Car Insurance Renewal - £557!

lara400

Hi,

Just got my car insurance renewal letter from Admiral - they are asking for £557! Well, I do have 6 points and the car is 10 years old...

Anyway, I went to moneysavingsupermarket.com and "esure" came out on top with £474.

If I choose "esure" would my "Admiral" insurance just end or do I need to call them to ask to cancel - I am a easy target for sales people on the phone! Hate calling them and they ask......."why do you want to leave?"........"we can match it"

If they say to match it should I stay or should I go....(hang on, wasent that a song?)

Admiral are gits in that they sent the letter such that I only have a week to decide....

thanks,
lara

dogbot

would my "Admiral" insurance just end or do I need to call them to ask to cancel

You should check the details of the policy wording but i do not think that it will automaticaly renew. Admiral are not technicaly their own insurer, they have a panel of underwriters who subscribe to their wording, so they may be able to try and re-quote you and you may save even more than the esure price.

Hate calling them

I am with admiral at the moment and, when I recently changed cars, they were very quick to waive the admin charge and cut the price further so that it worked out cheaper for me to stay with them for the rest of the year rather than to change. I found their staff polite and helpful.

Admiral are gits in that they sent the letter such that I only have a week to decide....

This seems odd, the FSA requires that you are notified 21 days in advance of renewal date. Purhaps the letter got lost in the post?

If they say to match it should I stay or should I go

Apparently Esure have a bad rep but I think you would have to make up your own mind there. There are lots of posts on this forum and others.

As far as differences go, Esure seem to charge slightly less for Direct Debit if that is how you pay compared to Admiral, though charge higher admin charges. Otherwise i think they are both offering a fairly similar "cheap" car insurace package. If there is particular cover you want then have a look though the two wordings - it wouldn't take long

yorksrabbit

Lara:

Excellent post from dogbot. The thing to remember is that renewal notices aren't actually what they were -- advisories of new prices -- but "invitations to treat". In other words: opportunities to haggle.

That's because the cost of acquiring new business is a damn sight more than retaining existing business.

Fed up with your Sky bill? Ring 'em and say you're cancelling. Sky will regard that as an "invitation to treat", so will offer you a lower price.

Giving up BT Broadband? Ring 'em and say so -- then listen as the price comes down.

AA or RAC renewals? Tell 'em you're off to Green Flag (or whatever) and, again, the price will come down.

So, too, with insurers, whether it's motoring or home.

The only time a better deal isn't offered is when the provider has already decided it doesn't want your business, so hitting you with a high, non-negotiable figure is the provider's way of saying "goodbye".

caz07

hi lara
when my car insurance from swinton came in at £373.00 ,i thought its time to look online, i used gocompare the cheapest was the AA at £251.50p,
i phoned swinton and told them, i could get it cheaper told him all the details etc ,he said leave it with me , after 30mins he phoned back and I got it for £251.50p. :j always shop around , hope this helps

lara400

dogbot and others thanks a lot for this help! I knew this is the one forum I can get independent and quality advise from!

I went to HSBC today for othe stuff and I mention in passing that my car insurance is up for renewal - the lady said she can try and get their quote (HSBC).........£807!!!!! er...no!

Right, well, I am going to gear myself up in phoning admiral tomorrow and telling them that I can get insurance from esure for £487. Lets see what they say....

Lara

yorksrabbit

Good luck lara400 with Admiral -- just one point to remember though: many insurance companies ask for sight of a confirmed, written quote before they'll conclude a transaction.

In other words, Admiral (for example) might say, yup, we'll price match it, but it will be conditional on seeing the quotation they're up against.

Usually this isn't a problem but you do need to be aware of such a possibility when time is short.

And make sure that you have a detailed, personal and confirmed quotation to discuss: the screenscraper sites are very often worse than useless in that they put up a list of quotes which, when you come to actually follow 'em up, turn out to be anything but the bargains they first appeared to be (idiotic excesses etc etc.) Policies have to be like-for-like.

ijgreer

Insurance companies are businesses so will try to retain as much profit as possible, however, the dangers associated with online are excesses which help to lower premiums. Tescos hit you with a £570 one straight way unless you declare otherwise. Always check the excess and if you can tell you current insurer who will recheck the details and try to match the quote.

Remember, they are going on last years information which may not be as up to date as what you are giving to your new company.

Rolandtheroadie

ijgreer wrote: »

Insurance companies are businesses so will try to retain as much profit as possible, however, the dangers associated with online are excesses which help to lower premiums. Tescos hit you with a £570 one straight way unless you declare otherwise. Always check the excess and if you can tell you current insurer who will recheck the details and try to match the quote.

Remember, they are going on last years information which may not be as up to date as what you are giving to your new company.

Have to agree with the excess part. My wife and I have only the basic excesses but have had friends that never knew their excess until they'd had to claim.
It only comes into play when you have an accident, but added to the fact the offer for your cars probably about 15-25% less than you thought, perhaps finance to pay off and then another car to buy, an extra £500 to find doesnt help.

space_rider

yorksrabbit wrote: »

Lara:


The only time a better deal isn't offered is when the provider has already decided it doesn't want your business, so hitting you with a high, non-negotiable figure is the provider's way of saying "goodbye".

I had that with Norwich union. 2nd year they matched another company and gave me a £50 store voucher for paying upfront. Came in very handy for a gas bbq at B&Q. When I phoned them in June they said they couldn`t match the cheapest and that was that.

lara400

Me and my big mouth!

I called up Admiral and told them that I can get a renewal quote from esure for £487 - can you match it or do something cheaper. So, the guy went through the steps of comparing all the details with what I gave esure and it turns out that I did not inform Admiral that I had some points on my license from 2007 (You are meant to tell insurance company this - honestly did not know that). So, they have now back dated my insurance payment from last year to charge me a further £249.50p!! This is if I take the renewal with them or not (after this stuff them).

I asked if they can overlook it (only got a couple of days left!). The guy said he can;t as all calls are recorded and legaly he can;t do anything about it! I felt a right pillick!

Well - now I am applying to esure and am really happy to be away from Admiral! Never touching them again.....

Rolandtheroadie

Did you enter your points into moneysupermarket?