AN INTERESTING TALE

[Lordjellybelly]

I`ve been using Adrian Flux for some years. Until this month`s current renewal they`ve waived their "£30 policy issue fee" when I`ve complained; yesterday they refused and insisted on the full £450 comp despite my saying please remove the £30 and I will pay now in full. So I spent twenty minutes on Go Compare and found that Admiral at £294 with similar terms was available and in addition over forty other companies offered premiums below £450.....again same terms.... protected bonus, £800 excess etc etc. So I e mailed AF and reminded them of their price match policy and today was offered Equity Red Star for £294.

The motto of this story for insurance brokers is when an old customer (over 5 years) offers to pay a reduced but reasonable fee don`t lose his custom by arrogance. In Adrian Flux`s case it has cost them over £120:lol:
__________________

 

[ChrisKnottIns]

Have you tried the club scheme through us, Lordjellybelly?

 

[Scoob]

I switched from Adrian Flux to go direct to Aviva, I gave AF a chance but they said they simply could not match the price - I knew they'd not be able to, as they were simply brokering a deal, with the actual insurer being...Aviva. Saved over £400. Nice.

Always pays to haggle. Since I've been with Aviva I've managed to get a few extra pounds off by limiting the annual mileage on one car and mentioning that I have other Aviva products (= multi-product discount) as well as just checking all their details are correct.

I do wonder how a broker ever manages to be cheaper than going direct to an insurer. I used to do it because I've run two or more cars for years, one a performance vehicle and one a "normal" car. This always resulted in needing a broker to ensure my no claims could be applied to TWO vehicles that were insured by two different insurers. When on my renewal a couple of years ago I saw that BOTH my cars at the time (a modified Impreza and a Ford Focus Diesel) were going through Aviva as the actual insurer, well, I switched to go direct and saved loads.

Aviva are flexible too - they let me keep my Focus on the policy when I got the Merc - but they did it in a "clever" way, i.e. replce the Focus with the Merc then add the Focus back to the policy for just £70 for the year. Basically, they worked with me to give me the best deal. Let's see how they are my next renewal!

Scoob.

 

[Miffy]

Horses for courses. Aviva were over twice the price I paid with Chris Knott

 

[geraldrobins]

What do members think of protected NCB. Personally I dont think its worth it. It costs about an extra10%, which is ok but there is no guarantee that when renewal time comes the policy will stay the same. As we all know when renewal time comes some insurance companies gradually increase their rates. In the event you have to make a claim you only lose 10-20% of your NCB anyway. And if you shop around although you might have max NCB you still have to disclose that you had an accident and made a claim which will usually increase the premium.

 

[Scoob]

@ Miffy: wierd eh, Chris Knott weren't even in the running for me.

@ geraldrobin: not worth it as far as I can see. I had it explained to me by an insurance broker I chatted to one time. She explained that while you'd keep your say 60% discount after a claim, they'd actually still put up the underlying premium. I.e. £1,000 - 60% discount one year, then maybe £1,300 - 60% "protected" discount the following year, rather than potentiall £1,000 - 40% for a partial loss. Possibly this means you save a little but not much. Plus, if you move insurer - which I suspect many of us do to get the best deal - the new insurer will NOT honour the full NCB even if it's protected at say 60% if you've had an accident. They'd adjust your discount accordingly.

Not sure what it's like now, but to protect my NCB was usually quoted as a further 20% on the premium, so not insignificant.

Thankfully for me insurance is just about bearable these days, plus doing low mileage on my 2nd car helps, as does parking on a gated driveway, as does having a clean (touch wood) licence.

Scoob.

 

[television]

I will have to do some thinking later this year, I have 3 cars with Admiral.

They were all on the max no claims, the 216 rolled back on my driveway knocking a few years off that policy, as the other 2 cars are much cheaper to insure, can I change a policy over from one of the other to the 216.

