Hello all,

I'm due for renewal and am shopping around. My current policy is an interesting setup; the broker is A-Plan, the actual insurance policy is with Equity Red Star. But I also have something called Angel Assistance, which basically means for a bit extra (£25), I get the following:

* Upto £100,000 of legal expenses

* Like-for-like hire car (accident only)

* Repairs with no excess (if it wasn't my fault)

* Choice of garages to get the car repaired in

If I want a hire-car for theft/write-off, it's an extra £30, with ANOTHER company.

Now, the legal expenses and hire car are nothing special, I guess if I had an accident that wasn't my fault, I might get the excess back if it was proved to be someone else's fault?

The bit I do like is the choice of garages to get the car fixed up at. Obviously I'd pick my local Skoda dealer, the insurance company might otherwise pick somewhere else.

I remember when my MX-5 had it's roof damaged, I was quite surprised that the repair wasn't carried out by Mazda, hence the roof wasn't put on right the first time... what else did they get wrong that I never knew about?!

I'd certainly be happier getting Skoda doing any repairs.

However, here's what I don't like; I'm potentially dealing with lots of companies:

* The broker (who would act as middleman with Equity Red Star)

* Angel Assistance

* The company providing the hire car if mine is stolen or written off

What do you all think? Are the benefits worth the hassle of dealing with the complexity of this setup?!?

Cheers,

Richard.

i have just claimed on there policy well worth the money in my opinion

I switched to Direct Line in the end. I think highly of A-Plan, but what did it for me was the fact I could be dealing with upto 4 different companies, which resulted in confusing paperwork.

The reason I joined them in the first place was they wanted a much lower excess than Direct Line for my old MX-5, because of a modification. Now the MX-5 has gone, the justification for putting up with all that mixed paperwork has gone