Poxy Insurance Companies

[Blue in Munich]

So the bike insurance is due for renewal and the annual ring round begins………

:sbox: Get a quote from one company; they sponsor Shane Byrne's BSB Ducati, and frankly for the price I was quoted I'd expect his bike thrown in with the policy. :angry: I politely decline. Within an hour they are back on the phone. Would you mind telling me who has done you a better deal? Yes I would lady, that's between me & them. Would you like me to see if we can do any better? No I wouldn't, you had your chance you decided to see how much you could rip me off for, if you think I'm going to go with you regardless of how cheap it is now you really must be stupid or think that I'm daft; either way it's not happening. Best price first time or don't bother. :rant:

As Smiffy wouldn't say, it really vaporises my urine!! And breathe………….. until October when the car insurance is due…..

 

[Tashyboy]

Me old boss year after year just paid her car renewal insurance. Her son who worked in car sales found out and had a dicky fit. He said " mum, because of folk like you, insurance companies keep ripping us off" he sorted out his mums insurance, put her with his dad's insurance and saved between them just short of £900.
should shop around every year for, car, life, house etc insurances. Like Missis T does for us.

BIM, hope it never happens, but if you get robbed, you will get robbed by the robbers, then robbed by the insurance company. Or they will at least try. 🙁

 

[chrisd]

But at least you have the nouse to check round. I do it for insurance, gas, leccy, AA and anything else I can- I also understand that water company switching is likely to be ok'd soon

 

[Pin-seeker]

I was with the AA.
renewal came through & was silly money so I went on a comparison site.
Cheapest quote was with the AA but was a lot cheaper than my renewal quote,so I gave the AA a call.
'Sorry sir but that's a special offer through compare the market,you'll have to cancel your current deal & start again'

Nah Soz love,I'll just cancel & pay £3 extra to someone else out of principle.

 

[Blue in Munich]

It gets better; they've now e-mailed me the quote and it's gone up ten quid from the ridiculous over the phone quotation…..:rofl:

 

[Blue in Munich]

I was with the AA.
renewal came through & was silly money so I went on a comparison site.
Cheapest quote was with the AA but was a lot cheaper than my renewal quote,so I gave the AA a call.
'Sorry sir but that's a special offer through compare the market,you'll have to cancel your current deal & start again'

Nah Soz love,I'll just cancel & pay £3 extra to someone else out of principle.

Standard industry practice at a guess; had exactly the same with Sainsbury's a few years ago.

 

[GG26]

Insurance brokers are no better. Just kept sending me the same renewal year after year and after a large hike in premium I looked myself and found the equivalent cover at half the price. When I pointed this out to them they managed to find a better quote than the original one, so it was quite clear that they were just being lazy and not comparing the market so I get my own every year now and do a comparison.

 

[Smiffy]

Phone Hastings Direct for a car quote.
"What is the value of your vehicle?" the girl asks.
"£8,500" says I.
"In the event of an accident, we will only pay out the market value" she replies.
"Then why do you bother asking me how much my car is worth?"

 

[Neilds]

Me old boss year after year just paid her car renewal insurance. Her son who worked in car sales found out and had a dicky fit. He said " mum, because of folk like you, insurance companies keep ripping us off" he sorted out his mums insurance, put her with his dad's insurance and saved between them just short of £900.
should shop around every year for, car, life, house etc insurances. Like Missis T does for us.

BIM, hope it never happens, but if you get robbed, you will get robbed by the robbers, then robbed by the insurance company. Or they will at least try. 

But remember, most of us ( me included) go for the cheapest quote and then moan like mad when the service is pants😩
Maybe we should pay more to get the service we want.........

 

[chrisd]

But remember, most of us ( me included) go for the cheapest quote and then moan like mad when the service is pants😩
Maybe we should pay more to get the service we want.........

I've rarely found that paying more gets better service with insurance etc

 

[Tashyboy]

But remember, most of us ( me included) go for the cheapest quote and then moan like mad when the service is pants
Maybe we should pay more to get the service we want.........

dont think he actually went with the cheapest quote, he went with a " reputable " company he knew through the industry.

 

[Neilds]

Not what I meant, I was just generalisng about how we all moan about insurance companies but most of us base the main criteria on price. Before everyone jumps on my back and says that they don't, I know there will be exceptions but cost plays a great percentage of why we choose any service, not just insurance.

