Car insurance

[Simbo]

So the car insurance for my daily driver is due in a couple of weeks, got my renewal in and although slightly expensive it's not unreasonable. I emailed them with a couple of things that I thought weren't right, the cars value Jannie only half of what they have on the form and they still have my driving convictions listed despite my licence being clean from the middle of last year.
Their response was the value of the car doesn't really matter!!! Eh surely the value of the car matters!
With regard to my driving convictions they say they need to be declared for 5 years, personally I think it's nothing short of a scam, I had 3 points for speeding which the DVLA say are no longer valid for the totting up procedure nor should they affect my insurance yet I have to declare them for another 2 years after they are off.
Some racket they have going in the insurance business.

 

[Rooter]

go elsewhere! Simples! (and get free 2 for 1 cinema pass too!)

 

[Coffey]

100% shop about and get a cheaper quote. You can even ring them up and try and get them to match it. My partner did and they beat it by about £60 which was a good £200 cheaper than what they originally quoted. I got my insurance renewal in December and it was a good £250 more than what I am now paying after shopping around.

Also not all insurance companies stick the same guidelines. Admiral for example, you need to declare your speed awareness course but a lot of others you do not. The value doesn't matter too much as I believe that if you crash they pay out on the value of the car then anyway, not the value when the insurance was taken out. So from their point of view the car will be valued again anyway.

Edit: make sure you do your searching for quotes while in incognito mode

 

[chrisd]

I change insurers, gas and electric, phone and Internet etc almost every year for the same cover at the best price. My car insurance was due yesterday and the renewal with Direct Line was £320 and I got the same cover from Tesco for £262. Punt around it certainly pays

 

[Rooter]

and dont forget to use quidco! I got 80 quid cash back for my home insurance, 40 for car, 90 quid on my last mobile phone contract. Over the ten years i have used quidco, i have got over a grand cash back!! For stuff i was buying anyway!!

 

[PJ87]

It's stupid rule in insurance that you have to declare for 5 years

in my teens I got 6 points. After 3 years they didn't count in totting up after 4 years they were removed from my licence however still had to declare for insurance purposes for a further year even tho if they asked for my licence I could proceeed a licence with no points

it's like my house insurance no claim has been made but we reported something to them so have to declare it even though we fixed it Ourselfs

value bit I get what you mean however I was told unless the car is worth over 40k it doesn't affect price so that's why it doesn't overly matter

 

[Simbo]

I will be shopping around, no question about that, I was just raging at the points thing, don't see how they should get away with using it as an excuse to get more money out of people when the DVLA don't even recognise them.
The value of the car surely has to be taken into consideration as they are calculating my insurance premium based on a car that was worth say 15k 2 years ago so if anything happened to it that's what they would have to pay out. Now they are still calculating my premium based on a car worth 15k but if anything happens to it the most they will pay out is 7k. Never heard the 40grand one before.

 

[PJ87]

I will be shopping around, no question about that, I was just raging at the points thing, don't see how they should get away with using it as an excuse to get more money out of people when the DVLA don't even recognise them.
The value of the car surely has to be taken into consideration as they are calculating my insurance premium based on a car that was worth say 15k 2 years ago so if anything happened to it that's what they would have to pay out. Now they are still calculating my premium based on a car worth 15k but if anything happens to it the most they will pay out is 7k. Never heard the 40grand one before.

Been told this by a few insurance companies. if its under 40k they don't worry because its a flat fee (like they don't they write off that cost) if its over 40k you pay more because the cars worth more

its whats best for them not us

points thing I completely agree and I hated it.

the worst one is medical restrictions

I have bipolar disorder which the DVLA are aware and I have a 3 year license that I renew and they give me another 3 year one.. before this I had a 1 year license. This was awful. I accepted a quote from a company (wont name names) and they said I had to pay £400 cool no issue. they then said sorry you cant have this as you have a 1 year license we don't provide insurance for anyone with less than a 3 year license I went back to the compare website and next cheapest was £500 so it cost me £100 for that year

I was fuming. I personally took it as discrimination (I normally would never use this word) against somebody with an illness. the DVLA were happy with me to drive but the insurance company didn't want me.

yet other people I know ( I had to attend a support group for a while) never reported their illness to the DVLA.. now whos more dangerous? those who don't report their illness and carry on or those that keep to the law?

I wrote a letter to the DVLA when my 1 year license expired and asked if I could be considered for a 3 year license which they granted. Solved all my issues well not all of them because the 3 year license expires in july and some car hire companies wont let me hire a car as less than 1 year left on license

 

[ScienceBoy]

One year I got a quote from a company for three times the previous years quote.

Got quotes for two other companies and went back to mine. They beat all the quotes and I ended up paying £10 less than the previous year.

A quick internet search and a phone call saved me £300ish

 

[BomberSRL]

and dont forget to use quidco! I got 80 quid cash back for my home insurance, 40 for car, 90 quid on my last mobile phone contract. Over the ten years i have used quidco, i have got over a grand cash back!! For stuff i was buying anyway!!

I always kick myself when I forget to use it!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

As above, shop around then go back to your current insurer and tell them you've had a cheaper quote. However, refuse to tell them when they ask how much, just force them to offer you their lowest price and if it isn't better than shopping around tell them to try harder.

I didn't tell my insurer how much my lower quote was and they undercut the comparison website by over £100.

 

[Fish]

I'm having a nightmare with Admiral!

