Car Talk

[Smoggy]

[FairTmiddlin]

Ah! But the Cowbelle Cheese would have more amperage tolerance once it dried out.

[floydraser]

On 12/01/2024 at 10:54, floydraser said:

Corsa insurance renewal notice just in: last year £160.75 this year £320.51.

I reckon someone just couldn't be bothered to think about it, "Ah just double it and see if the idiot pays up".

Nope. Retired now so don't need two cars. They'll probably end up with 100% of nowt and I'll have to do that silly dance after selling the car to wbac dot com! 

Update: The Meerkat got it down to £193 with the AA. I rang Esure (present insurers) and the long preamble of pre-recorded voices wanted me to go and do it all online. Then she said the price quoted was the price and no further discounts were available - still pre-recorded. Brutall! So while I was waiting I went online and just cancelled the renewal.

Went to process the £193 with the AA and they asked if I had a part time job? On inputting "no" it jumped to £198! After reading the input on here I reckon if there is any further price drop to be had, it ain't worth the pratting about to get it.

We'll give the Corsa another summer.

[BroadAmbition]

Trevor Transit needed some tlc Saturday just gone.  The n/side outer drive shaft gaiter had a puncture would allowing grease out.  Cleaned it all up, new grease, new gaiter fitted, front brake pads fitted and two full size plastic front inner wheel arch liners for good measure.  MOT carried out - Passed

Insurance - Rang my current provider, the £709 came down to £589, still about £150 dearer than last year despite no claims or points make prizes since the policy was taken out.  The lady on the phone (Poor English) could not offer any explanation as to why, it was basically take it or leave it - I'm leaving it, no surprises there then

I hope to finalise a new policy with 'Onecall' tomorrow for about £450:00

All to the good

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Trevor Transit insurance secured this evening, ended up with Onecall the policy was £47:00 but ended up paying £500 with some add ones I required.

I've also just paid my tax bill, its been one expensive evening, still got to pay my accountant too but not received his invoice as of yet  Had to buy some new workboots yesterday too - That was £90:00, sheesh 

Griff

[ExSurveyor]

Any recommendations on breakdown cover.

I have been with RAC for over 20 years and never called them out.

£140 last year, £210 this year for renewal at the end of March.

I had a call from them today offering a early renewal of £160, only if I discuss it there and then. They couldn't email details until they had explained it.

I hate this tactic and told them so, they sent an email with details and said they will phone again tomorrow.

If they are this desperate they can go whistle.

Any recommendations of real life experience with smaller companies would be much appreciated.

[Bikertov]

I have had a packaged FlexPlus bank account with Nationwide for about 10 years now, that gives breakdown cover (for any car we are in), annual family travel insurance and mobile phone insurance, all for £13 a month 

It is a joint policy with the OH, so we both get the benefits 

My kids have breakdown cover with Eversure, very reasonable and you can extend it to cover European trips too

[Jbx5]

Have a look at Auto Aid breakdown cover. We've not had to claim off them but they seem the best value out there. 

John 

[MargeandParge]

CO OP do a bank account with travel insurance till your 80 plus breakdown and phone insurance 

Joint account covers both. 

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[Mouldy]

I think that a lot of banks etc. offer packages including breakdown cover.  Until recently, we were paying over £200 per year for an enhanced account with NatWest which included travel insurance (with exclusions), basic mobile phone insurance and basic car breakdown cover with Green Flag.

We've recently bought new phones and found they were cheaper to buy direct from Apple, with AppleCare and get separate SIM deals from EE, rather than buying the phones with an airtime deal from the same provider.  We had very comprehensive RAC cover anyway, including personal membership, in or on any vehicle (including my motorcycle) and onward travel, so have reverted to a standard bank account.

I’ve been with the RAC for many years, over 30 now and until my last experience, had always found them to be excellent.  However, I had an issue during the pandemic to which they were very slow to respond.  I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, but if their service is lacking, should I need to call them out again, I will move to another provider.

I’ve  read good things about a company called GEM, so they’re in line to be tried should the need arise.

https://www.motoringassist.com

[LizG]

7 hours ago, Bikertov said:

I have had a packaged FlexPlus bank account with Nationwide for about 10 years now, that gives breakdown cover (for any car we are in), annual family travel insurance and mobile phone insurance, all for £13 a month 

It is a joint policy with the OH, so we both get the benefits 

My kids have breakdown cover with Eversure, very reasonable and you can extend it to cover European trips too

Likewise!

[BrundallNavy]

Be careful when taking out breakdown cover as most companies now don’t cover cars over 10 years old. Like most policies it’s all in the small print. 

[Happy]

9 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

Any recommendations on breakdown cover.

I have been with RAC for over 20 years and never called them out.

£140 last year, £210 this year for renewal at the end of March.

I had a call from them today offering a early renewal of £160, only if I discuss it there and then. They couldn't email details until they had explained it.

I hate this tactic and told them so, they sent an email with details and said they will phone again tomorrow.

If they are this desperate they can go whistle.

Any recommendations of real life experience with smaller companies would be much appreciated.

The wife had cover with that 'green' company.  She only called them out once when she had a puncture on her XC90 and could'nt release the spare.  When they tried to renew it it had gone up considerably.  When asked why thet said "you called us out last year" - policy not renewed.  Now have AA for all vehicles with mechanical cover

[floydraser]

I'm with the AA and have been for years. I've never had to call them out but we do use the benefits which could help to get your money's worth depending on what suits. We get 15% off certain restaurants and a bit off at service areas etc. 

