Haggling car insurance - Norwich Union

beefturnmail

Following advice revceived on here, when my car insurance renewal quote came through from Norwich Union, I shopped around and found a quote with Diamond for £40 cheaper and including windscreen cover and courtesey car which my existing policy did not. I then phoned N.U. to see if they could match it and the customer service were very unhelpful, bordering on downright rude.

The reply was all 'yeah, right' and just a flat 'Nope, we can't match that'. I din't like the reps attitude, so I just said 'fine, I don't think I'll be renewing with you then' and as a reply he said 'Well, I'll just cancel the policy now then'. There is still a week to run on the policy, so I said 'Hang on, I think I want it to run for the full length I've paid for!'.

I had a similar tale when I tried to haggle with Orange over mobile phone plans. I thought both car insurance and mobile phones were competitive markets, so have I just picked bad companies or am I really bad at haggling?

Astaroth

Simply put, they cant haggle. The computer generates a price based on the risk and that is the price you have to pay. The only way they can "haggle" is by removing some of the optional extras to lower the price (but then you are also lowering the cover)

Computer says no.

obprestige

i agree with some of the previous post but insurers can move on the price, i work for a lagre broker and we can move on prices by lots of money if we know who we are competing against, so keep trying, good luck

Astaroth

A broker however is different from a direct insurer - for a start you have a commission which you can choose to partially forfeit in an attempt to secure business - your average call centre representative in a direct insurer will be getting less than £1 commission for the sale so not exactly much movement in price possible at their own discretion

jennifernil

We had 3 cars insured with N.U. Now it is 2. 2 years back the renewal from NU was a fair bit higher than the year before so I shopped around (as I usually do) and found a policy from Liverpool Victoria that was not only £40 cheaper but also better cover. So I rang NU and told them I did not think we would be renewing unless they were more reasonable. "Sorry", they said, "nothing we can do." So we arranged the insurance with LV. Once the new insurance was in place I rang NU to tell them we did not intend to renew. "Let me speak to my manager and see what I can do" she said, and came back with a £20 reduction. I told them that still was not good enough and that anyway I had already arranged the new policy and was only telling them as a courtesy.

8 months later, when the renewal on car no 2 came around, it was actually LESS than the previous year, AND when I rang to renew I got a further £20 "loyalty bonus" deducted.

3 1/2 months later we get to car no 3. Premium is up, but not too much. I shop around and check NU on the internet. Up comes a quote £30 less than my "loyal customer" rate. So I phone them and say I want to renew, but at the Internet rate. I get all the "new customers only" speech, and point out I am a "loyal customer" of several years standing with 2 cars insured!

Off she goes, and comes back with an offer of £15 off. Not good enough I tell them. "Best I can do she says" So then I relate the story of how they lost the business on no 1 car the previous year. More talking in the background, more consultations with her manager, and eventually a result! The Internet quote is matched, in fact even undercut by a pound!

Sorry to go on a bit here!!! So...........YES..........you can haggle! And ...........Yes........there will be someone there who can give you a better price. But you do need to do some legwork first so you have something to negotiate with.

Astaroth

Not really haggling... they are only giving you one of their existing rates - effectively cancelling your policy and giving you the new business internet rate again. Haggling would have been getting it £30 under the new business internet rate (so saving £60 from your original renewal)

jennifernil

Whatever!!! It felt like haggling!! It was still £30 odd saved that I would not have saved otherwise. And I still have the same policy number.

Their Internet rate was the lowest I found at that time, I would have gone elsewhere otherwise, unless they had matched the lower rate.

Wayne3765

I've just had a renewal quote from Insureyourmotor.com via email and in the email it says

However we have looked at your renewal personally and believe we may be able to offer an even more competitive premium not displayed on the invitation posted to you, but we must confirm some details in advance, so call us on 08707 xxxxxx

We can also offer discounts for renewing the policy early

so they want me to haggle.

The quote they gave was £299 while I got a quote of £190 from Privilege for the same level of cover and I can also get £40 cashback for going through Quidco :beer: .
I have emailed Insureyourmotor with the details of the other quote but I think a difference of £149 will be a little too much for them to meet.

EddieJ_2

Know how you feel Beefturnmail. Put up with a lot of rude so called "customer service" folk who can't handle questions they are not programmed to answer.

selbmag

Most insurers will move on price when asked. My renewal came in from Kwik Fit for £352.00 10 minutes checking some other online providers I rang them up and managed to get it down to £205 for the same cover.

As they are a broker they basically found me a different insurer rather than renewing with the same one.

jacquit_3

Norwich Union Direct no longer offer any manual discount on new business or renewal quotes, so no point asking!
Most insurers offer internet rates that are cheaper than the call centre's because costs are lower in generating a quote and servicing a policy. Makes sense really!