So I've been doing the comparison sites and came across a curious anomaly.
I noticed one quote had a higher excess, so I adjusted it down to the same as others (for a fair comparison) and the quote went down.
I had to laugh at the Aviva site, their advert quotes: Car insurance from just £198. That's over seventy quid more than most of the best. I didn't bother giving them my details.
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Our insurance needs renewing this week on the car. In the previous three years, the following was the case:
- Online quote two and three years ago with the same insurer was cheaper and they couldn't match it on the renewal line... took out insurance online
- Online quote last year was more expensive by a fair bit with the same company - renewed the policy via the phone
This year both are identical so just renewed via the web renewal page. Took about 60 seconds.
And yes I did comparisons with some other sites but won't use a comparison site as they sell your contact details (in my experience). I still get calls on my mobile number as a result of quotes I got for step-son five years ago! No other way his name can be associated with my work mobile number.
And no other quote was as cheap as MoreThan for us. So stuck with them again. The excess is also only £50 - not sure you can get lower.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 7 Jan 13 at 18:04
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Not insurance in my case, but I've just had my Green Flag renewal through and they want more than twice as much as I paid them last year - and that's after another years no call out discount.
Needless to say, I've moved on.
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This will be interesting. The RAC wanted £184 last year (people based, caravan, full set of options). Green flag price was £117 which the RAC matched. The plan was to defect to Green Flag this year!
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The AA asked for a breakdown renewal premium of £154 last month, one quick phone call and they charged £99 as they have done since 2006. Even though I called them out twice in October.
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Also interesting. Before defecting to the RAC they did that for me; the following year they wouldn't budge, so I did. Not because I was a lot of bother - hadn't called them out for 7 years.
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Re the excess, if you wouldnt realistically claim for , say under £150 or £200 then you might as well select that excess level and maybe get a drop in your premium.
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Incidentally - Channel 4 Dispatches tonight was about car insurance.
Fairly tame compared with the truth, if anything.
www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#3463433
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Ins due next month so did a bit of checking on the comparison sites. £130 comp was the cheapest, most were around the £160 mark, which was what I paid last year.
Son changed his car at the weekend, out went the 3 yr old XC 60 and in came a pre reg Cayenne..............premium went up but the Aviv multi car (Mk6 Golf GTi) stayed at under £600 for both...........the excess rocketed from £200 to £750!
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I renewed mine in November. Just got another quote and it's gone from £530 to £380. The law change, d'you think?
*Looks confused*
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Had my renewel through today from the co-operative, first time in 23 yrs of buying car
insurance its gone down, was £480 renewel £340 fully comp.
Tried a couple of comparison sites can get it £25 cheaper with octagon but the excess is
£400 co-op is £250 and windscreen is £75 co-op £50 so better the devil.
This will be my 3rd year with the co-op and when i made claim for a non fault 2 yrs ago they handled it well sorted out hire car on same day and orgainised repair to mine the next day but that was helped by the other party admitting liability.
So that's one less expense to worry about next month just a MOT on the 9th and £270 VED at the end of month. Oh the joy of motoring.
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>> £270 VED
Same as my Mazda6, mazdachris. What Mazda's yours?
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LV wanted £255 to renew (Suzuki Swift Sport ~ IG 18) with around £300 excess
confused.com threw up both esure and Sheila's Wheels (guess they dropped the girls only stuff) at £155 with £250 voluntary excess.
Tweaking the excess down to £50 kept the quote at £155 (went to £170 at £0 xs).
Looks like it's esure again until the quote drifts inevitably upwards.
(going to esure.co.uk and putting same details in got a quote of £168 so I guess it pays to use the comparison sites).
Last edited by: Lygonos on Wed 23 Jan 13 at 21:42
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>> LV wanted £255 to renew (Suzuki Swift Sport ~ IG 18) with around £300 excess
>>
>> confused.com threw up both esure and Sheila's Wheels (guess they dropped the girls only stuff)
>>
Unless, of course, Sheila's Wheels know your secret!
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>> >> £270 VED What Mazda's yours >>
2006 (06) mazda 6 ts2 2.0ltr petrol
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>> I renewed mine in November. Just got another quote and it's gone from £530 to
>> £380. The law change, d'you think?
>>
>> *Looks confused*
>>
I gave up trying to fathom the whys and wherefores of insurance quotes many years ago. I suspect that there's a dice roll and a multiplier in there somewhere.
