OT Insurance and banks

[Tim Watts]

I just run it through comparethemarket.

The longest bit is amassing all the data to the questions (a lot if you have to re-value your house contents).

But once it's done, they have your details on file which makes it a doddle next time - just need to make minor amendments as required. Every time so far we've knocked 100-200 off the quote from an existing insurer.

I also learnt (because it is trivial to diddle the settings and requote) that it makes no difference to price if I declare my car mostly kept on the drive or on the road outside. So I went with the latter as I sometimes do if I have a delivery due.

No real spam from them either - except at renewal time.

Currently Liverpool Victoria do my and SWMBOs car insurance (and they answer their phones, in England, very quickly if you have a query.

Unfortunately LV have some silly conditions regarding window locks on their house insurance (ie you *must* have them, and by default must lock ALL off them - never going to happen in my house). So I went with the slightly more expensive AXA and searched their policy PDFs (electronically) and was pleased to see zero mention of window locks.

[Nick Odell]

...not if they don't have your email address. They don't have my phone number either. As I said, I talk to them face to face.

..not if they don't have your credit/debit card details. I hand over a cheque. (remember them?)

This year the renewal came in about ten quid lower than last year. Together with an alternative quote for the same cover which was a further twenty quid lower. I popped into their office, double checked that the cover really was the same and paid, as always, by cheque.

I really don't understand why your experience should be so different from mine. Perhaps it varies from office to office?

Nick

[Peter Taylor]

Their marketing sucks, agreed. But I must say they were the only company I could find who would provide travel insurance for my 86 y.o. mother when we took her to my son's wedding in Hong Kong a few years ago. Wasn't cheap though, and now I get marketing letters from them every couple of weeks.

[alan]

The wording on the covering letter is: "Some people claim they give the lowest home insurance price. At Saga we guarantee it. We are so confident your policy offers the best value for money that if you receive a lower quote for the same cover as your Saga policy, we'll beat that price if you renew by (policy renewal date). See enclosed leaflet for further details."

The leaflet says that before phoning up you must have FULL policy details of the alternative company's cover, and not just a summary. The other thing that they what to know is the policy excesses. Other information you must have to hand is stuff that they would already know if you had cover with them already.

Legally the covering letter can be read as - if you go to the trouble of finding alternative like for like insurance we guarantee will beat it by at least 1p.

I guess that many people would read it as the price quoted on the renewal is guaranteed to be the cheapest.

[John Williamson]

And snail mail as well, even after you've left them telling them

*exactly* why, and don't contact me ever again.

[alan]

You have to give a email address if you buy over the web (policy documents are sent by email) and they only accept cards if paying over the web.

The difference appears to be that you visited an office to renew you insurance. This is somewhat inconvenient for most people.

[Capitol]

IIRC Saga is largely owned by a hedge fund. So they may have no assets, only debt.

[Adrian]

Not a "hedge fund", but various private equity companies, with a significant (20%) staff holding.

That's currently, though - they're being floated very shortly, hence all the TV ads promoting the brand.

[Martin Brown]

About half an hour online provided that you don't have a dodgy credit history. That is probably worth it to get 3% or 4% instead of 0.1%.

[Martin Brown]

It isn't a daily basis but it could be annoying if you hadn't given them an untrusted email address that is spam trapped.

I doubt it since they use centralised systems but I can see why someone without filters might find their emails a bit too persistent.

Their prices are sometimes really quite good. YMMV

[Dave Liquorice]

"same cover" any tiny detail different, say standard of locks required and they have a get out.

See ... Reminds me of B&Q when they had the price difference +10% "guarantee" across all products. Fine except some products are exclusive B&Q but the only real difference is the model number. I spotted this in relation to Karcher pressure washers.

More fool them for not reading and understanding what is written. But the meaning ought to be clear and not rely on people having a good reading age.

[Dave Liquorice]

trivial!

3 or 4% of bugger all is still bugger all. B-)

[charles]

They've already been floated - share price is dropping below issue proce, so adverts may be an attempt to boost the price.

[Scott M]

This is now either a legal requirement or an industry standard (I forget which), nominally to avoid people being left uninsured.

[alan]

They wrote to all "customer" offering shares in this trusted brand!

Saga seem to be a company that some people regard as having charitable status rather than being a hard headed money making organisation.

[alan]

There is no legal requirement to insure you buildings or contents.

The renewal statement from Swinton was actually a lie.

[charles]

and I consigned the paperwork to the re-cycling bin.

[John Williamson]

The post being replied to up there ^^^ referred to them begging for repeat car insurance business, and there *is* a requirement to have your vehicle insured, unless it's the subject of a SORN.

[dennis]

An individual can open two Santander 123 accounts and get 3% on £20k in each.

You will find it hard to get a savings account to match ATM.

You also get cash back on some direct debits, etc. that more than cover the annual charges for many.

[djc]

But even on Nationwide's Regular Saver you have to be wary. The better interest rate is based on the increase in balance each month. So if you take some money out you lose a month's interest on the whole balance remaining in the account.