On the Road Again!

It's that time of year again. Yes. Insurance time! Once again I did the comparison sites dance and found that my current insurers wouldn't or couldn't come up with a quote for the year commencing April 1st.   I tried several different insurance comparison sites and they all came out that Lexham Insurance were unable to quote.  I have been with them for 2 years on the 31st March! Some of the quotes were around 300% of what I paid last April for this current year. The Caravan Club was in the region of £1550!!!! It was suggested I try Ripe Insurance and on Motorhome Fun there was a link as well as quite a few forum members saying how good they were. I did and it turned out to be the cheapest quote for the same amount of cover. The policy excesses are the same as my current insurance. I am sure they do this to save having to pay out for little dings!   To say I had roughly calculated my Lexham renewal to be about £600 I didn't hurry to sign up to Ripe's £641 quote...

Today had an SMS from Auto Windscreens to say that they had checked with the insurance company and the excess for repair or replacement was £80. So rather than do that they have put the job through as a cash job. It's still £60! They asked me to pay online and I did so. It's a PITA but the small chip could become something more dangerous if left. The mobile unit is due any time after 1230 today.  It's over an hour since the "window" started. At least the rain seems to have stopped for now! I will be shopping around when it comes to insurance renewal next year. Wanting the same amount for a tiny 5mm chip as for the entire windscreen is ridiculous.

When we had the habitation check dome at JC in April they found some damp but didn't mention there were a couple of stone chips on the front windscreen. There were spotted when we took it into Marquis when they checked over the moho before taking it in for the habitation and famp check over for the warranty. For the life of me I can only see one towards the bottom the screen, although there may be the second one towards the top just to the right of centre. I can't get up there to tst with a fingernail... Today I booked it in through the number on my insurance documents and was told the excess for the job is £80, that's whether repair or replace the entire screen.   Of course getting through to Lexham, the brokers, was impossible. They told me before that repair was free to me. Job booked in for tomorrow with the mobile repairer.

Fack me! The wallet took a bashing a week ago with the services and checks and today it's another wallet smasher! Today it's taxing the vehicle.  I have done it for six months so that in September we can do the year and move it to a different time of the year to avoid this year's big bill!   There's not much we can do about the insurance as it will always need renewing on April 1st! As with all insurance it seems the UK motorist is being fleeced right, left and centre.  The renewal with Lexham had gone up around £100 over last year.  Last year they were the cheapest cover I could find for me with only one year's no claims in a motorhome.   The fact that I have over 20 years as a named driver on Claire's car, plus have ten years on my own cars, the Punto and Insignia, of accident and CLAIM free motoring has no effect.  It seems that two years without a single claim,  since I first insured Suki, has little or no effect either! Still, hopefully ...