Firstly please read the following reply on the basis that it is meant to be helpful, and also meant to seek clarification as to how you would like me to represent what is required for the membership. It is not meant to be provocative in any way, and is genuinely trying to find a satisfactory solution and outcome as to what is clearly a problem for some/many members.
As background I look after the insurance policies of my wife’s, my parents, and also my own vehicles. Out of the four of them, only two are insured with CK due to cost. I also am aware that I can save around 10% on the two policies, which I do have with CK, and so they are not the cheapest I can get. I have also been a Club member for 23 years, and have not always been with CK and been with many other companies.
My own reasons for staying with CK are the level of service I have received in previous claims, and also the fact that any queries/minor changes etc. have always been resolved with a ‘phone call. I will also acknowledge that on a couple of occasions they have failed to ‘phone me back. Like many on here, this is a pet hate of mine. However, I have lost count of the number of companies I deal with who promise to ‘phone back, and don’t. On this basis CK are in my experience one of the least bad!
Anyone who knows me will be aware of the fact that I ‘work for the Club’ and do my very best for the Club members. I would love to say that I and my colleagues get it right all the time – unfortunately sometimes things do go wrong – however we do all do our very best and as Bob says, the hours of work which go in are very considerable.
I fully understand the comments in this thread, and I also fully understand what needs to be done to resolve them, however I am at a little bit of a loss as to what I as a Club Official should be recommending to my colleagues. If, (and sadly I suspect this is impossible) I/we could find a broker/company which could give the best possible quote to every member without exception, whilst also offering the highest level of service, then the problem would be resolved once and for all.
This is not going to happen, and in many ways is not desirable, because they would effectively put every other company out of business creating a monopoly, which would then give them the option of charging whatever they wanted.
So what do I recommend?
Do we change to a business, which specialises in Classic Cars?
Do we change to a business, which specialises in new cars?
Do we change to a business, which specialises in High Performance Vehicles?
Do we change to a business, which specialises in modified cars?
Do we change to a business, which specialises in young drivers?
Do we change to a business, which specialises in insuring people with convictions?
The list goes on and on and I can think of many more so, if I haven’t covered what you are looking for then I am sorry, I was just trying to make a point!
On a strictly personal basis, I am very clear as to the insurer I want – It is one who insures overweight 44 year olds, who work in retail, driving V40s for the cheapest price, and also gives excellent service!
So this begs the question which area should we as Club Officials be looking to specialise in?
If we change to the company which specialises in this area, how should we be responding to people who can then still get insurance cheaper somewhere else?
This is now the real hot potato question, which is that if we cannot get a company, which will be the best for everyone:
Should we base our decision on getting one for the majority of members? Or for a minority?
If after research we could demonstrate that CK caters for the majority – should they remain the Club’s approved insurers, or should we change to one, which caters for a minority?
There is also a further question:
Should we be going for a broker (this is a general term as in any broker, not just CK)), whom historically (in my opinion) will give better service or with an insurance company direct?
Many thanks
Chris
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