Discuount car insurance

doberryfirkin

I am in the market for car insurance. I notice that many recommend the use of Quidco to get a discount. I haven't yet joined but might do if the incentive was there. According to the quidco site I could get up to £100 off my insurance premium BUT in the small print there is no guarantee that this would happen. Is this a common occurrence? Is the incentive to go through Quidco real or is failure to get to the discount a regular occurrence?

Thanks for any feedback.

GeordieSaver

I think Barclays are doing a cash back deal at the minute while makming sure they beat your existing deal. Its on https://www.Quote-Beater.co.uk second on the list.

Let me know how you get on as i need to get my car covered soon!

doberryfirkin

Hi Geordie
Thanks for this info. I contacted Barclays BUT here's the catch. They will ONLY attempt to beat the renewal quote from your existing insurer and not a quote from any other. Since the renewal quote from an existing always seems to be high (I presume based on the view that the customer will be daft enough to accept it) then Barclay's will always have a good chance of beating it. They wont, however, beat a competitive quote from else where. The best I have so far is from Swiftcover. I could get a better deal, as pointed out above, through Quidco - BUT - there seems to be small print which implies that the discount from Quidco isn't certain or guaranteed, therefore the Quidco route seems to be a risk.

lisyloo

Can you post up the small print you are referring to so we can see specifically what your concerns are.
There are 2 areas where I think things can go wrong.

1) You need to have the transaction tracked properly on your computer. This requires cookies. If you have cookies blocked then it won't work. So there can be some technical issues.
Ideally if you have time the best way to test it would be to buy a small item and make sure it's working.

2) The second issue is that quidco can only pass on cashback when they receive it from the companies and this can take months.

As far a I know (no connection) there is no underlying conspiracy to stop cashback, but quidco can understandably not be held responsible for any problems outside of their control (like for example the settings on your computer or the failure of the company to apy for some reason).

In my view it does not make sense to pay extra for a quote simply to go through quidco. Because in the unlikely event that it doesn't track properly then you will have paid more to no avail.

Most people have success and I am not aware of any conspiracy but they have the right to cover themselves against things outside of their control (like any other organisation would).

doberryfirkin

Lisylo
I think your note captures my concerns well. I appreciate that Quidco have to cover themselves but in my view the risk of paying £100 more on the chance of getting a cashback / discount is too risky. They may well pay up in the end but the potential hassle of chasing it is a deterrent. Perhaps if the figure before discount was closer to the best offer on the table then I would go through the Quidco route.

GeordieSaver

yeah good point. There's a few deals on that website. I think it's just a case of shopping around. i couldnt be hassled with the Quidco route.