... and no marks to NIG

I have been reading letters from irate brokers regarding double standards and rating from certain broker-friendly companies and have sympathy with them as I have been the victim of this many times over the past 17 years.

I have just been the victim of a case of double standards by a certain NIG in relation to a commercial renewal. The story is as follows.

A restaurant policy renewal with current insurers was offered at £1,600.

I had rung around all companies at my disposal and was quoted premiums from £2000 to £3,100. The quote for £3,100 was with NIG.

Being confident I would be able to secure the renewal at the invited premium, I rang the insured and was surprised to hear he had insured with another local broker at a premium of £900 with NIG.

Now obviously the client is not going to turn that down.

I rang my NIG office to ask for an explanation. It transpires that the broker was allowed to offer a policy at that price as he has a scheme where he can price-match renewals. I put forward the argument that the renewal was £1,600 not £900. The response I received was "obviously the broker has told us that £900 was the renewal price but there is nothing we can do about this".

Now, I have been in insurance long enough to understand NIG run schemes and could not have argued if the premium was £100-£200 difference and offered a direct debit incentive scheme to the broker. However, a difference of £2,200 is very hard to explain. Perhaps NIG would care to explain.
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Name and address withheld