Recognition has gone to Saga Motor Insurance from the readers of This is Money, The Daily Mail’s personal finance website.

They voted Saga Over 50’s Motor Insurance as the motor insurance provider with the best customers service. The number of participants was 5,000 people and they were responding to a survey to find the best customer service offered by the UK’s financial companies.

And as well as scoring top marks in the motor insurance category, Saga also picked up second place for best home insurance provider in both the most trusted and best customer service categories.

Andrew Goodsell, Executive Chairman of Saga Insurance, trumpeted: “Doing things properly is at the heart of everything we do. It is wonderful that our customers have recognised this by voting for us. To be awarded the UK’s best motor insurer for customer service is something that we take great pride in.”

Andrew Oxlade, editor, This is Money, reinforced the decision with:
“Saga should be delighted to have won the best customer service award for motor insurance. Our readers make it their mission to meticulously sift through all the players in the personal finance industry to find the best – they’re a very choosy lot. For Saga to have won them over is quite an achievement.”

Saga is of course in the happy position of being able to target a well-defined market, only dealing with people who are over 50. As such, they are able to target their products to a savvy and experienced group of consumers who usually have high disposable incomes and are regarded, in many areas of insurance, as being low risk.

The number of Saga Home Insurance and Saga Motor Insurance customers out there in the UK, over 50, is over two million. And the over-50 sector represents a growing area of the market.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

For those over a certain age and looking for a good return on their money, they could do worse than sign up for the Saga Personal Finance Bond.

Offering a competitive Annual Equivalent Rate (AER) of 3.82%, the bond guarantees the rate for its lifetime of 15 months. The AER is based on a calculation of what the holder effectively receives if the interest that was applied throughout the year stayed in the account and itself earnt interest.

Saga bill their bond as a way of getting control over their finances. As little as £1 can be deposited and bond holders can choose to receive their interest paid either monthly, or yearly.

The Saga Personal Finance Bond joins a wide range of products, including two cash ISAs which were recently launched and which again offer the choice of monthly, or yearly interest payments.

With the Saga One Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA annual interest option, there is a rate of 2.95% tax free AER. With the Saga One Year Fixed Rate Monthly Interest ISA monthly interest option, the rate is slightly lower at 2.91%.

Mminimum deposit is £1 and the maximum deposit is dictated by the total ISA cash allowance. There is no notice period if you wish to withdraw your money and interest is calculated daily.

Mr Andrew Goodsell, Chief Executive of Saga Group, said: “Our approach is to offer an increased range of good value savings products to our customers, this is even more imperative at a time when savers, and pensioners in particular, are seeing their savings income reduced as a result of successive interest rate cuts.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp