Your Opinion Please

[jennyjoan]

I have received an itemised statement of money I have to pay for my house/contents insurance every month. However one month states a certain amount - next states half of that amount.

Only a guy shouted to me last week - oh don't be surprised if you get different monies on your statement as your house and car insurance will be on the same statement.

What I am wondering - are the brokers in cohorts with the same insurance company for everything instead of shopping around for you. Thanks for any replies.

[Islay]

You pay more for dealing with a broker than you do with insurance companies.

I get a statement telling me how much I am paying per month for my premiums, the first month is normally larger than the following months.

[Baldric]

It's the old story JJ, 'Let the buyer beware'
Bottom line is it's up to you to decide if it's a good deal or not before you accept it.

[twix123]

JJ, I assume that you used an Insurance Broker to arrange your insurance cover, and that both your house and car insurance are with the same insurer.

When you first dealt with the broker you should have received an Initial Disclosure Document headed 'Key Facts'. The layout of this document is stipulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Under heading No 2, Whose products do we offer? should be either 3 tick boxes, of which only one must be ticked, as follows:

We offer products from a range of insurers (can be followed by insurance type)

We only offer products from a limited number of insurers (can be followed by insurance type) Ask us for a list of insurers we offer insurance from.

We only offer products from a single insurer (or name of insurance undertaking)

or if there are no tick boxes, the following wording instead:

We only offer products from a single insurer.

or alternatively:

We only offer our own products for [list the types of policies].

Under heading number 3, Which service will we provide you with?, should be 2 tick boxes, one of which should be ticked, as follows:

We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs [for] [list the types of policies].

and

You will not receive advice or a recommendation from us [for] [list the types of policies]. We may ask some questions to narrow down the selection of products that we will provide details on. You will then need to make your own
choice about how to proceed.

If you haven't got a recent copy of the this document, ask your broker for a duplicate. Hopefully they will have ticked the first box under both headings, in which case they are looking after your interests.

They should also have provided you with a 'Demands and Needs' statement when you took out each insurance, although if I remember correctly you were rushing around recently to renew your car insurance, therefore this may not apply. I would also ask them for a copy of their Retail Customer 'Terms of Business' document, which could also disclose whether they are a 'tied agent', working for one insurer, or if they research the market to obtain the best product for your needs, and may indicate where they derive their commission from.

(A bit long winded, but I had to try to remember this from when I was a consultant to various insurance brokers and drew up/corrected their required documentation).

[jennyjoan]

thank you twix

[Old_Geezer]

I used to use brokers until the Internet made it easier to check out deals for myself. Experience with brokers wasn't perfect anyway.

One moved premises which was annoying enough, but then there was the occasion when I finally gave them up. Having paid for a *year's insurance* as usual, six months later I get a demand for more money and the ludicrous claim that I'd only paid for 6 months !!!!! They were told where to go.

Then the next one I got managed to mess up also, one year I was certain they had only taken money to ensure one of my two cars and I was arguing with them but they were insistent all was covered. Much later I found out I was right, they were morons, and the no claims I'd built up on the second policy had lapsed ! Lucking it wasn't used in the intervening period as the main car hadn't developed any issues.

After that I took it upon myself to sort it out, as Confused was just starting to advertise its website. I'd recommend anyone to do it for themselves.

[jennyjoan]

Unfortunately OG - I have to use a local broker as if I was in an accident I can't use/hear the phone too well and worse if I get a foreign accent - that would be a nightmare.

I sorta got it sorted. Broker use the same financial people so my house and car insurance were on the same statement. Mind you I had to tell the broker lady what that guy told me last week. She said I haven't a clue what this statement is about until I enlightened her. And using broker it is more expensive insurance.

[Smowball]

Just do it online - you don't need to use the phone at all

[jennyjoan]

I know that Smow - but if in an accident surely I would need to make phonecalls.

[ummmm]

You can email them and do it in writing.

[Old_Geezer]

I suspect that you could make claims over the Net, but they might wish to phone you up and chat. But surely any company worth the name would take note of an instruction not to phone because of a hearing problem ? And e-mail instead. But I can see that a broker sounds an easier option.

[twix123]

A good broker should have a Claims Department, who would handle any claims on your behalf, including negotiating with insurers. This would include contentious claims where litigation may be required to achieve a satisfactory result. If you use a comparison website to obtain a cheaper premium for the same cover, the hidden benefits are not apparent until required.

The 3 main comparison websites are owned by either insurers (Go Compare - Sure; Confused.Com - Admiral group) or brokers (Compare The Market - BL group). These are acting as intermediaries (brokers) but without the back up customer services of giving advice or claims handling, merely taking commission from insurers and/or charging insurers for including their products on the website - which insurers like Direct Line won't pay, and are not included.

Therefore you get what you pay for, cheapest isn't necessarily best!

[twix123]

Err - predictive text.

Go Compare - Esure
Compare The Market - BGL group