MCE or Bennets?

[iq200]

Hi All,
I'm bit of a newbie biker so pls be patient.

Its that time of the year when I need to fork out for new insurance. I was with Bennets and they now have offered to renew at 143.38 (annual).

I then did a comparison and got a quote of 85.44 from MCE . I quite liked the MCE quote as they cover you for breakdown, gear, claims assistance, personal accident insurance).

On the other hand Bennets has all the features plus legal cover. I then phoned Bennets and they offered to reduce the quote to 129.42 so not sure which is better.

Any help would be appreciated as to experiences with these companies.
Cheers,
iq

[andyscooter]

Out of them two Bennets

Have a look at wicked quotes as well
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[Suntan Sid]

Use the search facility and search for MCE.

Of the two I'd go with Bennets, but that's just my personal opinion.
MCE seems to spend an awful lot of money on Sponsorship, they've got to recoup it somehow!
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[rubyhorse2]

sorry just read your post properly, my bad!

i stayed with bennets this year again as they got within 15 quid of the next cheapest one.

[-Matt-]

I've been with MCE the last year - haven't had any problems contacting them etc.

I'd go for whoever is cheapest personally.

[iq200]

Thankyou all for your opinions.

I did have a search initially and there was some bad experiences related to payments but I was wondering about the other services. I did get a bad vibe TBH but I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt and also its possible for an insurance company to change their attitude

[iq200]

Thanks for the wicked quotes suggestion but they proved quite a bit more expensive for the same options.

[Rogerborg]

"Legal cover" only kicks in when their psuedo-solicitors reckon that you'll win. Any conditional fee outfit would take you on anyway under those circumstances, for up to 25% of your winning (negotiable) but with an incentive to actually win.

With MCE, check the excess carefully. You may find it's one of those "never pay" policies.
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GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[iq200]

The total excess with MCE is £150
Bennets was 150 previously but have raised it to £200 this year which is a slight negative.

Hopefully I wont have an accident but .... never say never ... right

[andym]

Why am I getting that Déjà vu feeling

Anyway, I'm sure I've said it before, but once more can't hurt.

I've been with MCE for the past 3 years, and yes the excess is disgustingly high, but: A) their quotes have always been around £50 per year cheaper than the next cheapest that includes the same benefits, and B) I've never needed to make a claim, so have never needed to pay the extortionate excess.

The only time I had an issue was when I wanted to add the CBR to the VFR policy and it was going to cost £67 for 1 month, when I asked how much it would be to add the VFR to the CBR policy when it was up for renewal I was told it would be £2.50 (plus the £40 admin fee). When the time came I phoned them to add the VFR and the price had suddenly jumped up to £30 (plus the £40 admin fee)..... after a bit of moaning about the previous price I was put on hold for a couple of minutes and when the woman came back on the line she said there wasn't anything she could do about the quote price, but was going to charge me £17 for admin fees (total cost for both bikes was £167)




Or just to get really boring now, a friend has a 125 scooter, his last one was pinched, he's made 2 claims on his policy (one was settled for a couple of grand, and one ongoing and he's expecting around £20k ), both within his first years insurance and both within a couple of months of each other.... his best quote was around £900 (with £300 excess on a £800 scooter), MCE came back with a quote of £125 with £650 excess.

[dodsi]

I have just insured my zx9r fully comp with MCE for £105... It's just too cheap.

Not like I am that old either! But alas the £650 excess.

[iq200]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Looks like I am being pushed towards MCE

[ScaredyCat]

[1198]

The snag is when you ask on a public forum for advice you'll always get more negatives than positives. Fewer people will bother saying how GOOD their insurer was than can be bothered to say 'they did me alright actually'. The bigger the company, the more customers, the more customers the higher the actual number saying they're shit. It's slightly my spearing in my opinion.
As an example I went through Ducati insurance, when it came to renewal time they tried to see me off massively both in renewal cost and taking the first payment long before the new policy would have started and before I'd had a chance to cancel it. On this forum I've rarely if ever seen them mentioned, because I suspect they'll have few (if any!) customers.

[iq200]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

There's a reason why MCE is known as "Many Clerical Errors". If you do go with them, check your documents with a fine toothed comb.
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Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[G]

It does seem MCE are cheap because often you're actually just buying a rather expensive bit of paper than an actually useful 'insurance' document.

Will get you a tick on the MID if you're lucky, however.

[andyscooter]

[iq200]

One bizarre clause I noticed in the Bennets auto-renewal documents is that the bike has to be in a kept in a locked garage at home and if it is stolen outside the vicinity of a locked garage within 500m of my home, I wont be covered. I live in the town centre and if for example some evening I pop out to get something from the local shop, it means I am not going to be covered!

[andym]

As I said, I've never had to make a claim, and in the 3 years I've been with them I've only had to make 2 changes to my policy, so I've had to pay around £60 in admin fees (which still works out cheaper than the next closest quote). When I had the ZXR, it was fine riding around Chepstow but almost every time it went near Bristol it broke down... in the first year I had to call the recovery company 5-6 times and it didn't make any difference to my policy the next year.

I'm sure when I do actually make a claim, then I'll be on here saying how shit MCE are..... but until then.... I'm happy enough with them



***Edit***

Just decided to do a quick quote with Bennetts (more out of curiosity)
Current policy was under £200 for the 2 bikes.

With all the same details Bennetts has given me a quote of £1152.62 (and a note saying to call them as "We'd like to do better than that; with a few more details we can hopefully offer you a better price")

[NJD]

[blueglue]

Bennetts emailed me the other day to say they've been taken over by SAGA.

Im not sure at 33 im ready to be called old.

[iq200]

[bikertomm]

I've also found MCE have massive excess's - so check them.

Also, I take it you have ran a quote through thebikeinsurer?
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[iq200]