Car Insurance renewal - talking to current insurer for a better price

JD1969

I've been with a big insurance provider that isn't on comparison websites with multiple cars for several years and been quite happy with them. I always get a higher renewal quote come through initially (except one year it went down which was a pleasant surprise) and I then have to shop around, get some quotes using the same details, and then ring up and ask if they can improve their price.

This has yielded a decent reduction in the renewal price every year I've done it until now. As long as they can genuinely get the price a bit better I've been happy to stay with them and avoid the hassle of changing.

My conversation with the insurer started off well. We did the usual dance, "this is the best price we can offer" ... "Let's see if we can reduce it" ... etc. Then asked for the price of a like-for-like quote I had received. I gave the price for an alternative policy with another well known competitor that met my needs best (it wasn't the cheapest in the list I got) and he asked if it was like-for-like again, which it was but for the compulsory excess was £0 which was better than the excess on my current insurer (this is the compulsory excess remember, not the voluntary excess). 

So he said he can't give me a new quote because he needs a like-for-like quote from a competitor and asked for another. Found this quite odd as other than the excess being better (for me) everything else was a match. Looked through the other quotes, excesses all different (£50, £100, £125, £175, etc) but none that matched exactly their compulsory excess amount.

Is this a new rule agreed between insurers (he seemed to suggest it was) or did I just catch a difficult customer representative? I don't mind if the insurer doesn't want to give a cheaper quote, I have the choice to go elsewhere, but just be upfront about it if that's the case.

Interested to hear your experiences and if this is a new rule.

BarelySentientAI

No, it isn't some sort of collusion.

Most companies (in any sector) that say they will match a like-for-like price also have the same stipulation that it needs to actually be like-for-like, not just 'a match apart from some things'.  That's not because there's any shadowy agreement, it's because as soon as you start doing 'close enough' then you start on the questions about what is actually close enough to match and what is not quite close enough to match.

DullGreyGuy

JD1969 said:

Is this a new rule agreed between insurers (he seemed to suggest it was) or did I just catch a difficult customer representative? I don't mind if the insurer doesn't want to give a cheaper quote, I have the choice to go elsewhere, but just be upfront about it if that's the case.

Interested to hear your experiences and if this is a new rule.

No, this is a "computer says no" type situation. Agents are disempowered to make decisions and told it has to be identical else you dont match. In principle it should be same or better but then you are expecting your minimum wage staff to make a judgement call. In your case not so bad but could be someone with a £50 higher compulsory excess but single article limit of £10,000 rather than £1,000 with the customer saying the later more than offsets the former. 

It's not new, not an industry agreement. Had a very similar conversation about 20 years ago when asked a company to match the home insurance quote but they wouldn't be cause the cheaper price was for a £100,000 limit -v- their £60,000 limit but equally "wouldn't understand" that the higher limit was better and cheaper. 

Any reason for not simply rewarding the company offering the lower price? 

JD1969

DullGreyGuy said:

Any reason for not simply rewarding the company offering the lower price? 

Yea absolutely, I wanted to get a better price from my current insurer but two reasons I sought out other quotes was to see if the renewal was too high (£220 extra is an excessively large increase) and to find a reputable alternative should I need to move. I have chosen to go with the better quote. I've been doing this for 30 years, it's just a lot easier these days with comparison sites doing all the leg work!

It is impossible to get an exact match right? I mean each insurer offers their own product and there will always be small variations. If I put in the same criteria, some things may come out a little better, some a little worse, but the core of the product is the same... eg: comprehensive, number of miles, protected no claims, legal, etc etc. It was clear I was not comparing a quote for a lesser product, eg: third party compared to comprehensive, or missing features.

I was taken aback by the attitude, maybe he was trying to get me to back down and just accept the higher price. I tried asking "just give me your best competitive quote" but he was stubbornly sticking to "you have to give me a like-for-like before I can give you a quote" to the point where it sounded like a legal requirement. 

I've encountered difficult customer representatives before, and as I said I'm not going to be upset if they are just upfront and say that's the best price they can do. That's fine, I can then choose to accept the higher quote or move elsewhere. I have chosen to do the latter, but it also has left a bad impression of a company who I had previously perceived as being a good one to deal with. I mean, if you are unfortunate enough to have to make a claim, you want your insurer to make it as simple and hassle free to get through as possible. If this is how they treat a loyal customer and point of renewal, it doesn't bode well, right?

chrisw

This approach is fairly common among electrical retailers. They will argue that a Samsung 55bx64gwt is not the same as a Samsung 55bx64gwu and therefore they don't have to price match.

DullGreyGuy

chrisw said:

This approach is fairly common among electrical retailers. They will argue that a Samsung 55bx64gwt is not the same as a Samsung 55bx64gwu and therefore they don't have to price match.

And some retailers that are well known for their "we won't be beaten" have agreements with manufacturers to have unique model names so people may be able to find a mattress which has an identical description elsewhere but it'll have a different model name so not eligible for price matching 

JD1969 said:
It is impossible to get an exact match right? I mean each insurer offers their own product and there will always be small variations.

Depends what you are defining as an insurer, many on here talk of brokers and MGAs being insurers rather than the intermediary that they are. I called my car insurers "RAC"... for a start RAC Car insurance is Budget in different livery and secondly Budget are a broker.

But yes, most sellers have uniquely worded policies and so few are truly identical however the call centre agents are giving half a dozen criteria that must match to be a price match, other features could be wildly different but thats not of concern as they aren't asked to check those. 

TELLIT01

The person the OP was talking to on the phone was probably working from a script which will have tick boxes for them to enter the responses.  Probably not set up for an option of the alternative offering have better terms. 

JD1969

Thanks for all the replies. I'm reassured that it was just the agent being difficult, for whatever reason. As I have said, I am fine if they don't want to, or can't give me a better price but just be up front about it and don't be difficult hoping your customers will just 'give in' and accept a £220 price increase (when nothing had changed from the year before). I will continue to shop around in the future if my renewal price is too much and make a switch if I find a better comparable deal.

In contrast, have to say after speaking to Admiral and Aviva the last couple of days the experience was very good, vastly different to the well known insurer I have now left.

DullGreyGuy

Think it is less difficult and more robotic. Many want their call centres to run perfectly to the script and come down hard on anyone who deviates. In part this is due to insurance being so heavily regulated, particularly on consumer insurance, and factoring in most companies have decided to be non-advisory in nature. 

As an illustration, a senior call agent had an existing customer call up saying they'd come into some money and was thinking of treating themselves to their dream car for a couple of years and wanted to know what the insurance was going to be before doing it. When the insured gave the registration and it came up as a Ferrari the agent stated that it was a really nice car. Before their shift was over they were into a disciplinary for giving advice (something later reversed after the MD heard and argued it was a statement of fact not advice plus advice is only restricted on insurance not other matters)

Obviously I'm conflicted as many companies have been either my employer or client... Admiral staff have always been friendly when you finally get through to them and fits their cheap & cheerful proposition though less keen that non-motor is insured outside the UK. Aviva is a monolithic beast and it very much depends on which bit of Aviva you're dealing with and if dont have the paperwork to hand finding the right bit to talk to can be a major undertaking.