New Insurance Sub-Forum

tomv

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The adminmobile.
We all have to make the decision of whether to renew or find a new insurer each year. And given the recent hikes in insurance renewals, we thought it would be nice to have a separate area to discuss these matters.

The forum has teamed up with Chris Knott to provide MBO insurance at a competitive cost. In fact they'll have a go at beating your best quote.

This also means we'll have the services of an insurance specialist to answer questions about insurance and how to get the lowest quote you can.
 

McDonald

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My renewal notice came in this week. LV wanting almost £400 for a 2nd Car, social use only, limited mileage. Got onto the price comparison sites and found fully comp incl no claims protection & legal protection £258.90 - from LV!
Insurance companies punish customer loyalty as laziness and reward the active consumer.
 

400ixl

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By far the people who just renew is through laziness and not brand loyalty. Therefore they need to go after the new business which needs to be done at a competitive rate, whilst maintaining their ability to stay in business. A very efficient and competitive general insurance company makes sub 10% profit, with many making losses on this type of business.

If they were actively trying to punish loyalty, they would actively enforce their "new customers only" pricing, which they don't. They take advantage of lazy consumers to fund winning new business. It is no longer viable to switch to a model where they keep renewals lower as this would drive up new business prices and the smart people would leave and they would have no market rate to win them back.

Business dynamics drive the model.
 

McDonald

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My father made the mistake of using an insurance broker to buy his car insurance. This may have been good practice before the internet was invented. When he was 90 yrs old (still driving) with many years of no claims (30+) he was troubled to get a renewal notice at over £900 but felt it was an unavoidable aspect of old age. He was driving a 1300cc car and doing around 1,000 miles a year - he wanted the independence of going to the shops to buy groceries.
Peugeot sent him the reminder for his annual service, knowing he'd cough up meekly.
When he mentioned the cost of his insurance, I got onto the comparison websites and renewed his insurance for £400.00. I believe the insurance brokers who had been 'looking after him' for over 30 yrs were no better than the cowboys who rip off the elderly doing unnecessary work on houses - 'Yer roof looks dodgy sir, would you like me to get up there and fix it...' The brokers must have been scouring the nation's insurance companies to find the one that paid the most commission.

Some people are not lazy, they are vulnerable and 'business dynamics' stink.
 

LostKiwi

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'business dynamics' stink.
Ain't that the truth. In the past there was a certain amount of loyalty between employers and employees, companies and customers.
These days it's rare to find it from businesses but they still expect it from employees and customers.

It seems a common phrase bandied about these days is "it's nothing personal, it's just business" as the marvellous excuse for anything a company does that is disloyal or unethical.
 

davemercedes

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My father made the mistake of using an insurance broker to buy his car insurance. This may have been good practice before the internet was invented. When he was 90 yrs old (still driving) with many years of no claims (30+) he was troubled to get a renewal notice at over £900 but felt it was an unavoidable aspect of old age. He was driving a 1300cc car and doing around 1,000 miles a year - he wanted the independence of going to the shops to buy groceries.
Peugeot sent him the reminder for his annual service, knowing he'd cough up meekly.
When he mentioned the cost of his insurance, I got onto the comparison websites and renewed his insurance for £400.00. I believe the insurance brokers who had been 'looking after him' for over 30 yrs were no better than the cowboys who rip off the elderly doing unnecessary work on houses - 'Yer roof looks dodgy sir, would you like me to get up there and fix it...' The brokers must have been scouring the nation's insurance companies to find the one that paid the most commission.

Some people are not lazy, they are vulnerable and 'business dynamics' stink.

Well done McDonald 600 quid in his bank where it belongs! I gave up on brokers a few years ago when my local place came clean (I think it was a new regulation) and printed their brokerage charge on the renewal document - just for playing post office and selling on a policy that they earn about 33.33% on in the first place they wanted to stuff me £6! - and I've never gone back. I think for "looking after customers" they nearly all fall under the showbiz joke of sincerity (i.e.: if you can fake that you're home and dry heh heh).

The good news though is that even if the comparison sites fail, a phone call often works - my policy with LV has all the "bits" I need and after looking at Meerkats etc I've renewed the last two years with them after phoning and getting a reduction. I detest it and think they should be falling over themselves to insure people like me - not having had a prang for 30-odd years but now I just accept it as part of their game - just like the new supermarket shopping slogan "Pay more for less!" It really is surprising how much they can reduce the premium when you phone and just tell them you're going to start a comparison on the web - and the beauty of it is if they do give you the bum's rush you almost certainly can find comparative policies for less by shopping around.
 
