I think this is going to be a no brainer, but here goes anyway.
Currently with Direct Line and they've just sent my renewal quote through - £453.
Have shopped around a bit (as you do) and Tesco have given me an online quote of £320.
I realise the £320 quote from Tesco will include an online discount, along with another discount for providing my club card details. Even without the clubcard it's 'still' only £360, which is nearly £100 cheaper than Direct Line.
My question is, comparing Direct Line to Tesco, who would provide the best service in the event of a claim, etc?
I've previously made a couple of claims whilst with Direct Line for the past 8 years and their service has been faultless.
Am I right in thinking that Tesco use Direct Line anyway?
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No brainer it is - Tesco certainly used to use DL.
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NFU seemed cheap enough when I did a tentative search with them.
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What do the price comparison websites give you for quotes?
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RBS trade under Direct Line, Privilege, UKI............................you will only know how good/bad they are if/when you claim.
Claims experience varies with company to company and with the actual claims handler and how thorough they are.
MY son was with DL and was bumped by 3 rd party up the back - DL wanted their garage and he obliged - colour match was poor as was paint finish - DL washed their hands of it as it was between the repairer and my son..............hacked off he went to Esure and saved £100 / yr.
How good are Esure? Neither he nor I can tell as we have not claimed .
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>>DL wanted their garage and he obliged
I also obliged once, but never again.
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Re NFU my daughter had an S MAX with them and wanted to add a car which I was letting have on a long term loan (307) and the premium was over £800; LV did the two for £410. She also had the advantage that, as she was paying NFU monthly, she was able to cancel the policy by stopping the payments = no hassle with minimal refunds etc.
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I must admit because I let my previous car be taken to one of DL's approved repairers, they wrote it off. Had I taken it to a local body shop who have a good reputation and work they've done for me in the past has been brilliant, they probably wouldn't have written it off. I only went with their approved repairer because they said if anything went wrong afterwards by me using my own repairer, then it would be down to me and not them to pursue it.
>> What do the price comparison websites give you for quotes?
I haven't bothered because of the spam emails I've previosuly got from some of them afterwards with other promotions, etc, despite ticking the "I don't want you to email me with crap" boxes. ok, I could set up a disposable email address, but all extra hassle.
I've just phoned Tesco, and as well as the cheaper quote, I will also get a £25 gift card to spend in store on food, clothes, electrical items, or even to buy petrol from their garage. I will also get points added to my club card.
The girl I spoke to said that she also deals with and provides quotes for DL and Privledge car insurance. They are a call centre who handle all their calls.
I just wonder what benefits (if any) I would lose by changing over from DL to Tesco.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 18 May 10 at 13:57
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> My question is, comparing Direct Line to Tesco, who would provide the best service in the event of a claim, etc?
They're all handled in the same call centre (5 atlatic quay, Glasgow) by the same staff, along with churchill insurance.
My better half works in there - they're all getting laid off tho :-/
They've recently opened an indian operation and have stopped publicising that they only use uk call centres recently...
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at the moment, tesco IS direct line. The service you get is the same, because you are insured by direct line. I flip flop between Dl and Tesco each year for home insurance taking the 10% new business discount each time.
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>> My better half works in there - they're all getting laid off tho :-/
>> They've recently opened an indian operation and have stopped publicising that they >>only use uk call centres recently...
9/10 years ago I was with Esure (still am) and they had an Indian call centre - appallingly bad so I wrote and complained - I got a std reply of saying their service was satisfactory....................12 months later I had a letter saying they were now 100% UK based for all queries and questions etc
It pays to compalin and walk if necessary.
November 1971 I booked BAOC direct from Middle East to London (£230 rtn - a lot then!)
BAOC cabin crew went on strike - instead of 10 hours door to door it took 2.5 days.........Never bought a BAOC/BA ticket personally in nearly 40 years although when I worked the companies sometimes had me on BA. The BA Strikers better be careful or their good jobs may disappear if many follow my example.
