Cut Your Car Insurance In 4 Steps Discussion Area

maninwhitecoat

A new news item today from the bbc today about car thefts:

New cars are virtually impossible to steal according to the research from vehicle security experts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

Its a video report

do you think this will help lower insurance costs?

eagleray

Followed 4 step plan after receiving renewal quote from More than (quote was ~£25 more than last year). Used insurance supermarket. More than were coming out top at ~£40 less than last year!)

Rung more than and complained; acknowledged that the internet quote would be slightly cheaper as it included discount for new business. They could only offer me up to ~£30 off their personalised renewal quote.

Told by them that ~£70 difference in quotes represented admin costs (that's one expensive letter and phone call!!!!!). They then said that I could always buy direct from internet as 'I was doing it all myself' and; thus; would not incur admin costs.

But; 'I'm not a new customer'.

'Oh it doesn't matter the website isn't able to tell that. Just remember to cancel your old policy when it runs out.'

I was flabbergasted!!!

So far so good; received new policy; just waiting to cancel old one.:j

beaz

Thanks for all your suggestions. I came across another Co which, on price, seems very competitive. I wonder if you have any feedback on this car insurance co? It is Peoples Choice. https://www.peopleschoice.co.uk.

Ruby76

I have just had an experience with Norwich Union. Got my renewal quote through yesterday, so had a snop on the internet and found much much cheaper insurance else where. Called NU to see what they could do and they wouldnt budge! Said that what they had sent me was their best and final offer. I couldnt believe it :mad:

Have now cancelled my policy with them and will take up an offer else where. Cant believe this is the way they treat thier existing customers.

deap

We've also cancelled with NU today because of an inflated renewal quote. Car has modifications so not everyone would quote online, even so, got several quotes around £170 cheaper, and with less exclusions rather than like for like.

Called NU to haggle and they came down by £130 (so why the high renewal quote in the first place?) But they wouldn't match let alone beat the best quote to keep our business, even though we've had no claims in over 10 years.

It was the parting shot that really cracked me up: the call centre script goes "I'm very sorry we were not able to quote you happy today" :rotfl:

delorean_2

I just tried Prudential. Absolutely delighted with them.

I've 2 years ncb, 2 years license held. 1 sp30/3 points. £315.00 exactly for fully comp + £200 voluntary excess. Compulsory excesses are super low too. I'm stunned!

PLUS FREE breakdown. PLUS i get to cancel mid term at no extra charge besides one month premium.

NICE.

chrislee765

I pay by installments (at the age of 19, not much choice). I am 6 months into my insurance year, paying near on £100 a month. If i haggled and paid it off in 1 go i could get that down to near on £60. A saving of £40 a month.

The only trouble, my insurance company want £139 to cancel. Fair enough after 4 months i would be saving money, but thats still alot to cancel.
I guess i signed the contract, but can these insurance companies get away with that?

WSO

Sorry if this has been mentioned earlier but I don't have time to read through it all.

I just phoned NU to renew after checking other options (2nd renewal about £70 cheaper than previous so came out cheapest anyway)... I simply asked what they could do me on the price of the renewal - no counter quotes, no policy tweaking or anything other than barefaced cheek - and they gave me an extra 5% "call" discount.

Not bad considering I was prepared to pay the renewal amount by credit card in the same call anyway... (a cashback card paid in full each month of course!)

.Dave_4-2

Just been through the steps to better my car insurance quote. My current policy is with Tesco. I tried all 3 of the search sites and SwiftCover came out best twice - beating my current renewal quote by £20. Next I phoned Barclays to try and make use of their offer to beat any price or pay you cash. Unfortunately the quote from Barclays was way over £100 more than my Tesco renewal quote, so they couldn't match it or offer me the deal. So, next I phoned Tesco and told them I'd had a better offer and could they beat it. They said normally they'd have tried giving me a 10% discount to beat my best quote, but they couldn't do that as I already had a 10% discount on my quote (presumably because last year I applied online). So that meant Tesco couldn't beat Swiftcover.

By coincidence, I filled up the car with petrol at Tesco over the weekend. Don't know if this has been mentioned on this site yet, but Tesco currently have some flyers in their petrol stations offering to give you 'up to £50 off fuel' when you take out insurance with them. I assumed this wouldn't apply to existing customers - but I picked up the flyer anyway. In the small print it tells you that it does apply to existing customers too! Great! The only down side is that if your insurance premium is less than £500 (as mine is) then you only get £25 off fuel. But still - all you have to do is phone their fuel hotline number, give them your insurance policy number and they then promise to send you a voucher for £25 off petrol at Tesco within 6weeks of you renewing your Car Insurance with them.

Since the Swiftcover quote was only £20 better than my Tesco renewal quote, using this offer to get a £25-off-petrol-voucher makes renewing my car insurance with Tesco the best option for me.

So - if you already have car insurance with Tesco, or are thinking of taking a policy out (it has to be taken out or renwed before the 5th August) then simply phone the Fuel Hotline number on 08000 32 45 41, give them your insurance policy number and you'll get a fuel voucher. No offer code needed. Really easy.

Dave

ccluedo

My car insurance renewal is due in a couple of weeks. I tried confused.com (tho their adverts drive me NUTZZZ)!!! and got 3 quotes less than my renewal including one £30 LESS from my current company! Called my current company Kwik-Fit and asked why they were quoting me cheaper online than my renewal notice. Long story short, they matched an even lower quote from Swinton...incl a reduced compulsory excess...quoting me £63 LESS than the original renewal notice! (I double checked all conditions were like for like) I then said I would call back to renew next week....but was offered a further £10 discount if I renewed there and then. Total saved £72.99...RESULT! Thanks Martin for your article ))