Author: Richard

Insurance

| Richard

I hadn’t realised that Mazda offer seven days insurance cover for you – their “driveaway” scheme – when you buy a Mazda from one of their dealers:

“What’s more, most new and used private car purchasers benefit from seven days free insurance. So you can drive away from our dealerships safe in the knowledge that you’re covered. Conditions for this free cover may apply.

“All you need to do is call us on 0800 048 0962 for a no-obligation quotation.”

Now, it also turns out that Mazda’s policy offers what is called “RTI” cover which is:

“Mazda Return to Invoice (RTI)

“Mazda Return to Invoice will either pay you the difference between your Motor Insurance settlement figure and the outstanding Early Settlement Balance due to your Finance Company, or pay you the difference between the Net Invoice Price of your Insured Vehicle at the Start Date and your Motor Insurance Company’s settlement figure. Your claim will be settled based on whichever is the greater amount.”

And what’s more they were very competitive on their premium, coming in at the lower end of the quotes I’d received from price comparison websites and then – after haggling – knocking off 10% so as to come in second lowest. I will be going with Mazda for the insurance because of the RTI cover benefit.

N-N-N-N-Nineteenth

| Richard

I had the delivery date confirmed to me today: the car is available for collection on Wednesday, 17th March but because that would mean me driving up to Grimsby and back the same midweek day to collect it, I’ve postponed collection until the 19th. D-8 days and counting!

In the meantime, however, I’d better get used to being pulled by the police with threats to impound the ST200 as for some reason it isn’t showing up in the MID as being insured even though it’s currently on the dealer’s insurance policy.

The Waiting Game

| Richard

It’s all getting a tad frustrating: the ST200 is bravely soldiering on having now easily passed the 130,000 mile barrier but it’s now due a service and one of the front tyres is not too far off the wear bars.

Obviously anything I spend now won’t give me any real benefit as – hopefully – I’ll be collecting the R3 on 15 March.

Let’s hope so, eh? My sister’s new Seat was promised to her by her dealer in March a few years back and she didn’t actually get delivery until the end of June!

So in the meantime, I’ll just have to keep checking the oil and tyres and see if I can nurse it through the last couple of weeks. The cash is sitting there in my bank account waiting to be spent. I’m willing but it’s on a slow boat from China Japan!

Sky and Domestic & General Services Ltd

| Richard

I’m getting more than a little bit pissed off with unsolicited, nuisance telephone calls on a daily basis from a company called Domestic & General Services Limited who claim to call on behalf of Sky TV. Their number for those of you doing a Google search is 0800 1218143.

Contrary to what you may read elsewhere on the Internet, these jokers are indeed calling with Sky TV’s collusion and permission but not mine: they’re trying to sell you a £100 a year warranty for your TV and Sky box. See http://www.skyprotect.com for proof:

“Sky Protect HD is the only extended warranty scheme for Sky HD boxes that is approved and operated under the Sky brand name. Sky Protect HD is provided by Domestic & General Services Ltd.

Independent companies can legitimately offer extended warranties on digital satellite equipment, but these companies and their products are not connected to Sky or in any way endorsed by Sky. It is illegal for companies other than Domestic & General Services Ltd to state or imply that they are approved by Sky to sell extended warranty products.”

What happens is that Sky give your details to Domestic & General who then call you every single day trying to sell you this warranty, whether or not you are registered with the TPS not to receive such calls and whether or not Sky have obtained your permission to give/sell your details to them.

I rang Sky to complain – at 5p a minute too – and when I was finally put through to a Customer Complaints droid, she started looking up my details and then cut me off. And despite having my details to had, she’s not tried telephoning me back.

Appalling lack of customer service.

DVLA Registrations Fail

| Richard

I’m looking to buy a plonker plate through the DVLA Registrations website. This requires you to set up an account and log in. So this morning I registered on the site which then immediately fell over:

“service unavailable
sorry…

This service is temporarily unavailable. Your last action cannot be completed and details have not been recorded.

If you have not received confirmation of a successful transaction then your application has been cancelled.

Please click the button below to return to the DVLA Personalised Registrations home page.”

And that’s how it remains at present: you can search and view the public site but try and log in…

Credit? What Credit?

| Richard

Fed up as I am with Barclays’ Currency Call Account – you give them your US Dollars, they may or may not charge you a fee for paying them into a US Dollar account, they give you no interest, no paying-in books, no cheques or cards and then they charge you a fee for taking any US Dollars out – I decided that Citibank’s US Dollar current account might be the way to go.

So I went online, filled out the application details, sent them proof of address, etc. and then waited. Yesterday, I received a letter saying that due to my credit score from Experian, Citibank wouldn’t let me open the account.

It’s a current account with no credit card and no overdraft facility. No credit or borrowing required. So why should a credit score affect this? What a wunch of bankers!