Insurance discount for IAM but not RoSPA

[rossyIIa]

I'm a little bit annoyed to say the least.

I always thought that RoSPA was the better advanced driving course as it is retested and has a tiered grading system. So why is it that insurance companies will give me £200 quid of my quote if I was an IAM driver, but I get squat for being a RoSPA Gold driver?

I know it's probably because IAM have struck a deal with a couple of insurers and RoSPA haven't but why hasn't RoSPA seen this and gone to those insurers asking for the same?

[Glosphil]

rossyIIa said:

I'm a little bit annoyed to say the least.

I always thought that RoSPA was the better advanced driving course as it is retested and has a tiered grading system. So why is it that insurance companies will give me £200 quid of my quote if I was an IAM driver, but I get squat for being a RoSPA Gold driver?

I know it's probably because IAM have struck a deal with a couple of insurers and RoSPA haven't but why hasn't RoSPA seen this and gone to those insurers asking for the same?

£200 discount on insurance for IAM membership! I'm inpressed. The best I have managed is £15, but that was off a quote of £195 .

[Syd knee]

I am far from convinced that insurance companies take verry much in to consideration when guessing at premiums. Insurance is in theory compulsary and compettative but as they are too stupid to figure out why they keep loosing money the only choice they think they have is to increase premiums.

[Starfighter]

IAM / RoADA discouting on insurance is a joke. I've had most of my insurance without any discounting, in fact this is my first year with. I've been told by insurers in the pat that it makes no difference to them and in 1 case that I cannot be an Advanced driver as you need to be 25. I thought that rather odd seeing as I was 24 , had a RoADA Gold, Diploma and my IAM ticket was 6 yeras old.

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Starfighter said:

IAM / RoADA discouting on insurance is a joke. I've had most of my insurance without any discounting, in fact this is my first year with. I've been told by insurers in the pat that it makes no difference to them and in 1 case that I cannot be an Advanced driver as you need to be 25. I thought that rather odd seeing as I was 24 , had a RoADA Gold, Diploma and my IAM ticket was 6 yeras old.

The 'IAM Surety' deal is exclusively with one broker, who will almost always beat your existing quote by a worthwhile amount. I believe something like 20,000 IAM members (including me) now use them, so there must be something in it - it's certainly not a joke.

Most other insurers don't recognise AD qualifications though. I'm not sure how many members RoSPA has, but I'd be surprised if they have the numbers to organise a similar deal.

[ScoobyChris]

Syd knee said:

I am far from convinced that insurance companies take verry much in to consideration when guessing at premiums.

The other option might be that advanced drivers don't have (significantly?) fewer accidents than regular drivers...?

Chris

[Starfighter]

S. Gonzales Esq. said:

Starfighter said:

IAM / RoADA discouting on insurance is a joke. I've had most of my insurance without any discounting, in fact this is my first year with. I've been told by insurers in the pat that it makes no difference to them and in 1 case that I cannot be an Advanced driver as you need to be 25. I thought that rather odd seeing as I was 24 , had a RoADA Gold, Diploma and my IAM ticket was 6 yeras old.

The 'IAM Surety' deal is exclusively with one broker, who will almost always beat your existing quote by a worthwhile amount. I believe something like 20,000 IAM members (including me) now use them, so there must be something in it - it's certainly not a joke.

Most other insurers don't recognise AD qualifications though. I'm not sure how many members RoSPA has, but I'd be surprised if they have the numbers to organise a similar deal.

It is IAM Surety that I am with (from January) and this is the first year that they have even come close to what I can get on the open market on bog standard family cars (Volvo V40 1.8, VW Golf TDI etc). In this case the saving was just £15 but I'll take it.

My joke comment is about the overall insurance market and their failure to acknowledge factors that reduce risk and so premiums when they are very fast to add costs on. I drive relatively new, and common vehicles and have a long no claim history as does my wife. We live in a low risk post code so we should be a "Good" risk and yet to IAM / RoADA discount scheme appear to be very costly.

[Syd knee]

ScoobyChris said:

Syd knee said:

I am far from convinced that insurance companies take verry much in to consideration when guessing at premiums.

The other option might be that advanced drivers don't have (significantly?) fewer accidents than regular drivers...?

Chris

That is an interesting point, if correct then the advanced driving instruction and qualification are defficient and need improoving. Are there meaningfull stats either way.

[waremark]

Syd knee said:

ScoobyChris said:

Syd knee said:

I am far from convinced that insurance companies take verry much in to consideration when guessing at premiums.

The other option might be that advanced drivers don't have (significantly?) fewer accidents than regular drivers...?

Chris

That is an interesting point, if correct then the advanced driving instruction and qualification are defficient and need improoving. Are there meaningfull stats either way.

Or it is possible that advanced drivers have significantly fewer accidents than other drivers, but that this means that they are more likely to keep No Claims Discount, and that the NCD is as much discount as is justified.

