Bennetts Insurance

This is an email sent to me from a guy who has just been ripped off by bennetts, so if you are about to renew I just thought you might like to have a read.

Adam

Hi guys, this post is aimed at the UK contingent on here so if you're
not British there's no need for you trawl through it. For the rest of
you read and take note, especially if your bike insurance is due

As someone who is fed up being ripped off by companies in the UK this
post is going on every bike related forum I can find. This one is
just the last straw and the law in our country does nothing to
protect us from these weasels. This is the post I've composed, and
I'm in the process of making sure as many bikers as possible see
it.......... read on, sorry it's a long 'un.

After reading through various reviews and posts on other biker forums
I was aware of the amount of bad feeling there is aimed at Bennett's
Insurance Brokers, who I'm sure you all know deal almost specifically
with bike insurance. The more I read about riders being ripped off
and unfairly treated by these people, the more I wondered if I'd done
the right thing by insuring with them. It turned out that I hadn't
made the wisest decision of my life in becoming a Bennett's customer.
Almost everyone I've come across who's had dealings with them have a
story to tell – and never a good one. Here's my particular story……….

........I rang Bennett's Insurance Brokers after making a few
modifications to my bike, to inform them of the changes I'd made,
which were nothing to enhance power, just handling, brakes and
suspension mods.

The girl I spoke to told me that the company I was insured with,
Equity Red Star didn't cover modified bikes, which at the time I
thought was a bit odd. She went on to tell me that I'd have to cancel
the existing policy and take out a new one, which I wasn't keen to
do, but if it was the only way to get my bike insured then I had no
choice. The problem arose when she quoted me for the insurance and
then continued to tell me that there would also be a charge of £30 to
cancel the existing policy.

I told her that I could maybe understand having to pay a penalty fee
if I was just cancelling the policy, but I thought it was an unfair
charge to make owing to the fact I was having to change it merely
because I needed to make a few alterations. After all it wasn't my
fault the company they'd put me with wouldn't accept a few simple
changes to my bike…… She said I'd still have to pay £30 to cancel it!

I then asked how much I'd get back on my old policy (paid in full at
the time I took it out) which still had over 4 months left to
run. "Nothing" was the reply, " We don't refund on cancelled
policies!"

After all this I was justifiably miffed, and getting nowhere fast, so
decided to go to another insurance broker, if I had to renew the
policy then it wouldn't be with Bennett's.

I told the girl to cancel the policy because I didn't like the way
they were attempting to flog me a new one under duress so I'd go
elsewhere. I was reminded again that I'd have to pay £30 to cancel,
so I told them bill me for it.

Now get this….Within the hour I'd taken out a new policy with a
different Broker - with all the mods to my bike logged and accepted -
and whilst they were reading out the details of it they mentioned my
new insurance company would be…........Equity Red Star. The very same
company that Bennett's had told me didn't cover modified bikes!

The very next day I had a letter from them demanding the £30, but as
yet I haven't paid it. I'm now trying to fight this unjust charge but
not because of the 30 quid, that doesn't matter. It's the principle
of them giving misleading and false information to extort money from
their customers.

I've been in touch with the FOS but they can't do anything 'til I've
written to Bennett's, which I have now done. But they don't seem to
think there's a lot I can do about it anyway (they were pretty
useless really) This morning (11th May) I received another letter
from Bennett's telling me that if the £30 isn't paid by the 15th then
they'll put the "debt" into the hands of a debt collection company –
they don't mess about eh? It's less than a week since this all
started and already they're threatening me with a debt company….Well
done Bennett's, nice marketing strategy to win new customers !

………Anyway, that's my little story and I'm more than likely going to
end up having to pay this, just to keep the bailiffs of my back,
another case of the big fish swallowing the little `un because the
law allows it?

I'd urge anyone wanting insurance of any type, not to use Bennett's.
If anyone here has had bad service from them or any grievance for
being unfairly treated by them, then please pass it on to other
forums and make as many people as you know aware of the way they
treat their customers. They could end up losing a lot more than the
lousy £30 they seem to like ripping us all off for!

Very odd, I was insured with Equity Red Star through my previous insurers (MCE) and the things I asked to add on - pillion cover and an aftermarket exhaust - were free (albeit with a processing charge from MCE).

I'm also now with Equity Red Star for my current bike, through a different broker, and again pillion cover and an aftermarket exhaust were free.

The only proviso being the exhaust had to be road legal still.

U-huh. Someone else stung by their policies. At least we're not alone.

My g/f took out a policy with them last autumn, £88 for her SR125. Excellent.

But in March a mate wanted to borrow it to sit his test on, and their inflexablity began to show. They'd only accept an additional rider if she lost her commuting cover. And bear in mind he only needed cover for a few days(from the 25th to the 30th March), the cost was unbelievably steep @ £111.74 extra. Begrudgingly, we accepted as he was desperate - he was paying anyway. At the time she was advised she'd get some of this back if she cancelled, about £40 due to admin charges etc.