I have not made a claim since 1960 and I will have a clean licence at renewal time.

 

[00slk]

I have never bothered with the claims protection racket and as we have been unfortunate enough to have had a few claims, it made very little difference in the renewals premiums and the fact that we had less discounts, overall we were better off financially by not paying the extra for paying to protect our no claims. We have 4 different vehicle insurances and each have our records, and when renewals come no other company can match our original insurer. So we are very happy with that.

 

[B king]

Insurance premiums are a complete mystery..I recall on my last renewal that protected NCB added nothing to the premium and I also need class 1 buisness use...this reduced the premium by £4 ??!!. It certanly does not pay to be loyal to a provider anymore, I change every year, spend 20 mins on the compare type sites and save a good chunk of cash.The only thing I would be wary of is using an Internet only policy..eg, all communication by email alone,If you are unfortunate to have any problems/claim it can be a bit of a nightmare...ALSO, just worth mentioning, if your on fully comp, its no longer automatic cover for driving other vehicles..SO CHECK !!

 

[Warrior]

What do members think of protected NCB. Personally I dont think its worth it. It costs about an extra10%, which is ok but there is no guarantee that when renewal time comes the policy will stay the same. As we all know when renewal time comes some insurance companies gradually increase their rates. In the event you have to make a claim you only lose 10-20% of your NCB anyway. And if you shop around although you might have max NCB you still have to disclose that you had an accident and made a claim which will usually increase the premium.

Don't bother with it, protected NCB is a big racket which I worked out many years ago.

Think about it, you make a claim, they say it hasn't affected your NCB, but come renewal time your premium has shot up, you ring them and complain that you have protected NCB, they confirm this and say they have only put your premium up because their rates have gone up generally, you are miffed and go elsewhere.

You then ring around for quotes, first question new insurer asks is any recent accidents or claims sir?, erm yes but I've got protected NCB, new insurer replies that's not what I asked sir have you had any accidents or claims? yes I have...............policy is then priced accordingly!!

See what I mean? save your 10% or whatever they charge for it.

Here's a bit of advice come renewal time, go onto confused.com and check on there, often your actual insurer will be cheaper on there than the renewal they have sent you, ring them and complain, ask them to match the price shown for a new customer on confused.com, if they refuse and try the old 'sorry sir that price is for new customers only' excuse tell them you'll be someone else's new customer instead then and wont be renewing, that usually works, but if not just become someone else's new customer, you have to set aside an hour of your time to play this game once a year but it usually saves more than enough to justify the time spent.

 

[orb the Impaler]

My SLK is quite reasonable at £290 with business use.

On the subject of unreasonable "admin" fees I'd like to nominate MC Edwards who wanted £69 to put a personal plate on my Yamaha R1

Needless to say I'm not with them anymore.

 

[dml]

My insurance in 2012 was with Aviva through a broker (First Point; the broker of choice for lunatics) as almost nobody else including Aviva themselves would insure me on an SL500 as a 31 year old holding a provisional license with ongoing insurance once I passed my test. The cost for the first year was £5,000

When my renewal came around in 2013 after a year of flawless driving I got a quote of £1,600 from First Point. Called a few places including Aviva who quoted me £1,366 which First Point matched through Aviva again and added business use - I renewed with them as I have an incredibly helpful account manager called Dan who does nice things like give me tickets to supercar shows and things.

Despite never having used any other car insurance companies or brokers I would highly recommend First Point for anyone whose situation is "out of the ordinary" and am looking forward to seeing what my renewal is this year.

I was involved in an accident back in August while on the way to the Jamaica Inn meetup which is still unresolved but this is due to the other person's insurance company who have only this week finally admitted liability and sent through authorisation to get repairs rolling. Throughout the whole thing Lawshield (who manage the claim process for First Point) have been pretty good at keeping me up to date and liaising with the third party's insurance company on my behalf. I will be interested to see how this affects my renewal now that I've not been found at fault.