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Partners insurance due next month. Had renewal today (LV) £295 with business use for both of us, courtesy car, extended personal accident cover, no claims discount guarantee and £50 excess (£100 for theft). Don't have to pay for legal expenses cover as provided free through CSMA if insuring through LV.
Was expecting an increase this year due to the EU gender discrimination legislation, but premium less than last year.
Checked the comparison sites and cannot see cheaper for comparable policy.
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Had quotes from Admiral for Multicar policy covering Berlingo and Xantia - expires 29/1. All four of us including son 18 and daughter 20 drive the Berlingo. Xantia is covered for Partner and I plus daughter.
Xantia quote was unexceptional but they wanted £1300 for the 'lingo - about £600 more than last year. They insist on quoting on basis that The Lad is major user. He isn't main use is Mrs B getting to work but she was quoted as occasional user. In effect they 'reverse fronted' him. They'd also got daughter's DOB as 82 rather than 92 although age next birthday was correct. This skewed the premium on the Xantia to
Apart from cost I was concerend about misdescription of use. Admiral couldn't have used that against me but a third party's insurer might think it odd.
After a bit of fishing i got a quote of c£750 from LV/Frizzels for 'lingo with CSMA discount and a sub £400 one for Xant.
Result!!
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Thats a coincidence, just received my renewal notice from Admiral today.
MB and Outlander on multicar £635.
Just run both cars through moneysupermarket, obviously some slightly cheaper quotes from companies i've never heard of so ignoring them.
MB Admiral @ £321
Outlander Axa @ £237
a saving of around £80 there, so phone call to Admiral tomorrow see if they'd like to bring their quote down a bit or AXA will be covering the Mitsi for the next 12 months.
Can i be bothered to ring NFU? would love to return but whats the betting its nigh a four figure quote for the two?
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That has twice been my experience of Admiral multicar.
I suppose it follows the standard insurance industry practice of exploiting rather than rewarding loyalty.
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>> That has twice been my experience of Admiral multicar.
Well worth the twenty mins on the phone, they didn't quite match the deal but renewal now £573, for the sake of a £15 saving by splitting up we'll leave it as is.
So far Admiral have been decent enough to deal with over the phone, car change was straightforward last month too, Devil you know and all that.
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I spoke to several people at Admiral.
The first knocked a few quid off but nothing like enough. Another thought there shouldn't be such a large gap with LV and went to consult his manager, unfortunately the call dropped before he got back*.
The final one told me price quoted with few squids off was best they could do and that was that.
Quite revealing on their offshoring policy to ring different numbers. Quotations or renewals get routed to Cardiff and overflowed to Halifax Nova Scotia. In both cases you have a proper conversation with people empowered to do stuff.
Policy admin goes to a script jockey in India.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 25 Jan 13 at 10:36
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>> to Cardiff and overflowed to Halifax Nova Scotia. In both cases you have a proper
>> conversation with people empowered to do stuff.
Yep, this charming and helpful fellow had that lovely Welsh lilt.
In general i find the Taffs great to deal with, and the Geordie's when i call Orange, always a cheerful, usually a successful call.
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I put the Outlander and the MX5 on a multicar in 2011. In 2012 the renewal was c. £650, about £150 more than separate policies with Hastings and Saga. I rang Admiral to stop the renewal and spoke to a helpful sounding type who asked if they could have another look at it. They had a look and he then cheerfully quoted me exactly the same figure as before.
Much the same thing happened four or five years earlier. I just won't bother again, all it does is complicate the renewal process and it's clearly designed as a tie-in to increase stickiness at renewal, entirely for their benefit with none to the insured.
IIRC their admin fees were pretty steep as well.
Unrelated, My uncle and aunt recently moved from Cleckheaton (a fairly quiet and safe little town) to Dumfries & Galloway The car insurance went down about £500 a year. The explanation is that their old address has a Bradford postcode.
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We have a small discount at LV for the two cars with them but it isn't a tied in multicar policy which I wouldn't have as it removes flexibility for getting the best deals on two different cars with different drivers.
This is our first year with them and the renewal in 6wks will be interesting to see if the previously reasonable rates climb excessively now they think they've got us hooked.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 25 Jan 13 at 12:06
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Ours are due soon - one next month and one the month after - can't remember which way round! We have been with Elephant for 6 or so years - not the absolute cheapest, but for what we have (protected NCD, business use) no one can get near - price has hardly changed in that time - wait to see what they try and pull this year!
