Wouldn't you think that insurance companies would have caught on to the ease with which one can source alternative quotations?
We have been with Tesco, both for motor & home insurance, for two years now.
Last year our car comprehensive insurance, on the Panda, was £205. Midway last year we changed cars to the Jazz auto and had to pay about £20 extra premium.
On that basis I was expecting a renewal premium of around £240.
My gob was truly smacked when the renewal came in (no claims at all!) at over £600!
Trawling the comparison sites produced best quotes of around £240, so a call to Tesco ensued, where after much haggling they came down to £329.
Stuff that - it's still taking the urine, so we are going with LV Plus for a touch over £250, after discovering that the cheapest provider at £240ish has a call centre in India.
Our home & contents renewal from Tesco arrived today by email - again more than last year with no claims (or flood history!). Another quick bit of research has us with the AA at just over £85 on a strictly comparable policy.
That's circa £112 , from Tesco's revised motor quite plus an un-revised, 'cos I can't be bovvered to haggle with them again, home & cntents figure, I've saved for a few minutes work!
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My insurance renews on the 14th gone down a staggering £123 on last year with the coop.
Paying £267 this year first time in 25yrs of car ownership its been under £350.
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Its that time of year again for me. Have been with Direct Line for the last 2 years and the last renewal price was lower than I had paid the year previous and lower than putting it on as new business, however this year they have increased it by about 30%. Privilege seem to come out the best value for me this time, have not used them before, but I expect they are all much of a muchness at the end of the day. Am now doing my usual, do I protect the no claims bonus and pay the extra for the legal cover or not as it makes a big difference to the premium (i always end up paying for both !!!).
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Direct Line wanted £50.00 more this year on our house policy. Online quote from the same company was the same as last year. Phoned them and they knocked the £50.00 off - no argument. Loyalty thieves.
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>>Direct Line wanted £50.00 more this year on our house policy.
Perhaps they're expecting you to float off again:
BBC R4 Mon 14:15 "Floating. On April 2nd 1982, the Isle of Anglesey separated from the mainland of Wales and floated off into the North Atlantic."
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My experience with LV is very good.
If you have more than 1 policy with them you get multi-policy discounts.
When the new year quote comes in it is always within £5 of the online quotes and the difference usually relates to small differences between the current policy and the new one.
When my ex lost something personal and claimed on the insurance their call centre person was full of sympathy and the claim was handled very efficiently.
Last edited by: zippy on Sun 9 Feb 14 at 12:41
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>> full of sympathy
I know it is probably due to training or a script but it is better than a cold uninterested call centre person.
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>> My experience with LV is very good.
>>
We use them for cars, house and travel. Just renewed wifey's Jazz with them and was happy with the renewal quote of £190 and normally would just let it auto-renew.
However decided to add our other daughter so did a new quote online and first used the same conditions as last year and it was £20 cheaper. Adding youngest daughter (older one is already on) added £40.
Called them up and they really wanted the £230, not the £210 of the new quote. Got it in the end but meant a new policy, although I was assured it was identical (you have to watch that with some firms as details in the policy can change and the changes aren't obvious) but felt it was a bit begrudged. One upside is there was no extra charge for class 1 business use for the girls.
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>> LV Plus
>>
Do you mean LV Plus or LV=? I'm not aware of LV Plus and wonder if I'm missing out on something!
We generally use LV's Frizzell brand, which is accessed through the CSMA (Civil Service Motoring Association)
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LV have done me proud too in regards of renewal costs, mine arrived yesterday for the Alfa and it's less than last year at £185 fully comp with full business use for self and Mrs F.
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Esure sent me renewal for Car Ins, came in last week
£160 for my 2 ltr V6 Mazda Xedos - (other companies are £50 less to 3 x that figure)
I paid £174 for my 18 mth old 2 litre CRV 6 months ago
Full 20 yrs NCB on both cars.
£160 to cover 3rd party damage and the value of a £500 -£1000 Mazda,
£174 to cover 3rd party damage and the £18,000 value of my car.
Either the Xedos looks too dear or the CRV looks very cheap!
3rd party cover for the Xedos did not save money. In fact 3rd Party F&T was dearer than Comp on many of the comparison website's companies.