So he took the bike, passed the test, and my g/f called them back later to return the policy to the way it was. Ahh, that was just tooo simple!

First off she got the 'You're not entitled to any refund of the £111, and we will charge you £25 to get the commuting cover back on there' - so the conversation got a bit heated from here on. She blew her top, insisted on speaking to a supervisor or manager as we'd been told about the refund and now it had disappeared. The manager needed time to review the policy.

They phoned back and said 'No refund, and would only cancel the original policy and start afresh at a cost of £88 again' So, a loss of NCB straight away there, and there was six mths cover still to go. Blew her top again!!! So the manager said they would review the telephone calls for more details on what had been said - and call back the next day.

Next day - no call.
Day after that we called them back - 'Sorry, that manager is off sick.' Yeah, right.....

Anyway, another manager said eventually on 2nd April 'We'll give you a full refund of the £111 less an admin charge perhaps. This will take 10days tho'

This seemed a fair outcome, considering the battle we had to endure. We waited for several weeks and no sign of a refund to the bank a/c, now there's a surprise.

Called back earlier today, and apparently it's now being processed. We shall see......

Bennetts. I have no time for them. They were for me cheap but they don't insure you to ride other peoples motorcycles. AT ALL.

That sucks.

When my nice friend on her RSVR Mille say's "yeah take it for a spin". I want to be able to say "Cool, don't worry, I'm insured, gimme the key".

When you take out a policy with Bennetts it's based upon the assumption that "You're bike is not modified in any way". It says this under the assumptions tab on the quote page of the website. It's also in the T&C's. Always read the small print!

Bennett's charged me £30 to cancel a policy when they wouldn't cover me at my new address (5 mins walk from my old house.)

Apparently I'd moved into a 'high risk area,' I asked how they came to that conclusion, they said it was based on claims in the postcode area. Hang on, this is a completely new town I am moving into, the first phase of new development in a brand new estate. I'd moved from PR5 to PR7, I didn't understand.

Anyway, she gave me a full refund for the months remaining (eight) and requoted for a new policy. The new policy with a different insurer was £50 cheaper per year with a lower excess.

I didn't understand that either, but I figured I'd only lost a few months no claims. Insurance is wierd!

[Balky001]

Originally Posted by Kwakadan

When you take out a policy with Bennetts it's based upon the assumption that "You're bike is not modified in any way". It says this under the assumptions tab on the quote page of the website. It's also in the T&C's. Always read the small print!

Several companies add this exclusion on their website before you can get a quote. It's handy to know as it saves you bothering to put your details in and waste 15 minutes only to find mout they do not cover mods at the end. Almost everyone I know has had some mods done - I'd imagine they know that and don't mind losing the occassional customer as it saves them thousands in the long wrong by catching people on technicalities.

I too have had dealings of the cancelling kind with bennets; they told me i had to pay £30 to cancel my scooter insurance, and the lady was not nice to talk to (she was a bit rude, and i had all these questions which i did ask but got answers in a horrible tone of voice). when she asked why i wanted to cancel, i said it was because i was getting a new bike and she asked if i wanted a quote; i said no, and that i was gonna look elsewhere. A bit more stroppy attitude.

Bennets are crap; i should have never gone with them and should have never left carol nash, who always have good answers, good help and tell me of cancelation fees before i buy the insurance. They also throw in a load of other stuff which made them cheaper overall than bennets.

Perhaps we could get a better deal from bennets if they didnt spend their moey on crap like the bennets babe team / squad / cru

Matt

Some Brokers can only do so much with the ppl that cover you it all depends what they offer BUT adding things ya don to ya bike all count as going faster that just the way they look at it or why else ya do it

example

bubble scrren - less wind on ya face when ya going on the M40 or sumin makes a smother ide better on ya back

Bubble screen - means ya can go faster more top speed etc etc

better brakes (HH pads Hel lines etc) - knowing in case ya have to stop ya no ya can you my need them etc

brakes - can brake late when going fast

get the idea they look at it as a way of makeing money to be fair ya dont and should not need to change anythink on ya bike.

never liked bennets as they always ask for more then everyone else y i dont no.

also dont like MCE as they allways ****ed me about esp when i had to claim

fact of life they **** you about.

legal theft

motorcycle direct were no good either. I phoned them to cancel the policy when i sold my bike. They said i'd have to pay an admin fee to cancel and wouldn't get my cash back for the remaining 2 months of the policy. I said fine, i'll just let it run out, if i was needing to pay for that 2 months anyway, why waste £30 canceling it?! They then threatened me about insuring a bike i didn't own... bleh. so it cost me about £200 to sell my bike