I agree totally the companies use loyalty/stupidity/laziness to hike renewals but we should all know by now to shop around at renewal so it should come as no surprise - however annoying it is

 

[SaintHacker]

I also understand that water company switching is likely to be ok'd soon

I really hope this is true, I think its outragous that we're tied into one supplier who cna then charge/behave as they see fit. Souther Water in particular are a proper bunch of Dick Turpins!:sbox:

 

[Patster1969]

I work for a broker in the employee benefits industry and there are some insurers (usually the big name ones) that tend to come in high at renewal and then (sorry, industry term) 'flash their t*ts' if you review it and get something more cost effective - I wager it's the same in all insurance sectors (as some of you have already commented on)

 

[SaintHacker]

I still don't understand why the government don't increase road tax but include 3rd party cover. You're caught without tax/insurance your car gets crushed (preferably with you still in it). Knowing that we then don't need insurance companies to be legal would make them rather more competetive.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Not what I meant, I was just generalisng about how we all moan about insurance companies but most of us base the main criteria on price. Before everyone jumps on my back and says that they don't, I know there will be exceptions but cost plays a great percentage of why we choose any service, not just insurance.

I agree totally the companies use loyalty/stupidity/laziness to hike renewals but we should all know by now to shop around at renewal so it should come as no surprise - however annoying it is

My moan was specifically about motorcycle insurance; despite the number of brokers on the market, there is pretty much one underwriter that covers the vast majority of the market, and the wildly different quotes I'm getting are pretty much all being underwritten by the same company. So if the same underwriter is insuring me regardless of what I pay, why should there be any difference in the level of service I receive?

 

[GreiginFife]

My moan was specifically about motorcycle insurance; despite the number of brokers on the market, there is pretty much one underwriter that covers the vast majority of the market, and the wildly different quotes I'm getting are pretty much all being underwritten by the same company. So if the same underwriter is insuring me regardless of what I pay, why should there be any difference in the level of service I receive?

I had the same issue but with car insurance recently Rich. Quote for the new motor from Direct Line of £475 which is seriously steep, same cover from Sainsbury (who are Direct Line group) quoted £235. Wonder which I went for...

 

[ColchesterFC]

It's not just with the premiuims that they try to rip you off. Our car got written off a couple of months after we'd paid £3200 for it. The insurance company offered us £1400 for it as they claimed they had checked on Autotrader and that was the average they were selling for. While I was on the phone to them I went on Autotrader myself and found that the average was actually close to £2600. Demanded to speak to a manager and asked if they actively encouraged their staff to lie to customers. Manager tried to bluster his way through it and said they hadn't lied until I quoted from Autotrader with the different cars and the postcodes of them. Got a payment for £2800 in the end and promptly cancelled our insurance cover with them.

 

[Tashyboy]

It's not just with the premiuims that they try to rip you off. Our car got written off a couple of months after we'd paid £3200 for it. The insurance company offered us £1400 for it as they claimed they had checked on Autotrader and that was the average they were selling for. While I was on the phone to them I went on Autotrader myself and found that the average was actually close to £2600. Demanded to speak to a manager and asked if they actively encouraged their staff to lie to customers. Manager tried to bluster his way through it and said they hadn't lied until I quoted from Autotrader with the different cars and the postcodes of them. Got a payment for £2800 in the end and promptly cancelled our insurance cover with them.

BIM, hope it never happens, but if you get robbed, you will get robbed by the robbers, then robbed by the insurance company. Or they will at least try. 🙁

Colchester, the above is what I said to BIM earlier in the blog and what you said is exactly what I was on about, as unfortunately I went through exactly the same years ago when I had a jet ski knicked.

 

[CliveW]

I still don't understand why the government don't increase road tax but include 3rd party cover. You're caught without tax/insurance your car gets crushed (preferably with you still in it). Knowing that we then don't need insurance companies to be legal would make them rather more competetive.

Because those who don't pay insurance likely don't pay road tax either. Best bet would be to include the cost of basic insurance and tax in the cost of fuel, then you can't avoid it and the more you use your vehicle, the more you pay. If you wanted better insurance cover then you could take out additional cover, rather like private health insurance