Car Insurance with English speaking call centres?

Belnahua

Hi,

Does anyone know which insurance companies have UK only call centres please?

I am currently with More Than and after a little shunt today, I shall be cancelling my policy immediately.

6 phone calls all to somewhere where I cannot understand them, due to either accent or a poor phone line.

I have had to source my own repair centre as I am so remote and do all the leg work.

And still I don't know what's going on because I can't understand them, and when I ask to be put through to the UK they refuse.

So goodbye More Than!

lisyloo

I had a claim with Lloyds TSB in June 08 and I only spoke to English people.
Can't guarantee it hasn' changed since then of course.
I got £120 cashabck with them via quidco - their current offer if £30 but they've always paid up.
I had a good claims experience with them.
It was quck and easy and we got a good hire car (saab) not an inferior one.
They also said that both of us would be insured on the hire car and there was only a small excess, so I was pleased.
It would have been annoying if only one of us was insured so I checked it all out and it was all good.

dacouch

The ones I know that do have "Offshore" call centres are More Than, Zurich, Norwich Union / Aviva (Pretty Bad), Royal & Sun Alliance, Axa (Really Bad one). There are probably loads more so any other MSErs please feel free to add.

Direct Line and Churchill have UK based call centres (Mostly sunny Croydon).There are probably loads more so any other MSErs please feel free to add.

As you have discovered the drawbacks of call centres why not learn from the lesson and deal with a local broker. When you have a claim they will do all the running around for you and if you have any problems you can always pop in to their office and actually speak to a real person.

lisyloo

It would be interesting to see how much more expensive a broker would be.
I accept that they can offer a service, but my impression is that the cheapest one are direct, on-line etc.
I have had an experience with an on-line only insurer where things became difficult, but I'm not sure I'd want to pay loads more for the services of a broker.

I might check it out next time for comparison, but with quidco cashback as well I expect the price would be too high.
I generally get between £40 and £120 cashback, so I'd have to forego that for starters even if they could compete on price.

mattymoo

lisyloo wrote: »

It would be interesting to see how much more expensive a broker would be.
I accept that they can offer a service, but my impression is that the cheapest one are direct, on-line etc.
I have had an experience with an on-line only insurer where things became difficult, but I'm not sure I'd want to pay loads more for the services of a broker.

I might check it out next time for comparison, but with quidco cashback as well I expect the price would be too high.
I generally get between £40 and £120 cashback, so I'd have to forego that for starters even if they could compete on price.

You would certainly have to forego the Quidco with a broker.

Years ago, before the rise of people like Direct Line etc the price a retail customer paid at the insurers sales counter was the same price you would pay via a broker. The insurer then had to return 15-25% as commision to the broker. In other words there was no discount for going direct.

Many insurers operate multiple distribution channels - phone, web, broker and affinity (e.g. building societies or special schemes). The pricing across these is broadly similar and you may be quite surprised at the rates a broker can achieve.

Insurers recognise that brokers take a lot of the work off their hands. For instance, when dealing with a broker they do not have to give all the official blurb about non-disclosure etc because it is the brokers job to explain this to the client. Those admin savings are balanced against the commision payments and the net result is a very similar premium.

dacouch

Brokers do not spend the tens and tens of millions of pounds on advertising that Direct Line etc spend out. I have found Direct Line are often quote expensive now as they have established themselves as a brand so do not have to compete so much on price as they used to.

Mattys explanation is spot on, I would add that the policies from a broker often other better cover than the same Insurer offer direct to their customers as they know they have to offer good cover as well as a good price through a broker to get the business. For instance the NU direct policy has less cover in many sections than the broker policy and a lot of the standard features of the broker policy are optional extras on the direct policy.

The prices are often the same and can be less than going direct especially for people with anything unusual.

In addition Lisyloo the majority of the UK Public are not as informed about Insurance as you so by going to a decent broker the broker points out any pitfalls etc etc

Plus a decent broker would warn an NU / Aviva policyholder of the pitfalls of Asprea as soon as they report a claim to them and advise them to give Asprea the big swerve

I won't go into the other benefits of using a broker as they have been covered on MSE before

lisyloo

Will take a look next time.
I have my bike insurance with ebike who do most things on-line.
Works great until you need to do something that their on-line system cannot cope with and then it breaks down.

DCFC79

Maybe im wrong but i think direct line have uk cal centres or maybe all the times ive called its been an english person on the other end

Quote

/racist

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mattymoo

^Troll :rotfl:

ariba10

SAGA have English call centers.