Avoid Smart People Budget

cepheus

Mid way through my insurance term I changed my car in February from a top of the market Golf 2.8 litre to a base model Hyundai 1.1 and these guys actually increased the premium, and added a further £25 admin fee into the bargain! Their excuse at the time was that it was a newer car.

I recently carried out a price comparison on Moneysupermarket to find that the same company was offering insurance £50 cheaper on my Hyundai, so I contacted them today to find out why. It appears that their computer thinks my car is a 2008 rather than a 2005 model despite having a standard number plate starting with EA55 (a 55 plate). I confirmed that this registration was on their records. They insisted that they were right and it was a 2008 model, blamed me for not quering the insurance back in Febuary and to contact the DVLA.

Eventually I managed to get another slightly cheaper quote but still more expensive than my Golf, they then tried to charge me extra for this sum rather than rebating the difference!

I asked them if there was a charge for cancelling their insurance altogether, they said no but they couldn’t rebate any of the remaining premium for the year. What a waste of time!

The lesson from this, is before you insure

1. Eliminate Smart people budget
2. Ask if there are any charges for changing policy mid term
3. Ask if you can pass any residual time left on the policy to a new insurer
4. Check if their contact number is a 0870 rip off and
5. Try to check if they have any remote idea what they are doing!

Overthetop

I do not use this insurer but when i moved i informed my insurance company and was told my insurance would cost less in the new area i was in...it went down by 11p I of course was over the moon!

giger

Just so you know, Budget are and Insurance intermediary and do not underwrite policies, the offer insurance from a large number of underwriters. Your policy will be tied to one particular underwriter, and all underwriters target vehicles differently. It may be that your original underwriter had better premiums for your original car, but less favourable for your newer one. They will have had underwriters on their books that would probably have offered you a better premium for your new car, but having one of their policies would have meant cancelling yours, and having a new 12 month policy with Budget.

Their registration match system uses DVLA records so it sounds as if the DVLA have incorrect info for your car, hence their comment to contact them.

Whilst none of the above is your fault, you should always check your policy docs when they arrive just in case.

btw - I do not work for Budget, just trying to offer an insight

Oscar_The_Grouch

Budget - the name says it all and I'm afraid you get what you pay for. It's like the difference between a frozen chicken and a fresh free range chicken; we would all prefer to have the free range, but only pay the price of the frozen one. You can't have it both ways.

mattymoo

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

Budget - the name says it all and I'm afraid you get what you pay for.

Oscar, whats your take on More Than then ?

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi Matty,

Back in the 80's and early 90's, I liked Sun Alliance. The trouble started to hit when they merged with Royal Insurance and they ended up with huge backlogs and the sort of service you would associate with a dodgy builder!

Nowadays, their MoreThan brand is about the same as any other callcentre based insurance policy and you just have to hope that you are lucky and get through to someone with a bit of knowledge.

I started with CU in the 80's during the "we won't make a drama out of a crisis" campaign. Most insurers are just not like that any more and you have to look to Sterling (BIBA's recommended home insurer) and Hiscox (if you have a high enough sum insured) to get cover with service.

mattymoo

Sorry Oscar, I was being daft.
As an ex RSA staff member (and Royal before that, but I won;t take offence)I always thought the More Than brand was a bit daft. Bit like saying "We cost MORE THAN the rest".
Agree with you about Hiscox though.

cepheus

giger wrote: »

Just so you know, Budget are and Insurance intermediary and do not underwrite policies, the offer insurance from a large number of underwriters. Your policy will be tied to one particular underwriter, and all underwriters target vehicles differently. It may be that your original underwriter had better premiums for your original car, but less favourable for your newer one. They will have had underwriters on their books that would probably have offered you a better premium for your new car, but having one of their policies would have meant cancelling yours, and having a new 12 month policy with Budget.

They didn't say this, just that the quote via moneysupermarket must be inaccurate. Is not my issue with the intermediary and not the underwiter?

giger wrote: »

Their registration match system uses DVLA records so it sounds as if the DVLA have incorrect info for your car, hence their comment to contact them.

Then why does the registation document which recently came back from the DVLA say date of registration 27/10/2005 ? I will check for future insurance purposes but a good insurer would be able to understand it is clearly a 55 plate from the reg no. Is not reasonable to expect them to contact the DVLA to avoid bad customer relations and ensure the car is valid for their own records? They seem to have accepted it is a 55 plate now anyway, but are only willing to drop the price by £5 or so.

giger wrote: »

Whilst none of the above is your fault, you should always check your policy docs when they arrive just in case.

The insurance policy document never seems to provide any details to check

cepheus

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

Budget - the name says it all and I'm afraid you get what you pay for. It's like the difference between a frozen chicken and a fresh free range chicken; we would all prefer to have the free range, but only pay the price of the frozen one. You can't have it both ways.

Granted, but isn't this a problem more generally with this site i.e. too much focus on price rather than value for money? How do I tell the difference betwen the two, surely not by name? If one chooses the cheapest in anything, chances are you are more likely to encounter problems.

It's a shame the site could not be extended to include critical amalgamated formal customer feedback on products, such as on Ebay, although without the feeling of obligation to provide a high mark to avoid tit for tat! A missed opportunity for consumers on Ebay, but I digress.