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Might even have been BOAC. (better on a Camel)
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V
go on the DL website and get a quote. I bet it's lower than your renewal. You can then compare that with the Tesco quote. Don't worry that it is any way invalid, I have done this with DL car & house insurance and even been advised by the DL call centre to go with the DL web quote "as they couldn't match it"(!)
JH
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>> V
>> go on the DL website and get a quote. I bet it's lower than your renewal.
Yep, sure is. £453 for the quote that came through the post. £400 or thereabouts via online. I did get it down to £379 by tinkering with things like policy excesses and hire car preferences.
I've done this before and managed to negotiate a deal with DL (eventually) but they said that they wouldn't honour it again as it's for new customers and not existing ones. Also with the online quote there is a discount for cutting out the middleman which you don't get for being an existing customer and receiving a quote through the post.
Like mobile phone companies, the perks and discounts are only offered to new customers, not existing ones.
I will phone DL though and see if I can get them reduce the renewal quote.
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V,
"Like mobile phone companies, the perks and discounts are only offered to new customers, not existing ones."
That's what they want you to believe but, like I said, it worked for me so good luck. I did almost walk anyway as I felt I was being had for a mug so If Tesco are cheaper I'd go for Tesco. Then next year, if need be, you're a new customer at DL and you get all of the discounts :-)
JH
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Would £133 difference really influence your choice of insurer? Did you buy the cheapest car you could find? Do you buy the cheapest food, cheapest clothes, cheapest furniture and soft furnishings, cheapest ............?
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Some have been in the position that they have to L's, and very often the end result is no difference apart from saving money.
You should try it sometime!
Pat
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>> Would £133 difference really influence your choice of insurer?
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Yes as Tesco and DL are essentially one and the same. They are both underwritten by RBS owned UK Insurance Ltd.
If you knew that Tesco canofworms was the exactly the same as 30% more expensive but packaged as a branded canofworms, why would you pay more for the same product?
Last edited by: John H on Tue 18 May 10 at 17:25
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Buy Tesco and drive carefully.
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Would £133 difference really influence your choice of insurer? Did you buy the cheapest car you could find? Do you buy the cheapest food, cheapest clothes, cheapest furniture and soft furnishings, cheapest ............?
Yes
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>>Would £133 difference really influence your choice of insurer?
I wonder what enormous figure you must be forking out for your insurance if £133 wouldn't influence your choice. A third of that would influence mine.
Edit: Didn't mean to push in front of your post, DD. Was called to the 'phone!
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Tue 18 May 10 at 19:43
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>> Would £133 difference really influence your choice of insurer?
Les, its closer to £160.
£453 - £320 = £133.
And then there's the £25 voucher to spend in store or on fuel.
£133 + £25 = £158
Not to mention the 320 points added to my clubcard which must also be worth something.
To answer your question, if it was only something like £30 to £40, then I wouldn't bother changing. But to make a saving of £158, it's seriously worth considering if DL & Tesco basically are the same insurer.
Also, my policy excess would drop from £125 in the event of a claim to £100.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 18 May 10 at 19:22
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Phoned DL this morning and they offered me a cheaper price of £395. They couldn't match their online quote of £379 (and denied all knowledge of it when I told them the ref No, as well as having an email confirmation that it was £379)
So I told them I wasn't renewing the policy.
Phoned Tesco and renewed with them instead.
I tried phoning DL several times yesterday, but just couldn't get though. I wish now that I had persevered and stayed on the line to get it all sorted as Tesco told me their £25 voucher offer to spend in store or on fuel ended yesterday - it's now 50% off full breakdown cover, which I don't need as I'm already with the RAC.
Still, the £133 I've saved is approx half my RFL, which is due the end of June.
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You can use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to renew your RAC membership, either in part or whole for the next year.
I've used Tesco before and they are good. Great customer service.
At the moment I'm with Nationwide Building Society, who are managed by Liverpool Victoria. They were cheap.
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I don't pay for my RAC membership. It's a joint policy with another family member.
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Can they not use them the next time they renew?
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I'll mention it to them, but I think they cash some of them in for Christmas shopping and the like.
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Direct Line vs Tesco Car Insurance - R.P.