Churchill renewal a joke!

wodgerdodger

Just had my awaited renewal in from Churchill for £320 which was £100 more than last year , my first with them. I had already gone online prepared for an increase and got 6 quotes for less than £190.

On contacting Churchill to cancel renewal I was put through to sales desk who immediately reduced their quote by £80 but cancelled anyway and have now finished up with Insuring with identical cover through an old broker contact for £180.

As has been said many times it pays to shop around but importantly don't ignore the High Street insurance specialist.:beer:

adamc260

Every company does the same at renewal, hikes it up because you lose your new customer discount amongst other reasons.... half the time people just re-quote online and end up going back to the same company for a cheaper price.

But yes, your right, pays to shop around.

mikey72

Exactly the same in another thread..
Possibly the insurance companies think you will be shopping around anyway, so they are trying it on hoping to fleece the ones that don't, combined with others missing the "auto-renew" and paying the new premium without realising until too late.
If it was genuine they couldn't afford to pricematch, and the other companies couldn't afford to offer it in the first place.
I don't believe in new customer discount, as they know they are offering the insurance to a customer who is moving to get a cheap price, and will most likely do the same next renewal as well, so they can't be hoping to all their profit next year.
This is a second year as well, so continuous "new customer discount" isn't sustainable, it still must be a profitable quote even at the reduced price, or they would let the customer go.
Nowadays insurance must be sold be ex double glazing salesmen.

raskazz

adamc260 wrote: »

Every company does the same at renewal, hikes it up because you lose your new customer discount amongst other reasons.... half the time people just re-quote online and end up going back to the same company for a cheaper price.

But yes, your right, pays to shop around.

Not every company does the same. I know of at least 2 insurers who will offer a renewal customer a cheaper rate than a new business customer (all other things being equal).

mikey72

raskazz wrote: »

Not every company does the same. I know of at least 2 insurers who will offer a renewal customer a cheaper rate than a new business customer (all other things being equal).

Who are they?
Name them, they deserve business, I'll support any ethical company.

mikey72

mikey72 wrote: »

Who are they?
Name them, they deserve business, I'll support any ethical company.

He's gone, unless anyone else knows who these 2 are, I'll have to stick to the other 998 that offer a dearer rate to existing customers every renewal.

dacouch

A lot of the companies who only deal with brokers offer cheaper prices for existing customers than for new customers which is how all companies used to operate before the advent of comparison sites.

Insurers who are broker only include MMA, Groupama

mikey72

dacouch wrote: »

A lot of the companies who only deal with brokers offer cheaper prices for existing customers than for new customers which is how all companies used to operate before the advent of comparison sites.

Insurers who are broker only include MMA, Groupama

I asked rashazz for the two he knew of, he only mentioned he knew two, but I sure he must know more broker only companies, so maybe the others increase their prices too?
Two companies who only use brokers who may be cheaper aren't really the same, but I'm sure if anyone uses them they'll post up to confirm hopefully.
I think direct sell insurance came before comparison sites, so maybe it was this that let to the loss of the broker in the chain, in fact there wouldn't really be comparison sites if there were no direct sell to compare.
Maybe the broker stopped looking cost effective to the insurance companies at the end of the day, maybe they though they could keep selling direct and keep the prices up.

mikey72

dacouch wrote: »

A lot of the companies who only deal with brokers offer cheaper prices for existing customers than for new customers which is how all companies used to operate before the advent of comparison sites.

Insurers who are broker only include MMA, Groupama

That's a bit naughty.
"broker only" maybe but if you include all the online "brokers" and
comparison sites like

http://www.quotezone.co.uk/mma.htm

MMA may not be "direct" but they're certainly not only the high street shop you're impying they are.

edit - double naughty - Groupama are on there as well.

dacouch

mikey72 wrote: »

I asked rashazz for the two he knew of, he only mentioned he knew two, but I sure he must know more broker only companies, so maybe the others increase their prices too?
Two companies who only use brokers who may be cheaper aren't really the same, but I'm sure if anyone uses them they'll post up to confirm hopefully.
I think direct sell insurance came before comparison sites, so maybe it was this that let to the loss of the broker in the chain, in fact there wouldn't really be comparison sites if there were no direct sell to compare.
Maybe the broker stopped looking cost effective to the insurance companies at the end of the day, maybe they though they could keep selling direct and keep the prices up.

There are plenty of broker only Insurers and their business model is normally to offer cheaper premiums to existing customers.

The original direct companies eg Preferred and Direct Line originally worked on the same basis as otherwise they would simply lose their customers at renewal. An existing customer is a known risk to an insurer as they can see their true claims history. An Insurer typically lost money or broke even on the first year due to the setting up costs but made money when the policy was renewed as the admin costs were vastly reduced.

Motor Insurance has probably the lowest profit margin for an Insurer out of any type of policy. The business plan of companies such as DL was to build a client base of motor clients and then use the brand and client list to sell them more profitable policies such as home insurance and life insurance etc.

The advent of comparison sites has meant that many Insurers have started offering cheaper prices to new customers than existing customers as to gain business they have to offer the cheapest quote. Which is often achieved by the existing customers subsidising the new customers premiums and / or reducing the levels of cover and / or offering the cover at a loss to gain the customer. Their hope again is often to cross sell the more profitable covers.

The comparison sites have also contributed to the bringing in of admin fees and inflated legal cover premiums etc.

adamc260

dacouch wrote: »

There are plenty of broker only Insurers and their business model is normally to offer cheaper premiums to existing customers.

The original direct companies eg Preferred and Direct Line originally worked on the same basis as otherwise they would simply lose their customers at renewal. An existing customer is a known risk to an insurer as they can see their true claims history. An Insurer typically lost money or broke even on the first year due to the setting up costs but made money when the policy was renewed as the admin costs were vastly reduced.

Motor Insurance has probably the lowest profit margin for an Insurer out of any type of policy. The business plan of companies such as DL was to build a client base of motor clients and then use the brand and client list to sell them more profitable policies such as home insurance and life insurance etc.

The advent of comparison sites has meant that many Insurers have started offering cheaper prices to new customers than existing customers as to gain business they have to offer the cheapest quote. Which is often achieved by the existing customers subsidising the new customers premiums and / or reducing the levels of cover and / or offering the cover at a loss to gain the customer. Their hope again is often to cross sell the more profitable covers.

The comparison sites have also contributed to the bringing in of admin fees and inflated legal cover premiums etc.

I tend to find (when looking at renewal) brokers are never competitive for me, they put me with companies like Groupama and MMA etc who charge me 3x what the 'mainstream' guys do, I guess I'm at that age though