for you. Next year, it might be different; I can wait patiently to find out.

Now returning to the OP’s opening post.....

He decided not to tell us who his ‘broker’ (or even if it is a broker, as opposed to some call centre flogging insurance) is, nor who the insurer is.

It is not at all clear whether the documents he received (or if, on any web based details) he was pointed towards a dedicated claims number, which he (maybe) ignored or just didn’t see.

In short, it is very unclear what went on and why. If though he has a serious complaint, the ‘How do I complain and to whom’ details will be very clearly detailed.