Cut Your Car Insurance In 4 Steps Discussion Area

beccabee_2

Hi

I'm having problems clicking on the "click here" on Martins initial posting, it takes me through and gives an error, is this due to the change of message board and can someone point me in the direction of the 4 magic steps to cheaper car insurance?

Thanks

Toxteth_OGrady

Top tip.

Haven't trawled through all this thread so apologies if this has been mentioned before.

Anyway I followed MSE Martin's advice last year and ended up buying a car policy from Norwich Union as the cheapest quote I could find at £250.

Just got my renewal notice for this policy and it came in at £232.

Out of interest, before renewing, I ran exactly the same details through https://www.confused.com.

Guess what? The cheapest quote came in at £158 (£74 cheaper) from, would you believe it, Norwich Union.

Because the policy renewal is automatic, unless you cancel, I phoned NU and asked why the difference? The rep was able to call up my policy renewal and my new online quote and compare like for like. There was no difference except the price.

She tried to waffle me into renewing my existing at the higher price, but I took her to task and asked if there was any reason why I couldn't cancel my existing and buy the new one online. I also mentioned that if this wasn't possible I would take my business elsewhere as I had a similar online quote from another company.

Anyway I was put on hold (fortunately NU still use an 0800 number) and she then came back and said they could now beat their own online price by £2 with my existing policy renewal.

Instant win - saving of £75 over the auto-renewal if I'd not taken any action. I said to the rep that she'd obviously been to speak to her supervisor whilst I was on hold; she admitted as such and that she personally was unable to authorise that level of discount.

How weird, getting the company to compete against itself for a quote!

Anyway it worked out in my favour.

So the tip is, having secured a cheap policy one year, don't just automatically renew it in subsequent years.

:cool:

TOG

elvinpeel

:cool: Beware of cheap premiums ! I'm just changing from a Yorkshire H.O., Insurer who charged a low annual premium only to charge me more than 214% of the change of car premium extra when I bought another car ! It's called an admin charge and if you don't ask at first they'll hit you with it mid-term. This is extortionate and to date I've refused to pay it ; it has increased my annual premium way beyond what is reasonable!
Also, be very,very careful of putting a youngster as an additional driver when he/she owns it and is the main driver. Insurer's are entitled to the correct premium for the risk they take; you don't need them to point this out after an accident when all the facts come out - and they do - so that the Insurer can withdraw cover from inception - legally to one's distinct disadvantage..

Elvin.

Baby_A

Hi i also am having difficulties going through to Martins 4 step guide, brings up an error. Any ideas???

Toxteth_OGrady

beccabee wrote:

Hi

I'm having problems clicking on the "click here" on Martins initial posting, it takes me through and gives an error, is this due to the change of message board and can someone point me in the direction of the 4 magic steps to cheaper car insurance?

Thanks

Baby_A wrote:

Hi i also am having difficulties going through to Martins 4 step guide, brings up an error. Any ideas???

Yeah, the link's broken. Try this link instead.

:cool:

TOG

Paul_Varjak

I have just got my renewal notice for contents insurance from Norwich Union Direct; the cost being over £150.

Used Insuresupermarket and got a better quote from, you guessed it, Norwich Union Direct!

However, the internet site allowed me to select just £10,000 of cover, whereas the telephone services minimum cover is £35,000. I plumped for £20,000 cover and included legal expenses and £2,000 valuables.

I also noted they have two levels of accidental damage. My current policy has the higher level of cover. The basic level of accidental damage cover is OK for me.

I also put in the true age of my property (1870) rather than the one Norwich Union automatically did (1900) that reduced the premiums by £2!

The quote I got is just £80, so I have saved over £70! Had I got the full accidental cover it would have been £100 - still a saving of over £50!

