Blue Motor Insurance

gaiscioch

Has anybody used these for car insurance? They are coming in cheaper for me than any others, especially if I choose the two-year option.

NoNonsense seemed like the best value but their "add-ons" brought the price up significantly - for instance, No claims bonus protection was an additional €70.12, but Blue Insurance added €13 *and* included glass replacement, breakdown cover, 14 days courtesy car, and a load of extras bringing the final price to €419 for a single year (€707 for two years) versus an inferior NoNonsense policy for €507 for a single year.

Has anybody experience with them, or advice on what pitfalls I should be looking for? Thanks.

moleyv

I remember considering phone insurance with them, but a quick blue insurance review Google put me off. I remember seeing bad things about travel insurance too.

No experience with actually using them, but I was put off.

CJhaughey

I can't speak for the car insurance but I used Multitrip travel insurance this year and when my son had an accident skiing in the Czech rep. they were very helpful and good to deal with.
Multitrip is part of the Blue insurance group so whether that carries through to the Motor insurance division I don't know.

Irishcrx

Don't know about car insurance with them but I have an expensive gaming laptop insured with them. My 2 year old spilled a glass of Orange over it last year and destroyed it so had to make a claim.

No hassle , made the claim, haggled a little bit with them and ended up with a replacement laptop within 2 weeks which was even higher spec than the one I lost.

So they get a thumbs up from me.

To Elland Back

They are a new entrant to the motor market and, as such, have no baggage of high outstanding claims that need to be paid by current premiums. Therefore, they can offer competitive premiums. If they get hit, like all motor insurers seem to, with a high volume of claims, then the premium will rise. And so, the cycle goes on

They are cherrypicking the mature risks for the moment, but if you fit their profile go for it

gaiscioch

Blue's final quote was far better than any other company: €373.65 for one year; €650.48 for two years. This was fully comprehensive with all the bells and whistles that AA, NonNonsense/FBD were offering. All of them (actually, it had a few more, such as replacement car for 14 days, etc). And Chill, 123 and the others just priced themselves out of the market with their online quotes so didn't make the final three above.

The convenience of €650.48 for two years premium is very attractive, too, if only to avoid wasting this time next year again.


The dilemma is this. Blue will only take me, the main driver with 10 plus years no claims bonus, as the main driver. They will not accept the current named driver on my policy with AA as the main driver (because Blue only allow the registered car owner, which is also me, to be the main driver). This means that the named driver will lose all their previous years No Claims Bonus driving (most of which, before the past two years when they were named on my policy, was as the main driver in their own car). They will have to start from scratch as a named driver if I go with Blue Insurance. AA, on the other hand, will accept my named driver as the main driver on my car (so that they can keep their NCB; I'll become named) but AA want to charge €482 for a single year for this. What would people here choose?

pippip

Get it before they have to start paying all these staff

Blue Insurance has today pledged to create 100 new jobs in Dublin over the next two years.

This expansion will see their employment numbers rise from 45 to 145 employees.
The Irish company was formed in October 2003, has 160,000 existing Irish customers and over 200,000 UK customers across its 14 brands uch as Multitrip.com, gadgetinsurance.com, carhireexcess.com and petinsurance.ie.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/insurance-firm-to-create-100-jobs-in-dublin-684946.html

micks_address

General question...

On my policy i have a no claims bonus protection but i have claimed in last 12 months.. (small scratch repair 500 euro)

If i'm applying for a quote elsewhere do i put in that in as a claim in last 5 years etc..

To Elland Back

micks_address wrote: »

General question...

On my policy i have a no claims bonus protection but i have claimed in last 12 months.. (small scratch repair 500 euro)

If i'm applying for a quote elsewhere do i put in that in as a claim in last 5 years etc..

Yes, you must declare the claim, regardless of your bonus protection situation

pippip

micks_address wrote: »

General question...

On my policy i have a no claims bonus protection but i have claimed in last 12 months.. (small scratch repair 500 euro)

If i'm applying for a quote elsewhere do i put in that in as a claim in last 5 years etc..

Why on earth did you claim for 500 euro? I know you have protection but they'll just up your original price before the claims bonus is subtracted.

Can you pay it back before your next renewal?

micks_address

pippip wrote: »

Why on earth did you claim for 500 euro? I know you have protection but they'll just up your original price before the claims bonus is subtracted.

Can you pay it back before your next renewal?

It's a staff policy so no impact to premiums just wondered how switching provider might work.. It's pretty competitively priced as is

coylemj

To Elland Back wrote: »

They are a new entrant to the motor market and, as such, have no baggage of high outstanding claims that need to be paid by current premiums. Therefore, they can offer competitive premiums.

Precisely what Quinn was at when he entered the UK market, he needed cash in a hurry so undercut the existing operators in the market.

To Elland Back wrote: »

If they get hit, like all motor insurers seem to, with a high volume of claims, then the premium will rise.

