Car insurance and quidco

Joyful

Hi
I have just been looking via the money supermarket links for car insurance. My query is I got a quote for the RAC which I thought was good but when I went to try direct through quidco my result was £100 more expensive so even though quidco was giving £70 cash back it was higher. Can anyone explain this? Also my last car was involved in a hit and run when it was parked in 2005 so there was no one to claim from. As I do not know what the insurers paid for the repair ( and all the sites keep asking me ) should I just give up and call the companies as I have and want to keep my protected no claims discount.

lisyloo

Can anyone explain this?

There are 2 explanations that I can come up with.

Either some option was defaulted that you didn't notice (like it defaulted to fully comp), so check that it's comparing exactly the same.
OR
The site gives a discount for going direct (or alternatively increases the price when you go through an intermediary).

Also my last car was involved in a hit and run when it was parked in 2005 so there was no one to claim from.

Unfortunately this will go down as a "fault" claim.
Don't take offence at the words, it doesn't mean it's your fault, it just means they could not reclaim the money so your insurance paid out.

As I do not know what the insurers paid for the repair

Well you should have a rough idea as they never pay more than the car is worth.
I think they are really after a ball park here but if you aren't comfortable with guessing then yes you will need to phone up.

want to keep my protected no claims discount

You should be able to keep your protected NCB.
The whole point of it is that you don't lose your NCB when you have a claim.
However most companies will penalise you for having a "fault" claim.
There is nothing you can do about this, it's jsut tough luck I'm afraid.
FWIW - my FIL hit a pedestrian and he was charged an extra £35 over 3 years, so it does not necessarily have to be large.

Joyful

Thanks for the reply. Mind you going direct was costing more not less. I also made sure it was like for like.

Happychappy

Joyful

Dont count on Quidco paying out, they are extremely unreliable and have no sway whatsoever if the merchants they deal with do not pay, you won't even be told why they are not paying you your cashback, just a list of possible reasons for you to look at ? :rolleyes:

So only use them like you would buy a lottery ticket, nice if it happens, but rarely does for anything more then a few pounds.

MarkyMarkD

It's scarcely surprising that companies will offer more competitive premiums if they aren't having to pay a network money, which then goes (in part) to Quidco to fund a cashback payment.

It's a fact of life that you should always check prices direct in case this situation applies.

The other point (from the insurer's point of view) is that someone who buys through Quidco is approximately 0% likely to renew; someone who buys direct is far more likely to renew.

Joyful

Maybe I did not make this clear. Initially I was quoted for the RAC by moneysupermarket.com. After thinking it looked an okay deal I thought I would check if the RAC were on Quidco. As they were I dropped through from Quidco to the RAC website where it was over £100 MORE expensive than before.

gazza975526570

Happychappy wrote: »

Joyful

So only use them like you would buy a lottery ticket, nice if it happens, but rarely does for anything more then a few pounds.

Rarely?! I think you are having a laugh!

Ive had insurances on about 7 occasions track with none failing to. Friends who have used have had the same success. More often than not it fails due to user error

Happychappy

I think we have been down this road before where the user must be in error for simply logging on to Quidco, then going to the merchants site and purchasing ? simple it may sound, but you have clearly not as yet been subject to Quidco automated dont give a stuff responses.

My latest was with Churchill in December with £60 cashback offered, I followed the normal rules, cleared the cookies, entered the site via quidco and purchased. My purchase tracked the next day, then a week later validated and stayed validated for four weeks and then disappered ?

I then found it was rejected by the merchant. I raised a ticket which took four weeks to get an answer of claim was "Unsuccesful" I copied in the email confirmation from Churchill giving the time of the purchase and this was linked into the Quidco times where they show your log on times ? I expected this to clear the problem? wrong

The policy was paid for online with a credit card, it was not rejected and was confirmed at the time, the policy is still running, etc etc

Quidco gave a bland 10 reason email automated resposne as to possibly why claims are rejected, none fitted and they do NOT give a specific reason

So when you say it is down to user error, you give a reason why this failed ? and while your at it, why a PC world purchase of a £400 PC which tracked and validated was also rejected, and why a £400 LCD TV purchased from Woolworths online also tracked, validated and failed ?

The £2 from trueprint, £0.69p from tesco and the host of small cashbacks under £5 all tracked validated and paid out? So when you think Im having a laugh, I dont beleive being scammed by someone out of £120 in cashback being a laughing matter, but your constant Im all right jack attitude really does p#ss me off. And the bog standard reply of "it isnt a guarantee" is spot on and is in my case becoming the norm.

gazza975526570

I never said there arent problems with Quidco payments going to receive - merley that more often than not it does indeed relate to operator error.

You stated "rarely" does it track for more than a few pounds - this is clearly not the case although at times are are issues with the process

lisyloo

Dont count on Quidco paying out, they are extremely unreliable

FWIW I've never had any trouble with quidco and Ive had about £300 from them.
Some of it is indeed down to user error, other times there are other problems.

It's good advice not to rely on cashback.
There is no guarantee.

My advice is

1) Don't take a policy that's more expensive on the basis of cashback, take one that you would otherwise be happy with. If the cashback is a bonus then it's not the end of the world if it doesn't happen.
2) Apply in advance. If it doesn't track then you do ahve the option of cancelling. There may be admin fees to watch out for but at least it's an option.

tinkerbell84

Joyful wrote: »

Maybe I did not make this clear. Initially I was quoted for the RAC by moneysupermarket.com. After thinking it looked an okay deal I thought I would check if the RAC were on Quidco. As they were I dropped through from Quidco to the RAC website where it was over £100 MORE expensive than before.

moneysupermarket.com does not (IIRC) give you a full quote - you still have to click through to RAC to get a final quote