F***ing Bennetts. UPDATED: Result

[St0rmer66]

Previously had my XR125 insured through Bennets for the first year (August '05 to August '06) so when it came to renewal I just went with Bennetts again as they offered me a cheap quote (£144 tpo). That was my fatal mistake.

6 and a bit months later I pass my test and buy the GPZ. I rang up Bennetts and asked them if they could change my bike over from the xr125 to the gpz500s. "No" was the basic answer. Apparently the underwritten company (Equity Red Star) didn't insure my type of bike. "Bugger" thought I, nearly 7 months worth of a years no claims down the drain. Oh well, nothing I can do... at least if I carry on with Bennetts I won't have to pay a cancellation fee. Oh wait, yes £30 for Bennetts for doing sweet FA. With that in mind I shopped around other companies.

Carol Nash gave me a nice quote of £457 tpft including break down cover, European cover and legal costs included in that price. Bennetts best quote was £502 for the same tpft cover, minus the extras (break down, euro cover + legal costs) that Carol Nash threw in for free. Needless to say, I took out my new policy with Carol Nash.

So I rang up Bennetts to cancel my policy as Carol Nash had now sent me a letter saying they need the policy number and previous insurance company to verify my no claims. The monkey on the end of the phone now tells me that 6 and a bit months is 80% of my year gone so I have to pay for that, plus the £30 cancellation fee and now I owe them £1.62 to NOT have a policy for the rest of the year (where I could potentially make a claim of an unlimited amount...). Yeah! That makes perfect sense . I told them I would leave it for now so that I could try and figure out what was happening.

So my Dad did some ringing round for me while I was at work today and rang Bennetts to see what the hell was going on. Apparently the policy details changed from them giving back 60% of the fee back after 6 months to 80% quite recently (I was not aware of this, should read the fine print I suppose!). He also got the number for Equity Red Star...

Now the guy at Equity Red Star seemed to know his stuff. When my dad said what bike they wouldn't change it to (the GPZ from the xr125) he said "bloody hell, I was expecting something like a Fireblade when you said they wouldn't change it!". Equity Red Star do in fact insure GPZ500's and for my age and circumstances, it was just Bennetts refusing it! Presumably this is so I have to start a whole new policy and lose my potential years no claims. He also told us Bennetts would get exactly £61.50 back from the £144 policy I paid. So can anyone work out how £61.50 - £30 cancellation fee = me owing them £1.62? . This rather helpful guy from Equity Red Star said he would try get in touch with Bennetts and sort it out for me though when he rang back 15mins later he said he would have to wait for a manager/supervisor to actually be there at Bennetts (incompetency seems to be a common feature for Bennetts thus far...).

So I rang up Carol Nash and explained that I would have to send my policy document to Bennetts before I can get it officially cancelled the woman on the phone just said "that's fine, not a problem at all, as long as you've started the process" and took my policy number from Bennetts saying it would be sorted from then on . Top quality service from Carol Nash so far, no waiting for an operator (instant pickup) etc .

Never again will I go with Bennetts, but at least I found out how crap they are before I had to make a claim!

Sorry for the long post but I don't want others to fall into the same trap with Bennetts as I did.
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:: Honda XR 125 L ('53) => Kawasaki GPZ 500S ('02) => Suzuki SV650S ('00) => Aprilia RSV-R ('51) ::

[Misc]

It's nice when everything get sorted with insurance, lots of phoning around & messing about. Glad it's sorted tho.

I think everyone gets a diffrent service with each policy, Bennetts were great with me, after my crash i got a cheque for the bike within 2 weeks & a hire bike within 4 days.

[fire]

Bennets is part of the BISL group, look out for those 4 letters, means that there all part of Budget Insurance, Budget who are a very large compnay themselves... are effectively assholes (I should know.. i work for them!)

Ask them to send you a breakdown of how they calculated the £1.62 charge.. no infact.. escalate the call to a manager before DEMANDING it.

Due to the DPA your entitled to do that. Never trust the guys over the end of the phone, call a manager, your also entitled to do that, no matter what they might tell you.

