M-B Insurance worth it?

[willie45]

Hi everyone. I'm due to take delivery of my new C220 CDI SE next week. I'm quite excited of course and I have the free week of "Frist cover" insurance from M-B which I believe is underwritten by Aviva (?)


Anyway, one of the benefits this policy gives appears to be the fact that it ensures any repair work would be done in an approved M-B garage using only M-B parts. Other insurers use their own approved garages.

Now the quote to stay with M-B is quite a bit more expensive than the likes of Nationwide, Churchill etc ( in fact not far off twice Churchill's price )

Is it worth paying more to get the M-B work done at an approved dealer? I believe you can insist on having repair work done at an approved M-B dealer no matter who you are insured with. Is this right?

I'm guessing it might be but that the insurers would then not provide you with a courtesy car.

I'm asking this because the last time I had repair work done I was with Direct Line and used one of their approved garages and the work was not what I would have expected. However, it might be worth saving a couple of hundred on insurance and is need be insisting on a M-B dealer and using the money saved on the policy to rent a cheapo car for a week or so if the worst came to the worst. Does it make sense?

Anyway all advice here would be most gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kusanku]

I got a quote from them this week. Two problems that I could see.

1) The quote was not even remotely competitive. The sales girl adopted a bizarre strategy of going on about what nice people they were as though that would persuade me to ignore how expensive the premium was.
2) It is underwritten by Aviva, and believe me that is not a good thing. I won't go into a rant here, but pm me if you want to hear my tales of woe regarding this particular company.

With regards to other insurers insisting you use their approved garage, you can indeed insist on the work being done at an MB dealer or indie. I have done so, despite the insurance companies initially insisting otherwise. Yes, the insurance companies (more than one) did say that I could not have a courtesy car as a result, but on each occasion the garage doing the work provided me with one anyway. Also, if it the third party is clearly at fault (e.g. rear-end shunt), there are a number of companies that will hire you a car equivalent to your own, and charge it to the third party insurer. I used such a company once and got a brand spanking new E320cdi for nearly two weeks, the cost of which was picked up entirely by the third party.

I cannot see that MB insurance has got anything going for it. However, I am sure someone else will be along in a minute to argue otherwise

 

[Kingy68]

MB insurance was ridiculously expensive for me so I didn't bother with it after the 7 days free.

Just phone around and take the one which offest combination of cover and price making sure you get the important elements included like protected ncd, sdp & commute and use at work etc. Some quotes do not automatically cover everything you would expect them to.

I've ended up with Aviva, but have not had to claim with them so cannot comment on how good they might be for me in that scenario. A friend recommended them to me as he has claimed for a non fault accident and they were very good. I appreciate kusanku has obviously had a very different experience.

 

[AbbieCadabra]

i got our registration info today so sorted out the free 7 day cover for 1st March (less than 2 weeks to go!!! :bannana.

i registered my info online as i thought it would save time, but you still have to call them to get it 'activated' - or should i say call them to give them the opportunity of trying to sell you very expensive insurance!

the young guy i got had a very Del Boy type of sales thing going on which really irritated me by the end of the 10 minute (!) phone call. "5 star cover madam, the best you can get, all these extras included as standard, blah, blah....". he must have repeated the phrase 'mercedes insurance' about 50 times.

he finally got to the price, £663 with £650 excess for an E350CDI sport cabrio. i checked the excess figure & he stated "well it's a cabrio, if anything happens, it's expensive to repair" Hmmm, that will be a no then. i think Admiral/Diamond were about £360 with £350 excess when i looked a couple of weeks ago. i know it's not like for like cover but that's all part of the risk equation with insurance cover...

 

[willie45]

Interesting experiences. So far I've had quotes ranging from £430 to £860 !!

Cheapest was Churchill but I've read bad things so I might go for the mid - range from the likes of Liverpool Victoria ( they are a Which? recommended company- not sure it that is significant or not? ) and see how it goes. They were quoting me around the 540 mark. M-B quoted me £693.

 

[robtt]

Interesting experiences. So far I've had quotes ranging from £430 to £860 !!

Cheapest was Churchill but I've read bad things so I might go for the mid - range from the likes of Liverpool Victoria ( they are a Which? recommended company- not sure it that is significant or not? ) and see how it goes. They were quoting me around the 540 mark. M-B quoted me £693.

We have two cars with Churchill. Had one claim three years ago and settled quickly and efficiently. Like them as they are competative in price

 

[r129 300sl]

Hi

I have a regular aviva policy.

Aviva insurance excess is £100 more if you do not use their approved repairer.

May be different with the Mercedes approved insurance policy.

