First Direct Car Insurance 10% guarantee

mr_meg

Just to add weight to those who have saved money through First Direct:

I (and subsequently my wife) have saved £100's over the years by playing First Direct off against our existing insurer - get a written quote from First Direct confirming they'll undercut your renewal by 10%, then go back to existing insurer asking if they'll beat that quote. Get it in writing and once again go back to First Direct who'll knock another 10% off that. (Repeat as often as you like, does require you to get quotes well in advance of renewal date owing to the time it takes).

In fact I subsequently left First Direct knowing full well I'd go back to them again to take advantage of this same offer.

The only downside to this (and the reason I'm looking at the insurance forum) is that having got my insurance below the £200 max limit they won't apply the offer to, they have after a couple of years just sent my a renewal quote for £245 (38% rise). I'm hoping to get them back down to my old level but the price of my success in reducing it over the years is that the best comptetitor is £60 more so First Direct have got me by the short n curlys!

As for their customer service - a year ago I put in my first claim for what I knew would be a contentious claim. They paid for all repairs promptly and assured me they would fight my case (I asserted it was the other driver's fault) and would let me know. Naturally they didn't communicate with me throughout the rest of the claim but after several months I found my excess refunded and phoned them to confirm I had been successful in the claim.

Overall, well worth considering!

bigheadxx

mr_meg wrote: »

Just to add weight to those who have saved money through First Direct:

I (and subsequently my wife) have saved £100's over the years by playing First Direct off against our existing insurer - get a written quote from First Direct confirming they'll undercut your renewal by 10%, then go back to existing insurer asking if they'll beat that quote. Get it in writing and once again go back to First Direct who'll knock another 10% off that. (Repeat as often as you like, does require you to get quotes well in advance of renewal date owing to the time it takes).

In fact I subsequently left First Direct knowing full well I'd go back to them again to take advantage of this same offer.

The only downside to this (and the reason I'm looking at the insurance forum) is that having got my insurance below the £200 max limit they won't apply the offer to, they have after a couple of years just sent my a renewal quote for £245 (38% rise). I'm hoping to get them back down to my old level but the price of my success in reducing it over the years is that the best comptetitor is £60 more so First Direct have got me by the short n curlys!

As for their customer service - a year ago I put in my first claim for what I knew would be a contentious claim. They paid for all repairs promptly and assured me they would fight my case (I asserted it was the other driver's fault) and would let me know. Naturally they didn't communicate with me throughout the rest of the claim but after several months I found my excess refunded and phoned them to confirm I had been successful in the claim.

Overall, well worth considering!

This is what I was planning. My Swiftcover quote is £318 and FD have quoted me £287 for the same policy (you have to make a few amendments on the last page but the quote stays the same) and I have put that to Swiftcover to see what they say.

trinidadone

Genrally equity Red Star are quite checp, but I had a claim last summer, and they were terrible to deal with. not returning calls, delay in transporting my car to the body shop, choosing a body shop 25 miles from my home, no hire car, the list is endless. I wrote them a stiff letter of complaint, and ended up getting £600 compensation. I am in the process of chaging (renewal date). They are cheap, but useless at sorting out claims

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Hi guys,

My insurance is up for renewal... had my renewal quote from Swiftcover which is far below what I can find having tried all comparison sites.... so I checked FD and low and behold they will beat Swift Cover by 10%.

My query though is on the FD site it lists a number of terms that must show on the renewal quote for them to match it... a bit of that info doesn't show on my renewal letter but does online on the renewal details...

Have people had to show proof of their renewal to FD before they beat it by 10%? Especially the people with Swift Cover, how did you get around the problem above?

easytiger27

I got a renewal quote from swift cover of £315 which was £60 up on last year even though i havent made a claim.

After getting no joy from comparison websites I contacted FD after seeing the offer advertised in the newsletter. I emailed them a copy of my renewel quote while i was on the phone to a very plesent woman to speed up the process. They have come back to me a week later saying that they cant give me 10% off my renewal but they will do £300. They havent given me a reason why they wont do £283.50 like the website promises i met all the criteria!

I feel a bit cheated

ChristineBea

Just tried to get a quote from FD for my Mum and it was 10% cheaper than her renewal quote but they do not seem to have 'Widowed' as a status, she would either have to opt for 'Married' or 'Single' but in legal terms she is neither of these, so not sure if there would be a problem if she ever needed to make a claim - because of this she will probably choose another insurer.

BARRA

Had a renewal quote from SwiftCover for £579 on my 4 yr old BMW 630 sport conv....I have max protected no claims bonus, comp cover incl legal and replacement car and one additional driver. Comparison sites havent turned up a bettter quote yet, so tried First Direct save 10% link from your site. Completed first screen and was told I couldn't proceed but could phone them, which I did. Went through usual questioning, how long I had driven the car (4 yrs) etc and including some less than usual eg. what car I had driven before this one (a BMW 330 conv!). All the time the guy on the phone was going back and forward to the underwriters and coming up with questions. In they end he said they couldnt do the guaranteed beat the renewal quote by 10%... and referred to the small print which basically says they dont have to do it if they dont want to! However....great news they could insure my car..... wait for it... for around 2.5 times my current insurers renewal quote! Tough choice eh! Hope others have better luck than me!

walkon

Just called First Direct for a quote and quoted about £400. :eek:
I am with bell and my renewal is a £100 more than last year. No claims no accidents nothing.

Did call bell and they gave me about £20 off but I don't have proof of that. So can't get the 10% off with first direct unless, i can get that in writing.

Why is car insurance going up so much.

IanW_2

Rosco78 wrote: »

I tried loads insurance quotes, both comparison sites and independant, but nothing better than my initial first renewal quote. I thought great, they Guarantee to be cheaper by 10%....

So i applied..... The outcome???

"Sorry, we can not provide a quote on the details you have provided".......

What does Guarantee mean again???

Same for me. They couldn't offer 10% less than £311 but didn't say why.

steeleez

I received my renewal for my Audi A4 from Adrian Flux which was £435 (40 year old, no convictions and 12 yars NCB protected), after doing the comparison sites I got it down to £368, telephoned Adrian Flux and they got the price down to £371, I then phoned first direct and the underwriter asked for a copy of my new renewal, asked Adrian Flux to email me the new quote of £371, passed that on to first direct and they agreed to beat it by 10%, I've just taken a policy out for £333, very happy with that.