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Son's insurance was some £240 last year. Renewal premium comes in at £340 with current insurer.
Quick check on line and he has better premiums from "known name companies"
Calls Esure -15 mins on the phone and it becomes £185.
Seems that Insurers want to keep "good drivers" and willling to drop their "over stated" premiums.
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Briefly - I had a small Ford, insured with Saga and when I changed to a 2 ltr one for the remaining 6 months of my policy I paid a reasonable extra premium. When annual renewal came through it is was a bit steep, £300, and shopping around got it for £210 with Aviva, Worth mentioning that I have my house and contents with Aviva too and I get a discount on both policies for that, 10% I think. Also, I find home and contents policies very cheap, or so it seems to me; around £120 a year for a £100K house and £50K contents.
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>>Briefly - I had a small Ford, insured with Saga
They contact me every year around motor renewal time and have quoted on four or five occasions, but they've never managed to come up with the right price for me.
I did take out building cover with them a while back, but I had to move elsewhere as that got quite expensive.
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I think SAGA work on the principle that they have a captive customer base who can't be bothered to search for cover elsewhere; in the same way they maybe don't move bank accounts and energy suppliers.
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Saga works on the assumption their customer base is Gaga. Based on what I have seen they prey on and abuse their target market.
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>> I think SAGA work on the principle that they have a captive customer base who
>> can't be bothered to search for cover elsewhere
I have to disagree with you. I've been with them for a couple of years and I shop around at each renewal for both motor and home insurance.
Curiously, motor policy covers both SWMBO and me to drive other vehicles (owner's permission etc.)
Could be eligible for a small share bonus as well.
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BT I am very surprised that SAGA give low quotes. I saved £90 off a £300 premium by moving. Plus they could save money by not blizzarding their customers with offers of more financial services. I was offered, Private health Plans, Funeral Plans, Travel Insurance, Equity release and, I think, Pet/vet insurance.
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>> I saved £90 off a £300 premium by moving.
If I was to save £90 off my premium I'd only be paying £16 (fully comp, £150 excess).
It's easy to stop all the mailing, you just tell them to. Works for me.
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>> If I was to save £90 off my premium I'd only be paying £16 (fully
>> comp, £150 excess).
Are we still talking about Saga here?
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>>Are we still talking about Saga here?
I am.
When I had the Kia as well, that came in at less than £100.
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>> >> I think SAGA work on the principle that they have a captive customer base
>> who
>> >> can't be bothered to search for cover elsewhere
>>
>> I have to disagree with you. I've been with them for a couple of years
>> and I shop around at each renewal for both motor and home insurance.
They have successfully exploited fleeced my mother repeatedly till I got her out of their clutches.
I bet you could do better.
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>>I bet you could do better.
I'd be surprised if you couldn't.
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Just for the crack, I got a saga quote for my car insurance. 20% more expensive than Aviva.
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I used to be with LV, for years, until their premiums went silly. Probably to pay for those cr*p adverts with the "Dum Dum a Dwee Dwee" voiceover! Vile!
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>>>with LV, for years, until their premiums went silly
Unless you don't fit their target market worth looking to LV again at the next renewal.
To me they seem so cheap. The Alfa for example is £184 this year for fully comp, low excess, self and Mrs F driving with full business use for both.
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What you have to remember is that Insurance companies are constantly trying to achieve a balanced porfolio. If the have too many risks in one category they will push up the rates for that category avoid an unbalanced porfolio. On-line marketing makes this very easy.
This is why one poster will say Abc company is so cheap and another says they are expensive. It' s not just dependant on your car and insurance history its's also highly dependent on when you get that quote
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>> It' s not just dependant on your car and insurance history its's also highly dependent on when you get that quote<<
I think you've hit the nail on the head there, CGN. I remember quite a long time ago, a colleague of mine recommended a motor insurer to me (It may have been the AA or RAC) who had come up with a very competitive quote for him a few months earlier. But despite the fact that we both drove similar cars, we both worked for the same company, we both did the same job, we both had a full NCD, and there was only a minimal difference in our ages, my quote from the same insurer a little later on was significantly higher.
