Fleeced for your loyalty

[Drago]

Cyclechatters express their views on insurance renewals...

 

[Drago]

Me.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Sign of the times I'm afraid. Happens with insurance, utilities, internet providers, come to think of it nearly everything. They are preying on the people who either don't know how or can't be bothered to use comparison websites. My wife would rather pay the inflated renewal price than go through the "hassle" of doing a quote on a comparison site. I've now taken over insurance renewal duties on her behalf, and saved her £40 on her car and £80 on the house insurance.

It does annoy me when they say "our best price is £180", then when you threaten to go to a rival, they say "ok, we can match that".

The thing that most annoyed me was, I got to the end of my phone contract and did a search for SIM only deals. I found one that was cheaper than my old one, so took it out. I then phoned 3 mobile to cancel, and specifically stated that I'd ordered a new SIM with another company and just wanted to cancel. They put me on hold for 5 minutes and then tried to sell me a SIM deal. I lost my cool and hung up. I then rang again and apologised to the bloke for shouting, and they gave me a better deal. But I don't understand why they just don't e-mail at the end f your contract and offer the best deal they can. But again, they are relying on people being lazy and paying £5/month more rather than going through the hassle of changing.

 

[bigjim]

Virginmedia give you a loyalty bonus on your renewal, which then ends up costing more than if you were a new customer.

 

[Drago]

So its a bonus for them?

 

[Jody]

......as it saved them 'a lot in admin fees'. Was certainly worth persevering.

Just had this with my house insurace yesterday. £50 cheaper on a comparison site with the same cover and same company. They offered to match but I cancelled the policy and set up a new one with them. Cost them admin time, postage etc and gained me 2 for 1 cinema tickets for a year and a cuddly toy.

 

[keithmac]

Every year I get my inflated car insurance renewal quote. Every year I do a comparison. Every year the comparison comes up hugely cheaper. Every year I then ring to cancel, and they offer me a really good deal to stay. Every year I decline their kind offer, on the basis that if they really valued my custom they'd have offered that to begin with.

Unfortunately, too many folk either pay the inflated renewal, or accept the later offer, so they've little incentive to change. If enough folk grew some stones and did what I do then they might suddenly see the light.

I've done this a fair few times over the years out of principal!.

Unfortunately one of my cars is highly modified and would be a real pain to swap insurers but I still managed to get £80 knocked off just from a 10 min phone call.

 

[Lee_M]

you have to understand how insurance works.

All standard rates basically come off a glorified spreadsheet, that's what a customer gets quoted. The new customer discount is applied based on the marketing dept. not on the actuarial costs. So it's not the guy on the end of the phone being a money grabbing bloke, it's just two separate depts.

As it happens in my last motorbike insurance discussion the person on the phone said she couldnt match the internet price of the same company so I'd be best doing it that way

 

[RoubaixCube]

My dad said, sometimes the renewal price is high because they actually need to get rid of customers and this doesnt matter if they havent had any claims or not admiral were charging my dad an extra £500 to renew for no reason but other companies were cheaper so he left and went with one of them

 

[oldfatfool]

Don't forget cash back, just got and accepted a new member AA quote with the AA and got £70+ cashback. The same often applies to insurance with lge cash back deals, and mobile phones. swapped to 3 from o2 saved £2 a month and another £74 cash back

 

[oldfatfool]

My dad said, sometimes the renewal price is high because they actually need to get rid of customers and this doesnt matter if they havent had any claims or not admiral were charging my dad an extra £500 to renew for no reason but other companies were cheaper so he left and went with one of them

I think at any given time they have to have a certain demographic of customers, a bit like a company must employ xyz of each gender, race, able bodied etc insurance companies must insure so many of each sex and age group, if you are in a group they need to increase then a cheap quote or vice versa, no way would quotes vary from £200 to £1000 for a 48 yo male with 9 yrs ncb in a 1.4l family estate otherwise.

 

[Salad Dodger]

I'm sure you've heard all the stories about mobile operators doing everything but beg to get people not to jump ship. The two times I've phoned to say I'm leaving, they've said 'Oh, ok.' Very hurtful!

I share your experience.

My daughter, on the other hand, seems to have Virgin on a piece of string, as she gets all sorts of deals and freebies from them. But she can sniff out a bargain at 1000 yards, whether its car insurance, holidays or anything else.

 

[nickyboy]

Every year I get my inflated car insurance renewal quote. Every year I do a comparison. Every year the comparison comes up hugely cheaper. Every year I then ring to cancel, and they offer me a really good deal to stay. Every year I decline their kind offer, on the basis that if they really valued my custom they'd have offered that to begin with.

Unfortunately, too many folk either pay the inflated renewal, or accept the later offer, so they've little incentive to change. If enough folk grew some stones and did what I do then they might suddenly see the light.

Think of it another way. If more people did what you (and I) do and always run quotes through comparison websites, the deals for us wouldn't be anywhere near as good

It is the folk who stick with the same provider year in year out that subsidise the new customer offers we benefit from. So keep it up "stickers" is what I say

 

[Levo-Lon]

Fook em all ...shop around every year.
Use the carrot and run after it's eaten.

My van insurance renewal with Budget.. £420..
With Hastings £270..with all the extras..bar breakdown as it's a new van

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Yes, it is outrageous.

It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous!