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9th October 2003, Page 52
9th October 2003
Page 52
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Page 52, 9th October 2003 — Quote me happy
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Ever wondered how the insurance industry works? So

have we. This week CM'S Mystery Shopper looks closer

and finds that the mystery simply deepens...

To conduct this investigation our mystery shopper posed as an HGV driver with nine years' experience just starting up as an owner-driver on general (nonhazgoods) haulage work in the UK and looking for vehicle. goods-in-transit and public liability cover (to the industry standard £2m). Interestingly.many of the big-name insurers we approached were not interested, even though quite a few advertise insurance for commercial vehicles. It seems the hire-and-reward sector is not one they like dealing with.

Instead we ended up in the hands of a number of specialist brokers, some recommended by the big names, others sourced from the classified ads at the back of Commercial MotorThe vehicle we asked to insure (comprehensively) was a brand new sleeper-cabbed 6x2 mid-lift Foden Alpha tractive unit with the 400hp Caterpillar engine, valued at £56280. Brokers were judged on a number of factors, These included speed of initial response. politeness, the amount of information they collected about us, their ability to offer sound advice on the cover needed, how quickly they followed up verbal quotes with written confirmations, the quality of in formation they provided about their policies and, of course, the amount they wanted us to spend.

Anthony Jones (UK) Recommended by Eagle Star,Anthony Jones (UK)'s representative took quite a lot of information down in the initial phone call and pleased us by suggesting that we didn't need goods-in-transit insurance to cover the full value of our load; instead he suggested £1300/tonne, as per the RI-IA standard conditions. He also went to some pains to check what kind of trailers we'd be hauling and helped us establish a sensible value for them.

On public liability, he ended up suggesting a combined goods-in-transit/public liability package would be best value and rang off to start his search.

Four days later he was back. Based on a letter from our employers confirming that we'd had no accidents or claims in the past six years,comprehensive vehicle insurance was offered at £4,087 through a Lloyds syndicate, including trailer cover up to £20,000. Goods-in-transit and public liability came to a combined £472.50, although he didn't say who the insurer would be.This also included employer's liability cover to £10m: a nice touch, although as an ownerdriver not particularly relevant to us.

Another four days later written confirmation arrived.

This confirmed all the figures and offered a payment plan. It also mentioned a couple of excesses we hadn't been told about. Some basic information on the policy was included but, sadly, a proposal form was not. Overall, however, we were quite impressed by Anthony Jones' speed of service.advicc and attention to detail.

Warren Hill Insurance brokers

Recommended by Lloyds TSB, Warren Hill's East Kilbride office told us they only did vehicle insurance, not goods-in-transit or public liability policies. After asking for a mammoth amount of information on the phone. including our marital status, whether the vehicle would run on petrol or diesel, how many seats it had and what other vehicles we owned or drove, the saleswoman went away and came back a short while later with an £8,366 premium for vehicle cover with Norwich Union. It was suggested that this included third-party trailers, but no details were forthcoming about the extent of cover.

She arranged to call us back a couple of days later to see if we'd had other quotes that were better, on the basis that if so she could try and squeeze Norwich Union a bit further on our behalf.

Pushed on the goods-in-transit and public liability, she explained that the company's Haywards Heath office handled this kind of cover and said she'd ask them to call us.

The following week she called back as promised.but when she heard about some of our other quotes she said there was probably no point in her going back to Norwich Union.

Posted confirmation of her quote took 10 days to arrive because two abortive attempts weren't properly addressed; it seems our house number hadn't been noted despite the wealth of information gathered. When it did finally reach us the posted material gave some basic information about the policy's restrictions and it did include a proposal form.

The Haywards Heath office,meanwhile, took two further prods to respond.to tell us they could only put us directly in touch with insurer Axa on goods-in-transit and public liability.This eventually led to a quote direct from Ax.a of 1519 for RHA terms of £1,300/ tonne and 12m of public liability cover.

Heath Lambert Group

Recommended by the Freight Transport Association's web site. Heath Larnbert's Brierley Hill office took all the usual details but seemed particularly interested in the type of loads we might be carrying. Our point of contact specifically checked if we might be carrying alcohol and if we might need to stay overnight in the vehicle.

The next day he got back to us with a quote of £8,489 on the vehicle, again with Norwich Union, but said this was dependent on it being fitted with a Thatcham 1 security system. Also, this policy didn't include third party trailer cover, for which they wanted another£80.

Goods-in-transit and public liability through Axa came to a similarly hefty £763 as he had simply accepted our estimate of full load value at £60,000 rather than offering us any advice on the RHA terms of £1,300/tonne. Despite this, it transpired that there was a £35.000 limit on high-value goods. such as computers,cigarettes and alcohol.

Confirmation duly arrived by post but was the scantest of all the brokers in terms of detail. In fact,we received just a single sheet. It appeared our goods-in-transit/public liability premium had now fallen to £727, while our additional trailer premium had fallen to £78. This still left our basic vehicle insurance at a whopping 18567. Neither policy information nor proposal form had been included.

We decided to demand a goods-in-transit quote at RHA rates and got the premium down to a more respectable £472 with Axa.

Cramlington Insurance Services

A nice bit of country & western soothed us while we waited to be connected to the agent at Cramlington. She efficiently took all the details of us, volunteered sensible values for trailer cover (75,000) and suggested RHA rates on the goods-in-transit insurance.

Like the others she wanted a letter from our previous employers to confurn our claim of a clean licence but promised a 25% reduction for this. She also warned that an immobiliser or tracking system might be required.

Unfortunately,she failed to fulfil her promise of a call later the same

54

day or the next dayThree days later we called back. Our rep made no apology but explained she'd passed the quote to a colleague.

Comprehensive motor cover with Equity Red Star came to £5,644.16, including the introductory 25% bonus and subject to an immobiliser being fitted. Goods-in-transit and public liability came to £472.50 withAxa.

When the written confirmation arrived the next day it turned out there was a £100 excess on the goods-in-transit and £250 on the public liability. It also transpired that employer's liability of £10m was included for temporary employees. The paperwork mentioned that payment terms were available on request and included Cramlington's terms of business but once again no real policy details were provided and there was no proposal form.

West Craven Insurance Services After country & western at Cramlington it was time to disco at West Craven. Luckily it didn't take long for our sales agent to put an end to it. She was one of only two who wanted to check our vehicle would be in a locked compound overnight, and also confirmed that an alarm or inunobiliser could be a requirement, although she said that it would bring the premium down by up to 15%.

She added that trailer cover was included as standard on their policy, assumed RHA conditions on the goods-in-transit and offered public liability of either Elm or £2m.

She too suggested the combined Axa goodsin-transit/public liability policy but unlike everyone else needed information about our estimated turnover, our main contract and the goods to be carried, which she said Axa required.When we were unable to provide all this she went for separate policiesagain the only one to do so.

The vehicle insurance came in at £5,236.68 with Lloyds of London,dependent on a tracking system.The goods-in-transit premium was £362.50 (Royal 8t SunAlliance) and public liability was quoted at either £157.50 for Lim of cover or 1199.50 for £2m (Northern Underwriters).

With one exception (see opposite) this was the quickest quote of all, taking little over an hour from start to finish.

When the post arrived the next day. the vehicle quote had mysteriously fallen to £5,221.68 but once again, there was no proposal form. For the first time, however, there was a decent booklet outlining the exact terms of the policy.


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