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It used to be thought that call centre staff had a target number of policies to sell, per shift. If one could catch them near the end of a shift (how would one find out what time that was?) it was possible to get a bargain
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>> What you have to remember is that Insurance companies are constantly trying to achieve a
>> balanced porfolio. If the have too many risks in one category they will push up
>> the rates for that category avoid an unbalanced porfolio.
Why does having an unbalanced portfolio matter? If they have correctly evaluated the risks associated with each category and charge appropriate rates, then every category's risk will automatically be appropriately balanced?
Does an insurer finding that by chance it has a high proportion of safe 50+ drivers living in Tunbridge Wells go out and recruit some teenage tearaways on sink housing estates in order to rebalance its portfolio?
Funny that we never see the advertisements - " Poor driver, bad insurance record? Big discounts now available".
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>> its's
>> also highly dependent on when you get that quote
>>
Someone will discover shortly that day of the week or time of the day is important too, like eBay listings.
Perhaps there is a known "dead" hour, possibly coinciding with a popular TV programme, when insurance company client portfolios have slack, and they need to re-profile with a bit of business biased towards the riskier end of the spectrum.
Nothing would surprise me.
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Just had quite a decent experience with our renewals for the Mazda 6 and the Golf. Both were due this month. My Mazda has been with Admiral this year, and their renewal quote was only 25 quid more than the cheapest on the comparison websites (renewal premium £299). Then I ran the wife's Golf through the website, having received a renewal premium from Kwik Fit of £294. The cheapest came up at £190 - with guess who? Admiral.
So, I give them a buzz, to accept the Golf quote and ask for a multicar quote to include the Mazda. The outcome is that the Golf quote come down two whole pounds, but the Mazda quote came down from £299 to £216.
Job jobbed, quite pleased. Other than the 45 minute phone call to do it, including many attempts to sell add-ons to the cover, which I neither want nor need. But hey ho, job done now. I'd always thought multicar was a marketing gimmick, but it's paid off for me this time.
Evidently Admiral likes my post code this year or something.
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now the renault has gone they know mr sensible has moved back in
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It's even more odd since Mrs A copped two flashes in the last year, getting 3 points for one and a speed awareness course for the other. I was expecting our premiums to go up. Mind you, I have knocked the mileage on the Golf way down as it only gets used for a couple of miles every weekend now.
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I am with LVplus as well and my premiums have always dropped each year. I have not had you use them yet for a claim ( touch wood ) but I heard their call centres are in the UK and their service is very good. I would have to get a very cheap quote to go elsewhere and have been very impressed.
I think being a friendly society they realise they will get more business from decent service and competitive quote rather than being greedy. I don't know what their target market is but I am 35 and paying £350 a year on my Fabia vrs.
Last edited by: mattbod on Tue 4 Mar 14 at 20:15
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I trawled through the thread and just tried to pick up on things which seemed to remain outstanding.
>> ...........do I protect the no claims bonus
Bonus levels are not important. Work out what you will actually pay out.
(Fantasy figures follow to make the point)
SCENARIO 1
£1,000 gross premium, 60% NCD, Net premium £400
1 Accident, possibly 40% NCD, Net premium £600
Therefore one accident costs £200.
SCENARIO 2
£1,100 gross premium to protect NCD, 60% NCD Net premium £660
Thus protected NCD costs £60, 3 years without a claim and you're losing money.
1 Accident, gross premium loaded by 30%, protected NCD, Net premium £858
Therefore one accident costs £198 as well as the £60 extra, £258
It is a bit more complex than that since the effect lasts but diminshes over succeeding years, or grows exponentially with a second accident.
The point being, forget the bonus and the protection and all the rest of that stuff. What will you pay now, what will you pay next year if you have an at fault or similar incident.
>>.....and pay the extra for the legal cover
Legal cover will write letters for you, knows who to write them to, knows how much they can get away with claiming and will do all (most?) of the admin for you.
However, they will not bring you much or any advantage in actually suing someone since they won't. You also have to be careful because they can be a bit quick to compromise.
It comes down to your preparedness, willingness and ability to write letters, do admin and chase people constantly in the event of a claim.
Only you can work out the cost/benefit on that one. I do not pay for legal cover, but then I have time and an interest.
>>...as details in the policy can change and the changes aren't obvious
Absolutely. There is *always* a reason why they wish to reissue a policy.
