Insurance renewals

tbw

It really annoys me when companies which you have used for your house or car insurance send through inflated/much higher renwal notices ! After I've hunted around - and found a better deal, the original company hone up to ask why I haven't renewed - and when I tell them their price was ridiculous they say they can reduce the premium and give me a better deal ! Why do they do it - if they quoted a sensible renewal price in the first place I might have stated with them.

I get the feeling they are trying it on - and I don't like being taken for a mug.

ellay864

I hate that too. On one of my insurance policies I'd got some other quotes and found one that came in a little cheaper, though I hadn't actially got round to purchasing it at that point, still had a few days to go so no rush. The compnay I had been with rung me to ask if I was intending to renew with them and when I said I could get it cheaper elsewhere I got the usual about how they could get it for me cheaper. I told them that as a valued customer (her words not mine) they should be offering me their best deals upfront, and that they'd have to significantly reduce their quote for me to stay with them...i got an extra £50 shaved off

neurotically.yours

One year my renewal came through and for some strange reason I did a quote online on their website as a new customer. It came through cheaper that my renewal so I called them to ask if they could lower it. They said no! but I could cancel my renewal with them and take a new policy whilst i was on the phone to them. Didn't really make sense to me.

Also this year, My renewal went up my quite a bit so I called them to ask why. There reasoning was that they had a reshuffle and changed they way they do their admin. Doesn't sound like a very good reshuffle to me!

Morglin

The Post Office sent through our house insurance renewal yesterday - it had gone up by a quarter, despite never having claimed off them or anything!:eek::mad:

Anyway, had a trawl through the net, and found one cheaper than the previous one had been before the renewal.:T

The Post office couldn't match it, so we've changed our provider, but I wonder how they justify that level of increase.

Lin

caz2703

The reason your initial quote may not be the cheapest one is that these companies rely on you being too lazy to do a price comparison or to leave it too late and renew at the price they show.

It's normal business practice that you see everywhere. You walk into an electrical store and the price you see in not always the price you pay but there will be people who will not bother to barter or who aren't as good at it so the higher the initial price, the more margin the company has. Yes, I appreciate that being a returning customer you should get given a good deal on the day and not after the fact but that doesn't make these companies as much money.

Up until my last car insurance renewal I had faithfully renewed with the same company for 4 years. I did this because the hassle of filling in online quotes, speaking to an adviser after the quotes wouldn't proceed due to non-fault accidents and sorting out payment became an annoyance and it was easier to just go back and say yes. Not very MSE and the only reason I changed this year was to get a multi-car policy with the husband or I would have simply agreed to the renewal premium yet again.

Olokia

My MIL2B went through a very busy time at one point and didn't have much time to care about insurance other than having it. Every year she would just renew all her insurances accepting the quote she was given.

When we were visiting her once, we saw a quote for one insurance that said £750 which we knew was far too much. We had a look online for her and the companies were quoting about £300-£350 so she signed up to a new one instead of accepting the high quote and has since used the comparison sites.

They rely on people not having time / no internet / not realising etc

tbw

caz2703 wrote: »

The reason your initial quote may not be the cheapest one is that these companies rely on you being too lazy to do a price comparison or to leave it too late and renew at the price they show.

It's normal business practice that you see everywhere. You walk into an electrical store and the price you see in not always the price you pay but there will be people who will not bother to barter or who aren't as good at it so the higher the initial price, the more margin the company has. Yes, I appreciate that being a returning customer you should get given a good deal on the day and not after the fact but that doesn't make these companies as much money.

Up until my last car insurance renewal I had faithfully renewed with the same company for 4 years. I did this because the hassle of filling in online quotes, speaking to an adviser after the quotes wouldn't proceed due to non-fault accidents and sorting out payment became an annoyance and it was easier to just go back and say yes. Not very MSE and the only reason I changed this year was to get a multi-car policy with the husband or I would have simply agreed to the renewal premium yet again.

I know thats why they do it ! It just annoys the hell out of me that they take me for a mug . The company I'm currently with (Churchill) haven't even sent me a renewal quote yet - I phoned them yesterday to ask how much it was going to be because it was clear that they were delaying sending the new quote hoping I would forget it was nearly due and then have to renew with them at the last minute because it was too late to find another quote! I may be cynical but I'm convinced that was their game.

Anyway, I'm not that daft - I know full well when my policies expire and I've already found an excellent quote which is almost half their quote (its got a Quidco cashback). If Churchill had sent my renewal through in good time and not hiked the cost up to something really daft, I might not have bothered looking around. They might not have made as big a profit on my renewal but at least they would still have me as a customer.

I'm sure you're right though - its a type of inertia selling and relies on lazy consumers.

shaun_from_Africa

You get exactly the same from the major breakdown services as well.

My AA membership expired a few weeks ago, and I received the renewal notice through the post. This was £88.
I went on to the AA website, and if I was to take out new cover with them it would cost me £66, so as an existing member I was expected to pay an extra 33%.
I called them to query why this was, and was told that they always offer a discount to new members, at which time I commented that surely keeping hold of existing customers is just as important as getting new ones, and was told that it's very rarely that people leave because of the rise in premium.

I asked her not to bother renewing my cover as I would be joining the RAC instead, which cost me far less than the £88 wanted by the AA.


Motor insurers are the same with their telephone contact options as well.
Last year I had a broken windscreen and tried to call Direct Line on their claims number. The phone was ringing for a good 5 minutes, at which time I gave up.
I then called the number that they have for quotations (a freephone number) and it was answered on the 1st ring, and I asked to be transferred to claims.

WhiteHorse

tbw wrote: »

Why do they do it - if they quoted a sensible renewal price in the first place I might have stated with them.

Statistics.

They know that a certain percentage will just renew automatically without checking around.

They have calculated that the money that they make from that percentage will exceed what they lose from those who do check around.

tbw

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Statistics.

They know that a certain percentage will just renew automatically without checking around.

They have calculated that the money that they make from that percentage will exceed what they lose from those who do check around.

I know you're right - but they won't succeed with me. I guess I wouldn't be using MSE or PTS if I was as daft as a lot of companies would like me to be!

TanyaT_2

we've been with Churchill for 4 years, never had to claim or bother them at all, but over the four years their price has gone up over 110%
So we looked up what a new home building & contents would cost if we were new customers, needless to say it's less than half what they're charging us.
We rang them: oh no they couldn't reduce the price to that amount (no reason given), they could reduce it a smidgeon which brought the price rise down to about 90%.
That really annoys me, we won't be going with them again.

:wall: