Is Hastings the only one for younger drivers...

nadsat

I'm helping my son with his car insurance renewal with Hastings and as usual after running it through comparison sites we'll be able to knock something off the renewal price.
But only Hastings comes up in the lower prices - there's a big leap of twice as much to the next insurers so Hastings is a no brainer. Is it really the only one that offers relatively low prices (it's about £550 for a basic car for a 25 year old, 4 years no claims). I tried Direct Line, which does my car insurance for about £200, but his comes out at £1200.  Am I missing something? 

tacpot12

No probably not. Any reason not to go with Hastings? I've been insured with them a few times, but never had to make a claim so I don't know how they are with their claims handling. 

nadsat

tacpot12 said:

No probably not. Any reason not to go with Hastings? I've been insured with them a few times, but never had to make a claim so I don't know how they are with their claims handling. 

No reason other that I'm wondering if Hastings has a virtual monopoly and little competition in young drivers and it's pointless running quotes on any provider not on comparison sites. 

chrisw

You'll probably find they'll hike the price massively next year. However, if you redo the comparison sites next year and then phone Hastings, they will usually beat the cheapest quote.

My son's insurance renewal with Hastings went up this year, but after getting quotes and phoning them, they reduced the price by £130. The same thing happened the previous year, knocking £165 off his original quote.It's annoying in many respects but you just have to play the game.

nadsat

chrisw said:

You'll probably find they'll hike the price massively next year. However, if you redo the comparison sites next year and then phone Hastings, they will usually beat the cheapest quote.

My son's insurance renewal with Hastings went up this year, but after getting quotes and phoning them, they reduced the price by £130. The same thing happened the previous year, knocking £165 off his original quote.It's annoying in many respects but you just have to play the game.

Indeed it's been the same with us. But my point is this just Hastings vs Hastings - we've found no other insurer anywhere close. 

jimbo6977

Might not be due to age. In my postcode and those surrounding, one insurer is regularly 25% cheaper than all other on comparison sites. 

Korkyb

If there are other cars in the family it might be worth calling to see if a multicar policy might work out cheaper (you have to get the quote by phone - you cant get one online).

I have 2 daughters both driving their own cars (18 & 21 years old...... the daughters not the cars) & have had a multicar policy with Admiral for 3 years since the 1st one passed her test & it has consistently been the cheapest quote by a fair margin every year since (& as a good subscriber to MSE I do check).

You don't have to live at the same address - just be immediate family.

We just renewed 2 weeks ago & the premiums we are paying now are:

- 18 year old, student living away from home in Uni Accommodation driving a 10 yr old 1.0 Corsa - 1 year no claims / no black box - £605

- 21 year old living in her own flat driving a 7 yr old 1.2 fiesta - 4 yrs no claims / no black box - £406 (although she upped that to £480 to get her no claims protected). She did have an "incident" during her 1st year but no claim made (no one else involved so just paid for damage repair ourselves).

- My wife's car is also insured through the same policy & she is paying £245 with all the bells & whistles. (this is comparable with best deals from comparison websites).

The renewal premium offer this year was a bit higher than the above premium paid (I called Admiral and asked if they could improve on the premiums & they did so without any arm twisting).

If I put either girl through a comparison site the quotes are much, much higher (almost double for my youngest).

Anyway we are paying less than I thought we would be given the ankle biters ages & stage of driving so a happy customer here.




 

nadsat

Korkyb said:

If there are other cars in the family it might be worth calling to see if a multicar policy might work out cheaper (you have to get the quote by phone - you cant get one online).

Well I tried that before on the phone with Direct Line which insures my and my wife's car for very little but the quote for my son was still £1600+. I tried a single car quote on Admiral and that was more than £1500. My son is 25 with 4 years no claims so I suspect it's his job (doctor) and that he needs business insurance to travel to various sites. 

in_my_wellies

Churchill was the cheapest by a long way for my daughter then after four years it suddenly went up by over £400 for no reason - no claims, no changes to her circumstances. On phoning they could give no reason so she changed to Hastings and has stuck with them. Just needs to ring up every year to get a reduction, play the game as above

in_my_wellies

nadsat said:

Well I tried that before on the phone with Direct Line which insures my and my wife's car for very little but the quote for my son was still £1600+. I tried a single car quote on Admiral and that was more than £1500. My son is 25 with 4 years no claims so I suspect it's his job (doctor) and that he needs business insurance to travel to various sites. 

Sometimes it's hard to fathom insurance/jobs.  My son is a doctor (not medical) and works in motor racing industry.  His premium is quite a bit lower than his older brothers (also non medical doctor) who works in an office. Similar cars, same address.