Home insurance renewal Quote much higher than new online quote

baldlimey

Has anyone else had their home insurance renewal quote recently and checked it is the same price as buying new online.

My quote for renewal from 1st March was 348 and some pennies, did an online quote for the same cover with the same excesses and obviously with the same insurer and it was 222 and some pennies, I thought this was now illegal. I did contact the insurance company and was told to not auto renew and take the new policy online but how many people would even check? Should I be contacting someone to report this?

I have decided to switch insurers anyway.

Sandtree

Pricing is channel specific under the new rules so if you original bought over the phone by doing some haggling your renewal will be capped at the telephone price which could be higher than the online and aggregator price (the FCA have said aggregators and online are different channels) 

Unfortunately a lot of people dont understand the difference between a broker, insurer, MGA etc and so whilst you say "obviously" the same insurer many people who say something similar arent actually getting new quotes from the same insurer but from the same broker instead which may or may not be the same insurer from the panel quoting. 

Then there is the other consideration of if its actually the same product... companies change their products overtime and some will move all old customers onto the new product automatically to simplify claims handling whereas others will leave customers on the old product, as thats ultimately what they chose. Rules are different if the product your renewal quote is for is no longer available to buy.

Is it worth complaining? Its up to you but firstly I would check if you are actually comparing apple and apples to say the quotes were high as there are many things that can mean you'll see a different price for new customers.

baldlimey

Thanks Sandtree

My new quote was done directly on the insurers web site, I have been with the insurer 25years so I suspect my original quote was phone based.

Interestingly over the chat the reasons I was given were

"When you buy online it does include an introductory discount for the first 12 months."

"It's a discount for purchasing combined Building & Contents. " (my renewal was for combined).

Over the phone I was told something like their systems are not yet working to ensure renewal and new quotes are the same.

And (again) over the chat i was told "There's no online discount, the price will be the same whether you do it online or by telephone."

Over the phone they agreed the online quote I had done matched the renewal quote both for product, cover and excesses.

This is a major UK insurer and if their system is truely not working to the anti price walking regulations as the comment about the systems would imply shouldn't they be advertising the fact so people know to check? So to stick with the spirit of the regulations, my concern is with the regulations in place people may not bother to check.   

dunstonh

My new quote was done directly on the insurers web site, I have been with the insurer 25years so I suspect my original quote was phone based.

It is also probable that you don't have the same product either.    Every so many years a provider will change their product to a new version.    Version 8 may have different terms and pricing to version 34.

This is a major UK insurer and if their system is truely not working to the anti price walking regulations as the comment about the systems would imply shouldn't they be advertising the fact so people know to check? So to stick with the spirit of the regulations, my concern is with the regulations in place people may not bother to check.   

The phone staff at the insurers are generally low knowledge/low skilled and notorious for guessing reasons. 

The FCA have already got firms to complete their first return regarding home and car insurance sales to see who is in compliance with the rules and who isn't.

Gobsh

You kidding right? I haven't accepted a renewal quote in the last 20-years because if you do a new search it's always always always always cheaper even by the same company. I can't imagine what laws do you think of been broken here just a lapse of your own vigilance.

baldlimey said:

... was told to not auto renew and take the new policy online but how many people would even check? 

baldlimey

Hi Gobsh

I was thinking the new anti price walking laws which came into effect the 1st Jan this year, the intention of which (I beleive) is to ensure the customer does not pay more as a renewal customer than they would as a new customer.

No lack of vigilance from me as I did still check, but others may not due to the new regulations.

Sandtree

You always have to consider the level of training of the staff... unfortunately call centre staff do sometimes go off script which is particularly true when we are in the cycle of the market where strict scripts are out of fashion and agents are given basic pointers instead to come across more human/less robotic etc.

Many insurers run on very poor old systems which making changes to are slow and difficult, they are however often exceptionally efficient and the cost to migrate to a new modern system is eye watering. This is generally widely known and systems get blamed by a lot of people for a lot of things and not all are warranted... sometimes there are smart ways of getting things done.

If your original purchase was on the phone then your quote must be no more than a new business quote over the phone which normally is more expensive than an online quote.