Cut Your Car Insurance In 4 Steps Discussion Area

simsyboy

Martin,
I would like to make an amendment to your car insurance cost cutting article, I work for a direct insurer which has five insurers under its umbrella. We have a team of underwriters who make our rates, and like a lot of direct insurers, these are not negotiable. I'm not talking about renewels (different rules) but for new customers we can NEVER drop a price, so customers who try and haggle get no where, and if they are persistent they may get nothing if the phone sales adviser doesn't want to waste their time on the call. The only reason I mention this is a lot of customers may be calling insurers up trying to haggle, and wasting their time. I'm not saying don't haggle, please do, but I think saying "With car insurance there is always price flexibility" is incorrect and people will beleive it if its on a reputable site like this. I just think if you said "Some insurers can adjust their prices", people may be more receptive to hearing "We cannot change our prices".
Oops, just realised this post sounds a bit ranty. Sorry for that, I've just spent a few years on the phone with customers who do try and haggle, and as much as I'd like to drop their price and get the business I couldn't do it, so this post is a little personal.

ffeindadifyr

OK, I need help, but I'm not too sure if this is the correct place to post... so please excuse me.

My dad had previously set-up to pay for his car insurance via direct debit, then a year later he found a new insurer who he took a new policy out with.

At this point he went into the bank and cancelled the direct debit (but didn't tell the old insurer). The bank now claims that he hadn't cancelled the direct debit and subsequently 3 months of insurance has been taken out of his account by the old insurance firm! (whilst covered by the new firm)

He has tried to get the money backdated, to which the old company has refused, stating:

"I regret to inform you that it is not possible to backdate the cancellation of your policy to *** because of motoring insurance regulations.

The motor insurance database holds details of all vehicles and their insurance policies. In the case of an accident, it enables a claimants and the police to identify the relevent insurers from the reg. mark of the vehicle."

I find this strange... as if there was such a database how could they not know that my father had taken out another insurance policy on the same car?

Is there any way that you could advise to have this decision changed, as this has proved VERY costly, money which my father can ill-afford.

simsyboy

There are a few points to consider here. Firstly did your dad tell his old insurer he wasnt renewing with them? If not, then they may be in the right. Most uinsurance policies automatically renew customers. They usually send out renewel documents a few weeks before its due to renew so the customer has a chance to shop around, call in to cancel etc. Saying that, if your dad was taking no claims bonus to his new insurer, they normally verify no claims bonus by a letter or phone call to the old insurer, which is another way insurers find out if a customer is going elsewhere. Unfortunately the datbase isnt as accurate as we'd like to think, there are thousands of duplicate policies for cars, homes etc because of this very situation, amongst others, and for some people who have many direct debits, and especially with smaller premiums, monthly payments, they may not notice. Thats for another discussion though. I recommend your dad call his new insurer, find out if they have spoken to his old insurer, and if he, himself, made them aware he was going to a new company. Sorry this post is a bit vague, but these situations can be a bit of a pain to sort uot.Hope your dad gets this sorted.

bodone

again not sure if this is the correct place.

Gave up the company car two rears agon in April, suffered haveing to pay full price insurance in the first year and then 1 years discount in the second year, but was looking for chepaer insurance from April this year.

Unfortunately some old dear ion a range rover decided to drive over my car, no physical damge but car very bent, just got it back last week after 2 months in the garage. Was relieved that she admitted full responsibility and fault, but now my insurer has just told me i have lost any no claims discount i had. I'm told this is the industry standard that even though it was not my fault and that the other drivers insurer has accpeted full liability and fault i've still lost any discount i may have had coming in April.

Is this correct, which seems wrong to me, does anyone know of any insurers that may be more suitable in this instance?

Thanks for your help?

By the way, with two years no claims i would have been looking at 600 i am now looking at 1400!

simsyboy

Well most insurers (the ones I work for included) after an accident if the third party admits fault and all costs are recovered then you keep your no claims bonus and continue to build on it. What some companies do it while a claim is ongoing, they remove the no claims and class it as a fult claim until they are told otherwise. I cant see why your no claims would be taken off you. Plead your case to your insurer, and if they wont budge and you genuinely feel you are in the right, and you adhere to the terms in your policy, then tell them you'll go to the FSA (financial services authority) for help. If your insurer is just trying to drag their heels then name dropping the FSA should work. Again, when you need to renel check out https://www.confused.com they give a comparison of 94% of uk insurers and provide a good service. Also try moneysupermarket.

Good luck.

huggermugger

Well, I am with elephant at the moment, paying £230 fully comp. Have decided to go Third Party Fire & theft as I drive an L reg Passat which is already battered so I have got quotes, using Martin's advice, which reduced my annual premium to about £145. I was a happy bunny, particularly as I have a speeding conviction from 2 years ago... Then I thought I'd check back with elephant to see if they could match it.

What I didn't realise is that I hadn't told elephant about my speeding conviction so they've told me that I have to pay them an extra £100 for last year's premium! :eek: They then said this year's would go up by £65! I managed to remain polite, said (icily) I wasn't very happy & would definitely go elsewhere for this year - couldn't see I had much of a choice for last year. They then put me on hold for a while and offered me TPF&T for this year for £125. Desperately wanted to tell them to shove it but felt I had to make the best of a bad job so accepted - grr grr grr !!! :mad: :mad:

However, the moral of this story is - actually, I'm not sure what it is. Probably "don't get caught".... No, I didn't really mean that. I should have told them & it serves me right, really, & if I had had an accident I might well have been in trouble or not properly covered... am I convincing anyone?

huggermugger

Just had another call back from elephant to say that their quote was in fact wrong and it wasn't £125 but £225 and that's TPF&T - scream, scream!!

So back to my default position - pay elephant £100 for last year and go with AXA through moneysupermarket for this year for £145. Meaning I could have saved money but I didn't. Hope the rest of you do!

dawnylou

Excellent.......

Car quoted PEUGEOT 206 LX DIESEL 1998-2003 1868cc 3 DOOR HATCHBACK Manual Diesel
Search date 16/03/2006 Protected NCB No Years NCB 3

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mandywilliams

Hi From Rainy Wrecsam
Just had my renewal of £117 for my little old metro and noticed that they had me down as working full time,so when I called to renew it I foolishly told them and my premium went up by £27 ????when I queried it,I was told that I have more spare time to drive around town and am more likely to have an accident.I find this very bizarre because I work Part time,any comments???
So I went to insure supermarket and got a cracking deal via the post office for £134 with £50 cash back within 28 days,making my insurance just £84...How good is that! and stuff Masterquote.
Bye for now
Mandy

cas26

My advice to anyone getting car insurance quotes, would be to use the "time saving" websites such as confused.com but to phone the insurance companies up, so that you can ask them about their policy.

Last year my sister found out the expensive way when she insured her car with elephant.com. 24hours after purchasing her car she had an electrical fault which caused a fire and consequently the car was a right off, fortunately no-one was injured.

After deciding to claim on her insurance, she was told her insurance would be terminated and she was offered a £500 settlement, this didn't even cover the cost of the insurance, let alone the car. We eventually managed to get £1500 after much time and effort, but this still left her having to find a new insurer (most were shocked that a company would terminate the policy after a total loss claim) and a higher premium, as she had now made a claim.

I am currently searching for car insurance as mine is up for renewal, Quinn-direct (based in Ireland) have so far come up with the best quote and seem to have a good policy, if anyone has had any experience of them please let me know how you found them.