Case Study: keeping insurance simple

Pete Lishman, Managing Director of Lloyd & Whyte Ltd, tells us his story;

“About six months ago I went on a mission to simplify my life admin. It started with a great call I’d had with my mobile phone provider who managed to condense all of the contracts I had with them (four as it happens) into one direct debit.

I thought – brilliant! I wonder if I could do this with my insurance as well. I worked out I had six personal insurance policies from five different insurers;

1. Home insurance
2. My car insurance
3. My wife’s car insurance
4. My break down cover
5. My wife’s break down cover
6. An annual travel insurance policy

This meant six different renewal dates, six direct debits, six sets of documents. Every year when I had my renewal documents through, I’d spent a few hours playing the game trying to work out if  I could get a better policy elsewhere. I’d spend that time on each policy. That’s not how I want to spend my Saturday mornings and I bet nobody else does.

So I gave all my documents to Miles, a member of my team at Lloyd & Whyte, and challenged him to make it easier for me to manage.

Miles soon came back to me with a proposal that meant I synchronised my renewal dates, maintained great levels of cover and consolidated all direct debits into one with one set of documents.

I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to save money or not. I know from experience sometimes it is possible and sometimes it’s not. It actually only ended up costing me around £60 more a year than I had been paying. For me this was a no-brainer. I’d happily spend £60 a year more to take all the hassle away from shopping around every time a policy comes up for renewal. That’s time I can spend doing something I actually want to do like kayaking with the kids.

I did have to inform my insurers that I wanted to lapse or cancel a policy because they couldn’t talk to Miles about my policies. But I only had to do that once in order to align my renewal dates.

Insurance is my day job so in theory I should be more invested in getting my own insurance right than most other people; I see the consequences of inadequate insurance more often than other people do. Handing over my policies for Miles to organise means I know I’m getting good cover, but I don’t have the hassle of shopping around for it.”