Motor Insurance - the best deal?

[DaveB]

Hi-de-hi Campers

A little story I thought I'd share with you re insurance companies. My daughter has just completed her first year of driving and her renewal quote from Admiral came in at around £1050. While this sounds a lot (and it IS a lot) it was less than the £1550 we paid last year!!
Helen being Helen, she went to one of those price comparison sites and found a quote from Diamond for some £680 (this with both me and the wife included as named drivers) so she went for that.. a sensible decision if I say so myself. The next day, we got a call from Admiral asking why she'd not stayed with them and we explained that she'd got a quote from Diamond for £400 less. Can you guess what they said next.. we could have matched that!!!!!!!!! It begs the obvious question doesn't it

Another note while I'm here. We've all seen the Autoglass adverts on the box hundreds if not thousands of times (it seems like thousands). Of particular interest is the bloke saying 'most insurers recommend us so there's no need to call them'. Said daughter got a chip on her windscreen and taking the ad at it's word, called them out. Autoglass man turned up and asked who her insurance company was (Admiral then). Admiral don't deal with us so the repair is going to cost you £75 I lost my rag, had a go at Helen, she burst into tears and Autoglass man did the repair as a 'foreigner' for £30! A lesson learned

ATB
DaveB

[TobyV]

The insurance market is a funny one. A couple of years ago the growing number of competitors was forcing prices right down but then they started having to pay more to be on comparison sites which apparently was pushing prices back up. Then came the very cold spat in early 2010, a dramatic rise in the number of accidents and claims and one stastic I heard was they wer epaying out £1.20 for every £1 taken in premiums and prices rocketed upwards. But I think they then must have kept them artificially high if they can suddenly afford to almsot halve a quote because you threaten to leave.

I think I only ever renewed once, every other year I had to change in order to get the best deal. Unfortunately for me, if/when I [ever] return to the UK, my 5 years NCB will have elapsed and I shall probably be paying some silly premium too.

[Dev One]

Think yourself lucky having to wait 5 years for a 50% NCB, in France its 13 years!
Keith

[Garry Russell]

But how does the price of the full insurance compare??

[DarrenL]

I always changed insurance company each year but this time I stayed with Hastings Direct as their renewal quote was lower than anything else on any compare website.

You can't win all the time, but sometimes you can win without trying.

[Tomliner]

Dave.as one of the older (sorry,more mature) contributors, I am from the ers the when the ethos was loyalty pays.Clearly that does not apply to insurance as well as other products.I was with the same insurer for many years until I felt that they were taking the P!ss.I have noe been with Direct Line for two years and my renewal is due shortly.I will shop around and no doubt will find a better quote but I will give my current insurer the chance to better this.If not,then goodbye.Same applies to other sevices.If they are trying to shaft you,then ditch them.EricT

[DaveB]

But how does the price of the full insurance compare??

This is always one thing that has amused me. One would think that if you'd accrued 50% NCB, the cost of your insurance would be half of what it might be but that isn't the case. A few years back, my dad first had his motor broken into (claim 1) and a second accident when some herbert on a trail bike ran off the footpath straight into the side of him. The idot picked himself up and rode off on the bent bike (no no. plate) leaving my poor dad with a bent car (claim 2). Up to that point, he'd been paying around £120 fully comp getting whatever it is you get off Saga as a NCB. Because he claimed twice in quick succession, he lost all his NCB and the following year, Saga wanted £700 off him This figure bore no resemblance what so ever to the claimed NCB discount so what it actually means remains a mystery Note too that at the time, my Dad was in his 70's and the car was a Skoda

Eric.. just jumped in there as I posted. For my part, I too believe/d that loyalty counted for something. I did at one point shop around (I've been with the RAC for donkies with the car) and the absolute best I could get was £50 better. It hardly seemed worth it so I didn't bother

ATB
DaveB

[TSR2]

A word of warn, most of the price comparison sites "auto enrole" you, so when your renewal is up the following year you have to cancel by giving them a months notice. If you don't you'll find your automatically signed up for another year at a greatly inflated price. This is how they recoup their discount from the first year. I only ever used one once a few years back. I'd been with directline for years, but thought I'd try one. Via one of them I got a saving of arround about £130 with more than. When my renewal came round the following year the price was £400 more than id paid the previous year, despite having had no accidents, claims , points, change of address etc. I duely went back to directline

Interestingly, the co-op have an interesting offer for young drivers at the moment where they fit a black box to the car and then ammend your premium each quarter based on how you drive. Drive well and you premiums drop dramaticly. Drive badly and they go up. Very clever

[Tomliner]

Hi Ben.I don't use price comparison sites because I don't trust them.I still think that it's best to call other providers to get a price and then call you current provider to see if they will match the quote.They usually will if you are a good risk. EricT

[DaveB]

The comparison site Helen used last year was, I think, Autotrader and this listed Admiral as the best price by far for Helen as a new driver. Quotes for her T reg Ford Ka ranged from the £1550 she paid to over £3000 From Admiral, she got her first years NCB in 10months too which was a bonus and in reality, the £500 reduction after 1 year wasn't bad. I was just gobsmacked to find that they so readily said they'd have matched the quote from Diamond which was £400 less!! Had they offered that in the first place, she'd have stayed put so they've lost out on 12months income. That said, they've said that if we go over with the Peugeot next year, they'll put us on a multicar policy and cut all our renewals. We shall see

ATB
DaveB