Greenlight Insurance Thread

[Deezer-D]

Tony, I did an online quote on Thursday for the Mini and it came back as needing referred to your technical team. Reference no is 146/030/R183/WEB. Would you mind looking into it please?
Cheers
D

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi mboyle290,

Thanks for taking the time to post and PM me.

Sorry for the delayed reply, I've been in Rome this week, checking out tracking devices as we're looking at extending to cover drivers under 21 (it's looking like we'll be lowering the age requirement to 18+ once this goes live) and our Underwriters are keen for us to look at using devices that track mileage/driving style.

We don't tend to cover the newer non-performance models, but a 1994 (W124) Mercedes should be ok with referral to Underwriters. Nice looking car that, from a really good ERA for Mercedes.

Was it an additional vehicle for you, or will this be your everyday in place of the car you already have?

If you don't mind PM'ing me your contact details i'll get onto this for you

Kind regards

Tony

Gutted they won't cover my W124

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi Deezer-D,

Thanks for posting (and for the opportunity to help).

The reference you kindly provided allowed me to track your application.

When checking I had noticed that your application had been paused whilst we referred to Underwriters, as we had two Insurers who required a manual referral for your postcode. But that was all completed and you should have received an email by now.

Please PM me if you have not received the email - as I will organise it to be re-sent.

Kind regards

Tony

P.S. You should also be able to log into our website to take a look at the offer we have managed to source.

Tony, I did an online quote on Thursday for the Mini and it came back as needing referred to your technical team. Reference no is 146/030/R183/WEB. Would you mind looking into it please?
Cheers
D

 

[Deezer-D]

Hi Deezer-D,

Thanks for posting (and for the opportunity to help).

The reference you kindly provided allowed me to track your application.

When checking I had noticed that your application had been paused whilst we referred to Underwriters, as we had two Insurers who required a manual referral for your postcode. But that was all completed and you should have received an email by now.

Please PM me if you have not received the email - as I will organise it to be re-sent.

Kind regards

Tony

P.S. You should also be able to log into our website to take a look at the offer we have managed to source.

Hi Tony,
Got the quote this morning, thanks very much. Just needs a minor tweak to have protected NCB (I thought I'd ticked that option when I did the quote). I've replied to the quote email to that effect.
Cheers
D

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi Deezer-D,

We've refreshed your application to include the NCB protection feature.

With the level of NCB years that you have, there is good news here as the Underwriter includes this free when requested where the policyholder has a certain level of NCB years (which you do)

You should receive an emailed update shortly.

Kind regards

Tony

Hi Tony,
Got the quote this morning, thanks very much. Just needs a minor tweak to have protected NCB (I thought I'd ticked that option when I did the quote). I've replied to the quote email to that effect.
Cheers
D

 

[Deezer-D]

Hi Deezer-D,

We've refreshed your application to include the NCB protection feature.

With the level of NCB years that you have, there is good news here as the Underwriter includes this free when requested where the policyholder has a certain level of NCB years (which you do)

You should receive an emailed update shortly.

Kind regards

Tony

Thanks for the update Tony, got the email this morning

 

[mboyle290]

Got sorted on my merc today. Well pleased with the help I got from Tony

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

No problem, im here to help.

Thanks for flagging the problem that you were having and for PM'ing me, as it gave me the opportunity to get involved.

Glad that we managed to get the result we needed for you through referral to Underwriters.

Now go and enjoy that Mercedes

Kind regards

Tony

Got sorted on my merc today. Well pleased with the help I got from Tony

 

[hannakournikova]

@Tony@Greenlight how long does it typically take to hear back on a quote?

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi Hannakournikova,

Thanks for posting.

Even with referral to Underwriters for bespoke quotations, you'll be looking at hearing back within 24 hours of the application.

I'm able to check progress with our technical team if that's helpful and can get them to provide details of what they have managed to source for you so far.

I've known you for years and would happily get involved, so let me know if you would like me to take a look for you.

Kind regards

Tony

 

[NickR]

Hi NickR85,

Thanks for posting.