There are no meaningful stats. The IAM used to make specific claims of enormous reductions in the level of accidents for advanced drivers, but they no longer make numeric claims. In a piece in a recent Advanced Driving magazine (the IAM newsletter) about the IAM Surety insurance scheme, it was said that in beating other quotes the IAM Surety underwriters were currently taking it on trust that the advanced drivers would have a better insurance record. As mentioned, there are currently about 20,000 members in the scheme, so before too long we should obtain meaningful stats.

Hopefully the underwriting results will be good. However, even if they are not, it will not necessarily mean that advanced driver training is deficient; it could just mean that the NCD system is a fair way of giving discount for the extra skills.

[M5Tom]

Don't get me started on IAM Surety.

I am an IAM senior advisor and they won't insure me as my BMW has ONE (of 5) silencers missing........No other changes, just a standard car.

Ridiculous.

[MC Bodge]

I got a discount for bike insurance having IAM. I suspect that a biker who makes the effort to get further training is considered a lower risk than one who doesn't, rather than the quality of the training itself. Many of the people I met through IAM were quite 'mature', fairly 'conservative' in their riding and keen on wearing hi-viz, so as a group probably less of a risk than a 25yo who passes DAS, buys a Fireblade and proceeds to wang open the throttle in straight lines as much as possible without the experience to avoid and deal with hazards effectively.

[SVS]

Hiya,

My personal experience has concluded that:

• IAM Surety is the cheapest provided ...
• ... that IAM Surety is the last quote you request. Once IAM Surety knows what to beat, then they will beat it
• RoSPA does have a discount through Adrian Flux, but it hasn't been as good as IAM Surety for me.
• In the car, only IAM Surety offers a solid deal for advanced drivers.

And on two wheels:

• On the bike, IAM or RoSPA or BMF Blue Riband certification normally knocks at least 5-10% off your premium. However ...
• ... on the bike, I found Adrian Flux's deal with RideDrive to be the best. IAM Surety coming a close second best.

www.ridedrive.co.uk/adrianflux.htm

[frazil27]

I am getting tired of IAM surety, it is supposed to be great for advanced drivers but yet here I am having to do the work with them to get a competitive rate as they want to charge me far higher than I can get on comparison websites, I want to stay with them as they have a great service and I always like the people on the end of the phone but I am getting tired of having to battle with them to get a good deal! I recently changed my car to an Audi A3 TDIe so a decent car to save myself some money of fuel as I had a Hyundai Coupe before but apparently the Audi is a massive sports machine and they want to charge me an arm and a leg for it?? Wake up please!

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Surety will generally beat the best like-for-like quote you can get, but you have to get that better quote first. It would be difficult to price beat the competition without knowing what the competition is offering.

Many people struggle with this concept, and end up paying more than they could. Going back and asking them to beat a price adds an extra step to the process, but that's what you have to do.

[brisel]

Last time I had insurance through Adrian Flux they told me that they didn't give a discount for IAM after 3 years post test. Are we likely to revert to bad habits & risk of accidents after 3 years?

HPC insurance through Peter Best was much more expensive but for a higher level of cover i.e. any other club member to drive fully comp.

[carinaman]

I'm not sure it makes any difference to quotes. That influenced my decision not to renew with the IAM after they ramped up their subscription fees after their failed attempts at commercial driver training or whatever planned expansion crashed.

Perhaps I'll call IAM Surety in Belfast at renewal for a chat, but their quote was 2 & 1/2 times that I was getting from insurance comparison website screenscrapers.

[R0G]

I was with surety for a few years then switched to aviva for 1 year and now back with surety so it does pay to shop around at renewal time

It also helps to play one off against another

It takes a little bit of time but the savings can be great

PS - those with the AA - check the website before accepting their renewal quote - every year I get the lower internet price by one simple phone call !!

[GoneAnon]

M5Tom said:

Don't get me started on IAM Surety.

I am an IAM senior advisor and they won't insure me as my BMW has ONE (of 5) silencers missing........No other changes, just a standard car.

Ridiculous.

Thank you for making me feel better. I was annoyed that they wouldn't consider my P&J, despite my 30+ years accident and claim free, extraordinarily low-rated area, and little or no chance of me doing anything to endanger said P&J.

Mine is MUCH more modified than an exhaust change though! Need2Insure provided a fair quote but I'll still check others in May.

[brisel]

GoneAnon said:

Thank you for making me feel better. I was annoyed that they wouldn't consider my P&J, despite my 30+ years accident and claim free, extraordinarily low-rated area, and little or no chance of me doing anything to endanger said P&J.

Mine is MUCH more modified than an exhaust change though! Need2Insure provided a fair quote but I'll still check others in May.

Try Admiral, Sky & Adrian Flux. All have been good to me with modified cars.