Sneaky insurance companies

[Oxo]

In otherwords, so far, you've rewarded them for wasting your time with useless extra form-filling by renewing with them?

Yes I have filled in the extra forms and the quotes have been competitive,
The company is Direct Line.

 

[mjr]

Yes I have filled in the extra forms and the quotes have been competitive,
The company is Direct Line.

Yes, that sort of nonsense is the reason I switched away from Direct Lying (or actually a reseller of theirs). They could at least offer the lower quote when you call to say they're higher than alternative offers, rather than require you to fill in the forms.

Whether it's ethical to do so, that's another matter. For insurance you could possibly make the argument that it's all about spreading the risk anyway and if a bit more of the financial burden is shouldered by the people who would rather pay the renewal quote instead of first spending 30 minutes to check if it's still competitive then that reduces the premium for the rest of us. It doesn't feel like a particularly good argument to me, but there it is

It's not even a valid argument unless you believe the overpayments of others are subsidising below-cost insurance for you, rather than shareholder dividends. I'm pretty sure insurers aren't deliberately selling at a loss in many cases.

 

[Nigeyy]

ugh... insurance companies.

Over here they specialize in tv ads that show attractive women smiling and being all chummy and how great and cuddly warm they are. Of course they fail to mention that i. if you are late with a payment they'll cancel your policy as fast as you can take a breath (however see my point iii.!), ii. chances of getting such an amiable person on a phone (and being paid a low wage) is soooo unlikely and iii. they'll take as long as they can -months or even years -to pay out, and finally iv. what they do pay out will more than likely bear no relation as to the true replacement value.

Yeah, I love those companies. They give me the warm and fuzzies all the time......

 

[Grant Fondo]

There's nothing illegal about setting your prices at whatever level you want to, nor of charging two different people different amounts for the same product or service.

Whether it's ethical to do so, that's another matter. For insurance you could possibly make the argument that it's all about spreading the risk anyway and if a bit more of the financial burden is shouldered by the people who would rather pay the renewal quote instead of first spending 30 minutes to check if it's still competitive then that reduces the premium for the rest of us. It doesn't feel like a particularly good argument to me, but there it is

Yes ethical is a better word, difficult to apply when premiums are so difficult to understand

 

[Spinney]

I also get annoyed when I ring up for a quote, get a better quote elsewhere, then original company rings up and says 'well we could have managed a lower premium...'
I'm not wasting my time going too and fro - give me your best offer the first time. Now, even if your revised premium is lower than the one I have taken out I'm not going to swap and reward you for messing me about and pissing me off!

 

[Dan B]

I also get annoyed when I ring up for a quote, get a better quote elsewhere, then original company rings up and says 'well we could have managed a lower premium...'
I'm not wasting my time going too and fro - give me your best offer the first time. Now, even if your revised premium is lower than the one I have taken out I'm not going to swap and reward you for messing me about and pissing me off!

What do you do three years later when you've swapped between all of the vaguely competitive providers and each have pissed you off? Do you go back to one of the ones have previously left? I ask because I'm starting to run out of options for my mobile phone contract

 

[Spinney]

What do you do three years later when you've swapped between all of the vaguely competitive providers and each have pissed you off? Do you go back to one of the ones have previously left? I ask because I'm starting to run out of options for my mobile phone contract

I don't keep a black list - so far no-one has pissed me off enough to say never ever again. As far as insurance goes, I actually get most of mine through a broker, they seem to have access to various companies that are hard to find on the internet.

For your phone, you'll just have to settle on the least bad...

 

[keithmac]

I change car insurance providers out of principal now, it is slightly more work filling out the new policy documents but bollocks to them if they try and screw me over then magically match a lower quote..

Last change I rang Adrian Flux and put the cards on the table, if you can insure me for £××× all modifications declared I'll pay right now, 2 mins later I'd taken the policy out.

 

[vickster]

British Gas is the only company I WILL never deal with...I don't hold a grudge, it's only been about 12 years since they pi$$ed me off

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I hate the annual renewal performance with the insurance companies, I usually waste lots of time faffing around for competitive quotes then trying to get the price down with the current insurers who won't play ball, it's a first class pain in the backside.

 

[mjr]

I ask because I'm starting to run out of options for my mobile phone contract

Really? I'm pretty sure that mobile phone service retailers are starting faster than one a year... or are you one of those fools who thinks you must buy directly from 3, EE, O2 or Vodafone (aka Hutchison Whampoa, BT, Telefonica or Vodafone)?

Last change I rang Adrian Flux and put the cards on the table, if you can insure me for £××× all modifications declared I'll pay right now, 2 mins later I'd taken the policy out.

Thank you for supporting the Norfolk economy.

British Gas is the only company I WILL never deal with...I don't hold a grudge, it's only been about 12 years since they pi$$ed me off

Similar for me with BT, at least not directly (it's unreasonably hard to avoid their wholesale fixed line monopoly, but it looks like that might finally be broken up, 30 years too late). As well as failing to do what they said when I moved home, they also cut both a retired relative of mine and his elderly neighbour off for weeks in error.

 

[keithmac]

British Gas is the only company I WILL never deal with...I don't hold a grudge, it's only been about 12 years since they pi$$ed me off

My friend down the street is having all sortsnof bother with his broadband provider (and woeful speed when it does work).

With that and his TV package etc I mentioned my Virgin Media was half the price he was paying with at least 5x faster broadband.

His wife said point blank she would never deal with Virgin Media and seemed more than happy to pay double for a worse service!.

 

[Pale Rider]

Just a hint re house contents. Like most people unless something huge has occurred I tend to ignore the "please inform us of any change in circumstances" bit.

My wife retired last May, contents was due for renewal in late June. I phoned and told them this and without asking got a 50% reduction on the basis the property is occupied, or more likely to be, during the day.

I wouldn't have anticipated this saving and only informed them by chance really.

Change of circumstances can work in the other direction.

There was a case in which the company refused to pay a claim on a named driver policy because the insured failed to tell them one of the drivers - the insured's wife - had taken a part time job.

She had been put down on the proposal as unemployed, which she was at the time.

 

[screenman]

I shop around but I also feel most insurance is good value, I would certainly not want to insure me for £375 a year the amount of miles I do.

 

[srw]

(or actually a reseller of theirs)

Direct Line don't use resellers. They're only direct. (Although to be pedantic, Direct Line is a brand of UKI which you can only buy direct, and UKI also underwrite NIG and Churchill, who do sell via brokers and other intermediaries. And I believe that the group now has a single pricing policy, but I could be wrong.)

I'm pretty sure insurers aren't deliberately selling at a loss in many cases.

Yes they are. The personal motor market as a whole rarely makes money. Anyone who rings up and gets a discount is likely to be getting a price at which the insurer is expecting to make a loss - although given the vagaries and risk-pooling of claims it's uncertain exactly which policies will make a profit or a loss.