Hastings direct - different quote through TCB?

Broke113 · 8 September 2017 at 2:07PM

Went through all the comparison sites to find best quote. Hastings direct looked good but when I have gone through TCB to take out the policy the quote has increased by £40. All details are the same in both quotes. Tried to talk to the via phone (got bored of being on hold) and through live chat (no operatives available).

Is it usual for quotes on comparison sites to be so much lower than essentially going through the companies own site?

wjr4 · 8 September 2017 at 2:35PM

This happened to me recently with my car & home insurance! Ended up going direct & getting cashback from TCB. I find it odd how I go through all comparison websites and get a different premium from each of them when I've input the same details!

rudekid48 · 8 September 2017 at 9:53PM

rjw4 wrote: »

This happened to me recently with my car & home insurance! Ended up going direct & getting cashback from TCB. I find it odd how I go through all comparison websites and get a different premium from each of them when I've input the same details!

Nothing odd about it, the comparison sites charge the insurer a hefty fee if you buy a policy - they don't all charge the same amount so prices will reflect that.

myrtlesprings · 9 September 2017 at 8:05PM

I did a trawl on various comparison websites including Confused.Com for car insurance on 6 September and after due consideration selected one from their website, Brightside Insurance, the price offered on the website was £236.97, available until 28 September. When I phoned to accept and clarify a few details on 8 September I was informed that the price was £357.06. I was astounded at this and when I queried the huge price difference I was informed that 'it was due to fluctuations in the insurance market' which sounded very hollow indeed! Furthermore I was informed that the guarantee to hold the price until 28 September only becomes effective one I have clicked through on the web or phoned, this is very misleading in the extreme as the original search does say until the 28 September no ifs or buts.I have written to Confused.Com to complain and intend asking local Trading Standards Department to have a look at this!

NonGeographicalMan · 15 August 2019 at 7:01AM

Just looking at exactly this issue now with renewal of my existing Saga car insurance policy.

Two years ago Saga were nowhere to be seen in the price comparison website listings a week out but then the day before the renewal they came up with a £167 price to cover a 15 year old MR2 Roadster for 8,000 miles a year. Then last year they tried charging just over £200 for renewal but after phoning and asking for a better price renewed in the £180s.

This year their renewal quote was £262 but my mileage requirement is now at least 15,000 due to changed personal circumstances (elderly mother who I was companion/carer for died) and for 15,000 miles they wanted £287 and would not discuss this price. But now on the day of renewal and actually asking for quotes for 19,000 miles (as I found some insurers clearly band mileage prices in 5,000 blocks even though others increase it for every extra 1,000 miles) I suddenly get a quote for £227 on confused.com that shows me a quote number and provides either a dedicated 0800 number to call on (no doubt comparethemarket and not Saga own that 0800 number so can track that I called the insurer) or a click thru link.

Of course I'm wondering whether if I ring Saga on their own 0800 motor insurance number and mention the £227 quote they can beat it (as they could then possibly save the confused.com commission) but I suspect they won't believe me unless they look up the quote number and if they look it up probably Confused will know if I take out the policy and still expect their commission. Unless of course they can drop my renewal quote down on my current policy to £227 or less so can avoid having to pay Confused commission. However two days ago they gave me the excuse that the underwriter had locked the renewal price three days before renewal and they couldn't discount it (more likely is that 3 days before renewal they think you don't have time to shop around).

Also is there any possibility that they will try telling me that as a New Existing Customer (anyone seen the quite funny Aviva tv ad with the balding guy in a wig trying to pose as a new customer with his current insurer to get a better price) that I am not entitled to these lower confused.com prices.

So perhaps I shouldn't risk phoning them and should just click through on the link to buy the policy at this price.

Also when I tried going on their own motor insurance website two days ago and running a brand new quote there they refused to quote me on the basis that I was an existing customer and said that I should phone them. So it seems on their own website they are tracking I am the same customer through the Registration Number and/or postcode and house number and/or first and last names.

So if I click through on the link perhaps they will still refuse to issue the policy at this price when they get my registration number, name(s) and/or postcode. In which case could be another complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman..........

EDIT:- Also just to say that on this much lower quote the excess is £250, whereas my renewal quote had an excess of £300 and when I first joined Saga two year ago it was £150. So strongly suspect this is a different underwriter on their panel who makes a habit of offering very low quotes to customers who leave renewing until their policy expiry date (probably suggesting to this underwriter that such motor insurance customers are especially price sensitive and inclined to shop around).

NonGeographicalMan · 15 August 2019 at 2:22PM

Just to add that I contacted Saga on their regular motor Sales number and told them about the £227.25 quite from comparethemarket.com They couldn't find it on their system by the comparethemarket reference number (which they say is only found on comparethemarket's own iT systems rather than Saga's) but found it by price and date and were happy to let me take it out at that price for comp cover with NCD protection and 19,000 miles per annum. The only difference from renewing my old policy uprated to 15,000 miles was just under £60 less in renewal cost and another 4,000 miles per annum permitted mileage.

Also the underwriter quoting the much better price was AXA rather than one of the unknown firms (the first one was based in Gibraltar) from the previous couple of years.

So clearly another case where new customers seen to be about to buy now (i.e.need a policy starting today) are offered lower prices to lure them in but they still try to charge existing customers rather more.

But anyway by being awkward and hanging on till the last moment (there were no cheap price comparison website quotes for Saga a week or two ago) this New Existing Customer did manage to get the cheap New Customer pricing deal..............

AndysDad · 16 August 2019 at 1:57PM

rudekid48 wrote: »

Nothing odd about it, the comparison sites charge the insurer a hefty fee if you buy a policy - they don't all charge the same amount so prices will reflect that.

It might not be "ODD" but very underhand ,making people think they are getting a good deal from the Cashback website,when actually they are being Fleeced.

NonGeographicalMan · 16 August 2019 at 4:35PM

AndysDad wrote: »

It might not be "ODD" but very underhand ,making people think they are getting a good deal from the Cashback website,when actually they are being Fleeced.

Its basically the Existing Customers who are often too busy at renewal time to do a new insurance search that year and so end up being Auto Renewed who get fleeced and this pays for the cashback sites to lure in new customers to make up for those old customers who do have time to move elsewhere because they are annoyed about the level of price increase.

The whole problem is caused by marketing directors getting paid only on new customers found and not on a net customer movement position each year. If they were paid on net customer movements then they would soon learn that it doesn't pay in the long run to mistreat the existing customer base.

However by posing as a New Customer through the indirect cashback site quotation route I was able to get the New Customer pricing from Saga as an Existing Customer by calling on the phone armed with the cashback site quote number. I note that when I tried to get a quote directly from them on their own Saga website they blocked me on the basis that I was an existing customer and had to phone them for a quote (when they would only have quoted my the expensive renewal price). But when I rang their sales line armed with what they were quoting a new customer on the same vehicle with the same mileage they had no alternative but to role over and let me have this deal but achieving this even involved my getting a new account number as though I wasn't an existing customer at all, even though they could clearly see from my car registration number that I was an existing customer.............

Hastings direct - different quote through TCB?

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