Anyone using Bennetts or Carol Nash?

[leo-david]

I'm with Carol nash, mainly due to having the (very good) European Breakdown cover included.

BUT I get very pissed off with them when my renewal comes its always ridiculously high.
If I shop around its always much cheaper and if I go online to Carol Nash they themselves are always cheaper. If you ring them up they say, its an internet new customers only price.
Loyalty hey, dosn't mean much to Carol Nash.

[OB1]

When I bought a 1973 CB750 K2 back in 1997, I went with Carole Nash on a fully comp policy for £95: I was 29 and had previously been paying around £400 TPFT through other companies for various bikes. I stayed with CN for the following 11 years through various other bikes and in 2008, I was paying around £250 for my 2002 Speed Triple and my 1967 Speed Twin. I then sold them both to buy a 2007 1050 Speed Triple and my policy went up to around £360 - this was round about the time when CN was sold.

I defected to Bennett's who offered a policy for £125 for the S3 and then, a year later at the NEC Show, I chatted to MCE who offered me a cheaper deal. I spent the next three months on the phone to MCE trying to get my policy documents sent out, all the time, they were taking my payments out of my account. I finally decided to cancel the policy (I hadn't cancelled the Bennett's policy as I wanted the papers in hand before doing so). I was told that to cancel, I would have to pay the full amount of the policy for 12 months! I mentioned that I still had the Bennett's policy and they accused me of fraud! hmy: I eventually managed to speak to someone high up who asked me when I had taken out the Bennett's policy; when I said I had bought it 6 months before the MCE policy, he cancelled their policy straight away. I never received a refund, though.

After all of that, I went back to CN who insured my brand new Tiger 800XC for £180 FC and I'm still with them. Last year's renewal came through with the offer of the same policy (with Aviva) for £240, however they have looked around and found a better quote for £140 form… Aviva! :blink:

Cheap is not always best. With CN you get Europe-wide breakdown recovery and legal fees covered as part of the policy. As has been said, for others to match this, the premium increases dramatically.

Since 1997 I have had to be recovered four times and there has never been a problem (apart from waiting for 3 hours in the rain). Compare that to my pre-CN times when I had to pay £300 to have a £350 bike recovered from the M25 to Lincoln in 1991! hmy: I dread to think how much that kind of recovery would cost these days.

[Twistgrip]

I can't comment on Bennetts as I've never used them,but I have been with Carole Nash for over 30 years.The European breakdown service is second to none. You get what you pay for,or to put it another way,you don't get what you don't pay for!
I have my 1800 Goldwing,my much modified 1100 Goldwing with sidecar and my Guzzi Stelvio NTX, all for £324. Mind you,I have been riding for 48 years.
Go ahead,get the cheapest insurance that you can,but if and when you ever need help in some far flung corner of Europe,you'll probably be wishing that you'd paid a bit more for your insurance!

[Mark1961]

I'm with Carol nash, mainly due to having the (very good) European Breakdown cover included.


I was with Bennett's but their policy only covered me for TPFT at £197.00. Also no European Breakdown cover.

CN fully comp £240. with European Breakdown cover.

[GB]

It doesn't really matter to be honest as they are only the broker unless you want the extras like euro cover etc. I have used CN and Bennetts, I am currently with Bennetts, but the insurance is actually with Aviva or Norwich union to me and you.

Since my accident it has opened my eyes somewhat to how things seem to be done nowadays. I reported the accident to Bennetts and they put the wheels in motion, let me state now that I am fully comp.

Initially they wanted to collect my bike (which was at my house) and take it to 4th D a massive repair centre based miles from where I was. Now a freind of mine was involved in an accident and he was able to repair the bike himself and claim for all his parts and some labour, my bike had no damage that I couldn't repair myself if was fit enough I just needed the money for the parts.

So I rang Bennetts and told them thats what I wanted to do,they said "Oh we've never been asked that before, we are just the brokers you will have to talk to Aviva the insurer" I then rang Aviva and discussed it with them saying it would be cheaper for them as the bike is already at mine and there would be no shipping costs or mark up from 4th D. They sent an engineer out to assess the damage, a really nice bloke who was not patronising or condescending. We agreed on all the parts damaged and I said I would email him a price list. I got all the prices off BMW and sent it over and he contacted BMW for how much labour time would be involved in changing the parts. They then sent me a cheque minus my access and the vat (which I can claim back with receipts) on the parts.

As for personal damaged like my shoulder, Bennetts give that part to another solicitor/law firm who deals with that part separately so Bennetts just allocate the various sections of the claim out.

So far they have done nothing wrong with my claim but they also have had nothing much to do, but I think when I renew I will go direct to the insurance company and not use broker.

[OB1]

I had that from CN when I had my "incident" a couple of years ago, GB. The bike was recovered to Orwell Motorcycles in Ipswich by the AA who did an assessment for me. When they told me that it would cost around £1,000 to repair, I called up CN who pushed me into having them collect it from Orwell's so that they could take it up to the North West to be repaired at their repair centre. All well and good, however, they seem to do one bike at a time and will not touch a bike until they have all of the parts ready for the rebuild! Because of this, I was without my sole transport for 3 summer months in 2012!

Ultimately, the service from CN/Aviva was excellent, it was the repair centre that wound me up! :pinch:

[GB]

I had that from CN when I had my "incident" a couple of years ago, GB. The bike was recovered to Orwell Motorcycles in Ipswich by the AA who did an assessment for me. When they told me that it would cost around £1,000 to repair, I called up CN who pushed me into having them collect it from Orwell's so that they could take it up to the North West to be repaired at their repair centre. All well and good, however, they seem to do one bike at a time and will not touch a bike until they have all of the parts ready for the rebuild! Because of this, I was without my sole transport for 3 summer months in 2012!

Ultimately, the service from CN/Aviva was excellent, it was the repair centre that wound me up! :pinch:

I remember that Dave, you being without your bike for all that time and it was one of the reasons I pushed to do it myself (when I can).

[OB1]

I had that from CN when I had my "incident" a couple of years ago, GB. The bike was recovered to Orwell Motorcycles in Ipswich by the AA who did an assessment for me. When they told me that it would cost around £1,000 to repair, I called up CN who pushed me into having them collect it from Orwell's so that they could take it up to the North West to be repaired at their repair centre. All well and good, however, they seem to do one bike at a time and will not touch a bike until they have all of the parts ready for the rebuild! Because of this, I was without my sole transport for 3 summer months in 2012!

Ultimately, the service from CN/Aviva was excellent, it was the repair centre that wound me up! :pinch:

I remember that Dave, you being without your bike for all that time and it was one of the reasons I pushed to do it myself (when I can).

I would have loved to do it myself, however, I was not capable of stripping down and rebuilding a modern gearbox! I would have probably ended up with a few cogs left over!

[GB]

Me neither mate, but being a BMW my gearbox didn't break when I fell off............................ :whistle:

[minkyhead]

i find carol nash good ....4 bikes 302 quid all bike insured buisiness class ..most brokers just go silent when you ask

the euro breakdown is a nice by product ..my freind had his mille repatriated from norway .. efficiantly and the bike and truck were witing off the ferry in newcastle ahen we docked ...

im sure different underwriters are postcode sensitive too and have different loadings