Cheaper car insurance - Updated 14.03.08

steveymp

Bigcammy wrote: »

Another vote here for Direct Line, beat all others for me by a long shot.

Think it depends on age, car etc.... Bigcammy, but I have nothing but praise for them, best price by far for me last year and I wrote the car off:eek: Car recovered assessed and cheque in the post inside 1 week:T:T:T paid out more than I thought car was worth too:)
Insurance changed to new car for no fee and yearly renewal was cheaper than last years insurance:D:D:D

Brilliant company and UK call centers when you need to talk to someone:T

arkonite_babe

I'll merge the two threads so we keep all the replies together

Artofdookie

Quinn insurance in administration
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8595018.stm


A company owned by a County Fermanagh businessmen has been placed into administration at the High Court in Dublin.
Quinn Insurance Group, which has offices in Cavan and Enniskillen, is owned by Sean Quinn.
Joint administrators were appointed after the Financial Regulator expressed serious concerns about the finances of the company and how it was being run.
Quinn Insurance also operates Quinn Insurance UK.
The regulator has ordered this wing of the company to stop writing new business in the UK.
"Existing UK policyholders will not be affected by this decision as existing policies will remain valid. Customers can make claims in the normal way," the regulator said.
"The effect of this action is to prevent Quinn Insurance Limited suffering further financial losses from its currently unprofitable UK business."
Lawyers for the regulator told the court it had been discovered that subsidiaries of the company had made guarantees in relation to the group's assets in 2005 which has reduced the value of the assets by 448 million euros.
Some directors of Quinn Insurance were unaware of the guarantees, lawyers for the regulator said.
The court heard the company had significantly breaches its solvency ratios.
The company had moved from a position where it had an excess of assets over liabilities of more than 200 million euros to a position where it had 200 million euros of liabilities over assets.
Mr Quinn began in business in 1973 at a small gravel pit on the family farm in Derrylin.

x12yhp

I am with open and direct since they agreed to beat my renewal last year. They told me that subsequent years premiums would be based on the initial and would not simply go back to the drawing board. However, the renewal has just hit the doorstep - more than 3 times what it was last year. WHF!?

JimmyNI

Hi folks, long time lurker, first time poster, be gentle with me :d

Not passed my test too long and thought I’d see about getting a wee car for myself, looked about, saw a wee car that I got quoted £1500 for insurance, which is crazy

Would it have any affect if I was to insure the car on my missus’ name with me as a named driver, bearing in mind she already has fully comp insurance on her own car?

I’m aware of the legal issues regarding that so please don’t give out to me, I’m struggling to get a decent quote.

Thanks in advance.

almillar

One piece of advice I would give from when I was younger, and there's no problem with it, is to add people to your insurance that are a lower risk than you, for example your parents. Add uncles, friends of the family, anyone you might think might want to ever drive your car is a legitimate person to add to your insurance.
Because you've got other people on your car, that means you can drive it less, and the premium may go down. As I've got older that benefit has gone away and it now costs more.

drew2k9

thats not always the case, and your main problem is if you are the registered owner and keeper of the car and get it insured under someone elses name with you as a named driver it will raise eyebrows.

you just gotta try different places, i had to give in to the awful quinns as they were the cheapest for me by about £500, but i made sure to go fully comp and add windscreen cover as this isnt standard with their fully comp insurance.

Sor

So what's the latest on favoured car insurance companies?

Has anyone used / heard of http://www.its4women.com/ ? Quote doesn't seem too bad from them, especially since I've heard lots of people saying that quotes this year have gone up.

x12yhp

After the lies I was given by Open and Direct (they keep sending me rubbish trying to get me back, inspite of being 3 times too high), I ended up with Hughes. As someone else said, the price gets better when you actually talk to them. Definitely worth getting on the horn.

As for female specific... be aware that the benefit afforded to the fairer sex may not last. There was a case in the European courts with the basic summary being that men were being descriminated against unfairly. Premiums may be forced upwards (soonish.... maybe...) to bring into line with what an equivalent male would pay.

Sor

May I ask what lies you were told by open and direct? They operate a scheme through work, on which Ive been insured this past year, and the quote I've been given for this year is good - probably not much point in my ringing round other insurers good.

As for for female specific discriminating against men; surely that's the insurance companies problem, not mine. Once they've given me a quote which I accept and pay, they can't put that up and ask me to pay more...?! You can add men as named drivers to your insurance with its4women. Surely the reason for women specific insurance is that (supposedly) women have fewer accidents than men? Thus should have cheaper insurance..?? Are there not statistics on that? Or have the insurance companies been making that up? (which is of course very likely as they're insurance companies..) If that is this case then surely men are not being discriminated against unfairly? Haven't seen any info on the European case you've mentioned so don't know what the case was or what the result was, and I'm just asking.