Morris Minor Owners Club

LISTEN UP EVERYONE

Following the presentations at the Branch Liaison, I think it fair to say that all were well received. Later in the day, there was an unofficial straw pole that gave unanimous guidance from the members to the committee as to which company we should switch to. During the summer we held discussions with Peter James Insurance about providing a club branded scheme with unique benefits. We signed the formal agreement and gave notice to Footman James that we would cease to promote them on 1st November =- the Sep/Oct Minor Matters still carries their advert, so it was only fair.

The Nov/Dec MM has a full feature introducing the new Morris Minor Owners Club Insurance, all written, set and ready to go to press. We had an official launch scheduled to take place at the NEC Classic Motor Show.

This morning, without any warning, FJ sent the email and presumably posted some letters. It is they who have decided to announce the end of the scheme before the scheduled date. If they had waited until the agreed date, then we would have been sending our own communications.

All of today has been spent accelerating the website developments to allow the scheme to go live tomorrow, and preparing an email that is being sent to all members (for whom we have email addresses!) tomorrow morning.

The Club has acted upon concerns that were expressed by members about the old scheme and produced something that we believe will be much better.

If you are currently insured with FJ then your policy will continue unchanged until the renewal date. The Club recommends most strongly that you do not renew with FJ, but switch to the new MMOC Insurance Scheme. As soon as possible, you will be able tio access the scheme from the main WWW website and the address that will be published in MM, but in the meantime, you can visit https://insurance.mmoc.org.uk for more details of the scheme. There is a link to allow you to get a quotation in under 30 seconds (depending on how fast you answer the questions).

It has taken a lot of effort to get the scheme live three weeks ahead of schedule, and I would like to thank the team at Peter James for their professionalism and efforts - I believe that it demonstrates their commitment to the MMOC, and that we can look forward to a long relationship with a scheme that will really be of benefit to members.

There will be more posts announcing the scheme, but having spent around 14 hours clearing up a mess that was not of our making, I'm going to switch off the PC and get some sleep.

Constructive suggestions will be addressed as soon as possible.

Hopefully the above will explain that we do not treat members like mushrooms or have any hidden motives. Quite the reverse, we are all unpaid volunteers who spend hours of our time doing our very best for the club, and to read some of the comments is pretty damn hurtful. We cannot be responsible for FJ deciding to cut their losses by announcing the end of the scheme before it happened. All we have done is act on the wishes of the members.

Simon I am sorry to hear that you have had such a fraught and challenging day and that some members have made unkind comments. I am grateful for all of your efforts and that of all of the club volunteers. I will certainly get a quote at renewal time which for me is November (how convenient!). Get some rest now!

Stephen

Stephen thank you, I hope that you will find the quote helpful - so far, our pilot policies have all come out cheaper with increased benefits. Fingers crossed that it will be the same for everyone.

I didn’t realise this was upon the wishes of the membership, I missed that one. I personally have been happy with my policy with FJ. However the new agreement will give another option to consider. Its understandable that FJ would be disappointed by this recent decision.

Yes, but don't forget the past issues about FJ and others refusing to insure cars parked overnight on the road, those where the Minor is the only car in ownership, too many mods etc. I did write to Simon about all this previously and it seems the club's negotiations with insurers has borne fruit. Let us hope the new arrangements are more flexible and sympathetic. If they are, I shall renew with Peter James.

Maybe I should clarify with them, my situation. I sometimes park on the concrete area just outside my garage overnight, at the rear of my property. I wonder if they might consider that as ‘on the road’

You are starting to list some of the problems that were reported with the old scheme. When developing the new Morris Minor Owners Club Insurance product we specifically discussed these points. Whilst we cannot guarantee the insurer's attitude to all risks, we can say that sample quotations we obtained included the scenarios above. If your car is your daily driver, then you can even build a No Claims Bonus.

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 09, 2025 11:49 am Yes, but don't forget the past issues about FJ and others refusing to insure cars parked overnight on the road, those where the Minor is the only car in ownership, too many mods etc

I know of some complaints against Peter James where they told people they only insure cars that are garaged, hopefully this won't be a problem as we'd have to dismantle the cars to fit them in to our overcrowded garage.

I also wonder if the new scheme applies to MMOC family members or just the main member.

les wrote: ↑Thu Oct 09, 2025 12:43 pm Maybe I should clarify with them, my situation. I sometimes park on the concrete area just outside my garage overnight, at the rear of my property. I wonder if they might consider that as ‘on the road’

If it's your land you could say it's part of your driveway.

On the website of the new company, there is no option to say that you own an AUSTIN minor.

Just saying, that's all.

I got a quote from them for 116 pounds which I think is fantastic value footman james.was 180 pound so ill be going with Peter james. This year

mike1864 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 08, 2025 10:47 am Over the years I've used two other companies:
Carol Nash, who suddenly dropped out of the classic market a couple of years ago (but paid me £50 for handling the comms so badly!)
And Adrian Flux, who charge me £160 for a pair of Minors, agreed value, and European use.
I can't comment on their claims process, as I've never had to use it. [touches wood ]

I've just asked Peter James for a quote, and I'm disappointed that they want a higher premium for one Minor than I'm currently paying for two. PJ offer the same agreed value, but minus business use, plus breakdown.
So it looks like I'll be sticking with Adrian Flux.

Thanks for the insight Mike.

Just to pick up on a couple of points from the last few posts:

Standard policies may well exclude un-garaged parking, but the MMOC Insurance aims to be available to most members, and will accept on-road parking for most areas.

When comparing premiums, it is important to compare the cover as well. We know that we might not be cheapest for very basic policies, but those typically will not include things like salvage retention, legal expenses and breakdown cover. If comparing the full cover, then the MMOC insurance should be competitive.

Anyone wanting to insure an Austin badged Minor can still use Morris.

Bear in mind that we were still testing systems with a planned launch date of 7th November, and it was the unexpected email from FJ that forced us to bring everything forward by three weeks and launch in just one day. This resulted in a minor glitch in the quote system which was fixed as sson as it was noticed. We recommend rechecking for a new quote now.

It's probably time to stop looking back at FJ and concentrate on the benefits of the new MMOC Insurance. Of course there are other insurers available, and nobody is dictating who owners ahould use, but we do recommend the MMOC scheme as having some unique benefits, and, we hope, providing best overall value.

I'm going to lock this topic, but the announcement about the new insurance is available.