Well I guess I can chuck my insurance expenditure onto my tax returns ... !!
Devitt - a cancellation tale
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Well I guess I can chuck my insurance expenditure onto my tax returns ... !!
Interestingly (or not) Devitt were the brokers my BMW dealership put me onto when I 1st bought the bike.
That is because Devitt hold the rights to what is branded (labelled) the BMW Motorrad policy. Devitt also hold (or held) the rights to the branded Honda policy, too.
Look upon my thread as a public service announcement, for that was my intention
That some brokers (I use the word in its broadest sense) apply extortionate fees and charges and / or are very cheap in year one but are sometimes much more expensive for the renewal, is hardly news. This section is full of threads on the topic. It comes second only to threads on ‘Who is best (ie cheapest on day one) to insure me steed?’. Yours is not the first and will probably not be the last.
Does the way Motor insurance is flogged in the UK need a shake up? Maybe, yes. Does anyone have the appetite to do it? Probably, no. Does it appear to fly in the face of treating its customers fairly? Sometimes, yes. Do the providers of the commoditised insurance in a mass market (millions of Motor insurance transactions take place a year) break the law or specific regulations blatantly? Probably, no. Do their customers bother to listen to the spiel they are told when they buy their mass market product from the chimps or some computer based search engine at the lowest price they can find? Definitely not. Would it make any difference if they did? Probably not.
Interestingly (or not) Devitt seek to explain the background to cancellation in their website, found by Googling just four words: devitt motorcycle insurance cancellation. https://www.devittinsurance.com/motorbike-insurance/cancelling-your-motorbike-insurance/
What is maybe interesting (or not) about your case is that it appears from your opening statement:
1. That you cancelled your policy after six months had elapsed.
2. You were charged a cancellation fee of £55. Leave aside just for now whether this sum is reasonable or not, or whether it was detailed to you when you bought the insurance policy six months ago.
3. You did not receive a pro-rata return of the premium. The annual premium was, you tell us £250 (presumably paid in full at day one) so cancellation after six months at pro-rata would be £125. Logically, this would mean £125 less £55 ie. £70 back to you.
Yet you tell us that you received nothing at all. Did Devitt explain to you why the figure was zero? Did you ask them? If so, what precise explanation did Devitt give you? In short, why did you accept a zero figure when the basic sums (based on nothing more than the figures and details you have provided) indicate that you were due £70?
Some agents don’t charge a cancellation fee, plus they give you a refund on the residual portion of unexpired insurance
I swapped a bike partway through the year and got £110 back on a £160 policy cost
My advice would be
STOP fucking using comparison sites, get off your arse and get on the bloody phone and do some proper research by talking and understanding the policy details
The lazy get fecked over regularly
Do the research and find a bike policy that REALLY suits your need
If you are a serial bike changer with a new bike every 3-4 months, don’t buy a fecking policy from a broker that charges you £50 for every policy alteration
You are being mugged off, big time
Let’s wait to hear what news the OP has, as to why his rebate from Devitt (which on the face of it, should have been £70) came to zero. That’s the most interesting question.
Ajay
Registered user
Agree absolutely. Consider if you buy through a comparison site, they get a fee/commission. The broker/Agent (e.g. Devitt) gets a commission from the insurer and maybe they charge you a fee as well. Not much premium left after that for the insurer to run his business & pay claims hence the bottom end providers will seek to reduce their claims payments
& before anyone says all insurers seek to reduce claims costs, true, no insurers going to pay spurious claims but in 40+ years of driving vehicles I've had several claims (fault & non fault), always been with known-name insurers & always been satisfied with the settlements & claims handling.
My insurance isn't the cheapest, but as with a bit of bike kit, you have a choice & largely you get what you pay for.
Agree with Wappers, interested to hear why nil refund to the OP, rather than estimated £70
Thank you
Cars/Truck & Van and House are with NFU Mutual - not cheap, but excellent service and claims handling - when you need help, they really are 'in your corner'
Bikes with RH
I never buy the cheapest insurance, it's wank and as much use as a chocolate fireguard
When they reply to my email I'll update. The lady on the phone was "scripting" me without any proper explanation, hence the email.
Thank you.
Devitts take a cut of the insurance premium for setting up the policy. Someone has to pay for the overheads.
If you purchased via a comparison site did you claim the rewards? I renewed 2 policies and received 2 x £20 vouchers. Exchanged at Halfords or Dominoes Pizze etc.
Also you are ringing up to cancel, you have no loyalty to them and consequently they have none for you. Odds on you will obtain the cheapest policy next time?
Last month I phoned Bemoto as i had 2 bikes to insure and wanted a multi bike policy. Cost £217 with titanium cover. Purchased this cover. Could i have got it cheaper - possibly? Reason i went with them as not sure how long i will be keeping the 2nd bike and may change it for something else. Bemoto do not charge admin for policy changes.
Comparison websites are good, i paid a couple years ago £89 for a R1200gs LC TE. How much money are they making when you think of the overheads as mentioned above.
I agree paying a cancellation charge is difficult to swallow. By cancelling the insurance policy you are removing liability from the underwriter.
Wapping - is it possible to write to the underwriter direct to cancel - bypassing the broker and its fees?
If you purchased via a comparison site did you claim the rewards? I renewed 2 policies and received 2 x £20 vouchers. Exchanged at Halfords or Dominoes Pizze etc.
Also you are ringing up to cancel, you have no loyalty to them and consequently they have none for you. Odds on you will obtain the cheapest policy next time?
Last month I phoned Bemoto as i had 2 bikes to insure and wanted a multi bike policy. Cost £217 with titanium cover. Purchased this cover. Could i have got it cheaper - possibly? Reason i went with them as not sure how long i will be keeping the 2nd bike and may change it for something else. Bemoto do not charge admin for policy changes.
Comparison websites are good, i paid a couple years ago £89 for a R1200gs LC TE. How much money are they making when you think of the overheads as mentioned above.
I agree paying a cancellation charge is difficult to swallow. By cancelling the insurance policy you are removing liability from the underwriter.
Wapping - is it possible to write to the underwriter direct to cancel - bypassing the broker and its fees?
You can write to whoever you like; whether they’ll take any notice is another matter entirely.
When you go through the chimps at somewhere like Devitt to buy your insurance, you actually enter into two separate and distinct contracts, not one. One is with the insurer of your vehicle, the second is with Devitt, who arrange it for you.
A long time ago, I had a shed load of problems with the chimps at Devitt, who were the brokers for the Honda branded insurance scheme, underwritten at the time by NIG. So useless were Devitt, that I decided to call NIG to speak to their Motor underwriter, but I couldn’t find the number and knew that NIG would not release it. So I cheated…. I called NIG’s main switchboard and asked for the HR department, which the switchboard put me straight through to. When they answered, I simply said that I had no idea what had happened, as I was trying to talk to the Motor department. Being obliging souls in HR, the lady transferred me straight through. Bingo! At first the underwriter was a bit wary but once I explained the issue, he agreed that Devitt were indeed particularly stupid chimps and that he’d sort it out, which he did.
But we digress, whilst we wait to hear why £70 has apparently disappeared into the chimps’ pockets.
Two updates, as I know of at least one person who won't have been able to sleep, in anticipation of my next post...
A better informed Devitt worker has explained that I received a £60 refund for the balance of the policy outstanding, negated by the £55 cancellation fee, leaving me a £5 refund.
I've just learned that my no fault claim of 2017 (car stolen and subsequently written off) was, in fact, a fault claim because there was no recovery from any other party - who'd have thought it eh - be careful how you interpret those on line questions. It meant if I'd made a claim I may not have been covered, because my declaration was wrong
A better informed Devitt worker has explained that I received a £60 refund for the balance of the policy outstanding, negated by the £55 cancellation fee, leaving me a £5 refund.
I've just learned that my no fault claim of 2017 (car stolen and subsequently written off) was, in fact, a fault claim because there was no recovery from any other party - who'd have thought it eh - be careful how you interpret those on line questions. It meant if I'd made a claim I may not have been covered, because my declaration was wrong
It meant if I'd made a claim I may not have been covered, because my declaration was wrong
Not just me then...
The first year after my bike was stolen I didn't think to tell my car insurer of the bike theft, it was only the following year when I was speaking with the broker that I mentioned it in passing...
Just changed my address with Bemoto from my current house to keep my bikes temporarily in a rented council owned garage, until I get my new garage built at the new address. Bit of a faff as the lady on the phone couldn't understand that the garage (as it is just a block of garages) doesn't really have a post code. Anyhow the net result of said phone call - zero cost for change!! 
Very pleased with every interaction with Bemoto I've had.
Very pleased with every interaction with Bemoto I've had.
Did the chimp explain why your annual policy premium of £250, cancelled after six months (half a year) at presumably pro-rata, came to £60 and not £125? If so, what was the explanation? From that figure, assuming the annual figure of £250 is correct, it looks like you had just three months left to run on the policy, not six?
As to the theft / write off claim? Whilst it was indeed not ‘your fault’ per-se that your car was stolen and written off, the claim - from what you tell us - did indeed fall under your insurance policy, as I assume your insurer paid you for it?
No (but my email hasn't been answered yet) and yes.
It will be interesting to see how six months’ unexpired period becomes three months.
What news from the chimps that seemingly somehow confused three months with six?
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