>>....3rd Party F&T was dearer than Comp
Firstly TPF&T claims are historically more complex and contentious to deal with for the insurer, and thus more expensive.
Secondly one has to wonder why someone *only* wants TPF&T and its not usually because they a re a good risk and look after and value their modern car. This further worsens the TPF&T claims experience.
>>...Seems that Insurers want to keep "good drivers" and willing to drop their "over stated" premiums.
They have decided a profit margin and risk profile that they are in business for; as always higher risk means higher potential profit. That profile/profit will be the basis for their business plan, stated returns and form a basis for their received inward investment and the strategy of their own outward investment.
So, they don't want to keep "good" customers, as such, They want to keep the risk that is their target market. However, the risk profile will want them to have a bell curve across the risk range with a spread heightened at their target rather than a sharp and steep spike.
Thus the curve and risk profile needs constant balancing which is done by tweaking conditions, including premiums, up or down to make specific areas more or less attractive over time.
>>...that they have a captive customer base who can't be bothered to search for cover
I constantly bang on that *everybody* should seek requotes *every* year. Sadly the vast majority do not.
>>I got a saga quote for my car insurance. 20% more expensive than Aviva.
At that moment, with those conditions, for you, Aviva was cheaper. That may or may not be the same tomorrow, although obviously companies tend not to be excessively volatile.
>>...Unless you don't fit their target market
That's what its all about.
>>Why does having an unbalanced portfolio matter?....
- eggs and baskets. They neither want to miss out on or be overly exposed to anyone market/profile.
>>...Does an insurer finding that by chance it has a high proportion of safe 50+ drivers living in Tunbridge Wells go out and recruit some teenage tearaways on sink housing estates in order to rebalance its portfolio?
Exaggerated but essentially, yes. Or indeed vice versa.
>>...Funny that we never see the advertisements - " Poor driver, bad insurance record? Big discounts now available".
I think you mean you don't notice them as they probably don't apply to you. They're there.
>>...they realise they will get more business from decent service
Perhaps. But investing in high quality service can be a waste of time when most of your client base never looks for requotes and the rest will move to a worse service to save 10p.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 4 Mar 14 at 22:35
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Revival time!
Yet again, proof of how arcane is the insurance world"
Motor: We have been with LV for the last 12 months and have not made a claim. The renewal offer was, in round figures, £277, compared with our last year cost of £250. That's a £27 increase, or over 10%.
The usual comparisons made, I came up with a best price of £227 with Privilege whose policy only differed in there being a lesser amount of personal accident cover.
LV were unable to match this by £25, so I bought Privilege for this year. Interestingly - well to me - I found out later that Privilege are part of Direct Line who say they don't use comparison sites technically true, I suppose and whose own quote was more than the LV offer.
Home: Last year the AA was cheaper by a country mile at £88 - renewal, again with no claims made was £118 - a bit OTT I thought.
Best quote from the comparison sites was Halifax Bank, as there is a £50 cash back (after 80 days) on offer.
We bank with Halifax, so a quick log on and the quote came in at , net of cashback, £69 for the year.
Paying on the drip attracts no interest, so have done that. Decent cash flow benefit, as I'll make maybe 3 payments of £9.92 before the £50 arrives from, which I can either leave it on deposit for a magnificent .9% or settle the drip balance!
Last edited by: Roger. on Tue 10 Feb 15 at 14:43
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£88? Is that buildings AND contents?
I know postcodes make a difference but I've not found a quote under £400 after shopping about for years, and I certainly don't live in anything special. I think I might have to move.
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Copy & paste from Halifax's confirmation email. Gross is £118.88: less the £50 cashback so is a net £68.88
Thank you for purchasing Halifax Home Options Insurance.
Your total annual premium is £118.88 (Including Insurance Premium Tax charged at the current rate).
You have chosen to pay monthly at no extra cost. Your payment will be taken in 12 equal instalments of £9.90 and your policy will start on 07/03/2015.
If you have purchased a buildings and contents policy your £50 cashback will be issued 70 days after the policy start date, provided it is still in force. For cheques, please allow 28 days for delivery.
Click here to access full £50 Cashback terms and conditions.
