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Car insurance - Zenith

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Poker2009

Suzuka
Joined
9 Sep 2009
Messages
1,134
Cheapest quotes for me are coming from Zenith, M&S Bank and Post Office - all of which are underwritten by Zenith.

Next is the AA.

For a few years now I have been with Swiftcover/AXA, underwritten by AXA, whom I have been happy with (so far!).

Anyone with experience of Zenith? I have never looked twice at them before, but now they are with M&S Bank, I would assume they have raised standards?
 
Zenith is a Gibraltar bass insurer, very true, but the quotes you got are all basically from the same company; BGL. They own Compare the Market, but they are also a distribution company that white labels Insurance for a number of brands including Zenith, M&S, Post Office, RAC, to name but a few. Most have differing underwriter panels, but all will use similar data rules, with tweaks between 'brands'. Look for BISL in the small print. They also have own brands Dial Direct and Budget Insurance...
 
So are you saying they are ok?

Given Post Office and M&S Bank are using them as an underwriter, I can't see how I can go too far wrong. They are still governed by UK rules and laws. If they are based in Gibraltar, so what? - the only problem would be if they went bust and couldn't payout.
 
Look at the cover options, make sure it covers everything you need, including any 'extras' such as breakdown, legal cover etc (although the profit margin on those is enormous), but specifically look at the detail of the cover, exclusions, excesses and so on. You will find that anything out of the ordinary with these firms will be 'difficult' i.e. mods are unlikely to be covered.

Just make sure you declare everything truthfully, they have access to all sorts of databases to validate your input, and whilst they have to apply reasonableness rules for claims, and generally pay out most of the time, if you tell porkies you are likely not to be covered!!

As far as I remember, admin and claims for Zenith (and the other white label brands) are dealt with BGL based in Pegasus House Peterborough, and shouldn't be a problem.

One thing to look out for, if you pay by instalments, is the size of the deposit/first payment. If it is nearing a twelfth of the premium, they like you and you have a good credit history, but if it is 20% + or not offered at all, your credit history needs some repairing!!
 
Poker2009 said:
So are you saying they are ok?

Given Post Office and M&S Bank are using them as an underwriter, I can't see how I can go too far wrong. They are still governed by UK rules and laws. If they are based in Gibraltar, so what? - the only problem would be if they went bust and couldn't payout.
Click to expand...

I'm saying they might be, but you roll your dice and take your chances. The regulatory status of Gibraltar companies isn't the same as UK based paper. That may or may not be a problem for you.

There's been more cheap private lines capacity going pop in Gibraltar than onshore and backed / owned by a UK company in BGL or otherwise, it's offshore for a reason; one would question why.

The worst that can happen is it goes into administration and leaves you without a payout. The more likely would be it flops out of business and leaves you having to replace cover without being able to recovery any return of premium from them. Not the end of the world if it's cheap enough to offset that risk, but if trusted A rated onshore paper is available for similar cost then again, one would question why you take that chance?

It's not a huge risk even to my cynical eyes, but it would be wrong to ignore without consideration the risk nonetheless.
 
I had my 996tt insured by Zenith. Never again. They would not replace my windscreen with a genuine one. After numerous emails, car left at home for 2 months, they gave in. The auto windscreens took two attempt to fit it properly and its still not 100%.

Never again
 
My only comment would be to check with Zenith first who their approved repairers are in your area.

I have my BMW insured with them and recently made a claim. The local BMW approved bodyshop in not on their list and so they want me to use one that is, which I am not happy about.

If I choose to use the BMW approved site, Zenith will only pay a capped labour rate, anything over that capped rate is to be covreed by me.

Don't suppose that is unique to Zenith but worth noting.
 
From my experience, there are a handful of Insurance companies that will make your claim go through easily, but you have to pay more for that sort of service. Hope I am not tempting fate here, but having had only one windscreen claim in the last 12 years, I tend to look at the cheapest quotes.

I have been with AXA/Swiftcover for a few years now. With my windscreen claim last year, I spoke to Paul at Glasstec Automotive (highly recommended for our cars btw), and AXA were only willing to put an aftermarket screen using Autoglass. With a few words of advice from Paul, I managed to get AXA to agree to put a genuine Porsche screen using Glasstec. I had to give them a quote, and Glasstec were cheaper by £300 with a Porsche screen compared with Autoglass with a non-genuine screen! Believe it or not, Porsche Bournemouth were even slightly cheaper than Glasstec.

All these Insurance companies will do their best to get you to comply with their terms and conditions, and that is what you sign upto in their small print (which most people do not read). When I was with another discount insurer years ago, I had a claim, they were trying to get me to used an approved repairer, and if not get two quotes etc. When I spoke to the garage I wanted to use, they advised me on what to say, and with a few key words: "dangerous, unsafe to drive", the insurer were left with no option but to have my car picked up and taken to the garage I chose.

I can see Zenith, being the cheapest on my search results by far, probably likely to be even more "sticky" with their rules, and even more difficult to deal with, so it will be sensible to just not take the chance and avoid.
 
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