The Night Mail

[iL Dottore]

SAGA? Isn’t that the dirt cheap car insurer that people go to because it has the lowest premiums? And as always, you get what you pay for.

 

I once had a prang with Hettie the Yeti when I was coming out of the car wash and a trainee mechanic of the garage that ran the car wash reversed at speed into me - completely demolishing a rear quarter panel (and giving me quite a start). Anyway, the garage boss came out – rather annoyed I would say – took a look at the damage and said I will fix you up with a slot in the bodyshop and I will sort it out, we don’t need to involve the insurers. True to his word I shortly thereafter got a phone call giving me an appointment to take the car in, I got a courtesy car from him, the repairs were done extremely well and the body looked as good as new and no insurers were “inconvenienced”. I also imagine that the trainee mechanic was, at the very least, somewhat severely inconvenienced!.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by iL Dottore
Typo

[TheQ]

Saga is not an insurance company, it is an insurance broker. They do not make the insurance decisions. Look on the paperwork and it will not say Saga, it will say any one of a number of insurance companies including well known companies.

We have the house and car insured through Saga, but they are the agents, and there are different companies on the policies..

[iL Dottore]

Thanks @TheQ, I didn't know that. From the posts it seemed like they were/are an insurance company.

[J. S. Bach]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

edit:  It seems "Quick Draw DH beat me to it....."

It's all the top gun experience in the F-4!

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[iL Dottore]

Currently at The Railway Museum in Saitama - very impressive!

And the modelling is exceptional. Apart from a train ferry (in 1/72 I think) mostly 1/10 and 1/20 scale.

They have a special layout - very detailed on railway specific stuff like permanent way - which is used to inform visitors about the various careers on the railway. They also have various simulators for various roles - including drivers and guards. Everything eorks, everything is spotless and everything is state of the art (they even have a current generation Hyabusa driving car on display. They have two restaurants and railway lunchbox (ekiben) stalls. Plus they have converted to cars of an old EMU into "lunch cars"  - where you can eat your packed lunch without any hassle.

 

Oh, and not a hint of "woke", PC or "dumbing down"

 

Sad to say, but it leaves the NRM (and many other British museums) in the dust.

[Oldddudders]

SAGA is all sorts of things, hence its listing on the LSE. I met the founder, Sidney De Haan, in the late '60s, when their principal business was providing cheap holidays for oldies, and they had a tie-up with BR. 

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Oh, and not a hint of "woke", PC or "dumbing down"

 

Sad to say, but it leaves the NRM (and many other British museums) in the dust.

 

How is this museum funded?

[Winslow Boy]

9 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Now now, I was only being polite to a garage less bear by answering his question,.  Out of I teteswhen are you goi g to collect the tten square metres of shed that I donated to Shed Aid. 

 

Jamie

I have a plan and yes it is fiendish and cunning worthy of the Bear in fact.

 

I shall say no more other than the fact it involves ladders lots of them.

[Winslow Boy]

9 hours ago, Tony_S said:

https://menssheds.org.uk/find-a-shed/  may help…

Your in the LEDGER you know.

[SM42]

7 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

SAGA? Isn’t that the dirt cheap car insurer that people go to because it has the lowest premiums? And as always, you get what you pay for.

 

 

I don't think dirt cheap comes into it anymore, based on family experience, other companies are much cheaper for more cover. 

 

Andy

[Mike Bellamy]

 

6 hours ago, TheQ said:

Saga is not an insurance company, it is an insurance broker. They do not make the insurance decisions. Look on the paperwork and it will not say Saga, it will say any one of a number of insurance companies including well known companies.

We have the house and car insured through Saga, but they are the agents, and there are different companies on the policies..

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

SAGA is all sorts of things, hence its listing on the LSE. I met the founder, Sidney De Haan, in the late '60s, when their principal business was providing cheap holidays for oldies, and they had a tie-up with BR. 

 

Newspaper report this morning that Saga is in talks with Ageas of Belgium to sell them their insurances businesses as it seems they are in a bit of financial difficulty. Shares had lost 95% of value since floated in 2014 although they were 9% up on the announcement. Debt pile has increased to £637m. However for those who go cruising, that side of the business made a profit of £35m.

.

 

 

[TheQ]

Unfortunately that doesn't sound good, previously I was with a small brokers in Western Super Mare, but they sold out to a big insurance company.. Suddenly the fees started climbing way above inflation rates..

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

 and they had a tie-up with BR. 

[Winslow Boy]

What always intrigues me with these reports where they state that such and such company is now in trouble, because of how much debt it has or how a project costed out at being 5 million is now 7 million is how it gets like that. Yes I know debt accrues interest and that when a company is taken over it has the debt added from the buyers, but the sums of money are just staggering. On the schemes I was involved in there was always an accountant looking over my shoulder wanting to know where the money was being spent and god forbid me if I couldn't justify it. I've even had to scale back on things because of price increases etc, but it now a day's it's a million here, a million there. I appreciate that there should be a contingency fund but I can't see it being more than a ten percent.

 

Perhaps it's because I don't have a shed, have I mentioned that, that I don't understand it.

 

Befuddled of Manutopea.