£118.88 £50 £68.88
Cover Included
Buildings Y
Buildings rebuild cost (up to) £400,000
Buildings accidental damage N
Buildings policy excess £150
Buildings underwriter Lloyds Bank General Insurance Limited
Contents Y
Contents sum insured (up to) £50,000
High Risk Single Item Limit £1000
Contents policy excess £50
Contents accidental damage Y
Personal belongings limit £500
Pedal cycle cover N
Freezer cover N
Clerical Business use N
Contents underwriter Lloyds Bank General Insurance Limited
Home emergency N
Legal expenses N
Last edited by: Roger. on Tue 10 Feb 15 at 16:22
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Thanks Roger. Have to get a quote from them come renewal and see what's what then.
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I have long given up trying to understand how these premiums we're quoted are calculated (given that I do understand broadly the balancing of insurance company books & risk).
Self and Mrs F are due renewals in a couple of weeks, currently with LV. Renewal quote for my BMW is £211 for a self and Mrs F as named driver on a business use policy. Seems fair enough and the comparison sites could only shave £15 off so not worth the paperwork to swap.
Mrs F has learner daughter on her Polo 1.4 policy and LV wanted £975 for that renewal compared with £202 if daughter is removed from the policy. Absolutely crazy given daughter only drives for about an hour a week under careful supervision. So we look round at the comparison sites to find the best quote of £650 which is a worthwhile saving but still plenty, that's with Lloyds. However on something of a whim just change the details on the comparison site to see what effect if daughter passes test in a few weeks.... Lloyds would increase the premium by £2000!!
Next we have a look round comparison sites for the best quote for Mrs F assuming daughter has passed test and remains a named driver... cheapest £1175... crazy. Even more crazy I can get a price for my BMW with her as named driver with full licence for £850... over £300 cheaper than on the Polo.
Next we see what the quotes are for daughter to have her own policy if she passes and buys a car. Best price is £1150 for something used and 1.4l or under... slightly less than her being a named driver on her mum's policy. The very best quote was if we leased her a new VW Up and then that was only £850.
So that tips the balance... if daughter's own policy is hardly more than the uplift on Mrs F's policy to have her as named driver she might as well have her own car sooner rather than later and start earning her own no claims.
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i bought my civic a 2.2 ex 2009 last june, i already had a jazz, and paid £69 for adding it to the car insurance, come renewal time, the insurer refused to renew me, maybe due to the post code, i had over 9 years no claim no points and no conviction and am in my mid 40s.
Trawling the internet the lowest i got was £570 with sainsbury, resigned to the fact that was the best offer for me, i bought the policy.
On a whim i then provided my details on direct line, as they are not on the comparison site, the quote i got was £470, which included NCD protection.
So i cancelled the policy with sainsbury spoke to the customer advisor saying that if they could match direct line, but they couldn't.
My jazz last year cost me £430, so a additional £40 to pay for the civic which is a a small family car, more power better fuel economy.
My say in this is that it should be based on the driver record, not where you live, that determines your premium.
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I was at a son's house when he opened his post - house insurance!
he was burgled 6 years ago and was paying for that but the premium was foing up again - £520!
He said he would just let it renew. I did a comparison site trawl - a "known insurance company" was £250- £300 - he called his insurer and they matched it.
As a matter of fairness I would have walked - wanting £520 then dropping by 40%+ is deceit IMHO.
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>> As a matter of fairness I would have walked - wanting £520 then dropping by
>> 40%+ is deceit IMHO.
I tend to agree, and I do that with car insurance.
I am slightly more reluctant to change house insurers. A friend of mine had a very large subsidence claim a few years ago, not long after changing insurers. There was a lot of argument about when the damage occurred and which insurer was liable.
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My house insurance is with the red phone lot. Have to get my brother to ring them (I'm deaf) yearly as the auto-renew price is way more than what their website quotes. Apart from a small amount to cover something for a fortnight a new policy not cover, they offer the same price on a renewal if you moan.
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I'm with Barclays. Last year the renewal had gone up quite a bit so I phoned them. With a bit of tweaking, the chap I spoke to actually got the cost down to below what it was the year before - also ended up with more contents cover (higher figure). He also said to phone up at renewal time again as they'll be able to do something similar.
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Car insurance - again! - Ateca chris
