First Direct Car Insurance 10% guarantee

dacouch

Davegeo wrote: »

I had a good experience with getting cover from First Direct (can't say anything about how easy it is to claim yet).

My renewal price from Aviva was already better than anything from the comparison sites - £394.99 (including legal cover, No claims protection and courtesy car) compared to the nearest from elsewhere at £528!!! (Considering nothing's changed from last year when the price was £363, that shows you how much everything's shot up over the year).

When I called, it was pretty simple because they'd already got most of my details from my renewal documents. They not only beat the renewal by the promised 10%, but the cover they offered was better - for example the excess for windscreen replacement was cheaper, 60 days European cover was included, as was third part cover to drive other cars and a brand new replacement car for written off cars under 12 months old.

- Davegeo

You get New car replacement with Aviva and also driving other cars.

The renewal premium with First Direct next year will be circa £528 plus any rate increase they have.

Personally I would have stayed with Aviva for the sake of £10

paul_uk_3

My renewal quote of £443 from Admiral was better than what the price comparison sites could come up with. So I tried First Direct online and was offered 10% off as advertised at £399. I called Admiral to see if they could match or better this before I switched. After 'speaking with her manager', they offered me £40 off at £403. So for the sake of an extra £4, and in case the First Direct deal didn't happen for whatever reason, I stayed with Admiral to save the hassle of switching. So MSE has saved me £40!

Money_Man_Steve

My renewal with elephant.co.uk was up about £60 to £388. Filled in First Direct's online form, which asked me to call them. Called them, provided details and they called back the next day stating that 'they don't cover my kind of vehicle.'

I have 15 years NCD, no claims, losses or accidents.

It's left me annoyed with the claims of a 10% saving in the First Direct ad for the insurance, however reading some of the reviews of the insurance company, I think I might have had a lucky escape.

imcat

** WARNING ** Equity Red Star who runs the insurance for First Direct is running a blatant con with its "beat your existing quote by 10%" promotion.

Sure, they will offer you a quote but when you take out the insurance and send in the original renewal proof they "deliberately" lose it. They then give you 7 days to send it in again or either jack up your rate or cancel charging a £30 cancellation fee.

Since it takes about 7 days to obtain another copy from the previous insurer you are left to either accept the higher premium or pay the £30 cancellation fee.

I have had this done twice to me on two different cars by Equity Red Star.

The first time, I beat them to it and got Direct Line to fax the copy which they had to then reluctantly accept (they did argue though). The following year they jacked the premium by 3x and lost me as a customer.

On the second occasion when they tried again to pull this "lost renewal notice" con on I was unfortunately on holiday. When I got back I found my insurance had already been cancelled (car left with no cover) and they kept all my premiums I paid by saying that they have charged me the £30 cancellation fee and 1 months pro rata insurance premium based upon the non discounted/non bonused 10x higher premium.

Complaints to Equity Red Star were ignored and so in the end as First Direct were acting as the advisor I threatened them with the Financial Ombudsman and and complaint to the FSA. They refunded the £30 fee and the one months premium calculated correctly. However I was still left out of pocket on the legal insurance premium which they said they could not refund.

It is clear that First Direct made the refunds out of their own pocket and not force Equity Red Star to change as a few days later after FD has made the refund I got got a letter from ERS confirming they won't pay back a single penny.

I am still in a mind to raise a complaint to the ombudsman (have about a month left to do it) but not sure it is worth wasting my time on it for the last £20 of premiums not refunded.

Wagga_2

Hello there -

I have just tried the First Direct promise to beat your car insurance renewal by 10% - not only was this genuine and easily achieved - but they also then offer a further guarantee to beat a second, or any additional policies renewal by 15% -

My insurance included: additional driver - business use - higher mileage and 1 non fault accident - all were added to the policy with no problem

As my previous insurer was Swift Cover (Would definitely NOT recommend) - I simply e-mailed all documentation and all was sorted within 10 minutes

Would definitely recommend it

imcat

Wagga wrote: »

Hello there -

I have just tried the First Direct promise to beat your car insurance renewal by 10% - not only was this genuine and easily achieved - but they also then offer a further guarantee to beat a second, or any additional policies renewal by 15% -

My insurance included: additional driver - business use - higher mileage and 1 non fault accident - all were added to the policy with no problem

As my previous insurer was Swift Cover (Would definitely NOT recommend) - I simply e-mailed all documentation and all was sorted within 10 minutes

Would definitely recommend it

And you just signed up today to offer this insight? ERS will not accept emailed documentation (I tried) and insist on original docs only (so they can "lose" them).

You clearly have no credibility and are just an employee of Equity Red Star. Have you no shame!

dacouch

Wagga wrote: »

Hello there -

I have just tried the First Direct promise to beat your car insurance renewal by 10% - not only was this genuine and easily achieved - but they also then offer a further guarantee to beat a second, or any additional policies renewal by 15% -

My insurance included: additional driver - business use - higher mileage and 1 non fault accident - all were added to the policy with no problem

As my previous insurer was Swift Cover (Would definitely NOT recommend) - I simply e-mailed all documentation and all was sorted within 10 minutes

Would definitely recommend it

I'm not sure who are worse...Swift or Equity Red Star

interesting_person

At first, the quote I received from First direct seemed lower than my renewal quote, but on closer inspection the cover was not the same. By the time I changed the voluntary excess, and extras like legal cover and courtesy car, the quote from First Direct was higher.

jt1971

It worked for me - they did offer me 10% off which was about £40, which was £20 better than any of the comparison sites.

I then took this back to my current insurers who very nearly matched it. It has saved me £39. Well worth trying.

freeida

I have just used this and it worked really well - my TPF&T renewal quote was £120 and I as going to accept it because I tried all the comparisons sites and they were bringing up £170.00 plus as the cheapest......then I tried this site and got a quote of £109.00 - brill !!