Came across this on the FreebieUK website - anyone got any experience of this?

https://www.insurewithskoda.co.uk/Products/Ensurance/

Ensurance is ŠKODA’s accident and repair cover, which works alongside your main motor insurance policy to help you if your ŠKODA is damaged in an accident or stolen.

They will also arrange for your vehicle to be recovered and taken to a ŠKODA Insurance approved repairer to be repaired by ŠKODA trained technicians who will only use ŠKODA parts and paints. And where possible, we make sure the repairer provides you with a courtesy car to get you back on the road.

Well I picked up my car yesterday, following a visit to finalise all paperwork last Thursday.

Skoda insurance did a massive sell on the benefits of using only Skoda approved parts & using an approved Skoda repair centre..

Problem was, they demand stupid premiums - they will negotiate massively but still not competitive!

My (mis-informed) opinion of the insurance market, is that you can demand repair by a Skoda main dealer in any event. Insurance companies are notorious in trying to push you to their preferred repairers (because they're dirt cheap) - but you can tell them to feck off & demand a main dealer repair whatever they say - so, in my view, not worth paying a premium.

Hopefully, one of the site sponsors, who actually know what they're talking about, will tell us the truth - PLEASE - ?????

Edit - P.S: Forgot to mention, that the margins on accident repair are so high that delivery/collection/courtesy car are a given, whoever you go to.

Edited 23 April, 201313 yr by Skoda Al Coda

From what I can make out from this it's not a policy you pay anything for at all Carl, this is basically a shell for want of a better word, basically Skoda become almost an agent (or named contact) to your existing insurance policy. So if you do have an accident you phone them directly and they then deal with your insurance and make sure it's only executed by approved Skoda repair centres using only Skoda original parts etc.

It seems a decent idea in principle a little like the way Autoglass et al took insurers out of the mix when it came to windscreen repairs and just deal with the, themselves so you don't have to.

All of that said, personally I don't see much point and as Carl points out you can always tell your own insurers yourself that you only want your vehicle going to Skoda authorised repair centres IF you want to and IF you ever have any need to.

So, its now free, but you have to register and it only lasts three years... My "if it looks too good to be true" antennae are twitching like mad - where is the financial benefit to Skoda Insurance (or strictly Volkswagen Insurance Service (Great Britain) Limited and Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited.)?

Edited 23 April, 201313 yr by frozboz

... where is the financial benefit to Skoda Insurance ... ?

Well I'm guessing, they'll get plenty of full insurance sales off the back of it, plus those that like the 'peace of mind' of the sevice after three years may then pay for the it in itself ... Oh and it's an 0845 number too, lol.

I guess the benefit to them would be the extra work at Skoda authorised dealers which Skoda possibly takes a cut of???

So really they act as a middle man when a claim needs to be made and benefit from having to authorize those that make the repairs?

I shall check the small print now!

From what I can make out from this it's not a policy you pay anything for at all Carl, this is basically a shell for want of a better word, basically Skoda become almost an agent (or named contact) to your existing insurance policy. So if you do have an accident you phone them directly and they then deal with your insurance and make sure it's only executed by approved Skoda repair centres using only Skoda original parts etc.

It seems a decent idea in principle a little like the way Autoglass et al took insurers out of the mix when it came to windscreen repairs and just deal with the, themselves so you don't have to.

All of that said, personally I don't see much point and as Carl points out you can always tell your own insurers yourself that you only want your vehicle going to Skoda authorised repair centres IF you want to and IF you ever have any need to.

Bloody hell, thanks bud.

I'd got the blinkers on after suffering a hard sell - this is basically offering me all the benefits they were trying to sell me, without actually having to sacrifice pound notes to the god of Shkoda Insurance.

I still think you get can all the same benefits with a bit of a fight, but this takes the stress out - I may well sign up

Edited 23 April, 201313 yr by Skoda Al Coda

I guess the benefit to them would be the extra work at Skoda authorised dealers which Skoda possibly takes a cut of???

So really they act as a middle man when a claim needs to be made and benefit from having to authorize those that make the repairs?

I shall check the small print now!

... And that too.

Bloody hell, thanks bud.

I'd got the blinkers on after suffering a hard sell - this is basically offering me all the benefits they were trying to sell me, without actually having to sacrifice pound notes to the god of Shkoda Insurance.

I still think you get can all the same benefits with a bit of a fight, but this takes the stress out - I may well sign up

No probs, I just read all the FAQs myself actually & may well be tempted also, it looks pretty good on further reading tbh.

Just for your info, Skoda gave me the best quote!!!!

And it includes ensurance too.

A TapaTalk enabled phone was used to write this...

I took out Ensurance for my Yeti this year for £49.99, and didn't select the legal cover etc on my normal policy which would otherwise have cost £34.99, and removed the courtesy car provision which normally cost £22.

So Skoda Ensurance will take over the handling of any claim, give me a courtesy car and have the car repaired using Skoda parts, with a longer guarantee on repairs, and I saved £7 too.

I can't see that you can go wrong with it, but it does depend on the cost of the add-ons at your normal insurer.