 

[Rory]

... Liverpool Victoria ( they are a Which? recommended company- not sure it that is significant or not? )

I use LV for both our cars. If you qualify for CSMA membership CSMA Club: Civil Service discounts, Insurance, Breakdown (a lot of people do, through various means, either directly or via relatives) then you can use LV's Frizzell brand which is a bit cheaper.

LV has the most intelligent sounding call centre staff I've ever dealt with.

They handled one claim for us, although it was clearly the other driver's fault as they ran into the back of Mrs R's car. There was no hassle about getting it repaired at the franchise dealer, although I wouldn't have expected any as the 3rd party would be paying anyway. I was pleased they waived the excess, which I'd expected to have to pay and reclaim.


I did look at MB insurance, and one thing which seemed daft to me (apart from the ridiculous premium) was that it doesn't even guarantee an MB courtesy car.

 

[@MARK]

Surprisingly MB insurance were competitive for me this time round so I am with them this year.

No idea if they will be the same next time but they don't offer anything that you can't get with all the other insurers so I will have no issues taking my policy elsewhere if they are too expensive.

 

[Mr. B]

I have to agree with the previous post. I took out the initial 7 day free insurance from the Merc dealership with the intention of shopping around. I already had one insurance company in mind which my mate uses for his GT3 RS.

After the 7 day insurance was activated I had to allow MB to give me a quote. I wasn't taking much notice of the sales rep when he was going through my quotation because I was expecting a ridiculous amount.

Much to my surprise the price was actually £400 cheaper than my cheapest quote.

So my experience has been a positive one BUT as always DYOR.

 

[Fizzer]

New car excitement persuaded me to go with Mercedes (Aviva) when I got the CLS (it was £1050) I was expecting a significant reduction when renewal time came :bannana: the quote for renewal was £1350 . Ended up with Privilige at £405.
XS with Aviva £750. Privilige £250

 

[oldmedic999]

i am just about to renew my premium. Have been with Aviva over last year. Renewal £615 after having minor accident. No witness to accident.Not my fault. Accident in Italy. Lost £500 and was advised no witness to accident meant 50/50 claim.
They then insisted on statement months after accident or lose NCD. NCD was protected under policy. Will go with LV next time. Seems a fare deal. Cost £531 with legal and NCB protection.

 

[219]

MB insurance may not be competitive for 'everyday' cars , but they are very good if you have an older Classic car .

When I was toying with using my Fintail as a daily driver with unlimited mileage and business use , they were the ONLY company who would quote for this ( and the premium was only something like £150 ) .

I also got a very good quote from them for my Ponton , and they were the first company who knew what a 219 is , without a long winded rigmarole explaining that it is basically a Ponton 190 with the engine and front end of the 220 ( the spiritual ancestor of the 190E 2.6 , or the Fintail 230 for that matter ) .

In each case the MB operators seemed to be knowledgeable and genuinely enthusiastic about the older cars .

I never ended up insuring with them so have no idea what they would be like to deal with , but the quotes were decent enough .

 

[Rory]

Got my renewal this morning from Frizzell (LV=). £242.

That's with £100 excess and guaranteed NCB. Includes business use.

 

[pespro]

At least you all got the 7 day free. They refused because of my age, even though i asked the dealer and he said 21. Had all my quotes lined up for a week after i bought the car, a lot of messing around changing it.
The dealer did say however he would pay all admin fees to my insurance if there was any.

Luckily even though i made three changes to the policy, because it was within the first 14 days it was fine with no charge.

Guy on the phone said we can do a MB quote for you but would be in the thousands, at which point i left it.
Worse thing was, they said talk to the dealer they will be able to help you, something like using your existing policy. I did ask the dealer who had no idea what i was on about.

 

[willie45]

Well I went with LV in the end. They weren't the cheapest but seem to have a good reputation. I ended up not taking the full free week's policy from M-B because I figured if I had a claim while using it there would go my NCD if I renewed with another company so I'd either have to risk losing some of it or be tied to M-B afterwards. I reckoned to get something worth £10 might end up risking me 100s over the next two or three years!

Anyway, the deed is done so thanks to all for the help

 

[Brigham1806]

At least you all got the 7 day free. They refused because of my age, even though i asked the dealer and he said 21. Had all my quotes lined up for a week after i bought the car, a lot of messing around changing it.
The dealer did say however he would pay all admin fees to my insurance if there was any.

Luckily even though i made three changes to the policy, because it was within the first 14 days it was fine with no charge.

Guy on the phone said we can do a MB quote for you but would be in the thousands, at which point i left it.
Worse thing was, they said talk to the dealer they will be able to help you, something like using your existing policy. I did ask the dealer who had no idea what i was on about.

when i bought my mercedes last year, they offered me the free 7 days insurance and i rang and sorted it. I was 19 at the time and there was no issue with age... so that's strange although i suppose mines only a C200 where as your car has much more power