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Volvo owners club insurance scheme via chris knott insurance

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Old Jul 10th, 2011, 12:44   #101
Chris Wickers
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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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Old Jul 10th, 2011, 13:45   #102
LynnTB
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I really shouldn't have an opinion on this as CK wont touch me with a barge pole at the moment - Passed my test 1 month and 10 days ago. (and before you think i am 18ish, no I'm not - Fast approaching 50, been driving on a provisional since I was 17, just never needed to be able to drive 'alone' before. - never made a claim - and have 6 years no claim bonus on my 740 GL).

I understand that there are probably alot of people that are with CK who are perfectly happy or if not exactly happy assume that all insurance companies give the same level of service so why bother to complain etc.

It also seems to me that the Majority of 'club' members are not using the forum - which I think is a shame cos we are a nice bunch of people on here

However saying that the Majority of forum users (club members and non), are very not happy, and yes it is about non competetive prices but more important is the service you recieve when dealing with them.

As I have said in another thread, maybe it would be a good idea to have more than one 'prefered' broker:

1. Classic Car Broker
2. Performance Car Broker
3. General Broker.

Or a better idea - NO prefered 'Club' broker.
Having just recieved my first Driver magazine (Club member for 10 days - ya me!!) there are adverts for other brokers in it.

Insurance of any kind is on a personal level that means there is always someone who is going to come away unhappy.

So why not let people sort out their own insurance company without 'nudging' them towards a broker that seems to come across from 'You' (the club) as offering preferencial treatment to club members, which they (CK) seem not to.

Lynn
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Old Jul 10th, 2011, 16:29   #103
minesa240x3
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Maybe a broker who actually do what they cl;aim they do?

This isn't a direct quote but in essence what the new mystery person wrote.

We specialise in tailoring your needs,we are brokers for over two hundred car clubs.

They don't really like modified cars,they don't like young drivers,they don't like limo's,they don't do a lot of things but they do charge well.

I can't answer your query as to wether the club has a broker or we go direct to an insurance company.All I know is ck aren't coming up with the goods.They are also very selective to who they talk to.
My broker for the Limo could easily have put me with Admiral just as ck did.but obviously my broker chose to take my buisness.

It just makes me wonder how much longer ck can continue to be the volvo preferred insurance scheme as the commision income dropped from 2009 and 2010 by £2000 odd.

As a member I will continue to use any service that will give me a good service and hopefully a discount for being a member of this club.
CK do niether at this time.
Thankyou for replying to my queries but I still feel they must be removed as a "preferred" insurer as they offer no real benefit to members.unless it is clearly stated that they help boost the income of the club.
Regards Brian.
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Old Jul 10th, 2011, 21:42   #104
brodgar
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Default club recommendend insurers

To the club directors.
======================


questions to be answered---

=What qualifies an insurer to be recommanded by the club ???

=What do WE ( the club/clubmembers) want from a recommanded
insurer???


------------------------------------------------------------
In an earlier post I raised the issue of """creating aspectations"".
Putting a recommandation on an insurer does create aspectations.
Hence some terrible feedback on the recommended insurer.



My personal vieuw on a recommandation would be- dont recommand
unless there are specific perks or specialism (on volvo ?).



Regards, brodgar


ps- i do apreciate all the work of the directors; this is not a criticism on
them= there is an (club)issue here
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Old Jul 11th, 2011, 01:45   #105
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From the few questions I asked on here it sounds like CK can offer quite a few different types of cover, they don't seeem to advertise it vey well though.
Whoever is offering club insurance ought to be able to cover any Volvo owned by a club member.
I really can't understand why my own car costs so much to insure and why a lot of companies won't cover it. If they applied a bit of common sense there wouldn't be any problem. If it wasn't for the registration plate and chassis number nobody would know that my car didn't come from the factory the way it is. Yet as soon as I say anything to an insurance company it's modified and they then charge me a lot more than a normal turbo would cost.
Getting an engineers report doesn't seem to help, one company suggested if I had a friend who works as a mechanic to get them to write something on a piece of headed paper. Perhaps thats an area where a club offical could help, in a similar way to getting agreed valuations done.

