Footman James Insurance

[N.O.S.]

I agree entirely Pete, there seems to be no fixed policy on their behalf at all, if they are "insuring" some US vehicles for certain people against the underwriters new policy are they then ACTUALLY covered should they have to make a claim ? I feel that if they themselves are unsure it muddies the water when/if you come to put a claim in. What is so wrong with US vehicles all of a sudden anyway, or is it a way of leaving the Military Insurance scene seeing as a high percentage of military vehicles are American ? I am of the belief that insurance companies love "get out clauses" and FJ should either insure NO US vehicles or ALL of them. If I was one of the few they have decided to insure I would wonder just how good that insurance actually was.

 

If a broker has accepted a vehicle for cover then that cover must be good - so long as you do not violate any of the conditions or make any false statements as to the identity of the vehicle. Any failure of cover would be down to a failure of the arrangement between broker and insurance provider - which is not within your control, therefore the broker would be liable for any claim you may have to make.

 

If your is U.S. and they have not specifically stated that U.S. vehicles are not covered or have not asked you if it is U.S. then they will be liable as you have no control over their agreement with the provider.

 

It is normal practice for insurance providers to continue to renew existing arrangements but decline new business if they wish to limit their exposure to a particular market - also to jack up premiums on existing business if they want to get out of a specific market. Their choice, not yours. The broker can only offer what is available to them

 

But you are the customer - if your provider does not want your business you have to find another provider through another broker who does. Now that IS your choice! :-D Then again may simply be the broker who is jacking up costs - there is no way you will know, but you have to shop around. Isn't this begining to sound remarakbly like the domestic electricity / gas supply market?

 

One interesting point - and I don't know if this is correct: I wanted cover through a particular provider, not too concerned through which broker as had no bad broker experience to date that I wished to avoid. I had previously left this provider and gone with another broker and new provider - as before (causing the first move) the broker then increased premiums to an uncompetitive level (this might have been due to the provider upping cost of cover, not the broker's fault). When I asked a couple of brokers if they dealt with my preferred provider, I was informed by one that they could not quote for business if I was already covered by that provider through another broker, but if my cover was not currently with that provider they could certainly do so. Which suggests that should your broker jack up the cost you may be forced to jump ship to another broker / provider for a year and then seek new quotes with your preferred provider. Hey ho.

Edited March 4, 2014 by N.O.S.

[ArtistsRifles]

Interesting! I spoke with Cherished Value today to get a pre-renewal quote. Figure they came back with was almost half that I paid last year to Footman James for the same levels of cover. Chap I spoke to was totally switched on - even knew what an OT-90!!. Took all my details and said he had to check with another department because of the declared epilepsy - rang me back 3 hours later with the quote. Guess where I'll be going when my policy comes up for renewal in May... :-D

[Marmite!!]

25% Insurance discount for HMVF Members

http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?43260-HMVF-Members-Insurance-Discount

Edited March 5, 2014 by Marmite!!

[LongJohn]

I tend to dabble with older Jap bikes and used to insure through Footman James until last year. It seems there was some sort of split and one of the family members, Peter James, set up on his own and by all accounts has taken quite a slice of the classic bike business away from Footman James for many of the reasons discussed.

This year, I insured my Katana and Kawasaki GTR with Peter James for a very reasonable premium. Web site here:

peterjamesinsurance.co.uk

[Marmite!!]

I tend to dabble with older Jap bikes and used to insure through Footman James until last year. It seems there was some sort of split and one of the family members, Peter James, set up on his own and by all accounts has taken quite a slice of the classic bike business away from Footman James for many of the reasons discussed.

This year, I insured my Katana and Kawasaki GTR with Peter James for a very reasonable premium. Web site here:

peterjamesinsurance.co.uk

I had a katana many yeas ago, bought it new

[gareth dawe]

I've also got my vehicles insured with cherished vehicle and was shocked how much they knew about military vehicles. ....instead of the normal questions as to whether I would like windscreen cover for my ferret lol he actually said he wouldn't bother asking that as the ferret doesn't have one. But as martain said it's only when you crash that you find out what a company is like, sadly I did have had such an incident in the ferret and had no problems with my cover. (Did take 2 years to sort out due to a legal battle with the other driver, but that's a long story haha)