Car insurance quotes !!

[Peteaud]

The car insurance is due at the end of the month so i get the letter from the company giving me the renewal cost and how if i dont call them they will renew.

I almost passed out at the cost, so online i go to get some quotes.

Phoned the insurance company this morning (its my day off work) and asked them if they could do any better, they said no but it was a very good price etc etc etc.

so i said to the "adviser" well i wont renew then, ive got better quotes and as if by magic £100 disappears from the figure that was the best they could do.

So thats sorted for the next year then.

 

[Sara_H]

The car insurance is due at the end of the month so i get the letter from the company giving me the renewal cost and how if i dont call them they will renew.

I almost passed out at the cost, so online i go to get some quotes.

Phoned the insurance company this morning (its my day off work) and asked them if they could do any better, they said no but it was a very good price etc etc etc.

so i said to the "adviser" well i wont renew then, ive got better quotes and as if by magic £100 disappears from the figure that was the best they could do.

So thats sorted for the next year then.

Robbing B's.

I haven't got a car anymore, but I always changed companies every year as there was always someone who could do it cheaper.

 

[helston90]

Always best to argue with them- same as if you're making a claim, always claim to start with it's not enough- their job is to make money at the end of the day.
Good work standing your ground- I sometimes don't bother getting other quotes, I just phone up with a figure in my head of what I think I can get them down to, it becomes a game!

 

[ianrauk]

It is a game...
I Just recently renewed my house and buildings insurance.

Same old story.
Premiums way up on previous year. By about £180
So on to the usual merry go round negotiations.
Get on line, can find cheaper elsewhere and let them know.
They come back with slightly cheaper. Nope not having that.
Back and forth again.
Offers me a price of last years plus £150 on top but get the £150 cash back after 3 months.
Nope, forget it I'm off.
In the end, I get it exactly the same as last years premium.

Next year I am going to say to him.
"Right, it's simple, no more back and forth bullcrap. Just quote me the same as previous or I am off"

 

[swee'pea99]

Friend of mine has been with the Halifax for 12 years. Every year they push his premium up. This year, from £1,000 - which he thought was already plenty steep - to £1200. He protested, the usual yadda yadda, as above, went off to Money Supermarket and had no problem finding like-for-like cover for just over £400. The entire industry is built on inertia.

 

[pplpilot]

I have this most years with the house insurance, every year it goes up and every year I shop around and get it way cheaper, I call current supplier tell then i've found it cheaper elsewhere and as if by magic they match or better it, I'm sorry but you had your chance when you sent the renewal out to keep my business.

 

[Sara_H]

Friend of mine has been with the Halifax for 12 years. Every year they push his premium up. This year, from £1,000 - which he thought was already plenty steep - to £1200. He protested, the usual yadda yadda, as above, went off to Money Supermarket and had no problem finding like-for-like cover for just over £400. The entire industry is built on inertia.

I look on the money saving expert forums ow and again. I remember reading a story on there about a woman who used the comparison sites and then went through a cash back site and actually got PAID to take out her contents insurance!!
Can't get close to that, but I usually sort my Mums contents insurance for her, and she's paid as little as £20 for a years cover using cash back sites.

 

[Lee_M]

Insurance companies work from set charging tables, so that's what you get as the start point.

Discounts are then applied based on what route you go (phone or web etc), then how likely you are to leave etc.

The telephone operator has very little option on what they can do - it depends on the system they are using, there is a bottom line price but you have to try the various tweaks to get to it - not even the phone person can tell you what that is as they don't know.

It's obviously a money making business (although they dont actually make much money off car and house insurance), but they are generally mostly incompetent rather than money grabbing bastards

 

[Lee_M]

[QUOTE 2370083, member: 9609"]Yet another industry that preys upon the weak and gullible in our society.

I wonder how many old people are paying double for insurance, receiving 0.01% interest on their life savings and paying 10 or 20% more for their gas and electricity.

The bigger the companies the bigger the b**tards they invariably turn into.[/quote]

ah I didnt realise they were preying on the weak and gullible, I thought they were trying to make a profit, and provide cover for people.

I should have known that wasnt the case

I wonder how many old people are paying double for insurance, receiving 0.01% interest on their life savings and paying 10 or 20% more for their gas and electricity.

so you don't actually know, so you arent basing your viewpoint on any actual knowledge then?

 

[fossyant]

Same here.

M&S were one of the cheapest last year, so renewed with them. This year it's jumped up by about 25%. check on-line, same prices coming up as last year. Call them back, 'Oi you are way too much' - bing, down comes the price.

Going through the same with the in-law's static caravan. My FIL has always paid the renewal via the 'site' - i.e. their recommended insurer. As we've now picked up the 'bills' I decided a little bit of phone calling (static caravan insurance is a little more tricky than cars - flood risk being near sea - like half a mile) - quickly find quotes 2/3rds of the price, saving £150 to £200.

Robbers the lot of 'em.

 

[fossyant]

They work on folk not questioning the price and being lazy ! Auto renewal, oh can't be bothered, pay over the odds.

 

[Night Train]

My renewal is also due. I got the same sort of letter as the OP.

I checked it against my premium from last year and it is £35 cheaper this time.
Haven't the strength to play games with them so I will accept the renewal.

 

[Lee_M]

[QUOTE 2370141, member: 9609"]Of course they are preying on the weak, vulnerable and susceptible, why else do you think they do it. What other possible reason would they have in the creation of their pricing strategy.

Just take a look at every other post in this thread (apart from NTs) - when you phone up and shop around you can save £100s. Now think who in our society is the most likely to get caught out.[/quote]

In which case you have just described EVERY business in the world, they charge what they think is sustainable in their market.
of course this may be different from the utopia you live in

 

[ASC1951]

I haven't got a car any more, but I always changed companies every year as there was always someone who could do it cheaper.

There are always is. And the cheaper they are, the worse their service and the less they like paying out on a claim.

 

[4F]

Yep its a big game played every year.