Car Insurance

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by Doghouse Riley, Nov 5, 2018.

  1. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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    It's due for renewal at the beginning of next month, I'm with LV, so I go through the usual ritual of getting quotes from half a dozen companies includiing LV, so I'm prepared for when they try to add, "the loyalty penalty." to my renewal.

    Churchill, Direct Line and LV were all about the same, but Hastings direct was 40% cheaper and Admiral, 40% more expensive.

    Since getting quotes, I've had two e-mails from Admiral urging me to complete the transaction. You can't respond "no thanks" to these e-mails, they won't let you so I had to go on-line and find a way to tell them, If I'm ever stupid enough to want to pay for the most expensive car insurance I could find, I'll let them know."



    I guess someone has to pay for all that TV advertising they do, but it isn't going to be me.
     
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    • ricky101

      ricky101 Total Gardener

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      Hi,

      You want to use more than one comparison sites to get a good picture of the best rates, saves all the hassle of getting individual quotes and nagging emails like Admiral are doing.

      Using comparison sites can also have the good side effect of increasing your credit rating.

      Usually find your existing insurer offering a lot less than the renewal premium they send you, so just contact them and ask them to match the online price, which they can instantly check out and agree to, just have the online quote number to hand.
       
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      • Redwing

        Redwing Wild Gardener

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        Moneysupermarket.com is the comparison site I use. Seems to be pretty good for insurance quotes.
         
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        • HarryS

          HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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          I use the comparison sites , mainly Moneysupermarket and Compare the Market , every year for house and car insurances. Once all your details are in it only takes one minute to get quotes. Unfortunately no price for loyalty these days. The variation in prices always amazes me !
           
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          • pete

            pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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            Trouble with insurance is you hope you never need to make a claim.
            If you do have to claim you then find out if they are any good or not.

            And you also find out if there is any bits hidden in the small print.
            Does anyone throughly read the small print?

            I know I dont, and if I did I'd probably not understand it.
             
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            • Sheal

              Sheal Total Gardener

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              Having done the inevitable search we changed our house insurance to Aviva a couple of months ago and have just taken out car insurance with them. This gave us a discount having both with the same company.
               
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              • longk

                longk Total Gardener

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                I've never shopped around - £2600 this year for my trade policy. I know that I can get cheaper but the one time that I've needed to use it (not my fault as I was hit whilst stationary) all I had to do was one phone call, one signature and they took care of the rest - loan car for the customer (delivered within 3 hours), car collected and delivered, all the paperwork with the other drivers insurers, no cost or loss of no claims for me etc. One call, one signature.
                Just ain't worth the hassle of shopping around.
                 
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                • ricky101

                  ricky101 Total Gardener

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                  Hi,

                  When it comes to a claim its hard to say how good the company is at acting on your behalf until it comes to the unfortunate crunch.
                  Suppose you only can only judge by looking at the various ratings they get.

                  Just got my renewal notice and after a look on the comparison sites, which forwarded me to my existing insurer, the identical cover is 13% cheaper.
                  Just not going to bother phoning them and haggling again, simpler to take out a new online policy from them.
                   
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                  • clanless

                    clanless Total Gardener

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                    Surprisingly, (off topic alert) my buildings insurance provider offered a lower premium this year - which we took. They were cheaper than the cheapest on the comparison web sites. I entered our details into their own website and they came back with a far higher price. Perhaps the insurance industry are cottoning onto the fact that people will get quotes and move for a cheaper deal if necessary.

                    Back on topic - my car insurance premium is also reducing by quite a lot - I suppose insurers like to insure people who do not commute and keep their cars off street. A new driver I know is paying thousands for insurance and is limited in the number of miles he can drive - I'm not surprised many are tempted to drive around without insurance.

                    I'm not paying to protect my NCB anymore - as I said to the insurers, "well, I've been accident free for the last 16 years - it's not going to happen now is it?" :biggrin:
                     
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                    • shiney

                      shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                      Me! :blue thumb: I got used to reading small print when running my business and saved many thousands of pounds over the years.

                      When my business lease came up for renewal they sent me a 60 page document of terms and conditions. I read every page and found that there were 27 clauses in it that said there were service charges for certain things and ground rent for others that I couldn't use or weren't theirs. I crossed out all those clauses and sent it back asking for the cost of those to be taken off and the clauses removed. It took 18 months of arguing before they agreed.

                      Some of the clauses were:-
                      service and maintenance charges for the lift in the building - I was on the ground floor in a separate lock up shop :doh:
                      Wages for receptionist and security in the entrance to the building - same reason as above
                      Maintenance and service rent for the car parking space I had in the car park - I owned the space and maintained it myself
                      And many other items.
                      Saved me just under six thousand per year. Some other tenants signed their documents without bothering to read them - apart from how much they would be paying!

                      So, yes I read the small print and I haggle all the time over insurances. I recently bought a new car (Volvo S90) to replace my eleven year old car. The additional premium came down from £300 to £80 with only 20 minutes of haggling. Total cost for the year £280 + the £80 extra for the new car, fully comp, courtesy car if required, no claims protection, named drivers, compulsory legal cover included. It helps that we're in a low risk area.
                       
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                      • Doghouse Riley

                        Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                        I don't use comparison sites. The insurers they recommend are the ones that pay them to include them.
                        it's how thhey make their money.

                        LV have sent me my renewal quote and it's about the same as the one I got from Hastings direct.
                        So I rang LV and got them to knock off the "loyalty penalty," so it ended up 10% less than their quote.
                         
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                        • HarryS

                          HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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                          LV and Hastings both quote on the comparison sites . Why not put your details in and see what pops out , it would be an interesting comparison .
                           
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                          • ricky101

                            ricky101 Total Gardener

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                            As mentioned above I got my renewal from LV= but the comparison sites showed the same details with LV= at 13% cheaper.

                            I have previously phoned them and haggled to get the renewal premium reduced, but this time just could not be bothered, got the new online quote in front of me , all the details the same, so took out the new cheaper policy.
                            Paid online, they returned all the new policy documents in a couple of minutes, job done.
                            Just had to make sure the Auto renewal/payment option was Off !
                             
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                            • Doghouse Riley

                              Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                              i've been ith LV for several years, I always haggle, they always come down a bit. it's worth a phone call. they just change the one off direct debit. I always get them to mail the documents, saves me having to print off a cover note to keep in my wallet.

                              Mind you the police, can check if you're insured, your car has an MOT, who you are and who is the registered owner of the car you are driving from the computer terminals in their cars.
                               
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