[B6WAF]

Just shopping round for car insurance at renewal. LV are supposed to be good, but after filling in pages of information and pressing "please quote me" they said "We're sorry, we can't offer you a quote because we require a tracker to be fitted to the BMW M340i XDRIVE MHEV AUTO". [Why couldn't they have said that on page 1 when I told them the vehicle?].

Anyway, I haven't had a tracker fitted myself, but I can look on the BMW App on my phone and see where the car is parked. Does this count as a tracker for insurance purposes?

(I think I know the answer but worth seeking your opinions - TIA)

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by B6WAF

Just shopping round for car insurance at renewal. LV are supposed to be good, but after filling in pages of information and pressing "please quote me" they said "We're sorry, we can't offer you a quote because we require a tracker to be fitted to the BMW M340i XDRIVE MHEV AUTO". [Why couldn't they have said that on page 1 when I told them the vehicle?].

Anyway, I haven't had a tracker fitted myself, but I can look on the BMW App on my phone and see where the car is parked. Does this count as a tracker for insurance purposes?

(I think I know the answer but worth seeking your opinions - TIA)

When I took out a policy with Quote Me Happy, they did consider the BMW Telematics to be a tracker, but I'm also shopping around for insurance, and have found that some insures do not seemingly consider the built in BMW one to be a tracker, as it was not one of the options in the drop down list on that particular comparison site. I think it just depends on each insurer, or the site you are using to compare.

[RichardM]

After years with LV I went elsewhere because of this requirement. I thought because it can be so easily switched off in the car it didn't count but it's really not clear on their website

[Funboy78]

Personally, I can’t see how this can be classed as a tracker. I’m surprised this has been accepted in the past, yes I do understand the concept.

Regardless, knowing insurance companies will try and get out of paying out for anything, I wouldn’t trust listing this as a tracker unless an official tracker. Just me anyway…..

Assuming you’ve gone through Comparethemarket?
At the moment, I’m personally finding Aviva the cheapest, but appreciate we’re all different and it’s based on all sorts.

[B6WAF]

Originally Posted by Funboy78

Personally, I can’t see how this can be classed as a tracker. I’m surprised this has been accepted in the past, yes I do understand the concept.
...
At the moment, I’m personally finding Aviva the cheapest, but appreciate we’re all different and it’s based on all sorts.

Yep, I agree about the tracker, it's not a proper tracker. I also agree that Aviva are competitive, I've been with them for 10 years. After a soul-destroying day searching for insurance I have tweaked my cover with Aviva and renewed for £745. Last year was £614. Could have got cheaper via Quidco and RAC (still insured by Aviva) but decided to pay a bit more and continue dealing direct.

I'm 65 yrs old and my last claim was in 1994 when my 3 year old son opened the passenger door in a gale force wind onto a lamppost. He's now 34 and driving his own M2!!

Thank goodness that's over for another year!

[Rhino at Work]

Always thought they had to be Thatcham approved to count with insurers.

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by B6WAF

Yep, I agree about the tracker, it's not a proper tracker. I also agree that Aviva are competitive, I've been with them for 10 years. After a soul-destroying day searching for insurance I have tweaked my cover with Aviva and renewed for £745. Last year was £614. Could have got cheaper via Quidco and RAC (still insured by Aviva) but decided to pay a bit more and continue dealing direct.

I'm 65 yrs old and my last claim was in 1994 when my 3 year old son opened the passenger door in a gale force wind onto a lamppost. He's now 34 and driving his own M2!!

Thank goodness that's over for another year!

Glad you got your insurance sorted!

After my little "incident" last October (2023), my premium jumped up to just under £1200 with QMH, and all the other quotes were over 2K!, some would not even quote me.

This year however, QMH want £1050 for the same policy, but I can get better cover, inc breakdown, for £145 less from Admiral (Platinum) Through Go Compare.

I guess I'll be jumping ship.

[Funboy78]

Originally Posted by B6WAF

Yep, I agree about the tracker, it's not a proper tracker. I also agree that Aviva are competitive, I've been with them for 10 years. After a soul-destroying day searching for insurance I have tweaked my cover with Aviva and renewed for £745. Last year was £614. Could have got cheaper via Quidco and RAC (still insured by Aviva) but decided to pay a bit more and continue dealing direct.

I'm 65 yrs old and my last claim was in 1994 when my 3 year old son opened the passenger door in a gale force wind onto a lamppost. He's now 34 and driving his own M2!!

Thank goodness that's over for another year!

