Elephant Insurance

Stoke

Hello

So it's time for my insurance renewal. After phoning Direct Line, their own operator suggested that I use GoCompare so I could get some bargaining power to reduce my quote (I'm not kidding you, that's the ridiculous thing).

Anyway, I visited the site of the jolly fat f*ck and decided to tap in the details and I've been given a ridiculously good quote by Elephant Insurance. Almost £100 less than my current policy and a lower voluntary excess.

Direct Line have said on the phone they can't even match Elephant's excellent quote.

Can anyone tell me if they're any good or not? I have to say, Direct Line have been particularly good to me and I do trust their reliability. Moving insurance isn't something I enjoy the thought of doing but I have no reason to be loyal to Direct Line so, I'm very much considering Elephant.

Admiral and Privilege are also cheaper and 1st Central who have offered me a ridiculously cheap excess (just £50).

So any advice?

InsideInsurance

Priv and DL are one and the same company - all part of the DLG (as is churchill, NIG, RBS, Natwest and a number of other affinity deals)

Admiral and Elephant are also the same company as each other, part of the admiral group (as is confused.com, bell, diamond, gladiator and a few others)


Admiral Group tend to be cheap and cheerful (its Elephant policy is a 3* product where as DL is a 4*). As long as you know this and are happy to accept the longer waits to speak to someone, their love of Albany Assistance for non-fault accidents etc then you will be ok.

I was insured by them for many years and only switched when I bought a brand new car and that was only because they dont have new vehicle replacement unlike most other insurers. Wouldnt hesitate to go back to them when my car is over 12 months old if the price is right.

http://defaqto.com/star-ratings/car-insurance

Stoke

I doubt they'll ever replace my vehicle lol. The slight sniff of a claim and they'll write it off.

I've stuck with Direct Line for a good few years now and I've always been happy with them, although their phone waiting times have got particularly poor in the last 12 months so your point about waiting to speak to an operator is less of an issue.

InsideInsurance

Stoke wrote: »

I've stuck with Direct Line for a good few years now and I've always been happy with them, although their phone waiting times have got particularly poor in the last 12 months so your point about waiting to speak to an operator is less of an issue.

Make sure you do a new business quote with DL too

I havent been with DL for some time and the last time I was contact them it was with their "select" product which goes through to a different team anyway.

Admiral Groups are often very slow - 10 mins + wait but the people are always really friendly and chatty (possibly half the wait problem).

Their renewal prices are always silly too but one phone call and you can get them to knock 25-33% off simply by you saying you've seen cheaper elsewhere.

They are oddly good for expensive vehicles because they dont even ask about tracker devices where as others, like DLG, insist vehicles over a certain value must have one - obv not an issue for you given prior comments.

My only word of caution on them is about the fact they pass/sell you to accident management companies in the case of a non-fault accident rather than dealing with it under your policy but then in those circumstances I'm happy to deal with it myself/ direct with the third party insurer so was never an issue for me

Stoke

Interesting about the selling of your details. I assume Direct Line handle that themselves.

It's a shame Direct Line can't match the quote because I'm very satisfied with their service. Ultimately, if Elephant are cheap and cheerful, you pay for what you get, and I might take a risk.

InsideInsurance

Stoke wrote: »

Interesting about the selling of your details. I assume Direct Line handle that themselves.

In the old days, they would deal with the repairs themselves but "pass" your details to Enterprise to provide Credit Hire if you didnt have their enhanced/ guaranteed courtesy car offering or if you passed comment about not being able to manage without a suitable car etc.

Of cause it may have changed as insurers are forever looking for new revenue streams but I havent heard of it.

Stoke

I'm going to phone Elephant see what they offer me over the phone.

vikingaero

Elephant are fine if you are a standard driver with a standard (non-modified) car.

InsideInsurance

vikingaero wrote: »

Elephant are fine if you are a standard driver with a standard (non-modified) car.

They are fine with modified cars too, from my experience.

Though on that point, Admiral group count ANY change from the base model specification to be a modification even if it was done in the factory at time of build (eg metallic paint, leather seats, cruise control, satnav etc). DL on the other hand only count changed made post manufacture

Bantex_2

I have never tried to insure an elephant.

Stoke

InsideInsurance wrote: »

They are fine with modified cars too, from my experience.

Though on that point, Admiral group count ANY change from the base model specification to be a modification even if it was done in the factory at time of build (eg metallic paint, leather seats, cruise control, satnav etc). DL on the other hand only count changed made post manufacture

How does that affect me? The kind of modifications I've done are NOT performance or visual. You'll find no big exhausts or spoilers near my car. Do I need to declare them to Admiral/Elephant? The mods I've done are:

• Converted Standard Central Locking to Remote Central Locking
• Installed Aftermarket Stereo
• Installed OEM Alloys (came with steels)
• Installed Scangauge

I phoned DirectLine about all these mods. For the Remote Central Locking, they said it still came under the title of Central Locking so didn't need to be declared, for the Aftermarket Stereo they upped my audio entertainment cover to £10,000 for free (Despite the fact the radio is worth less than £100 :rotfl:), they told me the OEM alloys are considered factory so while declared don't cost any more, and they said the Scangauge came under the audio entertainment category?