Looking for advice for car and home insurance

Luk45z

Hello,

I'm new here, and looking for a bit of advice. Two days ago I've received car insurance renewal from Direct Line, no surprise here as price went up from £41 to £45, I was looking on comparison websites and the cheapest one I've found was from Hastings Direct, but when I looked on reviews at Trustpilot was shocked of the rating, are they really that bad? Direct Line got even worst! Is there any Car Insurance company with goodish rating and they are not expensive, and cover me to drive other cars? Normally I'm signing with companies that have a good rating, but when comes to Car insurance my brain is a bit fried! as most of them have a bad ratings.

Also got question for home insurance, I'm renting a flat (private rent) and got small problem with answering for few questions.

Basically from outside it look like a house but actually there are two flats, on the ground floor and first floor with separated entrances (mine on the side of the building, second one from the front of the building) I live in the ground floor, don't know when building was build and what's the value of it, and don't want to put incorrect information to have my policy voided, is it better to get a content only or content and building as well, as don't know if landlord got building insurance.

Any advice will be helpful

lopsyfa

Remember people mainly leave review when they have negative experience and rarely leave positive reviews. So the review will be skewed towards the negative.

On the trustpilot review, it is best to actually read the review rather than just looking at the number of stars. For example, in my last renewal, one of the company has very low review because the auto-renew quote is higher than last year's quote.

Also beware of company having only 5* reviews because some of the reviews could be fake.

One company that have a good review on trustpilot and covers you to drive another car is LV.

Luk45z

Thanks for reply, I've checked LV Quote and almost fall from chair, as they quoted me £977 without monthly payments, where my renewal with Direct Line is £550 when paying monthly.

lopsyfa

LV my not be the cheapest for you, I have only mentioned them because you asked for a company with good review and that also allows you to drive another car.

The way to do it is to get your comparison quote online (you may want to time getting the renewal around 21 days before your renewal to get the best price) and then check the review of the cheapest quotes.

I have also just renewed my car insurace and quote me happy and general accidents were the cheapest for me but I paid a bit more (about £70) and used the third cheapest insurer which was LV.

Luk45z

I understand completely, just was shocked how more expensive LV was, the cheapest for me was Hastings Essential but was thinking to go with Hastings Premier if I remember correctly. It was £35/month and first payment was the same. But when I check reviews on trustpilot it had a lot of negative feedback about charging ppl for everything or now doing what they supposed to do. I might go with Axa as will cost me £35 but first payment is £70. My renewal stars on 1st June, so still have time to search around or might give Direct Line a call and see what they can do for me, as thinking to take your home insurance and if I’ll have them from the same company they my give me better offer.

lopsyfa

I will also go with Axa (the trustpilot review is not good either but I have positive experience with my home insurance and second car insurance so far) if it was also only £35 more expensive. Be careful about waiting too close to your renewal date as the insurance price can change (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips/01-08-2018/).

nickcc

Try Admiral they do a joint car and home insurance which worked out a lot cheaper than two separate insurances for me. One word of warning, like most insurance companies they try upping the price at renewal time but threatening to cancel reduced my insurance to app £60 lower than other insurers.

Shedman

Not sure why Direct Line are getting bad reviews on Trustpilot as my experience of them is that they are straightforward, clear and professional with very good customer service (3 members of the family have had policies with them over the last few years and all have been pleased with the service). When somebody rear ended my car a couple of years ago all it took was a short phone call, no accident form and they handled the whole thing courteously and promptly.

They also cover a number of additional things as standard in the price e.g no loss of NCD for vandalism / uninsured driver claims, no admin fees for amendments during term, taxi home if car undriveable after accident - these things could have a value to you so need to take them into account when doing comparisons.

Although your quote has gone up 10% unless you can get a significantly better quote with someone like Aviva, LV or Axa I'd be inclined to stay with DL if it were me. I would certainly give them a call and see if they will budge on price and, if I recall correctly, they do give an additional discount if you have another policy with them ie contents.