[Bikertov]

2 hours ago, Mouldy said:

I think that a lot of banks etc. offer packages including breakdown cover.  Until recently, we were paying over £200 per year for an enhanced account with NatWest which included travel insurance (with exclusions), basic mobile phone insurance and basic car breakdown cover with Green Flag.  

Yes, a lot of banks do offer it, and for us it is worth it.

I only use the Nationwide account for the benefits and the credit card (fee free overseas) - I don't use the actual bank account at all !

- Family Travel cover is typically about £100 a year, and between us all we are away around 6-10 times a year

- Breakdown cover (personal) for 2 people, can be at least £100 a year

- Mobile phone cover can also be about £100 per phone, and I have clumsy kids (the OH also dropped her phone down a lift shaft on holiday ...)

So for the £150 or so a year it costs us, I find it good value

 

3 hours ago, Mouldy said:

We've recently bought new phones and found they were cheaper to buy direct from Apple, with AppleCare and get separate SIM deals from EE, rather than buying the phones with an airtime deal from the same provider.  

I've bought phones outright and been on negotiated SIM only deals almost forever. I tend to keep them 3-4 years, so do much better than full-blown airtime and phone bundles

[dom]

1 hour ago, floydraser said:

I'm with the AA and have been for years. I've never had to call them out but we do use the benefits which could help to get your money's worth depending on what suits. We get 15% off certain restaurants and a bit off at service areas etc. 

Watch your renewal premium. I'm a Gold AA member and have been with them for 20+ years. My premium (relay only, no homestart) went from £100 to £125 this year. Checking online, the same to a new customer was £85. One phone call and they amended the premium to match the new cost - but it's a sickening phenomena and shows our loyalty is just exploited. I also insure with them at the moment and had pretty much the same situation with that too.

[Happy]

48 minutes ago, dom said:

Watch your renewal premium. I'm a Gold AA member and have been with them for 20+ years. My premium (relay only, no homestart) went from £100 to £125 this year. Checking online, the same to a new customer was £85. One phone call and they amended the premium to match the new cost - but it's a sickening phenomena and shows our loyalty is just exploited. I also insure with them at the moment and had pretty much the same situation with that too.

I thought it was now made illegal to offer a new customer better terms than an existing one?  Obviously I'm wrong.  It really should be stopped 

[oldgregg]

1 hour ago, Bikertov said:

Yes, a lot of banks do offer it, and for us it is worth it.

I only use the Nationwide account for the benefits and the credit card (fee free overseas) - I don't use the actual bank account at all !

- Family Travel cover is typically about £100 a year, and between us all we are away around 6-10 times a year

- Breakdown cover (personal) for 2 people, can be at least £100 a year

- Mobile phone cover can also be about £100 per phone, and I have clumsy kids (the OH also dropped her phone down a lift shaft on holiday ...)

So for the £150 or so a year it costs us, I find it good value

 

I've bought phones outright and been on negotiated SIM only deals almost forever. I tend to keep them 3-4 years, so do much better than full-blown airtime and phone bundles

Just be really careful with bundled or 'affinity' insurance as it is known in the industry.

Those policies seem really cheap for a reason - There will be a list of limits and exclusions as long as your arm. I spent a fair amount of time in the insurance industry and those schemes were seen as a good money maker, you can guess why.

You can imagine how much the bank is paying the insurer for that cover (and how much commission they earn on it) and you can see how cheap it is versus a 'regular' policy. 

[gancanny]

3 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Just be really careful with bundled or 'affinity' insurance as it is known in the industry

yes,  there is a story in our local rag this morning of a young couple on holiday in thailand having a motorcycle accident,

the insurance cover they have only extends to £13,500 and the hospital bills are way beyond that and still mounting

[StillCruising]

One of my sons had 'free' breakdown cover with his car insurance. When the car did breakdown and had to be recovered to home he soon found out that it was in fact dammed expensive. Lesson learned we have  joint personal cover with the AA. Over the years we gave had to call them out a few times and the service has been excellent. I have always been able to negotiate a discount from their renewal quote. I should add that we both run cars well over 10 years old (two of them nearer 20) and call outs have always needed recovery as clutch cylinders, engine ECU's etc are not roadside repairable.

[JanetAnne]

13 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Trevor Transit insurance secured this evening, ended up with Onecall the policy was £47:00 but ended up paying £500 with some add ones I required.

I've also just paid my tax bill, its been one expensive evening, still got to pay my accountant too but not received his invoice as of yet  Had to buy some new workboots yesterday too - That was £90:00, sheesh 

Griff

You paid the van insurance, paid HMRC and still had money left for boots? 

 

[grendel]

16 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

You paid the van insurance, paid HMRC and still had money left for boots? 

 

actually I believe he ended up with a pair of timothy whites

[ExSurveyor]

29 minutes ago, grendel said:

actually I believe he ended up with a pair of timothy whites

Showing your age there Grendel 😁

[ExSurveyor]

Timothy Whites started of as a ship's chandlers.

[FairTmiddlin]

Always remember them as Timothy Whites and Taylors. But that's part of my Northern upbringing.

On 01/02/2024 at 13:41, ExSurveyor said:

Timothy Whites started of as a ship's chandlers.