Tesco Car Insurance - what's going on?

[ASC1951]

The cover on my 9 year old Astra is up for automatic renewal next week. £402 all in for Fully Comp, say Tesco, which seemed fair enough.

Then I realised that £402 is not far short of its value these days, so I rang their helpline to see how much it would be Third Party, Fire and Theft. A very pleasant woman from Bangalore told me that that would only save me £70 and immediately offered to transfer me to a colleague 'to see if there was anything they could do'. So a different pleasant woman from Bangalore checked that my circumstances hadn't changed and after a couple of minutes offered me Fully Comp for £340. "Yes please", I said.

I'm confused. I wasn't looking for a discount and I didn't ask for one, but suddenly I'm £62 better off. Do this mean I have to like Tesco now?

 

[fossyant]

You are lucky they dropped the price....many have gone up this year..... mine shot up over £100 even on limited mileage, no business use... and I changed companies.....

 

[potsy]

Every time I've had a quote from Tesco it's been far higher than I pay now,use a comparison site and you'll be amazed at the difference between the cheapest and dearest.
Though it's not always good to go for the very cheapest as the excess may be a lot higher.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I got mine reduced to about £50 less than last years when I phoned, same with Mrs SJ's premium.

Another result was with the AA, when I complained the £141 renewal was way dearer than the £85 Green Flag were quoting they price matched without any quibble.

 

[Bromptonaut]

TPFT can actually be more than fully comp as the insurer may think those on minimal cover are less careful. And you may loose benefits such as windscreen cover.

 

[rusky]

I always run the details through comparison websites then see who's giving cash back. Managed to get the wife's down to £185 fully comp last year!

 

[Over The Hill]

I have not claimed for about 20 years and am with Pru (having left Swift because their advert was so annoying).

I presently get a 70% No claims discount and pay about £250 fully comp.

I saw an ad for Axa who give a 90% No claims so thought I must qualify as I have not claimed for decades. By my estimate they should do it for under £100 if they offer me a 90% NCD.

Spent ages filling out the form on line - eventually getting a quote of £285.

So keep away from lying Axa who seem to be misleading with false claims of 90% discounts. Total waste of time.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I have not claimed for about 20 years and am with Pru (having left Swift because their advert was so annoying).

I presently get a 70% No claims discount and pay about £250 fully comp.

I saw an ad for Axa who give a 90% No claims so thought I must qualify as I have not claimed for decades. By my estimate they should do it for under £100 if they offer me a 90% NCD.

Spent ages filling out the form on line - eventually getting a quote of £285.

So keep away from lying Axa who seem to be misleading with false claims of 90% discounts. Total waste of time.

All this X% discount stuff is meaningless. X% of what?

 

[srw]

<br />All this X% discount stuff is meaningless. X% of what?<br />

X% of "the price I want to charge divided by (1-X%)".

 

[Leah]

I would love to be in a position where my renewal was £185, or even the £420 of the OP. Mines £700. Joys of being 'young' *sigh*

 

[beanzontoast]

I used price comparison websites last year and found that the initially low quotes soon went up significantly when I added in the necessary details to make them match the level of cover I already had. I did find the name of a few companies I hadn't previously considered though, and one of those led to my current insurer, so in a round about way, it helped.

This year, the insurance went up a bit, but not enough to make us leave the insurer. We were told that one cause of the increase was banks backing out of the insurance market meaning less competition amongst insurers.

 

[Davidc]

Don't know your age, driving record etc., but that sounds very expensive. As potsy suggests get yourself onto a comparison web site.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I would love to be in a position where my renewal was £185, or even the £420 of the OP. Mines £700. Joys of being 'young' *sigh*

Don't wish your life away laddie, because there'll come a time when your insurance is only one of the things that doesn't go up anymore.

 

[Leah]

Don't wish your life away laddie, because there'll come a time when your insurance is only one of the things that doesn't go up anymore.

*Looks Down*

Laddie!? Nope, still definately a girl

 

[gavintc]

You should be pleased you are not driving your car in Naples - I think it was 650 Euros for 3rd party when we insured it in the Spring. 10 yrs no claim discount, a 2 yr old Avensis and only my wife and I driving.