Car Insurance- cheapest, cheapest known name or a dearer one?

jem16

Doing the usual annual merry go round for Car Insurance. 

Currently with Direct Line and renewal, as per usual, increased by around £60pa.

Comparison sites showing over £200pa savings with other companies. So haggle with Direct Line who reduce it by £120 but still around £90 dearer than equivalent policies even with Aviva who have now bought them. 

I won’t go with the cheapest as never heard of some of them and others don’t have good reviews. However can’t make up my mind whether to choose another known company but with a cheaper policy. Most of the policies now online seem to offer a cheaper online access only type policy via comparison sites whereas going direct offers a dearer policy but with telephone contact.

What do people look for these days when choosing car insurance?

MyRealNameToo

jem16 said:

Doing the usual annual merry go round for Car Insurance. 

Currently with Direct Line and renewal, as per usual, increased by around £60pa.

Comparison sites showing over £200pa savings with other companies. So haggle with Direct Line who reduce it by £120 but still around £90 dearer than equivalent policies even with Aviva who have now bought them. 

I won’t go with the cheapest as never heard of some of them and others don’t have good reviews. However can’t make up my mind whether to choose another known company but with a cheaper policy. Most of the policies now online seem to offer a cheaper online access only type policy via comparison sites whereas going direct offers a dearer policy but with telephone contact.

What do people look for these days when choosing car insurance?

Car insurance is relatively simple product, personally would buy from the one that is the cheapest that Im comfortable with. For me if it has DoC or PA is not important and not something I'll spend a lot of time looking into.

Home is a different matter, it's a vastly more complex product and the value it covers of my direct losses is much higher too. I therefore spend much more time looking at the product and will go on value more than price. 

Your problem with the likes of Aviva is that they are a massive organisation with many brands aimed at many different levels so just because a product is underwritten by them doesnt mean you can automatically say its top tier or a budget/stripped down product. 

borack253

When choosing car insurance, focus on the balance between price, reliability, and support. A well-known company with good customer service is usually safer than an unknown cheap one. If you value phone support, it can be worth paying a little extra. Otherwise, a trusted comparison site policy can be fine. Make sure the cover meets your needs, not just the cost.

MouldyOldDough

I base mine on Quidco - amount of cashback - being an "older" person who has never paid more than £300 for car insurance - I use Quidco and get my quotes for between £100 and £200 so if I can gain £60 cashback - I use that one !

jem16

Thanks all. It appears that the comparison sites tend to offer cut down versions of the offerings available directly from insurance companies. So although they appear to be the same, they’re not completely the same. For example Direct Line comprehensive available directly differs from Direct Line Standard available on the comparison sites. A few extra features available on the comprehensive policy but of course around £60 dearer. I’d imagine most companies are like this.

So just need to consider if those extra features are needed or the cut down offering is sufficient. That’s once I decide on the company first of all!

MyRealNameToo

jem16 said:

Thanks all. It appears that the comparison sites tend to offer cut down versions of the offerings available directly from insurance companies. So although they appear to be the same, they’re not completely the same. For example Direct Line comprehensive available directly differs from Direct Line Standard available on the comparison sites. A few extra features available on the comprehensive policy but of course around £60 dearer. I’d imagine most companies are like this.

So just need to consider if those extra features are needed or the cut down offering is sufficient. That’s once I decide on the company first of all!

Most people buying from aggregators buy exclusively on price hence as you say some create cut down versions to sell via aggregators to help them get to the top of the list. Other tricks can be increasing excesses, being more restrictive of where vehicles can be repaired, defaulting optional extras to no etc. 

It was many years ago but remember a conversation with a well known brand that saw itself as very ethical and customer focused. They had found they would lose most their customers if another brand was £2 cheaper per year and almost all their customers even to a totally unheard of brand if they were £5 cheaper per year.  

Bigphil1474

I went with the Aviva online product last year as it was the cheapest I would choose. I avoid Admiral and unheard of companies. To be fair, the online system is easy enough. Not had to claim yet, but they also came out cheapest for the home insurance (think I might have got a discount due to having the car insurance first).

MouldyOldDough

Bigphil1474 said:

I went with the Aviva online product last year as it was the cheapest I would choose. I avoid Admiral and unheard of companies. To be fair, the online system is easy enough. Not had to claim yet, but they also came out cheapest for the home insurance (think I might have got a discount due to having the car insurance first).

Admiral are OK - I have used them before and their household insurance is well priced (with Quidco cashback) - their add on "emergency cover" is extremely good !

MyRealNameToo

MouldyOldDough said:

Bigphil1474 said:

I went with the Aviva online product last year as it was the cheapest I would choose. I avoid Admiral and unheard of companies. To be fair, the online system is easy enough. Not had to claim yet, but they also came out cheapest for the home insurance (think I might have got a discount due to having the car insurance first).

Admiral are OK - I have used them before and their household insurance is well priced (with Quidco cashback) - their add on "emergency cover" is extremely good !

For Motor their cover is broadly cheap and cheerful, call centre waiting time used to be long but they were friendly when dealing with them. Had a claim with them too and it was fine. The only odd part of their cover was that you had to declare optional extras even if factory fit and they dont actually provide cover for them so if you have doubled the cost of the car by loading up on the air suspension, memory electric seats etc they didnt used to be the best. 

Their Home is written purely out of Gibraltar (motor is coinsured between UK and Gib - sure it used to be insured in UK and reinsured to Gib) which never gives me a warm fuzzy felling but there could be worse red flags. 

jem16

Bigphil1474 said:

I went with the Aviva online product last year as it was the cheapest I would choose. I avoid Admiral and unheard of companies. To be fair, the online system is easy enough. Not had to claim yet, but they also came out cheapest for the home insurance (think I might have got a discount due to having the car insurance first).

Have you had to make any changes via their online system? What changes does it allow?