I shopped around for my van and they (Admiral) were initially the cheapest, I had forgot about a speeding fine as it's no longer on my licence but they as good as told me off for not declaring it! They then re-quoted me almost double the original quote because of that basic SP30 so I delayed it and shopped around some more but now declared the SP30 and the figures were crazy!

I then said I'd go ahead and paid the difference in set-up costs with the remaining being paid by direct debit. They then sent me an email stating they needed some confirmation from the GovUK site and I needed to obtain some code from a link they sent!

I've tried this link loads of times over the last 2 months and even rang them (DVLA) and all they say is that it's a new system and unfortunately it's not working for everyone and as such it can't give me this code that Admiral want/need!

They telephone me weekly and send emails every 7-days threatening to suspend the van insurance if I don't get them this code through the GovUK site even though I can't obtain it through no fault of my own!!

Friggin' nightmare :angry:

Edit: the thing I don't like about shopping around too much is the amount of credit searches that occur though!

 

[ScienceBoy]

I've been shopping around a lot plus not building much credit history, not had a card for years, but still got approved for a mortgage. It's a weird world of mystics and magic is that credit rating.

I still don't know how I have got any history at all bar lots of checks against it!

 

[richart]

I check out the best rates, and then go back to my original insurers Admiral. Surprise surprise they seem to be able to match the cheapest quote. Usually it is about 30% less than they originally quoted.:mmm:

 

[Fish]

I check out the best rates, and then go back to my original insurers Admiral. Surprise surprise they seem to be able to match the cheapest quote. Usually it is about 30% less than they originally quoted.:mmm:

Now I never understand this, if you hadn't shopped around and then given them the opportunity to match, they'd have taken that extra 30% off you, so why then give them the business, why not reward the company that gave you the best rate without haggling!

 

[richart]

Now I never understand this, if you hadn't shopped around and then given them the opportunity to match, they'd have taken that extra 30% off you, so why then give them the business, why not reward the company that gave you the best rate without haggling!

because it can be done by a quick phone call with no hassle. We have three cars so would be a right pain changing companies. I also get the best rates on line so no one at another company has wasted their time with me. Hope that is ok ?

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I'm having a nightmare with Admiral!

I shopped around for my van and they (Admiral) were initially the cheapest, I had forgot about a speeding fine as it's no longer on my licence but they as good as told me off for not declaring it! They then re-quoted me almost double the original quote because of that basic SP30 so I delayed it and shopped around some more but now declared the SP30 and the figures were crazy!

I then said I'd go ahead and paid the difference in set-up costs with the remaining being paid by direct debit. They then sent me an email stating they needed some confirmation from the GovUK site and I needed to obtain some code from a link they sent!

I've tried this link loads of times over the last 2 months and even rang them (DVLA) and all they say is that it's a new system and unfortunately it's not working for everyone and as such it can't give me this code that Admiral want/need!

They telephone me weekly and send emails every 7-days threatening to suspend the van insurance if I don't get them this code through the GovUK site even though I can't obtain it through no fault of my own!!

Friggin' nightmare :angry:

Edit: the thing I don't like about shopping around too much is the amount of credit searches that occur though!

My insurance for my car was hammered after I got caught in my VW Transporter van. They hit me with a SP10 code, which is the same category as HGV.
If I remember right, my car premium was up about £100 every year for 5 years.

 

[Khamelion]

Car insurance is daft, me and HID were on Multi car with Admiral through 2015, they were the cheapest, at renewal time last year Admiral had put their prices up and we found that Churchill were cheapest, so we went with them, renewal time this year Churchill had put their prices up, so I went with AXA and HID went back to Admiral.

I get a phone call yesterday from Admiral saying they can reduce the cost of HID insurance. THe lad went on to explain that because mine renewed on the 12th and HID on the 24th they would insure me from the 12th for 12 days for £11 and in doing so would reduce the cost of HID insurance by £51 a net saving for us of £40, which we get back into our account, so it's costing us nowt and we don't have to take up Admiral insurance next year if we don't want to.

Go figure that one.

 

[Simbo]

I'm having a nightmare with Admiral!

I shopped around for my van and they (Admiral) were initially the cheapest, I had forgot about a speeding fine as it's no longer on my licence but they as good as told me off for not declaring it! They then re-quoted me almost double the original quote because of that basic SP30 so I delayed it and shopped around some more but now declared the SP30 and the figures were crazy!

I then said I'd go ahead and paid the difference in set-up costs with the remaining being paid by direct debit. They then sent me an email stating they needed some confirmation from the GovUK site and I needed to obtain some code from a link they sent!

I've tried this link loads of times over the last 2 months and even rang them (DVLA) and all they say is that it's a new system and unfortunately it's not working for everyone and as such it can't give me this code that Admiral want/need!

They telephone me weekly and send emails every 7-days threatening to suspend the van insurance if I don't get them this code through the GovUK site even though I can't obtain it through no fault of my own!!

Friggin' nightmare :angry:

Edit: the thing I don't like about shopping around too much is the amount of credit searches that occur though!

This is exactly what I mean, them hammering you for not declaring something that's no longer on your licence is nothing short of a scam. If the DVLA don't recognise it why should they take it into consideration, you got caught speeding, paid the fine, took the points and served the punishment the DVLA decided your offence merited.
Then after the DVLA say they are no longer valid insurance companies chance their arm for another 2 years.
So it ends up a 5 year penalty for being 10 mph over the speed limit.
Crooks in suits!! All of them.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I got £50 off last years deal from the same Insurers, no changes to policy.
That was despite 'Matt in Canada' asking for an additional £110.

I think I have worked out how to play them at their own game.
Even Lady Doon was impressed [and that takes some doing]