Glad all sorted!
Very very strange prices!? For example:

I think after 12 years (being the max) anything thereafter doesn’t make a difference. I’m on 21 years now I think, but whether I state 12yrs or 21yrs it makes no difference. Usually the drop down option just states over 10yrs on comparison sites.

At the start of the year I changed from a new Merc A35h to a 73’ RS3. Aviva wanted an extra £1,100 on top of my £530 to change. I was like WTF
So……… I decided I’d cancel my insurance, take out a new one (after all, losing a few months at 21yrs makes no difference to me), I’d just start the year again. I was refunded £400 odd, then they charged me £640 for the RS3, so miles cheaper than changing mid term!

I’m mid forties. My current 73’ RS3 is £640 a year protected ncd. The 24’ M3 I’ve just bought, check this, is £301 a year - still through Aviva!? .

So they’re refunding me a mid term change price difference of nearly a couple of hundred, then saying my new yearly premium £301! I triple checked everything, so I’m happy with that result!

[srbs73]

My mate had his X5 stolen last year. When he looked at the app it showed it parked a few hundred yards away. When he got there, he found the telematics box in a hedge.

[alFR]

LV definitely don't count the built-in locator as a tracker: if you look at the fine print on the policy any tracker has to give constant live updates on location, which the built-in locator doesn't do.

[MisterG]

I wouldn’t count bmw telematics as a tracker. If a car gets stolen, the first thing they do is drive round the corner and rip the thing out.

TBH I’d only consider a tracker if it’s mandated by the ins company. Tracker subscriptions costs often exceed the savings

[HeebieJeebies]

Originally Posted by Funboy78

I’m mid forties. My current 73’ RS3 is £640 a year protected ncd. The 24’ M3 I’ve just bought, check this, is £301 a year - still through Aviva!? .

So they’re refunding me a mid term change price difference of nearly a couple of hundred, then saying my new yearly premium £301! I triple checked everything, so I’m happy with that result!

That's a brilliant result, my G22 was insured through Aviva, they wouldn't insure my G81 for some reason, eventually went with Admiral, £840! I'm over 60 with max NCD, think I'll look at Aviva again next year.

[Funboy78]

Originally Posted by HeebieJeebies

That's a brilliant result, my G22 was insured through Aviva, they wouldn't insure my G81 for some reason, eventually went with Admiral, £840! I'm over 60 with max NCD, think I'll look at Aviva again next year.

I’m still surprised I must say.
I always use comparethemarket as it’s much cheaper than direct, usually flipping between Admiral and Aviva. Currently, Aviva seem really competitive. You should be paying less than me!

[HeebieJeebies]

I know!!

I can barely get around these days I'm so old

[jon0]

It’s not a tracker.

[Trev320]

As many are saying, it is deffo not a tracker. When my 320 sport was stolen off my drive on Sept 3rd once they got a mile down the road they stopped again and stole 2 more vehs (not BMWs) My BMW locator said my car was a mile down the road (it still does!!) but in actual fact they just went into the dashboard menu and turned it off, before driving off in the 3 cars and stealing another one 5 miles further on - no vehs have been found to date.
I am running a 73 plate 1 series M sport at the moment and as far as I am aware the menu does not offer the turn off option for the locator

[IfSh3r]

Originally Posted by HeebieJeebies

That's a brilliant result, my G22 was insured through Aviva, they wouldn't insure my G81 for some reason, eventually went with Admiral, £840! I'm over 60 with max NCD, think I'll look at Aviva again next year.

Insurance is always challenging, when I changed to my M340i from an A7 55TFSi (3L petrol), AA refused to quote on their online app, instead advising I call them. When I rang, they advised that they cannot issue a quote as the value of M340i is too high, they then offered to run through their system for another quote to which I agreed, they quoted over £4K bearing in mind the A7 was under £800!

Naturally, I refused and asked for a refund to which they advised they would charge a £32 cancellation fee, when I challenged that citing that it was actually they who cannot insure my new car, they hid behind their policy that as they had issued a revised quote, it was actually my refusal and not theirs!

When I argued that in that case they can even charge up to £50K and still hide behind this policy, they tried to fob me off and suggested I take it up with the Financial Ombudsman!

I readily agreed to that, advising I don't care how long it takes, it will not cost me much but some time whereas it will be a significant resource for them, funnily enough the agent put me on hold, came back after 30secs and advised on this occasion they will waive the cancellation charge!

FYI, got a revised price from eSure for £1200.