Home insurance

Mr_Thrifty

Just been looking to get some home insurance from Aviva. Was very tempted by the "50% of iff you buy online offer". Anyway, I got the quote then at the end it says the following. Does that mean this is a "brand new customers only" thing and next year I'll get stung with a 50% increase?




Normal premium £690.00
New premium £235.00
Saving £455.00
If you're a new Aviva home insurance customer, buy a policy online now and you'll save 50% off your insurance.
Terms and conditions:

• Minimum premium applies, where minimum premium has been reached, a reduced discount may apply
• Five or more claim free years on home insurance required
• Does not apply to any optional covers
• Proof of no claims status may be required

dacouch

Yes next year they will invite renewal without the 50% discount, in theory you won't be able to start another policy to get 50% off if they're still doing it.

On that size premium have you tried reducing your excess as it may not increase the premium or only increase it slightly

Mr_Thrifty

What a con. The only reason I was inclined to go with Aviva was because they're quite cheap for my car insurance.

I searched around a little further and Allianz are doing the policy for £220 with no "introductory" offers - so, a little cheaper (Even when compared to Aviva's "50% off" offer) and no gimmicks.

Pfft. Offering me 50% off something that was more than twice as much as it should have cost to start with.

Some of these insurance companies are so far off the mark it's unreal. They must think we're suckers or something.

huckster

As with many discounts, I suspect that the 100% premium is not a real amount. The 50% premium you will pay is probably slightly under what they would charge normally. So next year when they only increase your premium by say 20%, you will feel grateful enough to stay with them.

This was posted, before I saw your last post, where you have guessed what the game is.

dacouch

Are you aware that it's highly likely that Allianz have also discounted their premium to gain you as a new customer. Most companies do it these days to gain new customers

dacouch

huckster wrote: »

As with many discounts, I suspect that the 100% premium is not a real amount. The 50% premium you will pay is probably slightly under what they would charge normally. So next year when they only increase your premium by say 20%, you will feel grateful enough to stay with them.

This was posted, before I saw your last post, where you have guessed what the game is.

I don't think they would artificially increasing the premium, it would go down really badly with the FSA.

Mrthrifty it states in your quote you're on their minimum premium. As I mentioned before you can probably reduce your excess or possibly add extra covers on without the Aviva premium increasing.

This might make it more appealing when you compare cover with the Allianz premium. It's highly likely the Allianz premium will include a new customer discount of circa 10% to 30% and that their premium will also shoot up next year

huckster

dacouch wrote: »

I don't think they would artificially increasing the premium, it would go down really badly with the FSA.

I can't comment on specifics, but when Insurers are apparently offering discounts, you do wonder whether the premiums they are charging are really discounted at all. When I see adverts for 12 months Insurance for the price of 9 month, I just have to smile. It is the same with any product, where they may list an RRP, but where it can often be bought for much less. All that is important, is whether the actual premium you will pay is competitive or not. Forget the discount offering, as that is just a marketing tool.

dacouch

I wish it was like it used to be eg existing customers got a discount of circa 5% as the Insurer knew their history and had little admin to do over a new customer.

Unfortunateanly the t'internet and comparison sites mean customers buy on price alone so Insurers respond with the new customer discounts which can cause problems for people not savy enough to play the system to their advantage