Car insurance renewal.

[RGDave]

I got a call from my broker on Wed afternoon saying my car insurance was going to expire 12.00 midday Thursday. After some haggling and general moaning, I got it the same price as last year. £353.
My missus asked why I hadn't gone to the meerkats or scary cartoon lady or indeed the annoying opera man.
So I thought I'd double check.

In the early days of t'internet, the online prices were always cheaper, then my broker would sneak in under price and we'd shake hands. However, the market has moved on and I was unhappy to discover I could have got it for £250 easy. What really got me though was to see MY broker quoting £270.

Anyway, I phone 'em up this morning and calmly talked over the issue and have got a fairly hefty cheque winging it's way to me close enough to the t'internet price. Not as cheap, but hey, I'll pay a little for customer service.

Lesson learned. You all know, but I'd got lazy, and it nearly cost me £100.

Next time. Internet FIRST, broker second, then you'll know what's what.

 

[bobmac]

Glad you got it sorted.
One up for the good guys

 

[Aztecs27]

Mine's due soon. I can never be arsed, but in these times it's a must to try and save money.

 

[bladeplayer]

I work in the car business & used to deal a good bit with insurance companies .. horrible lot.. ok when they want your money not so nice when a claim arises .. there is such a varience on policies its scary.. where they might look the same on 1st look, there is massive difference if something happens .. for example some might say you pay the first 100 of the damage yourself where as some others it could be 300.. others you can claim up to a certain ammount without the damage havin to be assesed by one of their assesors which will take 3 days to arrange.. all grand until you have to claim .. the main advantage of a broker is that you can physicaly call in and see someone in person if you need to... BUT shopping around is a must .. & another MUST is reading your policy when you get it to make sure everything you want covered is covered ,, dont assume just because you discussed it with your broker its gona be there .. too late to think you had certain cover when something happens .. sorry for been so pesamistic but ive had the displeasure of dealing with it for years .. not any more thank god , just get the real aquward ones now ..

 

[chrisd]

Well done!

I never renew any insurance without checking around, whether it be car, house or holiday insurance and rarely have I not saved year after year on the renewal quoted by the current insurers


Chris

 

[thecraw]

Insurance is a joke, a con and a scam.

I have full no claims, no points, certificate of advanced drivers and last years insurance company refused to qoute for my new policy. WTF!!!!!!!

Now with Aviva.

 

[RobCowan]

Craw, did they give a reason for not quoting you? It's not like you're a young, inexperienced driver so I can't see what the problem would be.

 

[Marko77]

Ive always been guilty of just letting it renew and got the docs thru from Tesco this week. I thought it was a bit high and having just done a check with the meerkats it looks like I'll be saving around £150 and will get some breakdown cover in with it as well.

I bet alot of companies gamble on people being lazy and not bothering.

 

[RGDave]

I bet a lot of companies gamble on people being lazy and not bothering.

I've always thought this. The thing is, I'd always shopped around except never really bothered with t'internet, since my broker always beat it.
It seems now that the internet is King.

 

[sam19113]

Try being 17, my insurance was just shy of £2000

 

[Ken_A]

Try being 17, my insurance was just shy of £2000

Stop yer gurnin we were all in the same boat when we were 17 - only thing was I paid £2k 13 years ago with inflation etc thats a lot more than you are paying now. The joys of motoring - tho I NEVER but anything without shopping about 2 hours on google may save you hundreds of £ thats way more than my hourly wage.

 

[RGDave]

Try being 17, my insurance was just shy of £2000

Yeh, and mine was £1200 23 years ago. Thats £2,500 these days.

I earned £1.10 per hour.

Wait 'till you're 40 and have paid £25,000 in premiums (up to 3 cars) just for the privilege of being "legal".

RGD £0 vs. Insurance industry £25,000