Car insurance

[Mandofred]

Just trying to talk myself into killing off my Virgin package and going to a dish tv service.......and then along comes our inflated car insurance quote.....

Currently Directline. With breakdown, comp.....£402 and heading to £559 in late April with no claims etc. Just did a check with Confused.com and the two lowest were Bank of Scotland and Flow (both more than £200 cheaper). Anybody know anything about them? Any recommendations? Checked with Churchhill since our house is through them....just as bad as Directline.

 

[rudebhoy]

Just trying to talk myself into killing off my Virgin package and going to a dish tv service.......and then along comes our inflated car insurance quote.....

Currently Directline. With breakdown, comp.....£402 and heading to £559 in late April with no claims etc. Just did a check with Confused.com and the two lowest were Bank of Scotland and Flow (both more than £200 cheaper). Anybody know anything about them? Any recommendations? Checked with Churchhill since our house is through them....just as bad as Directline.

Flow are part of LV, so as legit as anyone.

 

[jim8flog]

One of the big things when doing online comparisons is to check the excess quoted.

Funny though several years ago I managed to have a £0 xs after changing it and the price never changed from the quote with a £100 xs.

 

[ColchesterFC]

Have you tried direct with Tesco? Got both our cars with them and my renewal quote this year was lower than the renewal reminder from Compare the Market.

 

[chellie]

One of the big things when doing online comparisons is to check the excess quoted.

Funny though several years ago I managed to have a £0 xs after changing it and the price never changed from the quote with a £100 xs.

Never had any issues with voluntary £0 excess on comparison sites.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

The Frag Jag is insured through Churchill, renewal came through £65 more than last year,
Nothing has changed apart from I now have 8 years no claims.

Phoned them up, they could knock it down by a tenner.

When it expires, Aviva will be taking up the reins at £175 cheaper. Via confused.com

There were cheaper options but I’d not heard of the companies

 

[The Fader]

Unless my renewal quote is the cheapest, I change every year.

Not bothered who covers me. If they show up on one of the major price comparison websites that's good enough for me!

 

[Crazyface]

I'm with Onecall. Quote went up. I did a search got a lower quote. Rang them. THe bloke I spoke to matched and infact then bettered it and added in super car breakdown. Chuffed to bits.

 

[Imurg]

I'm with Onecall. Quote went up. I did a search got a lower quote. Rang them. THe bloke I spoke to matched and infact then bettered it and added in super car breakdown. Chuffed to bits.

This is why Car Insurance is one of the biggest scams going..
Why couldn't they have done that deal in the first instance?
Give the real best price..if it is the best price they'll get the business.

 

[BridgfordBlue]

My son just passed his driving test. Bought a Clio a few months back for him and my two daughters for when they’re old enough.

It was in my name with RAC as main driver while he had his provisional licence. Rang them to tell them he’d passed, even keeping me as main driver, the cost for the remaining nine months was £1600…

Cancelled that and got him insurance in his own name for £900 for a year, needed a black box on it to get it for it but I’m quite happy he’s got it tbh!

 

[Crazyface]

This is why Car Insurance is one of the biggest scams going..
Why couldn't they have done that deal in the first instance?
Give the real best price..if it is the best price they'll get the business.

Yeah, really frustrating. if they'd have done this in the first place it would have saved me about half a day messing about.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

My son just passed his driving test. Bought a Clio a few months back for him and my two daughters for when they’re old enough.

It was in my name with RAC as main driver while he had his provisional licence. Rang them to tell them he’d passed, even keeping me as main driver, the cost for the remaining nine months was £1600…

Cancelled that and got him insurance in his own name for £900 for a year, needed a black box on it to get it for it but I’m quite happy he’s got it tbh!

Thats just as well you did that. Having you as the main driver on his policy is what they call "fronting", and could result in problems in the event of a claim being made .

 

[BridgfordBlue]

Thats just as well you did that. Having you as the main driver on his policy is what they call "fronting", and could result in problems in the event of a claim being made .

