Car insurance quote too good to be true

pink_boots

Car insurance renewal time again. I have been with my insurance company for many years and always haggled with them with some good results. Cut by £30 last year. The renewal is for £180. {I know this sounds fair but I am now on a small pension, driven for over 20 years and only use the car now and again. So money is tight and it is worth trying to get these things cheaper} I just so happened to be on a comparative website when my insurance company phoned to prompt me about renewing and told them I could get it for £25 cheaper on this site and would be happy to renew with them if they could match this but they would not budge, so told them I would not be renewing. I went on to Gocompare and for the same policy with NCD and Legal protection, the Post office quoted £113.24 and the RAC £125.08. Seemingly the legal protection was an offer. Now these quotes seem too good to be true and a bit wary about them.I would appreciate others views on this. Also has anyone had problems with these insurers? Thank you for any advice.

roonaldo

It's probably for real, as long as you have given correct information to get that quote then fine. It may be a rubbish policy though, have you checked the excesses? they may be sky high.

forgotmyname

As above check the total excess, Compusory and optional.

I had 3 companies with similar quotes, Each dropping it a bit more with each phone call. Then one dropped the price by a larger chunk.

Going through the details they had been naughty and put my previously quoted zero optional excess to £350.

da_rule

Sounds like it's probably right (as long as the details you've entered are correct).

Don't be put off by the difference, renewal prices often aren't the company's best offer. They hope that general inertia will stop people going else where. I change my insurance company every year and often get a much better deal than my renewal quote. Also, the quotes you've had are from reputable companies and from a reputable comparison site, so I wouldn't be worried.

JulieM

Post Office seem to be coming up with some very competitive quotes at the moment. They quoted me £107 for my Corsa compared to £250 which my usual insurer, the AA wanted. Full NCD, Legal Protection, Protected NCD. I went back to the AA and asked them to match the lower price, they gave me a bit of hassle (asked me to send a copy of the quote to them - each time they claimed they hadn't seen it so I ended up sending 3), but in the end they came up with a price of £118. A few pounds more than the Post Office but I thought it was a fair price so accepted it.

nobbysn*ts

JulieM wrote: »

Post Office seem to be coming up with some very competitive quotes at the moment. They quoted me £107 for my Corsa compared to £250 which my usual insurer, the AA wanted. Full NCD, Legal Protection, Protected NCD. I went back to the AA and asked them to match the lower price, they gave me a bit of hassle (asked me to send a copy of the quote to them - each time they claimed they hadn't seen it so I ended up sending 3), but in the end they came up with a price of £118. A few pounds more than the Post Office but I thought it was a fair price so accepted it.

So, your insurer quoted £250, you could get the same elsewhere for £107, but after a lot of hassle, still paid them £118, and you thought it was fair of them? Even thought they obviously tried to rip you off for £132 initially, as they could afford to sell you the insurance for £118? And you still paid over the odds at that.

JulieM

I've already had a telling off from my husband along the same lines! Yes, you're right, I should have gone elsewhere but I didn't think it was worth the bother for £10. Point taken.

*Scarlett

JulieM - at least you got it down to a price that you were happy with.

Be aware that your renewal q may be up to the higher level of at least £250 next year as they probably just wanted to keep your business this year.

If you are not someone who would change for £10 then that's fair enough. (Personally I would change for 10p if I was getting any extra benefits or cover - but I might just be a skinflint!)

Sometimes people think that changing insurer can be a bother but it is usually easy. If you are on an auto renewal you need to tell the insurer by phone or in writing to lapse the policy. If you don't auto renew then you don't need to do anything - you can just switch to the new insurer at the renewal date.