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On January 29th, I had a very minor car accident. Due to a fresh fall of snow and ungritted roads, my little Clio decided that despite my turning the wheel to the right it would keep going in a straight line. I bashed into a high kerb onto some grass where I finally gained some traction, but in the process damaged the wheel and steering. In addition the driver’s seat airbag went off.
No other vehicles, no damage to anything or anyone and a simple job to quote for. Easy-peasy.
Unfortunately I was driving a car insured by Saga Insurance (my folks are in the age bracket where they can use this bunch of incompetent buffoons) so instead of being a simple claim, this turned into a marathon.
In brief, the car went at first to my cousin’s garage where they looked at it, diagnosed the mechanical trouble and told me it would be around £300 to fix it (no labour charge for family). However, he couldn’t repair the seats, seatbelt tensioners and airbag. For that it would have to go to the coachworks next door.
That quote came to over £2000 so it went from a quick fix to an insurance issue. An thus the fun began. Saga were contacted with the details on Monday February 1st and given the details of the problem. Remember, this is as simple as it gets. They had a quote ready for them and no third parties to worry about. It was a simple case of “is the car worth repairing or is it a write-off?”
After two weeks we started to nudge them again. Yes. TWO WEEKS. Apparently they were, and I quote “busy”. As if that’s our problem. Where I stay, the public transport sucks more than Dyson’s finest and the lack of a car was taking its toll on both my personal life and my educational one. A 30 minute drive to college equates to 2 1/2 hours using buses and trains.
After a further week or so we received a request for copies of all the drivers’ licenses. No reason why, or why it had taken three weeks for this request to come through. As far as we could figure it was another excuse for them to drag the claim out more to avoid coughing up.
At the end of the month my dad rang them and pretty much said if they didn’t get their thumbs out of their collective arses and make a decision one way or the other, he’d be taking his insurance elsewhere. My folks don’t just have their car insurance (two cars) with them, they also have the house, possessions and so forth. All of their insurance policies, basically.
By some amazing coincidence, the garage were contacted the next day and told to go ahead with repairs. Time since accident: almost 5 weeks.
Thankfully the garage were swift, and swifter still as a favour to my cousin especially when they heard about the death of my gran. Only a shame I couldn’t have had the car back much sooner so that I could have perhaps seen her a little more often just before she died.
And on to today, March 13th.
My dad got home late this afternoon to a letter from the insurance company dated March 5th. Note that this is after Saga told us to get the car fixed.
The letter states that they will contact us soon after they have made their decision as to whether the car is economically repairable or not. Erm. OK.
Further, as I seem to be the main user of the vehicle and I’m not meant to be (I’m a named driver) they have decided that they no longer wish to insure the car. Therefore as of 14 days from the date on the letter, which would be next Friday, the policy will become null and void and we have to go elsewhere.
Which is strange. If they wanted to null the policy on the basis I shouldn’t have been driving the car then surely they could have used that as an excuse to refuse a payout four weeks earlier. At which point I could have arranged to have the car repaired privately and had the damn thing on the road within a fortnight.
Essentially it looks like a case of left hand/right hand/no idea.
What worries me most is that this is a company that aims its product at the higher end of the age scale, and therefore one of the more vulnerable markets. A lot of over 60′s will freak if they get badgered by insurance people and may well give up or avoid claims as a result. Thankfully my dad’s not one of them, but I hate to think how many other policyholders would put up with this crap.
Needless to say, we’re shifting my car insurance ASAP… along with all the other policies. Saga have just lost as much business as one person can possibly give them. But look at it from my parents’ point of view – if the company can make this much of a mess from the simplest of vehicular claims, would they really want them handling a house fire or flood damage?
Hell, no.
It’s all well and good looking for the cheapest quote. But if that quote will get you abysmal service when what you need is help then it’s not worth the saving. And I’ve not even gone into the time spent on hold, the non-returned calls, the insistence on details being faxed rather than emailed and so forth.
Saga Insurance. Avoid. They are, in every respect as far as our experience is concerned, complete and utter shit.
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on 
I’ve had a few dealings with insurance companies re car incidents and they’ve never been easy, although not as bad as what you’re experiencing. It is worrying that Saga are supposed to be marketed towards the older generation, who, when faced with all this hassle, may not claim for what they are entitled to. Hope all goes well and the car gets fixed soon!
I agree that they do seem to be making things awkward for what could well be a very vulnerable segment of the population.
Car’s back in my sticky little hands and I’m so glad. Back at uni on Friday and at least I know I can get there in 30 mins, not 2 1/2 hours required by public transport.
*thinks about leaving smartarse gag about comparing meerkats, decides against, backs away slowly*
I would trust a bunch of rodents more than I would trust this bunch of idiots.
Can I just point out that technically, meerkats are not rodents, Dr. Dolittle?! I agree about Saga…had a nightmare trying to get Dad travel insurance and gave up on them in the end (thankfully).
Ok, fine – they’re “carnivora” but they look kind of rodent-ish. Smart arse.
Glad your dad didn’t go with Saga. I’d not touch them with anyone else’s now. Getting the policies for my folks was easy enough, but the runaround when something happened… it’s like they have a guide on their desks on “how to lose customers”.
I have just sold my car that was insured with Sage, phoned them up to cancel the insuranc only to be told that there is an admin charge of £50 what a rip off, just as bad as the bankers I would say, needless to say I will not be insuring my next car with Sage.
Martin – that’s an example of having to check the small print. Cancellation fees etc are very common on policies. I gather my dad’s fighting a £75 change fee they landed him with as it was actioned before the policy was in place, which is rather cheeky.
After 3 years of having my motor insurance documents sent to the wrong address and having an accident for which I was not responsible settled without advising me: SAGA immediately increased my premiums by a punitive amount. I now insure my car with Hastings at half the cost for the same cover.
