Direct Line indifference!

Thomas_Crown

ampersand wrote: »

Having worked through Martin's comparisons exercise(nowhere near as fast as he though:rolleyes: ) -I'm now waiting for my £50 PO cashback on Fully Comp to come. ................Still couldn't compete with PO though.

I have had my buildings & contents insured with Sainbury's Bank (St.Andrew's Insurance via Halifax) for the last 5 years. I found their customer service to be excellent particularly during 2 home emergency claims which were underwritten by a separate company. I got my renewal recently & it was for £428 with 5 years NCD on buildings & contents so I decided to say goodbye to Sainsbury's Bank.

I got numerous quotes & I must say that I was not impressed by the abrupt customer services advisor at Asda Insurance!

I finally got a quote of £267 from the Post Office (AXA) with £50 cashback to be paid ''not less than 60 days & not more than 70 days from the date the policy commences''. So that's a nett price of £217 saving me £211. A good result from using the insurance comparison site comparethemarket.com as recommended by Martin.

Steve1981

ampersand wrote: »

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yes, Steve1981, you are right. I fully expect to change insurer next year, forever being a successfully tempted new customer by whoever's offering the best deal:D

funnily enough every year i check and go for the best deal - but not just price - there has to be uk call centres.

poppy_f1

same thing happened to me, however i just canceled the old policy and took out the new one, and the girl on the phone swapped over my no claims no bother

peediedj

iam with directline insurance,but recently got a quote from churchill and it was about £55 cheaper per year,thing is both are run by rbs,so shouldnt they be the same?

Steve1981

peediedj wrote: »

iam with directline insurance,but recently got a quote from churchill and it was about £55 cheaper per year,thing is both are run by rbs,so shouldnt they be the same?

no

Direct line has been part of the RBS group for many years - Churchill on the otherhand was part of a buy out that started in september 2004 and was completed fully 12 months later. direct line underwrite directlines policies, Churchill underwrite Churchill policies.

the easiest way to look at this is that direct line and churchill are brother and sister - RBS is mum and dad, whilst direct line and churchill get on, they are still in competition with each other.

gazza975526570

They arent really in competition. Yes they are both competing for market share but two different ends of the market. This is seen in both product and advertising.

anna42hmr

they arent competition, and to be honest within the organisation, they are classed as one bussiness, as all the insurance brands fall within the umbrella of "RBS Insurance Services Limited", so effectivly, direct line insurance, tesco insurance, churchill insurance, nig insurance, prudential car insurance, uki, and many others are classed as "brands" as opposed to individual companies, since the merger was completed,

Steve1981

anna42hmr wrote: »

they arent competition, and to be honest within the organisation, they are classed as one bussiness, as all the insurance brands fall within the umbrella of "RBS Insurance Services Limited", so effectivly, direct line insurance, tesco insurance, churchill insurance, nig insurance, prudential car insurance, uki, and many others are classed as "brands" as opposed to individual companies, since the merger was completed,

whilst yes we are brands - as someone works for the group - each part see each other as part of the competition as well as part of the same group(sibling rivalry if you will) - yes we all share the same profit share - and as you say fall under the same roof, but the insurance market is very wide whilst each insurer may have specific markets these will over lap and if you speak those working on the floor of the group it is seen as direct competition (this may not/is not be the case higher up however)

Steve1981

gazza975526570 wrote: »

They arent really in competition. Yes they are both competing for market share but two different ends of the market. This is seen in both product and advertising.

it would be interesting to see your opinion onthis, working for the group, my judgement/what I am told may cloud things - would be interesting to see the publics thoughts on this Gazza

Canucklehead

Good morning: Just had our renewal notice for our home insurance with Direct Line.... our premium has been bumped up by 25%! We don't live a flood zone and haven't made any claims. I went to the PO site for a quote (my OH went with them for car insurance after getting a wallet busting increase from Direct Line last year) and now have a quote for 40% less than DL. On a final note, an article in yesterday's Guardian says it all ...sounds like we are not alone..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/mar/15/insurance.homeinsurance

HTH

Canucklehead