Multi-car policy- different renewal dates

8elarus

Hi all,
Need some advice about my policy renewal please.
My partner has the original policy with esure and it gets renewed on 28.01. This year we bought a 2nd car and esure matched my partner's NCB - I've never been a main driver, so no discount of my own- and offered him a further 10% discount. It made total sense to go with them as my policy premium quote was more than halved with a new NCB. My policy started on 11.01. So now we have 2 policies running out on different dates, both policy premiums benefit from their multi car discount.

Out of curiosity I used their web-site to get a new quote (multi car) with the same renewal date. Used exact same details. Obviously the policy start day could only be set 30 days from today.

The price quoted is around £250 cheaper than what we pay now. I called esure to get both renewal dates aligned. Apparently nothing can be done. As my partners policy renews on 28.01 they couldn't give me a quote. My renewal quote is more expensive - same details assuming no claims made up until 11.01 and including the multi car discount.

Spoke to a couple of friends with multi car policies. One is with Aviva- they aligned the renewal dates for their insurances and it did work out cheaper for them that way.

I might be completely over-reacting (as I don't know what quote my partner will get), however, in my experience, renewal prices are NEVER cheaper than previous year's. Their renewal price for my car has already gone up by around £50. Furthermore, by the time he gets his renewal I'll be tied in with them and if we decide to take our business elsewhere I'll have to pay a cancellation fee. (£55.00)

Getting a distinct feeling I'm being fleeced :mad:

What are the options? Not re-new with them and get a temporary insurance (from 11 to 28th) and then get a multi car quote from them as a new customer? Not renew, park it on drive with no insurance for 17 days- and hope it doesn't get nicked)?

Thank you.

lisa110rry

Hi there! I can't speak for your insuror (I'm with L=V), but I decided to try this out. My on line quote was also cheaper than my paper renewal quote. I telphoned my insuror and they said that the on line quote carries an on line discount, but that they would honour the lower figure. The person also said that renewing both my cars at the same time would not change the premium. Give yours a call?

8elarus

My on line quote was also cheaper than my paper renewal quote. I telphoned my insuror and they said that the on line quote carries an on line discount, but that they would honour the lower figure. The person also said that renewing both my cars at the same time would not change the premium.

Thanks, won't work with them- there's an option to either add another car (existing customer) or get a quote for both cars at same time (new customers). If I'm adding a car to partner's policy which already has a multi car discount applied it won't quote correctly for his car if I'm quoting for both cars at same time/same start date- I get a figure which is £250 cheaper than what we pay now. They won't match it as this is for both cars and they can't give me his renewal price yet.

lisa110rry

Gosh, that's bad! I was really impressed with LV= and told the young lady so. Very fair to my mind. Admittedly, my paper quote was only £182.63, but £150 beats that and represents a saving of a little over 1/6 of the initial quote. This is fully comprehensive with protected no claims.

My other car's quote is usually a few pounds less than this one, I must remember to get an on line quote for that when it comes up for renewal in June. Also fully comprehensive and protected no claims.

However, both my cars are cossetted like the little gems they are, and the youngest is 14 years old and the oldest, 17, so the comprehensive quote is much the same as third party, since any little bump will write them off as uneconomic to repair. (sob):(

ciderboy2009

lisa110rry wrote: »

However, both my cars are cossetted like the little gems they are, and the youngest is 14 years old and the oldest, 17, so the comprehensive quote is much the same as third party, since any little bump will write them off as uneconomic to repair. (sob):(

My wife and I both had old cars and found this - we also found that, due to the value of the cars, it didn't cost any more to have a zero excess :-)

OP - when we first set up our multi-car policy with Admiral they set it running from when the first insurance expired and got me to agree to a quote for the second one (for less than a year so the expiry dates aligned at the end of the policy). They then gave me the multi-car discount from the start.

8elarus

ciderboy2009,
how would you rate Admiral? Ever had any issues with them? Claims? Cheers.

pinkteapot

8elarus wrote: »

ciderboy2009,
how would you rate Admiral? Ever had any issues with them? Claims? Cheers.

I'm with Admiral and had a claim in June. I was hugely impressed, and we've stuck with them at renewal and also used them on a new second car.

Claim was entirely my fault. I *ahem* hit a stationery bus (don't ask!!). Scraped the whole side of my car so every panel needed replacing. :eek:

Phoned Admiral. Got an email ten minutes later telling me which local bodyshop to take it to. The one they'd chosen was a really high-end one that specialises in Porsches! (We had a Ford Mondeo). They did an AMAZING job. Whenever I've had panels replaced before, I've used cheap bodyshops and if you squint in the right light you can see a very slight colour variation. This place was superb and you wouldn't have known there'd been an accident.

Car was fixed fast and we just paid our excess direct to the bodyshop. They invoiced Admiral for the balance.

The policy renewed a short while after the accident while the claim was still open and they didn't put our price up at all. :money:

All in all - I recommended them previously because they've always been cheapest for us (of the insurers you've actually heard of - I don't use the really random ultra-cheap ones on comparison sites). They must like people in our age group or something. Now we've had a claim, I'd recommend them even more as it was completely hassle-free.

Only thing I haven't experienced with them is a write-off and what sort of pay-out they give.

8elarus

Claim was entirely my fault. I *ahem* hit a stationery bus (don't ask!!). Scraped the whole side of my car so every panel needed replacing.

Our only quote was for when my husband reversed our old Astra into our house, knocked the side gates and wrote the car off- don't ask either.

Anyway, many phonecalls later ASdmiral turned out to be even more expensive than Esure. Aviva, however, is 225 quid cheaper and offers a better level of cover plus coursety cars- turned out we don't actually have them with esure. Apparently they can add my husband later (on 28th and offer him cover for less than a year to bring the two renewal dates in line. I've not spoken to them but our friends had this done last year.

Will leave it till 10 January and get Esure to send husband's renewal quote- if its (together with mine) more expensive than Avivas, it's an good bye to Esure I'm afraid.