As a firm we've had a bit of a torrid time with performance BMW models over the years, largely due to a combination of the comparatively expensive cost to repair (BMW dealer £140/hr labour before BMW parts) and the bigger BHP/rear wheel drive factor being a problem in winter conditions (or when adopting Top Gear's suggested driving style to test your driving ability around round abouts without the traction control).

The cars themselves really are very well engineered indeed, it's an excellent brand with some great models and do represent the type of vehicle that we'd like to cover. But our problems related to the selected models we covered (most M sport, M3, M5, 135i, 330, Z3M, Z4M) experiencing a comparatively high frequency of theft of vehicles and the single vehicle/loss of control accidents influencing our claims performance. Which resulted in some years, our Underwriters paying out nearly 6 times what they received in premium.

We reached a point where it would be embarrassing (and uncompetitive) to quote the level of premium that we required to cover the models, thus our exclusion seemed a more palatable option.

In Germany, winter tyres are a mandatory requirement (between October and Easter) and have a proven pedigree for helping during winter conditions, which would have helped. But this is not the case in the UK and whilst drivers can voluntary fit these it's not something that we see present upon most of the vehicle's we cover.

With the 4x4 element with the X-Drive models clearly aimed at helping with the winter handling (in a similar way to Audi's "Quattro" system) and as more of these models filter through this is likely to really help to lower the frequency of loss of control accidents. Which in turn will help people like us to alter acceptance criteria and cover these models successfully.

At this stage, it would require a bespoke individual referral to Underwriters for terms for BMW models. Which is possible (and we would have absolutely no issue with the upgraded AC Schnitzer suspension - which would be covered on a like for like replacement basis if damaged), but depending upon the age of your 330d xDrive the value of the vehicle may be too high for our current preferentially rated schemes (which vary from £20,000, £25,000 and £30,000 top end limits).

Kind regards

Tony

Hi @Tony@Greenlight

My renewal is due at the end of this month and I just wanted to check if the above is still the case with the 330d M Sport XDrive? (It's only a couple of months old and the value is around 37k).

I'm currently with Adrian Flux but I'd like a quote from yourselves if you would be able to cover that vehicle.

Cheers

Nick

 

[hannakournikova]

Hi Hannakournikova,

Thanks for posting.

Even with referral to Underwriters for bespoke quotations, you'll be looking at hearing back within 24 hours of the application.

I'm able to check progress with our technical team if that's helpful and can get them to provide details of what they have managed to source for you so far.

I've known you for years and would happily get involved, so let me know if you would like me to take a look for you.

Kind regards

Tony

Tony, Will got in contact and very helpful. Unfortunately you guys weren't that competitive this year. Thanks for trying.

 

[ace275]

Cover a W124 but wouldn't cover my Daimler Super v8? I've yet to understand the ways of insurance lol.

Pity my business had to go to flux on that one, but still pleased to have the mx5 with yous.

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for thinking of us, but we're not going to be able to help this time around.

We have tried to write BMW business successfully throughout our trading history, but from E36 models onward we've consistently struggled to avoid heavy losses on the BMW models.

It's frustrating, as they're very well engineered cars. But we found the rear wheel drive factor of most of the models returned a poor claims experience during the winter period, they're expensive to repair with parts at premium prices and the BMW dealer labour rate being around £140/hour. We also encountered a heightened theft claim experience - particularly with the 1 series.

I do recognise that the XDrive system is likely to improve the winter claims experience, but with the value of these models being north of £30k and the backdrop of our Underwriters having had such a bad time with BMW models that we have had to pause covering them entirely.

Kind regards

Tony

Hi @Tony@Greenlight

My renewal is due at the end of this month and I just wanted to check if the above is still the case with the 330d M Sport XDrive? (It's only a couple of months old and the value is around 37k).

I'm currently with Adrian Flux but I'd like a quote from yourselves if you would be able to cover that vehicle.

Cheers

Nick

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Sorry Ace275,

We'll always look to help wherever we can.

The MX-5 is completely what we do and thanks again for covering it with us. Sorry about the Daimler Limousine, we did refer this to our underwriters but this model was outside of what we could cover under a sports/performance/modified car Insurance product.

Kind regards

Tony

Cover a W124 but wouldn't cover my Daimler Super v8? I've yet to understand the ways of insurance lol.

