OT: Car insurance

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Got the renewal through for one of the cars today - and of course it had gone up. About 15%. For no reason here.

Went to Compare the Market and entered all the details. The insurer I'm currently with - More Than - came up with a pretty competitive quote there

- over a third less than my renewal. Not the cheapest - but if you ignored the 'no name' ones quoting, competitive.

So phoned them up. Very nice lady explained they were using different software to do the quotes online to that used for renewal, and she'd look at it. And very soon came up with a revised renewal close to the online price, which I accepted. Saving well over 100 quid.

Wouldn't it save everyone a deal of time and trouble if they didn't just put up the premium every year buy well over inflation and hope you don't notice?

It's boring having to do this with just about every policy I have.

[Artic]

Dave Plowman (News) scribbled...

Insurance companies have always worked this way. Going back to the days of using a high st broker, I've asked for a new quote and have always had a better offer.

I was told by my broker that even when they could get quotes "on line" they would also see better offers, but if they didn't have a contract with that particular insurance company, they wouldn't tell us about it. So I'd also get quotes from different brokers.

[AC]

Yes, but that competitive capitalism for you. Small margins and the need for profits. It owuld be more boring if they didnt f*ck about to get as much money as possible and went out of business, and you needed to claim.

[F]

TopCashBack

to register) are currently offering £40 cashback on More Than car policies.

[The Medway Handyman]

Insurance companies are money grabbing scumbags.

The ONLY people who wanted to charge me for a change of address last year were my van insurance people. They wanted £30! They didn't get it of course.

That prompted me to look around. I was paying £44 a month, six quotes came up around £28.

Guess what? They matched it. Nearly £200 a year difference.

[Tim Watts]

On Saturday 28 September 2013 13:04 Dave Plowman (News) wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Funny you should say that!

Had my renewal from Direct Line - £367. Heart attack... Rang them - said "It's a bit high". "Sorry" they replied, "we cannot do any better, unless our website gives a better quote, in which case we'll match it".

This is for fully comp, £250 excess (windscreen £75 or £10 for a repair), courtesy car, legal protection, NCD protection and 9 years NCD(!) with SWMBO as named driver.

A little while on

and I match it like for like at a quote of £231 with (Liverpool Victoria).

So I knock off the courtesy car (sometimes it pays to read the quote - I no longer depend on the car to get to work) and add european cover instead, lower the excess to £150 (LV's windscreen is £75 or £0 if repaired).

Final result: £246 for less excess! £121 cheaper!!!

Rang Direct Line to say I did not want to renew and suddenly, as if by magic, the quote starts dropping. They managed about £280 in the end.

"Sorry" I said, "still too expensive"... But even so - why did they not give me a better quote in the first place? I might not have bothered to check it out.

Well, your loss dudes...

=====

I agree - it would save a lot of time if they didn't bugger about every time. But i do like Compare The Market - very easy to mess around with the options and requote. I wonder if my quote will still be online next year - which will make requoting easy!

[Tim Watts]

On Saturday 28 September 2013 13:46 AC wrote in uk.d-i-y:

That's what underwriters are for...

[stuart noble]

It's a full time job changing everything every year, but it pays. Going slightly OT, how can Santander offer 3% on current account balances when most deposit accounts are paying a lot less?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But so stupid and not even sense for the company. If you renew via a comparative site, they pay commission. If you renew direct, nothing. Apart from the waste of time for their switchboard etc and having to do extra paperwork.

[John Rumm]

In a market where winning new business is harder than keeping old, it would help everyone except them... ;-)

Insure it through a broker, then they will suggest alternative deals each year if required.

[John Rumm]

I was quite pleased to get a similar renewal quote from my lot last time

- it was 80 better than the year before!

[Michael Chare]

I have had a similar experience. Though after that I think that the recent renewals have been more sensible.

[Local hero]

I have house & car insurance with Churchill. Last time the car insurance was due, they quoted big increase, and I went through the same rigamraole of getting cheaper quotes, and then Churchill "realised" they had missed out the discounts and matched the best I'd found. But I said then that I hoped I wouldn't have to play the same silly game when the house insurance became due. And guess what! No, you're wrong! The quote that came was actually for less than the previous year!

[bert]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Funny, but vehicle insurance (including mine, 1x LV=, 1x CC motorhome) has come down this year as a result of clamp down on phoney claims. Didn't have to ask

[alan]

5 million+ people not questioning the amount for renewal = mega profits.

[alan]

I have had the same problems with a broker. They are willing to take the extra money if you just go for the figures they quote for renewal.

After finding a cheaper quote elsewhere (for better cover) they had the cheek to say that they could match it - having previously been given a couple of chances beforehand. Unfortunately it didn't stop them emailing daily afterwards!

[alan]

Watch out - they are playing an alternative game. The T&C may not be the same as your previous policy and you may find that the few 100s in excesses have risen to £1000+.

[Bob Martin]

My recent renewal quote from Saga was up 22% from the previous year, so I went to comparethemarket website. Got 60 quotes of which only one was higher than my renewal quote, and two-thirds were less than half. I phoned Saga but they were unwilling to match the better quotes (in spite of their "guarantee" to match any lower quote) so I insured with the lowest at a quarter of Saga's quote. I've been paying through the nose for car, contents and home insurance for 50 years and never claimed once.

[stuart noble]

Saga are the worst of the bunch IMO.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What I can't understand is why all these insurance companies seem all out for new business while not trying to keep proved good existing accounts. It makes no sense at all to me. But then I'm not a banker.