I have just taken out insurance with John Lewis, it was fifty pounds cheaper than last year’s Saga premium which has increased by sixty five pounds this year.....someone somewhere is having a laugh.

When CaravanGuard asked for an extra £40 last year I looked around for alternatives and got a quote for the same cover from Ripe Caravan Insurance for £140 less!
Bizarrely CaravanGuard and Ripe are both underwritten by Royal Sun Alliance.

Martin Lewis (money saving expert) said your car renewal quote will vary according to the day you apply The best day is 21 days in advance.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2...-car-insurance/

Roger
I'm wise to both of those issues. Ripe accept a VIN No. and other than a general requirement to look after the van there does not seem to be a specific requirement for a professional service although, as the van is newish, that happens anyway.
Given that it is sitting in a storage facility and has been for some time I'm happy with the £180 premium (£25K new for old and Euro cover included)
Must also correct myself - underwriter is Aviva.

Big fan of Martin Lewis. I've saved hundreds over the last six months using his site! Including the caravan insurance.

They only insure up to 15 yo.
Dave

Also thinking of tow cars, I called Coop Insurance, dropped “commuting” from the use description and reduced my annual mileage from 12,000 to 6,000. They dropped £120 off the annual premium. We all need to a bit savvy when it comes to the insurance malarky!

I'm sure like everyone else this annual farce with insurance companies, the AA, British Gas makes me so angry and drives me to distraction.

I have better things to do with my life than play this game every year. They send you an inflated quote; you spend ages getting through to a sentient human being on the phone; you refuse to pay their inflated quote; they "speak to a manager" and then a more reasonable quote follows. It gets me so cross.

I do have a golden rule that I am never rude to or get cross with the poor soul on the other end of the phone, who has to deal with customers as who would want to do their job. I am always pleasant, friendly & polite. it is not their decision to try to fleece us every year.

It is also not fun being on the downward slope of customer desirability - my increasing age flags up to their computers that I am now "more of a risk" and therefore must be charged more.

The other frustrating thing is that companies who once had a good reputation and could be trusted, to a certain extent, and now playing the same game. Customer loyalty has been a meaningless expression other than a means to get more money out of us.

Sorry to all - rant over! Not been well today so irritability threshold is low.

MikeT

Back in the 70s I worked for a large insurance company ( we had a lot of men who came to your house weekly, you know the one). Anyway, back then customer loyalty was rewarded, now a customer who stays loyal to the same company year in year out is viewed as someone who can’t be bothered to shop around and fleeced. Insurance was always a money making business, obviously they have to be to survive but nowadays they are really taking the Micheal, she said politely.

Well that’s what I was told. It was my first job, I was a very naive 16 year old, they could have been up to anything 😂🤔