Have the insurance comparison sites had their day?

[cosmicbike]

Why reward them for that behaviour with continued business? 30-40% seems like a steep penalty for not rekeying your data every year - and because they're clearly into sneaky practices, I'd wonder whether they'd use any mistakes in your rekeying to weasel out of a claim and possibly submit the report of differences to something like National Hunter. I'd be switching away and not using them ever again. Insurance is annoying enough without dealing with firms that have revealed themselves to be sneaky.

Should have explained better. They still go through the cover on the phone, so it's their data entry. TBH they come back with a decent price every time, which is invariably a little lower than the previous year for the same cover. That, added to the fact that I like what their cover includs, is enough for me to stay.

 

[mjr]

Try top cash back even an higher quote with lge cb can work out cheaper.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cashback-websites#majorrules "Think of cashback as a bonus only – it's not guaranteed. Tracking problems occur for many people using cashback sites. There are times when you'll expect to be paid but won't be."

 

[mjr]

Should have explained better. They still go through the cover on the phone, so it's their data entry.

That sounds even worse to me than using the keyed-in data - not even giving time to look up the answers.

TBH they come back with a decent price every time, which is invariably a little lower than the previous year for the same cover. That, added to the fact that I like what their cover includs, is enough for me to stay.

Unless it includes rainbows and unicorns, I don't think I would stay with a renewal-gouger, but I think I must be in a minority because they seem so widespread.

 

[MacB]

Why reward them for that behaviour with continued business? 30-40% seems like a steep penalty for not rekeying your data every year - and because they're clearly into sneaky practices, I'd wonder whether they'd use any mistakes in your rekeying to weasel out of a claim and possibly submit the report of differences to something like National Hunter. I'd be switching away and not using them ever again. Insurance is annoying enough without dealing with firms that have revealed themselves to be sneaky.

I thought it was sort of a standard practice, or maybe I just read that in a Grisham book. When you're selling try a high price cause some will always bite. When you get claims deny them first cause some will not come back.

The big companies all make ethical claims and announce their desires to give us the best service at the best price. I'd love to give the benefit of the doubt but I find a cynical attitude gets proven right more often.

 

[Noru]

I used to flog the free Meerkat toys on eBay for a £10-20 discount on my insurance in the height of meerkat fever!

These days I use TopCashBack which works well only one tracking issue over about 30 purchases (AA travel insurance).

The comparison companies are ok but always double check with a direct quote from the same company and with insurers not on the comparison websites (direct line, adrian flux etc).

Uswitch have been pretty good, I used them last week when British Gas announced its impending electricity price hike. Change over is going smoothly so far...

As for renewals surprisingly Carole Nash gave me 2 competitive motorcycle renewal quotes I was impressed & stayed with them. Until this year they hiked the renewal price like every other insurer I've dealt with. Thought I was on to a winner there, disappointing.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

It ought to be illegal for an insurance company to be able to auto-renew a policy, it should be they have to gain your specific permission to re-new

 

[marshmella]

I've used Admiral for a few years now. They always give some daft renewal quote but i just ring up and say i don't like it and they tend to be obliging. I just wish they would give the best price at the start

 

[Dan B]

Srw will doubtless correct me if i am wrong here, but the reason for renewal hikes is that the cost to an insurer of acquiring you as a customer exceeds the money they make from you in the first year. "Renewal gouging" and "your introductory first year special offer ended" are just two ways of looking at the same thing

 

[mustang1]

The Meerkat did very well for me this year. Barely more than a hundred quid fully comp, NCD protected, legal protection, slimline salad dressing etc. Hastings wereny terribly competitive for me this time around (c.£175 IIRC), with RAC trumping them all through the Meerkat at £118.

A hundred? Iirc you have a dacia? (Ps haha you won't believe what the auto correct changed "dacia" to

 

[MacB]

[QUOTE 4913560, member: 45"]I noticed another scam this year. They boast that they're auto-renewing you to keep you safe and ensure you have cover. They then take money off you early to cover it. And if you go 20 minutes into their cooling off period they charge you an admin fee to cancel.

All done to win over those on the cusp of laziness.[/QUOTE]

Sorry MrP you need to use the correct terminology, this is called empowerment and goes hand in hand with other obfuscating terms like rationalisation and free market.

 

[mjr]

Srw will doubtless correct me if i am wrong here, but the reason for renewal hikes is that the cost to an insurer of acquiring you as a customer exceeds the money they make from you in the first year. "Renewal gouging" and "your introductory first year special offer ended" are just two ways of looking at the same thing

Flaws in their business model do not excuse sneaky practices. Any firms undercharging that badly for the frist year that they want to put the price up 40% at renewal deserves to fail and have its directors replaced by the shareholders and it's up to us to help make it happen, for the health of the market and our Great British Economy - it's your patriotic duty to switch away from gougers!

 

[MacB]

Flaws in their business model do not excuse sneaky practices. Any firms undercharging that badly for the frist year that they want to put the price up 40% at renewal deserves to fail and have its directors replaced by the shareholders and it's up to us to help make it happen, for the health of the market and our Great British Economy - it's your patriotic duty to switch away from gougers!

mjr, I know where you're coming from but this is just loss leading and quite normal, a biggie we all know were the supermarkets vs the small specialist shops.

 

[Dan B]

Flaws in their business model do not excuse sneaky practices. Any firms undercharging that badly for the frist year that they want to put the price up 40% at renewal deserves to fail

I rather suspect that any firms which don't undercharge for the first year are unlikely ever to get enough customers to make it to the second year.

 

[gavroche]

Talking of meerkats, how many do you have? 5 for me.

 

[PaulSB]

I was able to get the deal I wanted by using comparison sites for home insurance. Santander my previous insurer refused to offer bike cover in excess of £6000, I wanted £7000, and the comparison site helped me find a good but higher price for the cover I wanted.

For car insurance I was surprised to find Saga came in by far the cheapest.