An interesting slip up

Just had my renewal come through from my insurance--SWINTON. When I was speaking with them the other day I was happy enough that my premiums had not gone up, £156 Fully Comp
Swinton have brokered me with RSA[Royal&Sun Alliance Ins PLC] AND enclosed in the paperwork,mistakenly, was the renewal premium for myself and the bike from RSA,£104

JUST LETTING PEOPLE KNOW HOW MUCH YOU PAY TO GO THROUGH A BROKERAGE INSTEAD OF GOING TO THE INSURANCE COMPANY DIRECT.

I asked Swinton why they charged the difference and was told it was for paperwork.This "Paperwork" is self generated by Swinton in my opinion so I went to RSA and paid them direct,saving £52 or approx 33% of the cost.

This may be worth a look for anybody who has a fairly high premium.

Bet someone got a bit told off for that!

Most "insurance" companies turn out to only be brokers. The interesting thing is how different quotes from two different brokers can be when the underwriter, who is the actual insurer, is the same! I had a quote from Bike Team and a renewal from Bennetts, with same policy underwritten by Red Star, and there was nearly £100 difference between them.

As Reeder said - slapped bottom time for someone at Swinton!

errr hold on..

they have to make money somewhere, its like buying anything from a shop opposed to buying from the manufacturer,

dont blame you for saving the money though..

[TamSV]

Brokerage fees are supposed to be transparent anyway so it shouldn't have been a mistake.

One of the main benefits of dealing through a broker should be that you've got someone to filter the bull**** that comes from the insurers when you have a claim. RSA have been one of the worst in recent years on commercial motor - insultingly low offers, claims reducers masquerading as engineers. They might be better on personal motor but you need to know what you're doing if you're having to deal with them direct.

I don't know what Swintons are doing with claims these days but, if the only evidence they can produce of the "value" they are adding is paperwork then they deserve to lose business.

[G]

In all fairness a business is a business, its there to make money not be a charity.

How much do you think it costs Suzuki to make an SV650... I bet they make more than 50% on what they sell it to a dealers for... then I bet the dealer makes at least 25% on the sale price.

Same goes with anything you buy, there will always be profit in it for the Manufacturer and retailer... if you think theres so much money to be made, then get stuck in and start a company in the industry.

Furniture used to be a 400% mark up (according to a trader i knew). I sell specialist car tools and hand tools and the mark up seems to be between 300 and 400%. But you have to factor in research and development and manufacturing costs, together with advertising, transport and so on.

[G]

i ought to have said in my post that I hate middle men, as it sounded like i was all for them and giving them my support.

I infect hate them, the RRP for the exhaust on my blade is £889... Yet you can get it a fair bit cheaper than that elsewhere in the world, UK retailers do thoroughly rape us on price, I just wish we could deal direct with the manufacturer... Sod 'Authorised Distributors' like PhoenixNW who stick a markup on the product then sell it to retailers who also stick a markup on it.

In this day and age I'm surprised most manufacturers don't deal direct with the customer through online shops, they would make more sales.

Originally Posted by G

then I bet the dealer makes at least 25% on the sale price

Only if they sell it at retail, then they don't sell many bikes. Some of the cheapest dealers make very little on the bikes, they get the bonuses for the number of bikes they register instead, and they hope you'll go there for servicing and buy gear & accessories.

[TamSV]

Originally Posted by G

i ought to have said in my post that I hate middle men, as it sounded like i was all for them and giving them my support.

I think it comes down to whether they add something other than cost. If they don't then they don't have a business.

I bought a lid the other week in my local bike shop. I could have got it cheaper online and he gets loads of people trying them on in his shop then doing just that. If everyone does that there soon won't be anywhere local to try on lids.

I'm in that shop often for the craic, free advice and to get the **** taken out of me. I also get my bikes MOT'd without any tiresome replacing of baffles and numberplate.

His prices are higher because the costs of running a physical shop are higher. The utility of that relationship is worth £20 or £30 on the price of a lid or a quid or so on a bottle of fork oil every now and then.