car insurance

rodders73

hi all, just a reminder to shop around when renewing policies.

my wife's renewal came this year at over £300,
over £120 more than the previous year.
when queried, was told could not be reduced.
checked on comparison site and same company and all same details, came in at £148,
went back to renewal company, and they accepted on line price.

why the difference you may ask, i do not know and the rep could not explain either.
moral is as martin says, SHOP AROUND, it may surprise you
hope this helps someone

cheers rodders:beer:

arcon5

*shock horror**

InsideInsurance

rodders73 wrote: »

why the difference you may ask, i do not know and the rep could not explain either.

Three words:

New customer discount

Car_54

I don't understand why people go back to these companies. It simply encourages their unethical practices.

E.g. I insure with company A, they quote £1,000 on renewal.

I shop around, and company B quotes £800.

Company A then says "OK, we can do it for £795."

I say "Too bad, you should have given me your best price to begin with".

If everyone did that, they might change their ways.

dacouch

[quote=[Deleted User];68767590]I don't understand why people go back to these companies. It simply encourages their unethical practices.

E.g. I insure with company A, they quote £1,000 on renewal.

I shop around, and company B quotes £800.

Company A then says "OK, we can do it for £795."

I say "Too bad, you should have given me your best price to begin with".

If everyone did that, they might change their ways.[/QUOTE]

The prices would stay about the same.

Comparison sites and the need to be in top three returns on a comparison site result in most companies offering lower prices for new customers subsidised by the existing customers who don't shop around.

The_Last_Username

Agree with most of ^^^ - surely anyone using a forum like this is going to check prices first, right?

My renewal came a few weeks ago; I checked 3 of the main comparison sites and ................ the current renewal offer came out best! :eek:
(Well done Allianz.)

Though it is an absolute pain in the a*** comparing levels of cover; voluntary & compulsory excess etc etc.

forgotmyname

I phoned to cancel my Halifax home insurance due to better quotes, They said we can probably beat it. I said if you can beat it why is my renewal not cheaper?

No answer to that one, i just said i have already taken out the other insurance, they still tried saying i could cancel as the policy had not yet started. I said no thanks i do not want you to try and get me a cheaper quote.

The fact they were useless and made so many errors setting up the insurance put me off big time.
They somehw managed to put the policy in my daughters name and even put the bank account the payments were being taken from was her halifax account.
She does not have a halifax account.

zappahey

The_Last_Username wrote: »

Though it is an absolute pain in the a*** comparing levels of cover; voluntary & compulsory excess etc etc.

Since my car is worth around £1k, I only care that I'm legal as I'm never going to claim. :rotfl:

Marvel1

[quote=[Deleted User];68767590]I don't understand why people go back to these companies. It simply encourages their unethical practices.

E.g. I insure with company A, they quote £1,000 on renewal.

I shop around, and company B quotes £800.

Company A then says "OK, we can do it for £795."

I say "Too bad, you should have given me your best price to begin with".

If everyone did that, they might change their ways.[/QUOTE]

I will stay with company A, I don't have to anything then e..g. send proof of my no claims, plus I'm still saving £5 �� it was only 2 weeks ago I did it.

The_Last_Username

Though it is an absolute pain in the a*** comparing levels of cover; voluntary & compulsory excess etc etc.

zappahey

Since my car is worth around £1k, I only care that I'm legal as I'm never going to claim. :rotfl:

That's fine until someone claims against you!
And THAT is becoming quite a problem, it seems.

http://www.moneywise.co.uk/scams-rip-offs/scams/how-much-are-insurance-scams-costing-you

&

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/insurance/bumper-ripoff--crash-for-cash-gangs-in-huge-car-insurance-scam-9289335.html

InsideInsurance

[quote=[Deleted User];68767590]I don't understand why people go back to these companies. It simply encourages their unethical practices.

E.g. I insure with company A, they quote £1,000 on renewal.

I shop around, and company B quotes £800.

Company A then says "OK, we can do it for £795."

I say "Too bad, you should have given me your best price to begin with".

If everyone did that, they might change their ways.[/QUOTE]

What is actually unethical about it? Its ultimately bartering and that can happen with anything you buy.

When I bought my projector I got them to knock £150 off the price simply because I asked. When I went to collect it coincidently the person behind me bought the identical thing but paid full price. Isnt that equally unethical? To be honest I cannot remember the last thing I bought for more than £100 where I paid the ticket price and yet everyone else around me is just handing over their cards for the stated prices.

The problem with insurance in particular is the fact it is a distress purchase, no one actually wants to buy the stuff but we have to. As such people are massively more price sensitive than considering quality, brand, exclusivity etc. Even companies like the Post Office who traditionally sell of an "ethical company" stance find people will abandon them if they can save £1

The other point already made by others is that long term renewing customers are the ones that fund the slashed prices for new business customers. So be careful what you wish for as if insurers did stop the practice of new customer discounting then those of us that shop around each year would see their prices increase.