Penny Black's Insurance Week - 15/22 August 2013

This week, Penny was amused and bemused in equal measure by the experience of Manchester-based youngster Rhys Baker, who received a mammoth quote to insure his 10-year-old Vauxhall Corsa with Markerstudy-owned Zenith. The firm demanded £1.1m, but kindly broke the fee down to manageable installments of just £104 000 a month. Zenith insisted the astronomical quote was another way of saying it would not be interested in offering cover, but surely a simple ‘no’ would have sufficed.

Meanwhile, Penny was quite the sportswoman in her youth, especially when it came to badminton. Woe betide those who tried to thrust their shuttlecocks into Penny’s court. However, even those sporting triumphs pale into comparison to the feats of Ageas chief executive of retail and distribution Mark Cliff. Initially solely a cricketer, Cliff took to the wicket for Staffordshire as a teen, and later in life took up golf too. Such is his swing, Cliff has scythed away at his handicap to reach single figures.

Penny commends such sporting excellence, but will probably stick to badminton.          
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