I now find out that SAGA home insurance has been using my premiums to insure a house that I have never owned and last lived their 3 years ago.
Good grief. I would suggest – if you’ve not already done so – a strongly-worded letter with evidence to the insurance ombudsman. I believe my dad’s in the process of this as there were other issues regarding our dealing with Saga of which I’m not aware.
I am an insurance broker and would urge anyone who is considering not just Saga, but any of the specialists providers who offer cover to the elderly to think again, particularly where house insurance is concerned. Remember Saga and companies like them have schemes for the elderly and these are not available for those under 50.
If when you come to sell your house you have had the misfortune to have suffered flood damage or subsidence you could find insuring with Saga was a very expensive mistake. Your prospective purchaser is likely to want to insure with the same company you are with – indeed the existing insurer will usually be the only one willing to insure a house blighted by issues such as subsidence or flood. Your purchaser may find they are not eligible for a Saga policy and will not offer cover.
Saga regularly changes the insurer of their scheme and you will find the scheme insurer is often less than enthusiastic about offering cover, even if they can. Why would an insurer retain what is seen as sub standard business from a connection they know they will eventually loose?
Best advice is to insure your house with an open market insurer. In my experience Aviva (Norwich Union) and Ecclesiastical Insurance are the two best companies when it comes to continuing to offer cover for properties where there has been a problem. They will also offer cover to most prospective policyholders.
Avoid Saga – they may sometimes be cheap but you very much get what you pay for!!
Excellent advice, David. Thanks for the feedback!
[b]WHEN IS CLAIM FREE DRIVING EXPERIENCE NOT A NO CLAIMS BONUS ?[/b]
When the SAGA car insurance department decides it wants it to be.
Scenario:
You reach a certain age and buy a car for the first time in a few years after having driven for 10 years on a company car without incident, claims or convictions. When you get your car insurance quote you are subjected to a ridiculous premium because you are unable to provide “adequate proof of claim free driving”.
After a period of wrangling with your preferred insurance company
you provide a letter from your previous employers confirming claim free driving and get a quote, which is still wildly expensive in the circumstances,
and comes with a the old carrot and stick caveat that after a year your renewal premium be substantially less due to the extra year that has been applied to the company no claims bonus letter provided.
REALITY:
Your motor insurance renewal comes around and the premium is MORE ! When you query the price you are advised that it is because you only have ONE years no claims discount. This is despite the fact that the insurance company verbally confirmed there was 10 years plus no claims history on file, however they will only confirm 1 year in writing on the renewal.
THE SAGA …. Saga.
SAGA Car insurance tell me they will not accept accumulated proof of claims free driving in order to calculate the level of No Claims Discount they apply to the premium. Elrich Howe a Supervisor on the telesales department confirms that their underwriters will only accept the last insurance companies no claims bonus confirmation, which in my case was one year. Having offered to prove the previous years claim free experience, Mr Howe declined advising that his underwriters treat everyone the same and the policy is to only accept what the previous insurer states on the renewal documentation regardless if it is correct.
I thought underwriters were there to ‘underwrite’ a process which is defined as follows:
[b]Insurance underwriters evaluate the risk and exposures of potential clients. They decide how much coverage the client should receive, how much they should pay for it, or whether even to accept the risk and insure them. Underwriting involves measuring risk exposure and determining the premium that needs to be charged to insure that risk. [/b]
It is hardly an underwriting decision when a major part of the discounting process is ignored because as Mr Howe puts it, everyone has to be treated the same and the SAGA policy is only to rely on the info provided on the last insurers renewal.
The last comment from Mr Howe can be amongst other things described as crass: Mr Howe suggested I might have the previous insurance company review the renewal letter and reflect a corrected no claims discount position. Of course that isn’t going to happen… lets face it why should the company who is about to lose their renewal business help it along its way.
Mmmmmmmm…. and I though SAGAloo was an indian dish.
So, basically, you’re saying that Saga are crap and rewrite the rules to suit themselves? Yup, seems about right in my experience as well.
They are crap alright and I just got myself banned from the Saga members forum for having my opinion…. oh and I did call my ID “saga-insurance-sucks” that may not have helped!
I guess some people just can’t take a bit of criticism!
INCOMPETENT BUFFOONS doesn’t nearly cover it!
I took out insurance last April, had a claim in August for broken laptop, was informed by Saga you are not covered as portable electricals notr covered! Then in March this year I lost my watch on holiday, told yet again you are not insured as only jewellery at home covered. when i took out policy i specifically referred to jewellery abroad as i travel a lot, and this was my main reason for wanting insurance. They said they listened to the recording and I didnt say this, THEY LIED! As i had a friend present and phone on loudspeaker when I had my initial conversation with them. Again they refused to pay out on my loss. Now policy was due for renewal and renewal letter arrived and said theywould take yearly premium from my debit card, i rang and said I DO NOT WISH TO RENEW SO DO NOT TAKE ANY MONEY FROM MY ACCOUNT. I see from my bank account they have withdrawn this money! I am 65 yrs old and recovering from cancer. SAGA ARE CROOKS THERE IS NO OTHER WORD FOR THEM, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. I have now written to Watchdog and contacting the Insurance Ombudsman and ringing by bank tomorrow to inform them a crime has been committed by Saga withdrawing monies from my account.
I’d say if you launch a complaint against them – particularly in regards to the mis-selling of the policy – you may be in with a shout as they would have to produce that recording as proof. However, do be aware that you will (I’m sure) at some point have received some paperwork and it is, I believe, your responsibility to check that what’s been sent matches up with what you asked for.
As many would say, though, Saga aim at the older customer and therefore should be more careful. heaven forbid they should be accused of *taking advantage* of their customer base…