Churchill insurance rip off

lemonpopsicle

My 77 year old mum asked me to burn some of her old paperwork and I noticed a renewal form for house and contents insurance with Churchill which seemed expensive to me (£260). She's been with them for over 10 years and assumed they were offering her a fair deal. Anyway, I thought I'd put her details into a comparison site, what an eye opener! The cheapest (Admiral) was £82, most of the 57 insurer's that quoted were around the £100 mark, including Churchill at £106.
I persuaded her to phone Churchill, which she did, when she asked the agent why her insurance was so high they replied that 'they assumed she was happy with the quote because she's let them auto renew' and the quotes on the comparison sites 'aren't real quotes'!
Unbelievable! She's going to pay the £36 get out fee and go to Admiral. Beware MSE'ers with elderly relatives who aren't online, they're probably being ripped off.

brewerdave

All Insurance Cos. are the same -after my aged Mum died I was appalled to find that she had been paying more for contents insurance on a one bedroom flatlet ,than I pay for total cover on a 5 bedroomed house!!
Every year I change car, house and contents and travel cover - don't think I've had a competitive renewal quote for the last 4 or 5 years.

takman

lemonpopsicle wrote: »

My 77 year old mum asked me to burn some of her old paperwork and I noticed a renewal form for house and contents insurance with Churchill which seemed expensive to me (£260). She's been with them for over 10 years and assumed they were offering her a fair deal. Anyway, I thought I'd put her details into a comparison site, what an eye opener! The cheapest (Admiral) was £82, most of the 57 insurer's that quoted were around the £100 mark, including Churchill at £106.
I persuaded her to phone Churchill, which she did, when she asked the agent why her insurance was so high they replied that 'they assumed she was happy with the quote because she's let them auto renew' and the quotes on the comparison sites 'aren't real quotes'!
Unbelievable! She's going to pay the £36 get out fee and go to Admiral. Beware MSE'ers with elderly relatives who aren't online, they're probably being ripped off.

How is she being "ripped off" ? the letter explains exactly what cover they are getting and what the price is.

My 88 year old grandmother knows that you have to shop around for insurance and has been using insurance brokers and ringing around for quotes long before internet comparison sites even existed.
I actually did a check on her car insurance last year and the price she managed to get was only around £20 more than the internet comparison sites and she had breakdown cover as well included, so actually cheaper overall by using a specialist broker and she has no access to the internet at all.

Staying with one company for 10 years and auto renewing is something that people of all ages do.
Just because someone is old doesn't mean they can't get good prices for insurance, energy, telecoms etc without the internet.

DCFC79

Not a rip off, its just a case of a customer not phoning up and getting a better deal. Another rip off that isn't a rip off.

csgohan4

that's why I have taken over my parent's insurance renewals and utility switches and Broadband/TV. So much money saved and no more rinsing the elderly

dunstonh

We didnt even get much past 10am this week without someone calling a fake rip off.

Did you compare like for like. A lot of older plans include accidental damage and personal possessions cover. A basic comparison site policy would be standard cover and no personal possessions cover.

lemonpopsicle

dunstonh wrote: »

We didnt even get much past 10am this week without someone calling a fake rip off.

Did you compare like for like. A lot of older plans include accidental damage and personal possessions cover. A basic comparison site policy would be standard cover and no personal possessions cover.

Yes, the cover is identical. The same cover, with the same insurer, is £154 per year cheaper on a comparison site than the auto renew insurance price.

keith1950

This is not a rip off , just customer apathy , do you really think an insurer is going to ring up and ask " would you like us to reduce your insurance premium "?
If the customer is so busy , inept or apathetic that they can't manage their own financial affairs then maybe you should have taken over their finances years ago.
You tell us to "beware" as if this is something new but this is just the norm. and can't believe you are supposedly so shocked by it....most off us ( even wrinklies ) use our brains .

AstroTurtle

lemonpopsicle wrote: »

Yes, the cover is identical. The same cover, with the same insurer, is £154 per year cheaper on a comparison site than the auto renew insurance price.

That's because comparison sites are eager to get business on the books so they devalue policy prices for new business even though cost of claims are so much higher than they used to be.

Comparison sites have given people a false sense of what things SHOULD Cost.

If you insured a car 30 years ago for £150 and you now pay £200. The cost of cars/parts/Personal Injury/Ogen Rate Changes/Electrical components far exceed what the premiums have been maintained at.

Same with houses, People have alot more goods and insurable assets and the cost of a house build is a lot more now.

So generally what happens is Insurers have to remain competitive online so desperately decrease the prices to bring in customers and then put it up to a normal price at renewals.

If you dont want to shop around every year then dont complain when they increase the premium. It wont be long before all insurers agree on a industry price increase as some are pulling out of markets all together as they simply aren't profitable.