That’s excessive! Now Land Rover drivers hit with an extra excess

JAGUAR Land Rover is rather tetchy with insurance companies over the way they are ratcheting up premiums for drivers of its deluxe cars – and in some cases even refusing to cover them.

The company’s anger is understandable given the potential threat to sales. It also explains why the company has launched its own insurance cover to keep drivers sweet.

Nigel Barker, a director of workplace sourcing company Dennons UK, is experiencing the hardball approach which many insurers are adopting to owners of some JLR cars.

He is on his fourth Land Rover – a threeyear-old Discovery Sport – in 12 years and recently instructed brokers to come up with competitive renewal quotes for it and a Mini

Electric. Nigel – and his wife Christy – use both cars in their family business.

Price wise, Aviva came out on top, but there was a condition in its cover that Nigel had never seen before – an additional theft excess (on top of the £250 policy excess), applying specifically to any model of Land Rover or Range Rover with a market value of £25,000 or more.

It states: ‘In the event of any loss of, or damage to, your vehicle (including its accessories and spare parts) caused by theft, an additional excess will apply to your claim, calculated as five per cent of the market value of your vehicle at the time of loss.’ For Nigel, that would result in an additional excess of £1,750.

This extra excess has been included even though Nigel’s car has benefited from a security upgrade, reducing its vulnerability to theft.

‘I love Land Rover,’ says Nigel, who lives in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. ‘But this insurance tirade against the brand is testing my love affair to the limit.’

The biggest irony of all is that JLR’s insurance company was unable to provide Nigel with a quote for his Land Rover.