The trouble with most insurance companies/brokers is that if something doesn't quite fit whats on the screen they don't want to help.
Be nice if when 'the computer said no' the person said "but we are going to sort it out"
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Old Jul 11th, 2011, 13:33   #106
ChrisKnottIns
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Hi,

Firstly an apology. To try to move on from what has become known as the 'Tim issue' we sought to draw a line under what went on before and make a fresh start with the forum, especially bearing in mind that the offending comments reflected an individual's personal opinion and not the views of the company. To avoid re-igniting the old argument we had to be more clinical in our responses and chose to reply to constructive, non-antagonistic, courteous posts only, rather than posts that referred back to old issues. We also chose not to be present on the forum as any one individual but as a corporate entity. That clearly hasn't worked as a strategy given the recent comments. In hindsight, the issue was so far developed that whatever we posted would have been scrutinised, pulled apart and deemed insufficient. But we had to start somewhere. So, we apologise that we haven't done things in the way many of you would have liked. Brian, we'll PM you personally shortly.

Secondly, we will be available on the forum from time to time but will not be as active as Tim was - it became a full-time job just to keep up with posts for each of the forums. We will also not get into protracted public arguments but of course we will answer queries and complaints that are made in an appropriate way.

Thirdly, in the interests of clarity, a note about discounts. Most insurers and brokers will quote a fixed, inflexible rate given by their computer screen. At Chris Knott Insurance we look at you differently and apply our own rate. When we consider you and your car we’re looking at everything, not just the indicators that the computer uses to compile its rate. That means each quote is bespoke and assessed on its own merits. Sometimes this underwriting will go in your favour and the saving will be greater. Sometimes though we’ll decide that the risk is too high and the rate we are up against is just too cheap for us to chase.

However, we’re not about bargain basement. If you’re only ever interested in finding the cheapest possible cover to get you through the legal requirement to have motor insurance maybe (only maybe) we’re not going to be your best option. But if you’re looking for a good quality service that you can rely on, that protects your pride and joy at reasonable rates please give the club scheme a try. The Volvo Owners Club brand is not one of cheapness – it is concerned with quality and value for money. The club insurance scheme follows suit.

Fourthly, the commission generated by the insurance scheme helps the club to keep membership costs down and to provide an excellent quality magazine plus additional services. So, all members benefit indirectly whether they take out the insurance or not. That's pretty equitable isn't it? And those who have taken out the cover have done so because they've got value for money.

Finally, regardless of where this goes, no insurer will be good enough to cover 100% of the membership. We know too from a number of the other forums that some of those who promise commission don't pay or are relaxed about the accuracy of numbers sold. Some only pay for the initial introduction. Chris Knott Insurance pays without fail every quarter, we track all business coming from the club and pay commission on every policy sold - even when we cross-sell additional policies to members further down the line (without involving the club). We also pay the commission every year that a member renews with us, for the entire life of the policy.

As is common with many forums, the negative feedback is the only feedback you'll see on here - you'll rarely hear from the happy clients. We recently asked a cross-section of clients (around 1,000) how they rated us (out of 6)on service, helpfulness, advice/expertise, accessibility, integrity and value for money. Here are the results:

Service - 79% rated us 4 or more out of 6 (of which 60% rated us 5 or 6)
Accessibility - 67% rated us 4 or more out of 6 (of which 55% rated us 5 or above)
Helpfulness - 88% rated us 4 or more out of 6 (of which 61% rated us 5 or 6)
Integrity - 78% rated us 4 or more out of 6 (of which 65% rated us 5 or 6)
Advice/Expertise - 78% rated us 4 or more out of 6 (of which 57% rated us 5 or 6)
Value for money - 81% rated us 4 or more out of 6 (of which 50% rated us 5 or 6)

As you'd expect, it's not 100% perfection but the results are very positive.

We genuinely seek to help the membership, not exploit it. We hope this answers most of the gripes but if we've missed something we're happy to comment further.

This time it has been Nick posting, in future it may be either Paul or Andy, depending on which area of the business the post relates to.
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Old Jul 11th, 2011, 15:47   #107
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Since when was it allowed that multiple users can post under one username?
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Old Jul 11th, 2011, 15:55   #108
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if you look at the forum name change requests, you will see that a request has been made and granted to change to chrisnottins
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 23:53   #109
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nm1985 View Post
Since when was it allowed that multiple users can post under one username?
This has been covered before for Traders on the forum, in this case I feel it makes most sense. I certainly feel the above post is a positive step, I hope this is a turning point.
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Old Aug 25th, 2011, 20:26   #110
brodgar
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phoned chris knott for insurance-

we dont do your car (hearse) was first answer.
can you insure my estate, answer no, because it is a hearse.
Excuse me , I have more than one car.

=============================
ended up with footman james on multiple car insurance

big smile 1 car 175
2 cars 315
3 cars 345

almost an incentive to go out and buy more volvos.


========================================

Any chance we ,the VOC can make footman James the PREFERRED INSURER

perhaps footman is also willing to make a donation to the club when busines is generated by,through the club???
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