Car ins. renewal, Direct Line

grimep

Just got my automatic renewal notice through from DL.... 30% increase :mad:

Been driving 20+ years, clean license, no claims as long as your arm, drive a sensible family car.

Why do they force us to waste time every year shopping around? Has anyone successfully challenged such an increase? Or would phoning them be a waste of time?

Oh well, time to compare the meerkats I guess.....

worried_jim

just use a comparison site and it's job done. It is the way of the world now.

fivetide

Yes. If you phone it's likely they'll suddenly be able to match a cheaper price.

I always tell them I'm moving on principle and next time, don't try to rip me off.

5t.

grimep

Sure but its just becoming an annual rigmarole. Surely its cheaper for the industry as a whole not to have to keep signing up new customers, it generates a pile of paperwork for a start. A 2 or 3% increase I'd've grumbled about but probably have carried on. But 30% ???

Last year my Mrs had to claim on her insurance as her car was vandalised in Kingston while she was driving to work, rear window was smashed so not her fault. I had her as a named driver on my policy as well, a facility that some years we did not use at all, it was more a convenience for emergencies etc. Her claim caused my quote to raise £100. The result? I dropped her off my policy. So thanks to their greed the insurers are actually worse off.

scottishperson2

Always a good idea to refuse auto renewal when taking out a policy (its surprising how many people get caught by this little trick) and ALWAYS shop around every year.
I've always changed my insurers every year.

colino

Its a disappointing feature of businesses nowadays, and if you go online with DL and put in the same details, I'm 99% sure you will get a cheaper quote.
So not only are a lot of companies smoothing their cashflows with autorenewal, but they are also hiking premiums for existing customers to pad their profits too.
With the insurance market today, you can certainly move your business on principle to note your disapproval, but the market is really controlled by a handful of players with a raft of different brand names.

pinkteapot

Get a cheaper quote from someone else, phone DL and they will likely price-match so you don't actually have to move company.

With the industry getting more cut-throat, they're obviously going to try and fleece those customers who don't bother shopping around each year. There are still some out there that don't do it.

One thing - remember to tell them that the value of your car has decreased each year. I only realised this recently, after having a car and insurance for 4 years. I'd stuck with the same insurer, getting them to price match competitors each year. They ran through the details this year and mentioned the car value which is the figure I'd told them when I'd bought it. It's not worth anything like that now. I told them the current valuation and that immediately made the price fall.

grimep

well, its the usual story, a quick search throws up a quote over 30% less.

I'll switch rather than phone them up, if they're going to muck about, I'll return the compliment. So goodbye DL, hello Admiral.

I just wonder, there must be 10's of 1000s of people doing exactly the same thing day in day out, what's the point??!

debsy42

When I got my renewal through from DL this year I was really surprised that it was cheaper than last year, was fully expecting it to have gone up. However I have now bought a newer car and when I asked DL for a quote it was £1119, I shopped around and got it for £535, quite a difference :eek: I dread the yearly insurance-shopping-around-madness :mad:

ben80

grimep wrote: »

well, its the usual story, a quick search throws up a quote over 30% less.

I'll switch rather than phone them up, if they're going to muck about, I'll return the compliment. So goodbye DL, hello Admiral.

I just wonder, there must be 10's of 1000s of people doing exactly the same thing day in day out, what's the point??!

Absolutely the right course of action, I've learnt in recent years that brand loyalty is a failing and is worth nothing to the brand/company at all. It's always in your interests to ignore renewal and 'play the system.'

Every year I call an insurance company saying "Can you beat £XXX" and they usually say yes, but only with proof of my other quote. I ask for that in writing/e-mail. Then I go to my insurance company and say I have a quote for £XXX and can they beat it by a decent about. They always say yes and I use the previous quote as proof of a cheaper quote! Worked 3 times so far!

brokenant

grimep wrote: »

well, its the usual story, a quick search throws up a quote over 30% less.

I'll switch rather than phone them up, if they're going to muck about, I'll return the compliment. So goodbye DL, hello Admiral.

I just wonder, there must be 10's of 1000s of people doing exactly the same thing day in day out, what's the point??!

Same here, DL wanted over £700 on renewal this year for just my car. Admiral quoted £700 for mine and OH's car. Spoke to DL and they could only do mine at £550 and OH for £300. Spoke to admiral to go ahead with the quote and when going through the details i had missed the tick box to say we were cohabiting, new quote came in at £495 for both cars, result.