Or, if the regulator sees you are not provisioning properly for the big claims coming down the line, you will be told to stop writing new policies or to simply GTF out of the market. This is also what happened to Quinn, the Irish regulator (doing his job properly for once) made him quit the UK motor insurance market. The resultant stream of unfunded claims are now being paid by all of us via the insurance levy.

colm_mcm

Just tried an online quote there but it wouldn't quote me

gaiscioch

colm_mcm wrote: »

Just tried an online quote there but it wouldn't quote me

I think, as Elland Black says, they are very choosy and their business model depends upon taking drivers with perfect records. I think coylemj is also correct: Blue seems to be the Quinn Insurance of this day (because judging by my quote from Liberty, it certainly isn't), undercutting competitors but also looking for unblemished main driver records (interestingly, with Blue you cannot be the main driver if the car is registered in the name of somebody else). They refused to take my partner, who for the past two years has been the named driver on my current car, as main driver so by my choosing Blue for the next two year they have now lost their NCB protection. That's the financial downside of choosing Blue.

The cost was €650 for two years fully comprehensive. Two years. I received benefits for having a 9-year NCB (the maximum number of years NCB), which obviously brought it down hugely. This policy had no add-ons available. It included full No Claims Bonus protection, windscreen cover, breakdown assist, replacement car for up to 14 days and other stuff.

AA wanted to charge me €782 for a single year simply because I was an existing customer and they thought I wouldn't go to the trouble of moving. God help any old people who haven't the technical know-how or energy to shop around.

I wonder will the two-year insurance policy catch on with other firms? I'll appreciate not having to go through this time-consuming, chancer-detecting search for another two years anyway.

mik_da_man

Very choosy indeed.
No high performance or cars over 10 years...

colm_mcm

15 years claim free driving not good enough it seems!

delta_bravo

Anyone know who is underwriting them?

colm_mcm

delta_bravo wrote: »

Anyone know who is underwriting them?

Zenith

delta_bravo

colm_mcm wrote: »

Zenith

Who are located in Gibraltar. Competition is good but getting a bit of deja vu with this and Setanta.

glasshopper

my renewal from 123 came in at 479 and they reduced to 449 on pointing out its over 100 hike and i have another car and house insured with them. but the blue quote is coming in at 344. i might jump ship.

Chris_Heilong

mik_da_man wrote: »

Very choosy indeed.
No high performance or cars over 10 years...

No point in them existing then IMO, they are probably one of these companies that tries to get out of paying claims also.

colm_mcm

Friend rang them the other day for his dad based on the 24 month price thing that their advertising campaign is based on.
Turns out that they charge you more for 24 month policy pricing - gave him a 12 and 24 month quote and said the price would go up 20% next year anyway.
They were more expensive than the quote he got from Axa either way and didn't include driving of other cars.

MrMaki

tried to get insurance with them , but they have no option to insure driver with full clean EU DL / not Irish
+ they said they can't insure any Hondas with vtec engines .....

Special Circumstances

MrMaki wrote: »

tried to get insurance with them , but they have no option to insure driver with full clean EU DL / not Irish
+ they said they can't insure any Hondas with vtec engines .....

Don't the majority of the Honda petrols have vtec of one sort or another for the last decade??

What's next, no toyota VVTIs? No BMW vanos? No cars with wheels?

Sounds like they have a team of ould wans coming up with what they will and won't insure LOL.

MrMaki

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Don't the majority of the Honda petrols have vtec of one sort or another for the last decade??

What's next, no toyota VVTIs? No BMW vanos? No cars with wheels?

I was surprised as I'm not driving a 96 civic with modified exhaust, but an ordinary few years old honda accord.

MrMaki

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Don't the majority of the Honda petrols have vtec of one sort or another for the last decade??

What's next, no toyota VVTIs? No BMW vanos? No cars with wheels?

I was surprised as I'm not driving a 96 civic with modified exhaust, but an ordinary few years old honda accord.
+ I hold full clean DL over 15 years...

Special Circumstances

MrMaki wrote: »

I was surprised as I'm not driving a 96 civic with modified exhaust, but an ordinary few years old honda accord.

Yeah or a gen 2 crv. "Chrisht jaysus tid must be some sorta RAAACING machine with de VTEC, ye do be pulling wheelies and all sorts in dem I hear!"

Special Circumstances

Yeah, no quote for me. 10 years claim free, full irish licence. Must be the oul dual AVCS ruled me out. Variable valve timing, proof of Satan's existence. In ireland at least.

dr.fuzzenstein

colm_mcm wrote: »

Friend rang them the other day for his dad based on the 24 month price thing that their advertising campaign is based on.
Turns out that they charge you more for 24 month policy pricing - gave him a 12 and 24 month quote and said the price would go up 20% next year anyway.
They were more expensive than the quote he got from Axa either way and didn't include driving of other cars.

MrMaki wrote: »

tried to get insurance with them , but they have no option to insure driver with full clean EU DL / not Irish
+ they said they can't insure any Hondas with vtec engines .....

No driving of other cars? Arse to that.
They did quote me and I have a German license.
For me and the OH as named driver the 1 year came in at €696.84 and the 2 year as €1,278.63. Not great.
My last insurance with NoNonsense was cheaper than that, so I will have to see how it comes in this year.

To Elland Back

These lads know what the market in which they want to do business. No old cars, no modifications, no young drivers, no scanger bangers etc. If they get the numbers they need by cherry picking, fair play to them. If they don't, they will ease the acceptance terms on some categories. They don't want the shlte other insurers are currently pricing to get them to feck off

Chris_Heilong

^^^^^
So in other words, they are new to the market and dont want to take any risks.

1hnr79jr65

Im driving 10 years, have 10 years of NCB, no claims or crashes, im 33 and drive a 2.2 tdi 2008 honda civic sport, no penalty points or convictions and blue wont even offer a quote due to the car i drive. These guys are idiots and will put themselves out of market.

dr.fuzzenstein

Sour Lemonz wrote: »

Im driving 10 years, have 10 years of NCB, no claims or crashes, im 33 and drive a 2.2 tdi 2008 honda civic sport, no penalty points or convictions and blue wont even offer a quote due to the car i drive. These guys are idiots and will put themselves out of market.

Jaysis, we wouldn't be insuren' dem raaaacin' cars at all, at all, now.
Welcome to Ireland. :mad:

To Elland Back

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

^^^^^
So in other words, they are new to the market and dont want to take any risks.

Yep, got it in one

To Elland Back

Sour Lemonz wrote: »

Im driving 10 years, have 10 years of NCB, no claims or crashes, im 33 and drive a 2.2 tdi 2008 honda civic sport, no penalty points or convictions and blue wont even offer a quote due to the car i drive. These guys are idiots and will put themselves out of market.

They'll last longer with a cautious approach than those who come in undercutting all and sundry

MrMaki

Sour Lemonz wrote: »

Im driving 10 years, have 10 years of NCB, no claims or crashes, im 33 and drive a 2.2 tdi 2008 honda civic sport, no penalty points or convictions and blue wont even offer a quote due to the car i drive. These guys are idiots and will put themselves out of market.

Im driving 15 years,11 NCB in Ireland and my car is 2l petrol VTEC Accord..

If other insurance companies take same approach Ireland will be back to horse riding times (I know now why guys from Finglas keep horses in back gardens) and Micras or 1.0 polos will be for super rich.

dr.fuzzenstein

MrMaki wrote: »

Im driving 15 years,11 NCB in Ireland and my car is 2l petrol VTEC Accord..

If other insurance companies take same approach Ireland will be back to horse riding times (I know now why guys from Finglas keep horses in back gardens) and Micras or 1.0 polos will be for super rich.

My guess would be full Irish license only, no points, minimum of 2 years NCB (can't get insured without NCB, can't get NCB without insurance, not our problem), nothing even approaching 2 liters, definitely no turbos or compressors (except diesel maybe), nothing fancier than a Focus, Mondeo (or same class, Golf, Passat, etc...), no cars over €60k, no one under 20, no one over 70, nothing older than 10 years, no cars with any "sporty" connotation whatsoever, no vvti, mutli valve, variable valve timing, rear wheel drive, no mods whatsoever, nothing with more than 150 bhp and of course the insurances will have to step up one of their most popular games: Refusing random people who meet all their criteria for no reason whatsoever or quoting them telephone numbers just for a laugh.

CrowdedHouse

^^^

With that in mind I managed to get a quote on my BMW 330d - €660/690 protected.

My renewal last December with 123 was 520 odd with all the trimmings

gaiscioch

Just an update on the breakdown service from Blue Motor Insurance (which came as part of the policy).

As I had never received any details, such as a breakdown service number, when I purchased it as part of the insurance, I had to wait on the general Blue Motor Insurance number for ages today before somebody answered and gave me that breakdown number.

When I rang the breakdown number, indefensibly they had no record of my breakdown cover. They had to ring Blue for them to confirm. Well over an hour later they rang back to say I was indeed covered (this is before any potential wait for somebody to come out). By that time an elderly Dublin man had kindly come over with the necessary tools to sort out the problem (at least temporarily). The kindness of strangers.

Really poor service. Why can Blue not pass on the details of all people who have purchased breakdown cover to the company which it has contracted to do the breakdown service, when the person buys the policy? A breakdown usually indicates an emergency of some sort. Waiting for over an hour before the breakdown service even confirms with Blue that you're covered is completely unnecessary (to be kind about it).

Also, the breakdown person said they only cover 6 breakdowns per policy. As it's a two-year car insurance policy, she confirmed that it is 3 breakdowns per annum. As this is my first time to try and use a breakdown service in years, it doesn't affect me too much. However, people with older cars that break down recurrently should take note of this restriction (although I suspect from the above discussion Blue would not take on such cars).

pippip

But blue won't insure older cars. Anyway if your car breaks down three times in a year I reckon you have more to worry about.