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We are also approaching renewal time.
Currently and for reasons shrouded in the mists of time, going back to our purchase of a new car in Spain, my wife is the registered keeper of our car and thus the first named driver, with me as an additional driver, for insurance. Luckily on our return to the UK, her proof of NCB with Linea Directa was allowed by Tesco Insurance, but not by Direct Line!
We are still with Tesco as on first renewal it was substantially cheaper and in fact we received a fair refund when we changed from our SEAT Alhambra to our little shopping trolley FIAT Panda.
Despite the fact that we are low mileage users these days and that our car is a lowish insurance group, I was still expecting an increase in premium, but have been pleasantly surprised to find, through Money Supermarket, that Tesco is still the most competitive at just under £200, with a £250 excess. Closely following, on both on Compare The Market and Money Supermarket is LV=, at a fraction over the two hundred quid mark.
I now have ammunition should Tesco try to flim-flam us with a silly, ordinary renewal, price!
Last edited by: Roger on Fri 25 Jan 13 at 22:51
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>>Not insurance in my case, but I've just had my Green Flag renewal through and they want more than twice as much as I paid them last year - and that's after another years no call out discount.<<
Has anyone else had a similar GF renewal quote lately?
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Sat 26 Jan 13 at 07:48
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No - we use The Green Insurance Company for breakdown cover. The policy includes European cover and is a tad under sixty quid. This year they offered a 0% APR monthly payment option, over 12 months, which we have taken up. I'd rather keep money in our bank than theirs!
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First one is in - SWMBO's. £336 - which is less than last year for a car that's worth 5 times as much. Can't say fairer than that!
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Earier I said... This is our first year with them (LV) and the renewal in 6wks will be interesting to see if the previously reasonable rates climb excessively now they think they've got us hooked.
Just had the renewal quotes and they have done well. Alfa is 5 groups higher than the C5 yet the renewal is £23 less than with the C5 a year ago. It's £197 for the Alfa for a comp policy with self and Mrs F covered for full business use and includes legal protection but not protected no claims.
Mrs F's renewal quote is impossible to compare as Miss F is on there as a learner for the first time this year which has caused it to rise by around £250.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sat 9 Feb 13 at 13:37
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>> Earier I said... This is our first year with them (LV) and the renewal in
>> 6wks will be interesting to see if the previously reasonable rates climb excessively now they
>> think they've got us hooked.
>>
>>
>> Just had the renewal quotes and they have done well.
Been with them for some years on 3 of our cars and, so far, the renewal quotes have been cheaper than if I get a new quotation.
Had a slightly strange experience on wifey's car, renewed a couple of weeks ago. I'm the RK and the policy has always been in my name (throwback to when I had a company car and wanted to keep my own NCB) with her as main use. They've told me in the past it made no diffierence to the premium which one of us was policyholder, so this year I swapped it to her name to give her the legal backstop of having DOC cover. Premium went down £15!
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Just done car & house renewal.
Car:- Tesco, our existing cover, after a haggle directly, matched the Tesco quote from Go Compare!
Most comparison sites seem to show low prices by inputting a fairly high excess.
With a car worth circa £1500 it seemed disproportionate to have a £350 excess, so I reduced it to £100, and found that using the same parameters Tesco site was a little more expensive than the Tesco quote from the comparison site. Hence the haggle!
House and contents:-
Have finished up with Tesco, too.
Swiftcover wanted £132 to renew our existing policy. The comparison sites showed AA as the cheapest, but again with high excesses. Tesco came out well there, too.
I tried a quote directly from Tesco's own site and lo and behold, there's currently a fifty quid cash-back offer for new home insurance customers.
Tesco's quote was £116, thus cheaper than Swiftcover, so if the £50 cash-back DOES materialise, I have areal bargain!
(Cover in all cases is as near like-for-like, as makes no difference).
Moral- always shop around!
Last edited by: Roger on Sun 10 Feb 13 at 13:08
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No 2 is in - they only want £270 for the Xantia - ISTR paying £330 last year. No complaints at that then.....
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>> No 2 is in - they only want £270 for the Xantia - ISTR paying
>> £330 last year. No complaints at that then.....
>>
Its the age that does it. ;-)
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Insurance renewal time - rtj70
