SAGA Insurance

pdtnc

Hiya...
I recently did some insurance comparisons for my parents, both retired (OAPs) and subscribers to the SAGA Magazine.
For some years now they have been mistakenly insuring the house and car with SAGA insurance, I'm sure that they thought that because they were insuring through an OAP-centric company that they were getting the best deal for their age and their money.
After the first comparison site search we were immediately saving £300 on the car insurance, a further home insurance search showed another £300 rip-off, in each instance the cover provided by SAGA was less than the cheaper alternative.

I feel its important to let the older generation now that SAGA could be ripping them off, my parents alone over the last 5 years could have been £3000 better off if they had been guided away from such insurers.
I had thought better of a company which markets its self as the secure bet for older people.
I'd be interested to hear of other peoples stories, thanks

rs65

This was reported on the news a few months ago

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21717085

pdtnc

thanks, I'll pass that on to my parents.

dacouch

Saga is a good policy though

Richard53

My house and contents insurance was due for renewal recently. I was with Saga, and they wanted just over £700 to renew (this is for a modest house, low-risk area, contents up to £50k), which was an increase of around 40% over last year. Half an hour on a comparison website got me a policy with better cover for £230. The new policy is through Tesco, and the insurer is AXA. When I checked the Saga renewal documents, the insurer is - AXA.

So, same insurer, better coverage, around 1/3 of the price. When Saga asked why I was cancelling, I said I had a much lower quote from elsewhere. Even though I had a leaflet in the renewal promising a price match, they didn't even try to keep my business. Shop around!

InsideInsurance

Richard53 wrote: »

The new policy is through Tesco, and the insurer is AXA. When I checked the Saga renewal documents, the insurer is - AXA.

So, same insurer, better coverage, around 1/3 of the price. When Saga asked why I was cancelling, I said I had a much lower quote from elsewhere.

Who the insurer is is almost irrelevant to the quality of the product as most insurers will write the whole spectrum from ultra budget to MNW. In the case of large partnerships it is normally bespoke wording.

You should however certainly shop around each year but certainly look at value rather than just price.

With all the changes going on with Tesco's Bank it isnt surprising that they are making a land grab and writing good-moderate risk at low prices. I know they were by far the cheapest for my Motor renewal this year even undercutting Admiral who were half the price of the next closest

*Scarlett

It's a fact that with most insurers your loyalty will not be rewarded and new customers can generally secure a lower premium. So it is sensible to shop around (if you can't be bothered every year, then at least do it every few years) as the savings can be significant.

I would say that the longer you stay with a company the more likely it is that you will be paying over the odds. It's not just Saga - sadly most insurers will increase the premium over the years and rely on customer apathy to keep the business.

Some people have a misplaced sense of loyalty to a certain insurer and think that if they have used the same company for many years they might be better treated in the event of a claim, etc. But these days I would say this is generally not the case - either you are covered or you aren't!