can anyone recommend an insurance firm as mine is up for renewal?
looking to cover 44 ton tractor unit, flat trailer, landrover, ifor williams 3 axle flat, and mobile welding plant fitted into an ifor williams box trailer, i also need goods in transit, public liability with extended cover to include welding on or of site and maintainance work also undertaken
i am with blue finn at the moment but they seem to want 1k more this year, towergate are working out a quote now and i am not interested in swinton commercial at all after past experience dealing with a call centre half way round the world with staff that speak a language that i fail to understand!
thanks moose
i,ve used cornish insurance for the last 9yrs and they have always got me the best price for everything {git/liability etc}
NFU
Not just for farmers, a great insurance company, been with them 25 years, competitive and excellent.
Moose I’ve used c&c insurance brokers in Stockport for years. Good prices and great service plus good at fighting your corner with claims.
Steve
I have some farm ground with the nfu at the moment and i have used them in the past for commercials/trailers and landrovers, over recent years i find them a tad expensive in the commercial vehicle area, on the plus side they have been good to deal with and v good at fighting your corner when needed!
I will give the ones listed above a try and try to get the lot sorted in one go, i think 1k more this year is over the top after having no claims!
any more ideas would be most welcome
thanks moose
Can’t recommend one so am looking at this thread with interest. My broker was bought out by Towergate and TBH not as pleased with them as my original lot - who I moved to from Bluefin as they came in with a way better quote but to be fair to Bluefin the guy there really did know his stuff insofar as understanding commercial vehicle cover needs.
Very similar requirements to you except two tractor units and more trailers have a 4x4 for commercial towing the same and also a load of service vans of one sort and another and my private car. I think it’s a policy called mini-fleet from Aviva, the trailers aren’t covered individually and are only covered when attached to the tow vehicle. When they’re in our yard they’re covered by the main insurance there and any customers yards we might leave them in are responsible for covering them.
I’ve been annoyed the premium has been trickling up despite no claims. Currently about £4900 this renewal, this is for any employee to drive any vehicle if they’re over 25 as we spot hire in and also do workshop services so need to drive customers vehicles, all the ones we actually own are still listed individually on the policy though. This is up from under £4k 3 years ago for the exact same cover with no claims 
.
Blue finn were good last year after being keen to get my business,the guy that set it all (with aviva) up was laurence i think but from what i can see once he has set it all up it’s handed over to some other guy, thats when you start to think to yourself “have i got the level of cover needed” due to the fact you have to correct the man when he is going through your policy details!
the tractor unt and trailer are together, the ifor tri axle and landrover are together or separate, and the same for the box trailer which would cost 18-20 k to replace due to the kit inside ( hand tools are not covered)
in the past i used freightsure from stone staffs, and had done for years, then they were bought out by swinton commecial and after a non fault minor bump i found out my full protected no claims discount no longer existed as “swinton dont do protected no claims discount”!
my own fault in a way as i should have read the small print!
after much hasstle and miss understanding on the part of the non to clever and poor english speaking call centre staff i find my renewal had gone through the roof, hence changing to blue finn!
the thing is after another full year of no claims they are asking for 1k more to renew,£4800 this year from £3800 last year and not only that they are doing the recent common practice of trying to leave it till the last minute b/s routine!
as i dont need the truck every day i have informed them i wont be pushed into a corner and i won’t renew with them at all if a finger is not swiftly pulled out! i dont mind ringing round and if they tell me they will match any better quote they can also sod off as i wont stop with them anyway, they should give me a fair quote in the first place!
moose
I dont understand all these prices going up when no claims have been made, mines come down every year without fail since the day i started, ok some years not by much, but its certainly never increased in price
I use anthony jones, just make sure you confirm it’s for protected no claims included else you might get the, oh that’s without it sir try on after you’ve agreed.
Cheaper than Towergate or circle.
Basically you need to change insurance broker every year as they all just try it on at renewal time. I don’t hold it against them, bless 'em, but you do need to play them off against each other.
I go with towergate mark,they have given excellent service,although the NFu on Compton were just as cheap.
I think Swinton uk based now
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not had time to ring round today due to driving, i will get back to it monday morning first thing
still waiting for towergate to quote, bluefin have put a revised quote in the post which i wont get till morning, and a firm down kent should have rung back today, i am still waiting
moose
Towergate or AXA, they’re usually within a few £ of each other. I’ve been with Towergate for several years now and the premium has only changed slightly up when I’ve put other drivers on. Now I’m back on me tod the premium has returned to what it was when I started with them.
NFU Mutual used to be very competitive,but Towergate seem to have the edge on them at the moment.
Silver_Surfer:
Basically you need to change insurance broker every year as they all just try it on at renewal time. I don’t hold it against them, bless 'em, but you do need to play them off against each other.
I think you want to keep them on their toes but I could lose the will to live spending a day on the blower, every year, getting a hot ear trying to get across to one idiot after another what my insurance requirements are.
coiler:
Moose I’ve used c&c insurance brokers in Stockport for years. Good prices and great service plus good at fighting your corner with claims.Steve
coiler, bluefin sent a revised quote through the post this morning and it is still £400 more than last year so i have been on the phone most of the day and at this point in time c&c at stockport have been the most help as regards the level of service and costs for the truck and flat trailer!
i am not quite sorted yet as they need to come back with the landrover costs and for public liability, git and extra trailer cover.
M R Radcliffe in the chelt/glos area are a close 2nd and not by far, still got all week to get sorted as regards costs and level of cover, i am still waiting for 4 firms to quote all 4 were ringing back this afternoon and as of 5.30 pm none have!
thanks for the info and i will post an update when i have more info
moose
update, it would be safe to say after a fair amount of ringing round i decided to go with c&c at stockport, they were by far the most helpful and thorough when looking at my needs as regards insurance cover
many firms failed to even quote on time and of the ones that did bluefin (who i was already with) were the most expensive even after many goes at quoting , so as last week came to an end every other missed call i had was from bluefin! infact only this morning the salesman was still trying to get hold of me even though he was not at work!
After many assurances from the larger firms that premiums had gone up by at least 10% i have managed to save a significant ammount which more than covers the work time lost on the phone!
after getting sorted i have already pointed another family member toward c&c to see if they can help sort more insurance needs!
thanks for the info everyone
coiler much appreciated
moose
puntabrava:
NFUNot just for farmers, a great insurance company, been with them 25 years, competitive and excellent.
^^this^^
I did a thing on 100 ways to save a few bob when I was at TRUCK mag, their insurance was very good and cheap too. I’m sure the bloke who run Mortimers eat more chips put me on to the idea, well worth looking at 
having been a member of the nfu for many years and also using them to insure some farm buildings and ground for may years i still find the nfu expensive for commercial vehicles and have done since foot & mouth outbreak in the early 2000’s
Own Account Driver:
Silver_Surfer:
Basically you need to change insurance broker every year as they all just try it on at renewal time. I don’t hold it against them, bless 'em, but you do need to play them off against each other.I think you want to keep them on their toes but I could lose the will to live spending a day on the blower, every year, getting a hot ear trying to get across to one idiot after another what my insurance requirements are.
I know what you mean but I have been lazy in the past & now the beans are a bit tighter I make myself shop around even though I find it excruciatingly painful sometimes. I was with Towergate and they put the premium up by something like £500 on the previous year with no change in circumstances so I thought, i’m not taking that up the wrong 'un & changed.