Pity my business had to go to flux on that one, but still pleased to have the mx5 with yous.

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

No problem.

Glad we managed to source a quotation for your Nissan 200sx.

I've known you for quite some time now, you're a good guy and we'll always do all we can to help you wherever possible. Whilst we cant win them all, you did manage to find an exceptional deal for your modified 200sx at practically classic car money.

Take care and thanks again for trying us

Kind regards

Tony

Tony, Will got in contact and very helpful. Unfortunately you guys weren't that competitive this year. Thanks for trying.

 

[Loggie]

@Tony@Greenlight girlfriends insurance is up in 2 weeks. Looking to change her car and looking a quote. Can I get in contact

 

[ChrisL]

Might try and get a joint quote for myself and my fiance when we get our new cars in the next few weeks.

 

[Andy044]

We also encountered a heightened theft claim experience - particularly with the 1 series.

Hi Tony,
Could you explain more about this?
Currently driving a 1 series myself - didn't know that they were such a theft risk

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi Loggie, Hi ChrisL,

We specialise in covering performance, modified, classic, custom, kit and camper/motorhome type vehicles, which does limit our audience. But it's where we feel we can add value with relevant policy cover features (like-for-like replacement of modified parts, trackday cover, agreed value, mirrored NCB, limited/low mileage use rewards/discounts etc), technical knowledge (most of our staff own and run, or have owned and ran the types of vehicles we cover) along with concessionary rates for specialist/cherished vehicles and forum/owners club members.

Thanks for thinking of us, we'd be happy to take a look at this for you.

Kind regards

Tony

P.S. You can always call (01277 650866) or PM to check we cover the model before applying.

@Tony@Greenlight girlfriends insurance is up in 2 weeks. Looking to change her car and looking a quote. Can I get in contact

Might try and get a joint quote for myself and my fiance when we get our new cars in the next few weeks.

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi Andy,

The theft risk has been consistently reflected within our experience with the 1 series models. They're a sought after brand and model, which is likely to play a part. But in addition there was an issue with the OBD port that allowed a thief an easier route to access and steal the vehicle (BMW in fairness issued a recall). Which we've experienced several times.

It may be worth checking with your local dealer to see as to whether this applied to your particular vehicle.

From an Insurance provider's perspective, we've tried to make covering BMW models work for all the right reasons. As most BMW models are really well engineered cars (probably one of the best engineered on the roads). But in terms of the black and white of what's paid out vs the premiums that we were up against, frustratingly it's not currently viable to write the models.

We'll post in the event this stance changes as if we could find a viable way of writing these models we would certainly do so.

Kind regards

Tony

Hi Tony,
Could you explain more about this?
Currently driving a 1 series myself - didn't know that they were such a theft risk

 

[JayT]

These fellas are tops. Had to leave them last year because they didn't insure hyundai (don't blame them) but now I'm back with my banger Audi and all its tatty bling. Great guys to deal with on the phone

 

[Andy044]

Thanks Tony, good to know that.
She's due a service soon so I'll enquire at the dealers then.
Thanks again

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

The BMW thing is really frustrating to us.

We've genuinely tried to make it work as they're great cars. Plenty of models that are real drivers cars, well engineered and would fit our profile. But the frequency of claims combined with the average claim cost (as a result of the types of claims we've seen and cost to repair) has meant that even with tightened Underwriting criteria it didnt work for us.

Hopefully your own BMW will not have been impacted by the recall, or has already had this corrected. But it's worth checking.

Kind regards

Tony

Thanks Tony, good to know that.
She's due a service soon so I'll enquire at the dealers then.
Thanks again

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Thanks Jay,

We're a specialist, rather than mainstream Insurance provider and our products are aimed to target this sector (Performance vehicles, Modified cars and vans, Custom, Kit, Classic, Motorcaravan, off road green lane 4x4, rally/track/motorsport vehicles).

Apologies for not being able to cater for the Hyundai (unless they're modified, the only models of those we cover are the coupe's), but bling or no bling it's still great to have you back

Kind regards

Tony

These fellas are tops. Had to leave them last year because they didn't insure hyundai (don't blame them) but now I'm back with my banger Audi and all its tatty bling. Great guys to deal with on the phone