Incidentally, Skoda Insurance quoted me £163 more than my existing insurer (More Than) at renewal in Feb, so I've stayed put again this year.

I've just taken this out on my new Yeti. Only took a minute or two online.

One of my gripes is the "we provide you with a courtesy car" bo###s. A good friend of mine runs a car body shop and is the consummate professional. He's good, very good and I wouldn't take my car anywhere else. But he tells me that to be on the list of approved repairers he has to agree to supply a courtesy car to customers at his own expense. I just wish insurance companies would stop fibbing.

Just signed up. Free and offers an alternative to the snake pit of claims farmers and the cut price bodging sheds.

If I'm unlucky and need a repair I'd like it to be carried out by someone who wants to retain my business for service and future replacement vehicles not just to extract their kick backs from paint and parts suppliers and the £90 per day Corsa credit hire companies and to pitch my details to whiplash scammers.

Prospect Letchworth are legitimate and I would trust them to do a high standard of work.

Surely you left out something...

Am I missing something?

If your car is damaged it's up to you where it gets fixed.

You don't have to use Bob's splash and dash that do insurance work cheap so the repair is based on budget rather than quality.

I always send my cars where I want. Main dealer where I feel it's appropriate.

When I insured my Yeti I did the usual compare the muskwash et all then called skoda they were only a little more than the lowest quote (from a company I'd heard of!) so I went with Skoda. I've been put off buying the very cheap quotes try google earthing some of the addresses you'd be horified what comes up, the cheapest gap insurance I was offered was a grubby blue door on the edge of a rundown estate in Bristol. Doubt they would have paid out anything.

When I insured my Yeti I did the usual compare the muskwash et all then called skoda they were only a little more than the lowest quote (from a company I'd heard of!) so I went with Skoda. I've been put off buying the very cheap quotes try google earthing some of the addresses you'd be horified what comes up, the cheapest gap insurance I was offered was a grubby blue door on the edge of a rundown estate in Bristol. Doubt they would have paid out anything.

Unfortunately my experience with the Skoda Insurance quotation I wasgiven was not at all competitive - it was almost double that of LV who I have been with claim free (touch wood) for the past 10 years or so.

Cotswoldlad is quite correct inasmuch as you'll only know if you've backed the right horse when you come to make a claim.

I was thinking about going for this Skoda Ensurance.

Anyone else have any view on it?

Seems a good deal to me, or am I missing something?

Having read this post and seeing it was free, I signed up for it, expecting to be told it was only for new cars or some such clause. But it went through and I now have three years free Ensurance.

I have kept my existing policy the same, as I have 10+months to run on it, so I like to think I am double covered!

Having read this post and seeing it was free, I signed up for it, expecting to be told it was only for new cars or some such clause. But it went through and I now have three years free Ensurance.

I have kept my existing policy the same, as I have 10+months to run on it, so I like to think I am double covered!

Be careful. If you need to claim the 2 insurers will squabble over who pays. I really think this is a bad idea.

You don't claim from Ensurance. Your insurer meets your claim ensurance is there to act as your agent.

Ensurance is not double cover and does not pay out for anything. It is Skoda's own in house claims management service. It could help defeat the type of corrupt sale of details/sale of claim which has become a seious pollutant of motor insurance/claims and repairs.

They will seek to prevent your claim being sold to the kinds of crooks who regard insurance as an opportunity to exploit.

In the worst cases repairs are farmed out to unsrupulous "repairers" who pay a fee to the insurer to get the business and then use manouvres like requiring bribes from paint and parts suppliers and accepting commisions from credit hire companies who grossly overcharge for the provision of courtesy cars and in return expect the repair to be deliberately prolonged to inflate their fees.

You don't claim from Ensurance. Your insurer meets your claim ensurance is there to act as your agent.

Ensurance is not double cover and does not pay out for anything. It is Skoda's own in house claims management service. It could help defeat the type of corrupt sale of details/sale of claim which has become a seious pollutant of motor insurance/claims and repairs.

They will seek to prevent your claim being sold to the kinds of crooks who regard insurance as an opportunity to exploit.

In the worst cases repairs are farmed out to unsrupulous "repairers" who pay a fee to the insurer to get the business and then use manouvres like requiring bribes from paint and parts suppliers and accepting commisions from credit hire companies who grossly overcharge for the provision of courtesy cars and in return expect the repair to be deliberately prolonged to inflate their fees.

Well I'm impressed at this list of possible ducks & dives and your knowledge of them all, though a triffle concerned that you know so much. Do you work in insurance? :think:

There has been a campaign about these problems-by among others Jack Straw- My background is in law for the last 38 years.

Well I'm impressed at this list of possible ducks & dives and your knowledge of them all, though a triffle concerned that you know so much. Do you work in insurance? :think:

TBH this has been done to death on Watchdog and other undercover programs, so I'm more surprised you haven't heard about it

As far as Ensurance goes, you don't need to sign up to anything to get these benefits. Most main dealers or reputable bodyshops offer the same services for free to anyone who walks in off the street and offers work to them. However it it gives peace of mind for some then thats OK