Your readers should beware of what has become of a certain big name motor insurer. In my experience they are friendly and helpful when they are taking the money but when you have a claim they will screw you. Having a totally clean record on claims and convictions and a maximum protected NCD, it was my misfortune to suffer two vehicles fires within a year. There was no third party involvement, no negligent driving and, in fact, I was not even within miles of the second incident. My insurer used every trick in the book to avoid meeting the claims, trying to suggest that I had been drinking (an absolute fabrication); failing to maintain the vehicles (also proven to be untrue) and failing to declare that one of the vehicles was dual fuel (untrue).

I was without the vehicles for a total of five months (while they continued to take the premiums on the write-offs). They moved at a snail's pace, never returning my calls, and then finally tried their hardest to reduce the payout by disputing genuine corroborated valuations. They subsequently failed to send me a renewal notice, only producing the details after I contacted them. (This could have left me uninsured had I not been aware of the dates.) The premium had been hiked by 67 per cent and the protection removed from my NCD. When queried they said that despite the protected NCD they had the right to load my premiums anyway, and that I had already been discounted 60 per cent. The old saying; "You are insured until you have a claim" seems so true. I have found cover elsewhere with an increase of only 25 per cent.