Car insurance quotes !!

[Sara_H]

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

Hmmm. I'm not so sure. I've made very few claims, most of them have been a pain in the arse, I think this is just because they're fighting as hard as possible to pay out as little as possible.

Once an insurance company took my car away to assess the damage and lost it! They didn't seem to give too hoots until I threatened to report it stolen.
They then found it in a scrap yard with all my posessions missing (ex husband hadn't realised our sons push chair and a few other bits and pieces were still in the boot). This was a reputable, large insurance company.

I don't think paying more than you have to ensures you'll get a fair and decent service.

 

[Lee_M]

[QUOTE 2370253, member: 9609"]But this is not what insurance companies, banks and utility companies are doing. They differentiate their prices to what they can get away with on an individual basis. And the victims of these tactics is often the unaware and vulnerable.
[/quote]

but that isn;'t what they do.

They price based on an actuarial model based on age, experience, location, previous history etc
It has nothing to do with the 'individual' in the way you are suggesting.

You also need to take into account that personal and home insurance in general isn't actually profitable. the vast majority of revenue for insurance companies comes from commercial. and in many cases this has been propping up the personal market for years. In one case I know of an insurance company who's cost of revenue for motor insurance (ie what it cost to underwrite a policy) was running at over 110%.
That just isnt a sustainable business model

What would you prefer, for them all to charge a lot less, then they all pull out of the market as it isnt sustainable and all of a sudden you cant actually get insurance?

Last year my home insurance renewal come through at £250. I checked a price comparison site and company were quoting me £175, I phoned up and told them, and they immediately said we can match the 175 - Robbing Bast*rds

I don't think we'll ever agree, I have been on the inside of this (no I'm not an insurancer company nor do I currently work for one), but if you're view is they are robbing bastards I'm not going to change your view with facts

 

[Brandane]

Worst insurance experience ever was with Swinton. Funnily enough their quote was cheapest by a considerable amount, so I decided to go with them, using their website. For ease of arithmetic, let's say the cost was £300.
You click on "pay now", and THEN it tells you that they will take 10 monthly payments of £30 to cover this years policy, and then a further £30 in months 11 and 12 to go towards NEXT years policy. WTF?! Cheeky cheeky ba5tards; I don't want to bank with you, I only want car insurance for ONE year, and then next year I will decide for myself whether I want to renew with you or not!
They do say that if you don't renew with them the following year then they will refund the payments made in months 11 and 12, but you just know you would be spending hours on the phone to some premium rate number to get this sorted.
I went on the phone to them and cancelled the policy as soon as I could, and told them why. Needless to say the telephone operator could not have cared less.

 

[Brandane]

Yep its a big game played every year.

It is; but it's becoming a total PITA when you have to do it several times every year. Car insurance, motorbike insurance, house insurance, energy supplier, telephone supplier, internet supplier, mobile phone network supplier, bank, credit card, etc. etc.; they all offer good deals to get your business initially then shaft you after a year or so. Very tiresome.

 

[ianrauk]

Worst insurance experience ever was with Swinton. Funnily enough their quote was cheapest by a considerable amount

Funnily enough. That's who I am with and my post above refers to.

 

[ASC1951]

I don't think paying more than you have to ensures you'll get a fair and decent service.

I suppose it comes down to 'what is more than you have to'? One of the features of a free and highly competitive market such as motor insurance is that, by and large, you get what you pay for.
I concede that insurers (and many other repeat services) rely on inertia selling, so it is often worth getting a 'new customer quote' for comparison when you are invited to renew; but choosing cover just on the basis of price is IMO generally a false economy.

 

[Peteaud]

But when the same company can knock just under £100 off you have to wonder.

 

[Lee_M]

But when the same company can knock just under £100 off you have to wonder.

yebbut as I tried to explain earlier it isnt that simple. They are generally making a loss or close to break even, so offering a price is one thing, reducing it when you threaten to leave brings a whole set of alternates into view - ie cost of servicing current client as opposed to finding a new one. Until you say you're leaving that doesn't become relevant

Just because they knock £100 off doesnt mean they had that much profit from the original quote - far from it in the majority of cases. That's why insurance industry is in such a sorry state - it isnt the money grabbing industry that you all seem to think it is.

Dont get me started on investment banking however

 

[Peteaud]

yebbut as I tried to explain earlier it isnt that simple. They are generally making a loss or close to break even, so offering a price is one thing, reducing it when you threaten to leave brings a whole set of alternates into view - ie cost of servicing current client as opposed to finding a new one. Until you say you're leaving that doesn't become relevant

Just because they knock £100 off doesnt mean they had that much profit from the original quote - far from it in the majority of cases. That's why insurance industry is in such a sorry state - it isnt the money grabbing industry that you all seem to think it is.

Dont get me started on investment banking however

Shall we start a whip round for them

 

[Lee_M]

Shall we start a whip round for them

why not, the people at the end of the phone are human, same as you, despite what you might think.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Its the same with a lot of things like that, I cancelled my Sky subscription in jan and I got a letter this week suddenly offering me 50% off for the next 12 months on any packages I wanted.

Thing is I dont really watch TV anymore since cancelling it, and if I do I watch Netflix at £6 per month rather les than Sky, so instead of watching TV I have a life so up yours Sky.

 

[ASC1951]

But when the same company can knock just under £100 off you have to wonder.

Yes, as I said, inertia selling is often worth testing. But once you peel that away, motor insurance really isn't a particular profitable business. And we would all pay £100 less if it wasn't for fraudulent claims and uninsured drivers.

 

[addictfreak]

[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]

My wife has recently taken over the affairs of her elderly parents. Some of the things she found were quite astonishing. Her parents had been far too trusting of insurance companies and had stayed with them for years out of 'loyalty'. Father in law was paying £300 more a year in car insurance than the quote I found for him, and they even had two identical policies for buildings and contents insurance with the same company! We managed to get one of them cancelled and the premium refunded.
Personally I review my own policies every year.

 

[Brandane]

Last year my home insurance renewal come through at £250. I checked a price comparison site and company were quoting me £175, I phoned up and told them, and they immediately said we can match the 175 - Robbing Bast*rds

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

See post #31 above. They ARE robbing bast*rds. Just because they are not making a load of money does not change that. If they are not making money, it is down to incompetence. Some of it can maybe be put down to fraudulent claims, and excessive awards made by courts as compensation for injuries, but they are still a bunch of shysters who go about their business in ever increasingly unethical ways. Sadly they are not alone.

 

[PpPete]

yebbut as I tried to explain earlier it isnt that simple. They are generally making a loss or close to break even, so offering a price is one thing, reducing it when you threaten to leave brings a whole set of alternates into view - ie cost of servicing current client as opposed to finding a new one. Until you say you're leaving that doesn't become relevant

Just because they knock £100 off doesnt mean they had that much profit from the original quote - far from it in the majority of cases. That's why insurance industry is in such a sorry state - it isnt the money grabbing industry that you all seem to think it is.

If the margins are as close as you suggest, then surely their interests would be better served by working to inspire customer loyalty:
Minimal increases, & good service. That way the cost of servicing the current client base stays low.
Instead they seem to locked into a business model which involves spending huge sums on advertising for new business (which has high admin costs) ... and then shafting those new customers so that increasing numbers of them go elsewhere after the first year. Bonkers.

Don't even get me started on phoning to change insurance details.A difference that on any price comparison site would get you a cheaper quote...no, to stay with your current company will cost you more.