Footman James Insurance

samfieldhouse · January 3rd, 2012, 9:32 pm

The well oiled machine that is the 2cvGB Committee leapt straight into action today after seeing poor George's plight to get his 2cv insured.

Footman James is a broker, they simply sell policies underwritten by other companies. Equity Redstar are the company who underwrite FJs under 25 policies and it is they who have been pushing their premiums up and FJ have (finally) decided to no longer do business with them.

In my opinion that's no bad thing, Equity Redstar are the most unhelpful, rudest, leeching, money grabbing, blood sucking and slowest underwriters ever, they took over 11 1/2 months to pay out when my D*lly was rear ended.

So because FJ are no longer dealing the Equity Redstar, they don't have anyone to underwrite their under 25 policies, hence they've stopped offering them.

Response from Nikki (2cvGB Chair) below:

Quote:

Hi Sam and all

Before we all get too worked up about this and start banning them from advertising I thought I would have a word with my contact there to find out what is going on. I spoke to him this afternoon and below is what I have discovered about why this is happening.

Just a minor point before that though - Sam they are are NOT the Club's official insurance company. They are just one of the few who do classic car insurance and that advertise with us. They won't suit everyone and that has always been the case.

However, I was concerned about this sudden change so gave Dave Youngs (my contact there) a ring. He is well aware of the problem as this has also affected all young drivers of classic cars insured with them, not just our members. (Mini Owners Club also making lots of noise about this apparently!)

Apparently it has been caused by one of their Underwriters, Equity Red Star, who previously were the ones that insured their younger drivers. Basically this company has been pushing up its rates by an amount in the last few months (especially for younger drivers - up to 4 times the previous price in some cases!) so Footman James have decided not to use them any more. Unfortunately this leaves them with a bit of a problem as their other underwriter won't touch any drivers under 21 and will only insure drivers aged 21-25 in particular circumstances (apparently only if the car is garaged, if the driver has access to an additional vehicle and with restricted mileage clauses, etc.) .

Anyway, this all happened in December, hence members suddenly starting to make a noise about this. They (FJ) are not happy with the situation either as they realise it could cost them a lot of business, and are trying to find another underwriter who will take younger drivers at a sensible price. I have told him to come back to me if/when they have any news.

So... not ideal but at least we know why. I don't want to pull their advert from the magazine, as they are still a valid insurer for many of our members and they are trying to resolve the problem, but we may want to consider whether we add a temporary note somewhere on the ad or next to it that states 'Please not that Footman James are unable to insure any drivers under 21 at this time and drivers under 25 may also find that they may not be able to get cover. Footman James are working to resolve this problem' or some such. What do Committee Members think?

Incidentally, does anyone know whether Lancaster are also refusing younger drivers too? Or is it just the premiums that have gone up a lot? It could be that Equity Red Star were the only ones insuring younger drivers and therefore the other brokers who use them have had to put their quotes up massively accordingly.

I will put something on Facebook about this. Sam or Bean or Anna if you could copy what I have written above and get it on the 2CVGB Forum and also on International 2CV Friends Forum that would be very useful, just so everyone knows what is going on.

Many thanks
Nikki

Equity Redstar are still underwriting Peter James policies with very strict criteria - I guess it would be difficult to get them to pay out if my my wasn't garaged and whatnot and got written off

Personally I can't wait to be 25 and be rid of all this. That doesn't help you young ones though.

Rest assured, the 2cvGB committee are applying pressure to get something sorted and enable a fair and equal insurance coverage for all members.

EDIT: Equity Red Star have expressed concern over the lexis used to imply the price increases that have led insurers who use said underwriters to underwrite their policies. I have therefore edited this post accordingly.

Footman James Insurance

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