I'm sure they won't thank me for publicising this, but been a member of the AA for many decades, and (touch wood and hope I'm not jinxing myself!) never had cause to call them out, but every annual renewal came with a hefty price increase, now I never accepted the asking price outright and NEVER had any sort of automatic renewal payment, I always phoned them and told them I didn't like quoted figure and wouldn't pay it, I'd rather go elsewhere, and I asked why were long standing customers who've got an impeccable claim record penalised over new customers who get offered better rates? Inevitably after a bit of flustering (no doubt thinking "we've got a PITA one here!!!" ) they would offer to see what they could do, they'd always start with trying to downgrade my cover, which I'd reject, then they'd "have to go away for a minute, please hold", when they came back there would be a new figure offered for same cover, which amounted to something like a 30% discount on original price, and they'd comment "we see we've given you a discount before!" (damned right you have!). I'd accept that as it really wasn't a bad deal.
This year's membership renewal has just come through, AND the asking price is the same as last year, which they have stated as being near 50% off the 'normal' figure for this year!!!! Have they got the message after years of me refusing to pay their silly prices (all down on my account record apparently! ), that they might as well concede defeat and offer me a decent price without wasting every bodies time and phone calls!
Being a belligerent stubborn old git does seem to have some benefits over and above the sheer self satisfaction of being what I am!
..... Oh! did I forget to mention that being a long standing customer, I get free Home Start, and Lost Key Insurance! Moving to a different supplier would not be in my best financial interests anyway!
I think there was some sort of legislation passed a while back to prevent insurance co’s hiking prices annually for those who renew automatically without shopping around. There were complaints about elderly people particularly paying say over a £1000pa for home insurance that could be had with the same company for under £200 to new customers.
The result now is that you are unlikely to find premiums for like for like cover much lower by shopping around for car or home insurance.
Providers did point out that premiums would rise for all if they were prevented from subsidising new customers & shoppers around with the extra premiums paid by “loyal” customers & certainly with car premiums this has proved the case not so much by existing premiums rising but by rival providers failing to offer much cheaper premiums.
I have been with Saga for around 20yrs & until more recently I always found much cheaper quotes which Saga then matched but more recently home cover from them has been cheaper than before & car cover little dearer & cheaper than like for like quotes from other companies. My experience anyway.
My view has always been that,if a company is prepared to lower its price when faced with a moan from the customer, then they are indicating that "We will rip you off if we can get away with it"
I always reject the offer and take the rival quote
Quote: Originally posted by billy on 11/3/2023
I think there was some sort of legislation passed a while back to prevent insurance co’s hiking prices annually for those who renew automatically without shopping around. There were complaints about elderly people particularly paying say over a £1000pa for home insurance that could be had with the same company for under £200 to new customers.
......
You're right there, not sure when it came into effect, but my expectation on that was it would remove the enticements to new customers rather than reduce costs to existing customers, after all there must be a lot more existing customers than new ones, so that's where the real profits lie!
It can still pay to shop around, my car ins renewal quote from LV this year was £349 last year it was £279.I used a comparison site and got a quote from Tesco bank for £329.I rang LV and told them I wouldn't renew unless they were prepared to negotiate to which I got a flat refusal.
I accepted the Tesco quote on line, which was exactly he same cover as LV, I then had a confirmation from Tesco saying that they recognised I had a Clubcard at my address and reduced the price to £299.
saxo1
I always shop around for everything these days, it doesn't pay to be a loyal customer. The car insurance company that I had been with for the past two years wanted to charge me over £100 more than last year, so I switched. Cover exactly the same as far as I could tell, and the price was slightly less than I paid last year. Car insurance is one huge rip-off if they can get away with it.
As for breakdown cover I gave up on the "big two" many years ago as their prices had become ridiculous. For quite a few years now I have been with Start Rescue, and their prices are a fraction of what the big 2 charge. I have had to call them out once, several years ago, and I doubt whether either of the big 2 could have beaten the service I got, or even matched it.
