Footman James so-called 'Specialist' Insurance
Discussion
I’ve just discovered something today about insuring through Footman James that you might like to know.
I was trying to insure my Defender 90 through Footman James and happened to mention off-roading. The girl on the phone immediately refused to cover me and said that they would not cover off-roading apart from green laning, and would not offer me cover at all if they knew I might even go off-roading!!!. I know a few fellow club members who are insured through FJ and do play days and probably don't know that they are not insured even for third party claims – unless the site covers them or they are somehow insured through a members' club. This is all despite their ‘appealing’ adverts in all the Land Rover magazines!
This is obviously worth considereing when renewing insurance.
I was trying to insure my Defender 90 through Footman James and happened to mention off-roading. The girl on the phone immediately refused to cover me and said that they would not cover off-roading apart from green laning, and would not offer me cover at all if they knew I might even go off-roading!!!. I know a few fellow club members who are insured through FJ and do play days and probably don't know that they are not insured even for third party claims – unless the site covers them or they are somehow insured through a members' club. This is all despite their ‘appealing’ adverts in all the Land Rover magazines!
This is obviously worth considereing when renewing insurance.
I have a renewal figure of £230 from Adrian Flux which incluses a limited number of 'tame' mods eg sump guard, snorkle etc) and off-roading but I just thought I'd phone around for some better quotes. I also live in Northamptonshire (in a town!) and it's parked on the driveway - so it's not too bad a quote!
Edited by cpas on Friday 27th March 13:49
Liszt said:
Drop an email to the magazines.
You may find that pay and play are considered motorsport and so are excluded. A lot of people go to thrash their motors and damage is inevitable in these instances. be nice to say "yeah I rolled it attempting a hill climb but the insurance will pay"
I did ask if I would be covered 3rd party only but they weren't interested - the only off-roading they would allow is green laning (so no trialling, show events etc). But they wouldn't even quote once I'd said I might off road!!You may find that pay and play are considered motorsport and so are excluded. A lot of people go to thrash their motors and damage is inevitable in these instances. be nice to say "yeah I rolled it attempting a hill climb but the insurance will pay"
I have no idea what is going on in the world of FJ. I have been an avid supporter and promoter of their services for the last seven years as every year they come up trumps for me beating the previous years quotes, and that of the competition. This year however, it is a different story.
I got my renewal through for my P38 4.0 on Wednesday and to say I was shocked was an understatement.
£480
Was £320 last year, so why? I havent hit anything, nor claimed, or picked up points, my 'risk' is better or so I thought. I rang them up hoping it was a typo as it also said that I only had one years NCB when in fact I have the maximum. Yes the NCB was a mistake but the price was not. I was told to go and find another quote and come back and they would beat it, but I suggested saving me the effort and just beat it while I was on the phone. They said they would need to refer it to the brokers as an, "unrealistic quote", at which point I reminded them that they are brokers themselves - so it looks like I was going though two set of brokers
I googled and found moneysupermarket.com which was cheaper than mentally-confused.com (presumably as they re trying to cover the cost all their awful adverts). The best price? £275 which included all the cover extras as previous. This was with Swift if anyone has any experience of them, I would be grateful. So now I am wondering if I should bother going back to them to get a fiver off or whatever, or if I should give the business to Swift? Sadly the whole quote process just confirms my initial suspicions of a massive racketeering exercises. So FJ gets a thumbdown for the first time in 7 years
I got my renewal through for my P38 4.0 on Wednesday and to say I was shocked was an understatement.
£480

Was £320 last year, so why? I havent hit anything, nor claimed, or picked up points, my 'risk' is better or so I thought. I rang them up hoping it was a typo as it also said that I only had one years NCB when in fact I have the maximum. Yes the NCB was a mistake but the price was not. I was told to go and find another quote and come back and they would beat it, but I suggested saving me the effort and just beat it while I was on the phone. They said they would need to refer it to the brokers as an, "unrealistic quote", at which point I reminded them that they are brokers themselves - so it looks like I was going though two set of brokers

I googled and found moneysupermarket.com which was cheaper than mentally-confused.com (presumably as they re trying to cover the cost all their awful adverts). The best price? £275 which included all the cover extras as previous. This was with Swift if anyone has any experience of them, I would be grateful. So now I am wondering if I should bother going back to them to get a fiver off or whatever, or if I should give the business to Swift? Sadly the whole quote process just confirms my initial suspicions of a massive racketeering exercises. So FJ gets a thumbdown for the first time in 7 years

I've been alternating between Admiral and Elephant for a few years now for my main car with generally good quotes. I have supported FJ for the last 20 years with Triumph Heralds and Spitfires and even Series 3 Landies and found them very good, but with the Defender is's a different story!
Edited by cpas on Thursday 2nd April 14:01
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