Yep, was always planning to do it anyway as I wanted him to start earning no claims straight away. Just amazed how much more expensive doing it with me still as the main driver was!

 

[Reemul]

As an insurance broker it is also quite frustrating. We have a limited panel and if they won't play ball and at times they don't we are screwed. I insure my car through my company with no fee's and a 50% commission discount but my wife's car which is similar to mine in both value and engine size, i just cannot get a decent quote and have to do it online.

The reality is if you want the cheapest and just the cheapest and don't care about anything else you have a shop around every year. I have just renewed my car insurance with my company but if it was not competitive I would have looked elsewhere.

The funny thing is the underwriter sets the price not the broker and you don't get to speak to the underwriter.

Still having processed thousands of claims and issues as well, there are some insurers you should be real careful of and others you should bite their hand off for the right price of cover.

 

[rudebhoy]

Apropos of nothing, but when I started my first job (1978) with the Inland Revenue, they had a large pool of cars for employees to use if working away from home, and they didn't bother to insure them. The thinking was that it would be cheaper overall to pay for any damage than than to pay lots of premiums. I did wonder what would happen if someone got killed or seriously injured by someone driving one of their cars. I guess they would just have stumped up.

It did amaze me that something which was a legal requirement for everyone else was ignored by a government department.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Apropos of nothing, but when I started my first job (1978) with the Inland Revenue, they had a large pool of cars for employees to use if working away from home, and they didn't bother to insure them. The thinking was that it would be cheaper overall to pay for any damage than than to pay lots of premiums. I did wonder what would happen if someone got killed or seriously injured by someone driving one of their cars. I guess they would just have stumped up.

It did amaze me that something which was a legal requirement for everyone else was ignored by a government department.

I suppose you could argue the same thing about the police. Their cars aren't insured either.

 

[D-S]

As an insurance broker it is also quite frustrating. We have a limited panel and if they won't play ball and at times they don't we are screwed. I insure my car through my company with no fee's and a 50% commission discount but my wife's car which is similar to mine in both value and engine size, i just cannot get a decent quote and have to do it online.

The reality is if you want the cheapest and just the cheapest and don't care about anything else you have a shop around every year. I have just renewed my car insurance with my company but if it was not competitive I would have looked elsewhere.

The funny thing is the underwriter sets the price not the broker and you don't get to speak to the underwriter.

Still having processed thousands of claims and issues as well, there are some insurers you should be real careful of and others you should bite their hand off for the right price of cover.

I understand that individual companies are hamstrung by the underwriters they use and so their prices might have to increase in renewal, however this does not explain the case when you challenge the new higher quote and the company miraculously reduces the price to at or below the previous level and most importantly considerably better than the price they were happy to charge you in the renewal letter. This is why we feel that these companies seem just to be trying to ‘get whatever they can’ and more importantly those elderly and vulnerable people who aren’t tech savvy and blindly trust their long term provider and end up being badly ripped off by ‘respectable’ companies.
When we took over my in laws financial affairs it was heartbreaking to see how trust and loyalty in major institutions led them to be paying vast sums for insurance, banking and utilities. A truly shameful business practice.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Mrs V and I have two cars.
Just done the MoT, tax and insurance on one of them. Tesco insurance fully comp for two named drivers had come down this year.
Tax £30 and insurance £158.53 down from £207 last year.
This is for a car we bought when it was one year old and is still going well 17 years later. Citroen C3 1.6 diesel. Getting way over 60mpg to boot. Great car for these times.

 

[Mandofred]

Just called Directline today to question why my policy rose £157. They immediately offered a price about £70 more....not worth fighting about it....maybe next year.... The constant need to overcharge people off gets old.

 

[PJ87]

Just called Directline today to question why my policy rose £157. They immediately offered a price about £70 more....not worth fighting about it....maybe next year.... The constant need to overcharge people off gets old.

Stand by my comments when mine increased. When people complained new customers got good deals and all should get the same it did us all over

The price comparison game isn't as competitive anymore as we all get rubbish deals

It's always the same. Don't rock the boat if new customers get better deals become one!