Canny_2

After spending a couple of hours on line trying to find car insurance for my 17year old son - with quotes from between nearly £2,000 to nearly £3,000!-
I then tried Martin's two shop bots ideas. I found them both fairly simple to use (must have details and car registration helps). Both quickly gave me quotes in order of price. Very happy so far (have not received the paperwork yet so havn't read any small print) with an offer from Budget Insurance/Zenith - £1547 in my sons name (provisional licence holder) with legal cover, third party only (car only valued at £300 - old VW Golf 1.3) and myself as a named driver. If there are no hidden hang ups, Martin has saved me about £250 for less than 2 hours work! Thanks Martin. x

isayoldchap

:rotfl:

Paul_Varjak wrote:

I have just got my renewal notice for contents insurance from Norwich Union Direct; the cost being over £150.

Used Insuresupermarket and got a better quote from, you guessed it, Norwich Union Direct!

However, the internet site allowed me to select just £10,000 of cover, whereas the telephone services minimum cover is £35,000. I plumped for £20,000 cover and included legal expenses and £2,000 valuables.

I also noted they have two levels of accidental damage. My current policy has the higher level of cover. The basic level of accidental damage cover is OK for me.

I also put in the true age of my property (1870) rather than the one Norwich Union automatically did (1900) that reduced the premiums by £2!

The quote I got is just £80, so I have saved over £70! Had I got the full accidental cover it would have been £100 - still a saving of over £50!

Paul ,these were similar circumstances that happened to me. Around three years ago a member of staff at Norwich Union was able to beat the NUD quote.I note that you only went for contents.Should you consider Buildings
as well I would suggest you go to https://www.egg.com
Here you can access a quick quote.See if it will allow you to increase the cover you need as some do a blanket cover for the same price.I.e would you prefer £30k if £20k was the same price?Currently they also throw in family annual travel insurance for europe.This offer was also running last Summer.
We paid £161 for £123k buildings with acc.damage and £30k contents without acc.damage.Also legal cover (live near Gatwick)and we got the years
free family travel insurance.If you become an egg card holder you also get 10% off the insurance quote.Ours was with the 10% 0ff.This offer for travel insurance covers the up to 66 year olds.If you are over 66years old(or anyone reading this)then a fantastic quote I received for my elderly parents last Christmas was from Motorquote Direct but register at https://www.bighair.co.uk
for the cashback then after your account is up and running use log in and use the link in their insurance section to save a further £15 which will be sent to you once you take out the policy with MD.You will also get £3 for registering.(Always make sure the person who registers has the insurance in their name to get the cashback)Parents live in North Cheam,Syand quote was £185 less £15 so £170.Same quote as mine except there req
were £200k (blanket) for buildings with acc.damage and £35k for contents
legal cover also.Hope this helps.Still in time to cancel your NUD policy.One thing that is certain is if I use the insure supermarket system I will usually find
alternative companies (who don't pay on those websites),that their quotes can be a minimum of £100 cheaper.Do you know I actually am happy to pay for my insurances.I know people who pay through the nose (because they can't be bothered to search around) only to complain of the high costs of insurance.Good morning and how can we rip you off today!!!!!!!!Oh and just an update -I see https://www.greasypalm.co.uk are offering £7.25 if you get the egg credit card which then makes you a customer and eligible for the 10% their insurance.Quids in

roberto

I saw a poster on a tube train the other day. It said that if you bought a policy with them and then found another policy cheaper, they would refund the cost of the policy. Am I reading this correctly? - you get car insurance for free!

There were no terms and conditions on the poster and I see no mention of it on their webpage.

I have no need for car insurance at the moment, but just wondering whether what I'd seen was correct? and why I'd not seen it on here before.

Roberto

lucyspoon

hi there
i tried confused.com having read about it via moneysaver and have saved £108.00 on my car insurance and then bought the recommended vehicle recovery from autoaid for 12.99 for the year! i then took out ppi as recommended by moneysaver and saved £26 a month for 48 months which totalled £1248 so in one evening i made a saving of about £1350 - result!!! :T