Car insurance - double check your renewal quote online

serious_saver

I was insured with Direct Line for my car insurance. Last year (the first year that I’ve had a car) I paid around £530.

When my renewal quote came through in the post I was quoted £432.75

Not bad you might think! After all it was still cheaper than any of the quotes from the major other insurers and the comparison sites.

For some reason though, I decided to go onto the Direct Line website and see what it would come up with if I started again.

It came up with a quote of 383.25 and this included legal protection cover and guaranteed hire car, which I hadn’t had before. I had also just changed jobs, leaving my secure civil service job to become a student again. Now, I always thought that students were considered higher risk than civil servants!

Any way I phoned them up to say I wanted to take the cheaper quote and was informed that they would beat any other quote I got and would cover me for £381.50, even though the quote came from themselves!!!

So by getting a quote online with my own insurance company…

…I saved £51.25
…received guaranteed hire car
…received legal cover

Basically, my advice would be to make sure you get an online quote from your old insurance company even if the renewal quote looks like it’s the cheapest.

serious_saver

Dan_Thomas wrote: »

Sound advice. But check that it is really like for like. Check the excess is the same. Check the levels of cover (is it on the same scheme?). Check that you haven't "forgotten" about any claims or convictions.

I'm all up for challenging insurers with their prices, but don't just look at the saving and jump at it.

Absolutely! the most important thing is to make sure you're covered properly for your needs. In my experience the people who can't afford to be insured are the one's who can't afford NOT to be insured!

In this case, the like for like would have been even cheaper but it seemed worth it to add the guarenteed hire car and legal cover.

I think the issue here is that a lot of savers, even the very savy ones will compare prices of competitors but won't check if their own insurer will give them a better deal.

lisyloo

BUT be careful you aren't getting NEW customer discounts that you aren't entitled to.

serious_saver

Again, good advice. I guess it depends on the specific insurance company but for Direct Line you can't simply accept an online quote if it differs from you renewal quote.

When you get a big discrepancy like I had (over £50!!! + inclusion of additional services coming to £42) they put you through to the customer loyalty department who decide whether to give you the discount. This is the same team who you contact if you decide not to renew.

It means you'll spend quite a long time on the phone but it could be worth it.

I assume this wouldn't work for internet only insurance comapnies, who don't have call centres, but I couldn't say for certain as I've never used one.