My car insurance renewal.
Last year it jumped from £138 to £181 fully comp max NCD which was bad enough, this year Swinton want £355.
Usually I get a new customer quote which is always cheaper then phone and argue. This year they won't allow it. The best I can get from comparison sites is £250. There were a couple slightly cheaper but then I noticed the tiny print advising that the compulsory excess was £900 and £1200 .. robbing swine. If we had a service I'd ditch the car and use my bus pass.
------------- Knowledge is recognising that a tomato is a fruit: experience is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Every year I go through the same process. Wait for my renewal quote then go on 3 different comparison sites and check who is offering what. If my current insurer comes out the best or very close, I stick with them, if not I go elsewhere. I was with one for 5 years then they suddenly introduced a big price-hike despite the fact that they had been the best for 5 years. I switched and stayed with that company for 2 years. Last year I switched again as the price had gone up.
There doesn't seem to be any kind of logic to how they charge. One company who had always given ridiculously high quotes then suddenly becomes the best, then one who has been good for several years suddenly comes up with a ludicrous quote. One company who has always given good quotes on one car goes to the other extreme if you switch cars. Try another company and the quotes are the other way round on the same two cars. It's crazy, they just seem to make figures up to see what they can get away with!
Interesting the renewal for our MX5 was about £10 more than last year (£190) and for our Audi the the renewal was £325 compared to £280 last year and the comparison sites are coming up with £390!
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 02/9/2023
Every year I go through the same process. Wait for my renewal quote then go on 3 different comparison sites and check who is offering what. If my current insurer comes out the best or very close, I stick with them, if not I go elsewhere. I was with one for 5 years then they suddenly introduced a big price-hike despite the fact that they had been the best for 5 years. I switched and stayed with that company for 2 years. Last year I switched again as the price had gone up.
There doesn't seem to be any kind of logic to how they charge. One company who had always given ridiculously high quotes then suddenly becomes the best, then one who has been good for several years suddenly comes up with a ludicrous quote. One company who has always given good quotes on one car goes to the other extreme if you switch cars. Try another company and the quotes are the other way round on the same two cars. It's crazy, they just seem to make figures up to see what they can get away with!
Exactly, doesn't seem there is any logic behind the pricing at all.
Now they have the nerve to contact and ask me for feedback, so I filled in their form.
At the end it asked why I had given them such a low score and any suggestions I had to improve?
Says it all...
------------- Knowledge is recognising that a tomato is a fruit: experience is not putting it in a fruit salad.
We looked at who was underwriting the insurance cover that we had, and went direct to them. Big cut in the cost, because we weren’t paying the intermediary’s admin fee, profit etc.
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 03/9/2023
We looked at who was underwriting the insurance cover that we had, and went direct to them. Big cut in the cost, because we weren’t paying the intermediary’s admin fee, profit etc.
That is a very good idea, I'll have to look at that when my insurance comes up at the end of the year. Well worth remembering.
Try Ireland.
Never had a claim, drive a 2014 Hyundai i40, got my licence in 1984, no endorsements, full no claims and pay 900 euros a year. My neighbour pays 1500 for the same model.
My motorbike is 400 euros a year. I pay 113 euros a month just for vehicle insurance.
I'd love to pay 180 pounds.
I checked yesterday and the cheapest I could find for our car was £900 odd. I would like to pay £180 too. Will have to look into your suggestion Fiona.
I would love to pay £180 too! Don't know what this years is going to be as it's not due until November, but last year I paid somewhere around £400. I've had a full car licence since 1966 and a PSV licence since 1972, and I've been a professional driver for most of my life. Even when I was driving trains I was driving Heritage London buses for wedding parties etc as a sideline. I really don't know where they get their figures from. I drive a 15 year old 2 litre diesel X Trail, it's not like it was a new Ferrari or something.
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