Our Hyundai insurance went up quite a lot so my wife got other quotes and called them back they then price matched!
My Virgin tv and broadband was going to be over £100 once our previously negotiated deal expired.
I called them and selected the "thinking of leaving" option and it was reduced to £58. Very helpful lady in UK.
They have recently offered us a higher speed and Sky movies for an extra £4 a month for 18 months so we took it.
Could have had Sky Sport instead but we aren't interested in it.
Post last edited on 11/03/2023 18:23:25
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
I had been with Saga for my car insurance for many years and never made a claim but 4 Years ago they wanted me to take out the 3 year contract so the price of insurance remained the same throughout the 3 year contract. Sounded like a good idea to me so I accepted and paid by monthly direct debit. However, 2 years into the contract I received my policy documents which the insurance was the same as last year but the direct debits had increased which didn't add up so I phoned up Saga and asked why. Their reply was that after 12 months there is a £50 surcharge for admin costs so over the 3 year period I had paid an extra £100 for the privilege so no savings gained there. At the end of the 3 years contract I shopped around and got my car insurance for just over half the price with Lloyds car insurance so accepted and paid for the insurance in full. I phoned Saga and cancelled my renewal stating that I found the same cover for just over half the price with another company. When I told them how much they said that they might be able to match it but I told them it was too late as I had already accepted the quote and paid for it in full so they lost a valuable loyal customer. I went on to say that if they could have matched the quote after all these years then it proves much much I had been ripped off over the past many years of being a loyal customer. I'm reluctant to change with anything really but the true fact is that it does pay to shop around because being stagnated with one company you simply become an easy target for their financial gain.
Definitely pays to shop around with car insurance, and with many other things too. This isn't called rip-off Britain for nothing, insurance companies charge whatever they think they can get away with, and in all probability so do many other organisations. Loyalty definitely doesn't pay!
Friend just had to call AA for a water leak, stuck on hard shoulder. Told him to check waterpump, said all was good and it was a faulty pressure cap which he changed.
A week later another breakdown, car limped to friend's mechanic who within 5 seconds diagnosed a waterpump that had been leaking for a while. Complaint to AA, response awaited.
Pity you can't do the same with pet insurance. Once they reach a certain age or have pre-existing conditions, to save money your choice seems to be: cancel the insurance, reduce the cover you have or pay up if you want to keep the insurance going.
Quote: Originally posted by bofs on 12/3/2023
Pity you can't do the same with pet insurance. Once they reach a certain age or have pre-existing conditions, to save money your choice seems to be: cancel the insurance, reduce the cover you have or pay up if you want to keep the insurance going.
I completely agree, my last dog's premiums seemed to be doubling every year and when I tried to switch nobody wanted to know as he was over 8 years old. He lived to be 15, and for his last 5 years or so I cancelled his insurance and put the money into a separate bank account for him. Fortunately for me he was reasonably healthy until his last couple of months. I don't know what I would have done though if his health had deteriorated earlier. It's the main reason we never got another dog when he went.
Simialr but different - Its interesting how many of the privatised/national companies are allowed to make billions and billions of ££££££££ profit for their private owners but the moment they get into even the slightest difficulty the government bails them out with our money.
Quote: Originally posted by Mitchamitri on 13/3/2023
Simialr but different - Its interesting how many of the privatised/national companies are allowed to make billions and billions of ££££££££ profit for their private owners but the moment they get into even the slightest difficulty the government bails them out with our money.
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Topic: The benefits of being stubborn!
) they would offer to see what they could do, they'd always start with trying to downgrade my cover, which I'd reject, then they'd "have to go away for a minute, please hold", when they came back there would be a new figure offered for same cover, which amounted to something like a 30% discount on original price, and they'd comment "we see we've given you a discount before!" (damned right you have!). I'd accept that as it really wasn't a bad deal.
), that they might as well concede defeat and offer me a decent price without wasting every bodies time and phone calls!
via mobile 11/3/2023 at 1:38pm