All calls are recorded and regulated by the FSA, they cannot F*ck you about for money. Believe me!
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Write off! Honda NSR150 RR ('01) - Sold Cagiva Mito Evolution ('00) - Sold Honda NSR125 ('01) - Current Gasgas TXT 250 ('98) - Sold Kawasaki Z750 ('10) - Write off! Yamaha FZ1 ('09) - Current Ducati Streetfighter 848 ('14)

[St0rmer66]

[fire]

[doggone]

They did much the same thing with me .

Had to change policy on changing bike from suzuki to yamaha.
(as they said original policy only for suzukis)

They viewed this as 'cancelling' original policy and charged a fee for that plus kept large percentages of remaining 4 months resulting in me having to pay them about £12!

First I heard of it was a nasty snarly letter about how they wanted the cash within 28 days or would take me to court!

Vowed never to use this money-grabbing company again.
Even if they did say "we can rob you at any time we choose" in the policy small print!

[st3v3]

I'm with Highway through bennetts, only company I could get cheap insurance with, and so far have been helpful, was with equity red star for me 1st policy, and wish I could use them again, but they're too expensive for my circumstances but highway are a set of cnuts who employ monkeys(*cough Tailored Motor solutions*cough) but try to avoid them!
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Roger wrote: Women don't get damp for clingy puppies. Get some better happy pills, hit the gym & buy a medallion the size of a dinner plate. Job done

[unfazed]

I had a similar with a1 first quote, they sent me a renewal on a GPZ 600R for £110 tpft i rang MCE they quoted £111 fully comp both policy's were with Equity Red Star.

With MCE its better to ring than get an online quote.

https://www.mceinsurance.com/

[iCraig]

Bennetts are shite end of.

And another big up for Carole Nash here, they are so much better than my previous insurance co too who were CIA, whom you could never get through to!

[St0rmer66]

Result!

The amazing guy from Equity Red Star has sorted it all. I'm getting the FULL £61.50 AND they're not charging me the cancellation fee (I guess that's some sort of compensation for losing 7months of a year no claims). .

I feel much better now .

@ Bennetts.
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:: Honda XR 125 L ('53) => Kawasaki GPZ 500S ('02) => Suzuki SV650S ('00) => Aprilia RSV-R ('51) ::

[Nicky-Jano]

Bastar*s tried to convince me their quote of £1000 odd was the best I'd get

[Rookie]

I'm glad I never went for them, this is one of many very bad stories I've heard about Bennetts. I was going to go for Carole Nash again because I do love their customer service, but ultimately they were beaten by Motorcycle Direct on price.

[St0rmer66]

[AsPHy]

Bennets were a joke when I was dealing with them, offered me £1140 TPO for a Yam DT125 on a provisional. Carole Nash offered me a £440 TPFT earlier that day. Where the hell did the extra 700 come from?
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"it has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime, what better place than here, what better time than now?"

[Spoon261]

I had the cancellation charge problem but with Swinton, my policy was with Zenith.
My policy was only worth £5 if I cancelled it, but Swinton wanted a much larger cancellation fee, so I would have to actually pay Swinton to cancel the policy.

Well I contacted Zenith by email who went nuts about this, claiming that Swinton should not do this, I printed it out and took it in to my local Swinton branch.

Well Swinton were still not budging, but in the end I kept insisting and they eventually gave in I think just to get rid of me.

[gs5pete]

I'm with Bennetts atm, never had a prob. with them (reasonable quotes etc) but may have to look into CN next year after reading this. My phone contact with them has (fortunately) been brief
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past bikes: KX125, CG125 (first road bike, used to pass test on), GS500 (first proper bike).

[Wooly R6]

i was with bennetts for the 1st year of my R6 - at the end of the policy they didn't send me a renewal price, so i rang them, they said they had sent me one, and then tried to take the money out of my account without telling me!!!!

good job the cash wasn't there!!!! fucking wankers!!!!

Carole Nash all the way!!!
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R6 has been sold - 2004 Honda VFR VTEC now sold too - no bike at the moment

[Pete.]

[iCraig]