Family Friendly Society (Co-operative Insurance Society)

Member Name: Surfbabe13

Product:	Co-operative Insurance Society
Date:	20/01/09 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Personal Sevcie

Disadvantages: Not always the cheapest

My Grandad used to collect premiums for the Coop in the 1950's so my association with them goes back a long long time.

When I came to renew my car insurance 3 years ago I needed to add my 17 year old son on !!!! Shock horror - a teenage tearaway - except he isn't, although most insurance companies treat youngsters as if they are. The coop where the cheapest by nearly £500 and at the time I had a 1.9l diesel Citreon.

The gentleman I dealt with was helpful, understanding and we had a good laugh about teenager drivers and the drain on a parents finances!

I changed my car very soon after to a 1.4l C3 and changing the insurance was a doddle. I rang and got another very helpful gentleman who made the process as painless as possible.

Move on to darling son passing his driving test and again I rang to inform the coop, expecting to have my premium hiked up straight away - but no it just needed to be noted that he was now a full driver - the sting did come when I renewed and despite the coop still being the cheapest the premium went up by £200 - obviously an accompanied teenage boy is more of a risk than an accompanied one.

We've been through the process again last June when darling daughter turned 17. Not only do I have my husband and I on the insurance but also a 19yr old male and a 17yr old female!!!! Once again the coop couldn;t have been more helpful - I feel I know them personally.

Of course I get a dividend on the premiums as I am a member of the Cooperative Society. My children will build a No-claim bonus for when they are in the position to run their own cars - which is likely to be a few years as they are at University and cant afford one.

One bug bear is that despite having done pass plus for thier driving this is only recognised if the insurance policy is in their own name.

The claims procedure was straightforward - despite me complicating it as I wanted to use my local garage not the garage the coop wanted to which was 30 miles away. However it didn;t cause a problem as the assessor came out noted the damage to the car and gave the go ahead the next day for the repairs to be carried out at the garage of my choice. the downside was that i didn;t get a courtsey car but as I have used this garage for the last 25 years that let me have one anyway !!!

I would definatley recommend the Cooperative Insurance Society for car insurance but would go directly to their own web site or telephone them direct

Summary: An easy to deal with Insruance company who have a sense of humour!