I have just sold my STi 5 Type R to my brother and recommended that he speak to the Scoobynet Insurance Forum Sponsor - Greenlight Insurance - they have just told him that they are "no longer taking any new business on imports".

Should we have an insurance sponsor who does not insure imported cars?

 

No all Subaru's are imports though.

And there are plenty of other insurers inside the insurance section who will insure imports

 

yes I agree and my brother is now talking to another company.


My point is that Scoobynet is the unofficial internet hub for all subaru owners in the country and a significant number of members have "imported" cars - my post is really to raise the question of whether its appropriate for Scoobynet to have a sponsor of the Insurance Forum that does not insure Imports.

 

Id suggest speaking to Gary at Keith Michaels, seeing as he appears to be too modest to say so himself. With regards to Greenlight; Shauns only interested in the money, so whilst you may make a good point theres no chance at all that theyll be moved along.

Simon

 

Simon

thanks for the advice - will get my brother to call them!

ken

 

While I understand your point, I doubt any one of the moderators is going to turn down the opportunity for cash from sponsorship for any insurance provider who wishes to pay to advertise (sponsor if you like). The fact that they no longer insure imports is perhaps unfortunate, but as others have said, there are many others that do. Until such time as another insurance company comes along and offers to replace the existing sponsor, it's not the end of the world. Sponsorship is hard to get - you take what you can.

 

I am a little bit puzzled by the responses suggesting that cash is the main driving force for scoobynet! Surely scoobynet is a forum for subaru owners and the main drive behind it should be to get the best for the members! I can understand a business needing to be motivated by cash but a car owners club should surely be motivated by doing what benefits the members!

or am i missing something?

 

I am speaking with Greenlight about this, but only as regards to changing of their wording in their Forum Sponsorship. If they have made a business decision to cease taking new business for Imports, then that is entirely up to them. At which point they decide not to advertise on ScoobyNet, the forum sponsorship will remain.

GC8,
This has nothing to do with money....... why? because I could fill that sponsorship immediately by another company.

Just because someone does not wish to take a specific car type on board, has absolutely nothing to do with ScoobyNet. To even suggest that I halt a company from advertising just because they do not deal in Imports is crazy to say the least, as has already been pointed out...... not all Subaru's are Imports and as has also been pointed out, other companies that advertise on ScoobyNet fill that gap should that facility be required (amongst others that do not advertise on ScoobyNet).

Regards,
Shaun.

 

Shaun has put it more elequently than me so I have removed my post

 

I don't think you're missing anything - but the fact that they don't insure imports isn't relevant. Do they specifically advertise that they insure imports ?

The fact that Greenlight have chosen to no longer quote to insure imported vehicles is obviously based upon a business case that it is no longer financially viable for them. This does not, and should not provent them from advertising here.

I would expect that the number of forum users who own UK cars vastly out numbers the number of forum users who own JDM (or other non UK spec) imports, and therefore they can still offer a service to a large number of the forum users.

Ultimately Scoobynet is a business (profit making or otherwise), that provides a "free" forum service, and thus in order to support the free access that is provided, it needs to raise money. One of the ways that this is achieved is via advertisers who pay to put their names on here for all to see the services they can offer to forum users (subaru owners or otherwise).

I insure both my JDM inport and the wife's mile muncher through an insurance company I came to know about from Scoobynet. If they also stopped covering JDM imports, it wouldn't necessarily stop me from uising them for the Peugeot.

 

makes a change for me to be more elequent than.... well anyone.

 

True

 

Scratch - yes they do specifically advertise they insure imports - which is really what got me so teed off! I don't think I or anyone else would object so much if they stated that they didn't insure imports in their advertising! Especially in their privileged position as sponsors of the Insurance section.

From Shaun's post I believe that is now being adressed!

Whilst I respect Shaun's view I still think that if there is a sponsor of the Insurance section of the forum they should insure all varieties of the marque. I am sure that, as Shaun says there are many others who would gladly take the sponsor's role, it should not be to onerous a condition that the incumbent should cater for all varieties. Whilst companies can choose what cars they insure if their status is simply advertiser surely the position of sponsor of the section should demand a better level of service.

Only what I think so I will leave it to the rest of you to discuss!

All the best to all of you! Its been fun over the years!

 

Highlander,

To clarify, we still have the ability to cover imported vehicles and have every intention of doing so for existing customers or individuals that have owned the vehicle for some time.

Advert wise, I must admit our advert/sponsorship was the original that was launched when arranging the sponsorship early last year and the decision to be selective in respect of covering imported vehicles was taken within the last 10days.

Our website had been updated to this effect and prior to implementing the change, we had made a provision with another brokerage who cater for imported vehicles to soften the blow and displayed their contact details upon our website.

The reason for our recent withdrawal from offering new business quotations was due to a review which occurred in relation to viability.

Having analysed our conversion rates for imported vehicles we receive an inordinate amount of quotations for individuals who are 'thinking of buying' numerous imported vehicles which never materialise.

Processing quotations for individuals who are thinking of buying imported vehicles has resulted in our conversion of 2/600 (1/300) or 0.3% against our traditional conversion of 16.67% (1/6) for most other lines of business.

This effectively meant that we were incurring an awful lot of manual labour for very little result.

We are currently offering quotations for existing customers and would consider individuals that already own the import. Thinking longer term, behind the scenes we are part way through the automation of quotation/transaction systems here (allowing customers or prospects online access) and it is our intention to revisit the import situation once 'manual labour' has been taken out of the equation.

With your brother purchasing your vehicle (ie. already owning) and your currently being covered via Greenlight I would be happy to intervene and assist you.

Please PM me if you would be interested in my involvement.

Kind regards

Tony

 

Thanks Tony for explaining the current situation.

I hope your "electronic" transition goes smoothly.

Regards,
Shaun.

 

Tony - many thanks for your explanation and your offer! I have PM'd you regarding this!

I understand the position now and am delighted to hear that the intention is to continue with the Import market insurance once a system is in place that removes the issue you are experiencing!

hope it all goes smoothly

Ken

 

I think if I only got 2 orders, out of 600 enquiries, I'd also be questioning the product, or my pricing !


Mark.

 

Mark,

Checking the product & pricing was the first thing we did, along with follow ups as to whether the vehicle was actually purchased.

The common denominator found was that the purchase never materialised.

We do have pricing flexibility and are able to offer decent rates for drivers 22+, but having analysed this the individuals concerned are simply not buying the proposed vehicles.

Kind regards

Tony

 

TBH thats why i am very reluctent to do internet quotes.

If someone actually has the car i find they are willing to take some time to make phone calls to get the insurance sorted.

I find a lot of the internet quotes we get are people who wonder how much it would cost to insure a Subaru should they ever decide to get one.

Gotta laugh at a lot of the internet quotes we get.....18-19 year olds wanting to insure Subaru's/Skyline etc, previous driving experience 1.0 Saxo!!!!

 

I always check online quotes from the main 'well known for being competitive' insurance providers first, such as Tesco, elephant.co.uk, etc then run the same details through confused.com. I also check A-Plan in Thatcham by telephone (provided my policy this year).

If confused.com comes out with any quotes that are considerably cheaper, I go directly to that company's website and re-quote, carefully checking the policy details to confirm excess, voluntary excess, hire car, legal cover, etc.

You'll often find that the really cheap policies from little-known insurance company's have crap policies, (no hire car, legal cover, etc).

It's then down to which seems the best deal, I'll normally pay an extra £20-£30 to take out a policy with a well known company, rather than some dodgy internet company, because you know they'll pay out if needed, rather than try to squirm out of payment, quoting small print, caveats, etc.