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BMF

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I received my car insurance renewal notice via email yesterday from The Halifax, It was going to cost me £458.28p, It would've been the first full years insurance on the C220 as I the car was purchased in January. I did the usual cast around on the meerkat site and "Quote Me Happy" came in at £276.20 for fully comp with all the benefits that I had with Halifax.
 

peternutkins

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I usually trawl the comparison sites every year but a few years ago the prices were ridiculous so I tried Direct Line, they were cheaper than any of them and seem to be a pretty decent company. I have been with them for 3 years now and their prices are still competitive and they don't charge you to change vehicles.

Peter
 
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BMF

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I usually trawl the comparison sites every year but a few years ago the prices were ridiculous so I tried Direct Line, they were cheaper than any of them and seem to be a pretty decent company. I have been with them for 3 years now and their prices are still competitive and they don't charge you to change vehicles.

Peter
I was with Direct Line for around 9 years (about 4 years ago now), they sent through a renewal notice for a car that we had insured with them for a couple of years and their quote jumped up by £300 on the previous year, when I rang to ask them if they would reduce it to match other quotes I'd had they refused saying "we are not a comparison site" so I took my business elsewhere as they obviously didn't want it.
 

ianplymouth

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Got my insurance renewal reminder a couple of weeks ago, SL55 6k miles a year, 3 years no claims, last year it was £255.89 with LV, did a comparison site check best was £480 ish, already paid LV for this year £220.40 didn't even need to phone them that's the price on the reminder :)

My Renault Megane 265 is another matter, that this year is £390 :eek:
 

peterws1957

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I had a bit of a shock recently when my current Insurer Hastings Direct quoted £720 for the CL, a massive hike on the previous year. Money Supermarket showed the cheapest price to be £215, by guess who, yep Hastings Direct. Phone call to them and thankfully I got through to someone who knew what they were doing. There were a couple of differences between the 2 policies and when these had been rectified the price was £250 ish, but dropped to £230 ish at the end, which I accepted. No embarrassment or explanation on the part of HD though. It's just business.
 

ajlsl600

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i just dont get the insurance thing in 2017 my V12 5.5 bi turbo sl600 cost 198 fully comp in 2018 230 and in 2019 they quoted 276 .now thats sold but, i could NOT find better than 347 fully comp with pnc.s for a 2.1 lit ml250 4x4 and i sure tried how can that be for a 205 hp V 500hp car i simply dont get the criteria and no broker could explain that to me ,whatever the scheme is they are all at it.. the 347 was the lowest i could find alfred lost a battle there ...
 

Blobcat

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i just dont get the insurance thing in 2017 my V12 5.5 bi turbo sl600 cost 198 fully comp in 2018 230 and in 2019 they quoted 276 .now thats sold but, i could NOT find better than 347 fully comp with pnc.s for a 2.1 lit ml250 4x4 and i sure tried how can that be for a 205 hp V 500hp car i simply dont get the criteria and no broker could explain that to me ,whatever the scheme is they are all at it.. the 347 was the lowest i could find alfred lost a battle there ...
ML more likely to be stolen than an SL, more about so parts worth more. Probably based on the likelihood of it being stolen rather than accident from driving.
 

ajlsl600

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just grand ! theres also a 500 and 195 excess as well ! and it was still the cheapest quote .
 

flowrider

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Aviva did a good quote on my SL500, full NCB, fully comp, £400 excess, £187 for the year. They beat the best quote on any comparison website.
 

goldy

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I did the price comparison thing year before last when Aviva went up massively. Hastings the cheapest.
About to click through to buy when I had the thought to try them direct.
Quote from Hadtings direct with all the add ons was cheaper than the basic cover offered through the comparison site.
Always check the direct sitevorvcall the insurer. Cutting out the meerkats commission can reduce the premium.
 

Jimbo1959

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Get a quote from ONE CALL insurance co

Tried these guys when I bought my Coupé, got a quote of £400 and small odds, think it was about£25, sorry can't remember the exact amount, me being new to MB thought that was reasonable. So went for it.
Got my renewal a year later and this time I shopped around, the Meerkats directing me to Churchill at £287 :shock: for the same level of cover!

You get one guess who got my business. :rolleyes:
 


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