I just got roasted for insurance..big time.

[Blobcat]

Just renewed the 911 - last year £315 - this year LV wrote to me advising with the changes in the law the price I would get for renewing would be the same as if I was a new customer... £350 was the renewal - did a compare and same company (LV) came up with £280...

Went with Sheilas Wheels at £215 in the end

 

[A.J.]

Just renewed the 911 - last year £315 - this year LV wrote to me advising with the changes in the law the price I would get for renewing would be the same as if I was a new customer... £350 was the renewal - did a compare and same company (LV) came up with £280...

Went with Sheilas Wheels at £215 in the end

I used Sheila's Wheels some years ago and they were cheap then. I don't know what they are like if you have to make a claim though.

One I also used many years ago was the Post Office. They were ridiculously cheap, however after some old duffer assaulted my rear with his Jag they were chronic.

I got so frustrated with them processing the claim that I told them that I would never use them again. I also told them I certainly would not recommend them to anybody. With that they cancelled my policy which gave me three days to sort out a new policy.

 

[Blobcat]

I used Sheila's Wheels some years ago and they were cheap then. I don't know what they are like if you have to make a claim though.

One I also used many years ago was the Post Office. They were ridiculously cheap, however after some old duffer assaulted my rear with his Jag they were chronic.

I got so frustrated with them processing the claim that I told them that I would never use them again. I also told them I certainly would not recommend them to anybody. With that they cancelled my policy which gave me three days to sort out a new policy.

I expect all insurance companies to be a PITA to deal with in relation to any form of claim or change to the policy or literally anything other than paying them lots of money...

I hope never to have to deal with insurance companies other than the initial setting up a new policy...

 

[Rob7seven]

This has just plopped into my inbox from Honest John, not the most reliable or sensible source of information since HJ himself left the building, but mildly interesting all the same. I assume that much of this reflects HJ's responders' claiming experiences, but to put things in some perspective, the same poll told us that Dacia are the best car manufacturer, and Mercedes one of the worst, but opinions are like ar5holes, everybody has one...

​

Ranking	Insurer	Satisfaction Index Rating
1	NFU Mutual	9.25
2	Co-op Insurance	9.00
3	Privilege	8.79
4	LV= (Liverpool Victoria)	8.75
5	Direct Line	8.63
6	Quote me happy	8.62
7	RIAS	8.56
8	Saga	8.54
9	General Accident	8.48
10	Aviva	8.40
11	Tesco	8.38
12	Zurich	8.36
13	Sainsbury's Bank	8.36
14	Churchill	8.35
15	RAC	8.34
16	Hastings Direct	8.31
17	AA	8.26
18	AXA	8.23
19	Admiral	8.21
20	Lloyds	8.20
21	Flux Direct	8.17
22	One Call	8.16
23	Swinton	8.14
24	M&S Car Insurance	8.07
25	More Than	8.04
26	esure	7.97
27	1st Central	7.78
28	Sheilas' Wheels	7.57

 

[A.J.]

I expect all insurance companies to be a PITA to deal with in relation to any form of claim or change to the policy or literally anything other than paying them lots of money...

I hope never to have to deal with insurance companies other than the initial setting up a new policy...

Lets hope so, it doesn't have to be your fault though

 

[Blobcat]

Lets hope so, it doesn't have to be your fault though

I've dealt with No. 3, 4 and 5 on that list and all of them were a shower of **** to deal with regarding claims and changes.

No. 14 (Hastings) was possibly the worst with outright lies - which cost them money in the long term but with much stress which I can really live without

 

[sausage]

A friend used to own an insurance company, the kind people call "Ambulance Chasers" - he said to me "It matters not who you go with, they are all as bad as each other, pick the cheapest".
I didn't. I always found Aviva to be fair but required huge amounts of steering, nudging, reminding, chasing, hounding, berating, escalating, complaining and eventually I'd get an outcome I was "OK" with.

However, due to a large price hike this year, I moved to NFU Mutual largely because of their "Which Rating" and so far found them to be nice people to deal with, who pick up the phone quickly, with a small team in a small office and no massive call centre to deal with. I hope they live up to their rep as and when I need to make a claim.

 

[sausage]

P.S.
OP TS20 is one thing, try to avoid getting a TT99 it resulted in a premium increase of six fold for me.

 

[Rob7seven]

Ah, Aviva. I'm not certain who the culprits responsible for my worst experience with car insurers, but I'm pretty sure that was Aviva. No claims, but call centres somewhere like Bangalore, you can probably guess what's coming. In about 2003 I had an Audi A4 Avant, not a bad car but horribly uncomfortable, seats like park benches and a terrible ride, but possibly partly my fault for choosing an S model, but anyway, after we'd suffered for two years it had to go, and I chose a Saab. I needed a cover note for the dealer to register the new car, and I called the insurer. Unbelievable. I had to repeat and/or spell every single word several times.

Me, "London Road". Him, "Can you repeat that please?"
Me, LONDON ROAD". Him "How are you spelling that please?"
Me,"L-O-N-D-O-N", this was repeated several times, it felt like forever.
Him. "Is that the town Sir?"
Me, "No, it's London Road Salisbury". Him "Please Sir?" Me, "SALISBURY".
Him "Notsberry?" This went on for quite a while as well.
Him, And please Sir, what car will you be buying?
Me, "A Saab 9-5 2.3 turbo estate".
You can guess how it went from there, but it started with him asking several times, "Please Sir, how are you spelling Saab?" It felt like the toughest call I'd ever made. and I don't thing he could blame me, my wife tells me I sound a bit like an old fashioned BBC newsreader from the Alvar Liddell era.

So a painful experience. In those days it was possible to amend a policy for a change of vehicle, but when the Aviva (?) one expired I decided to take up an offer from Lloyds through my Bank of the same name. I phoned and got a bright sounding guy whose accent immediately raised feelings of dread.

I began, "Before we discuss the details, can you tell me where your call centres are?"

He must have worked out why I asked that.

His friendly reply, "Ah yes Sir, all our call centres are in Ipswich or Newcastle, but you'll probably be talking to a Paki like me".

We got on really well after that, no communication problems at all.

 

[A.J.]

A friend used to own an insurance company, the kind people call "Ambulance Chasers" - he said to me "It matters not who you go with, they are all as bad as each other, pick the cheapest".
I didn't. I always found Aviva to be fair but required huge amounts of steering, nudging, reminding, chasing, hounding, berating, escalating, complaining and eventually I'd get an outcome I was "OK" with.

However, due to a large price hike this year, I moved to NFU Mutual largely because of their "Which Rating" and so far found them to be nice people to deal with, who pick up the phone quickly, with a small team in a small office and no massive call centre to deal with. I hope they live up to their rep as and when I need to make a claim.

A while ago I responded to a TV advert from NFU. When I rang a robot asked me to leave my name and number and they would call me back, they didn't.

More recently I thought I would try them again. This time I got to talk to a human and answered their questionnaire. The human then gave me a quote that was almost £1,300 more than I was currently at that time paying. When I told him of the difference and that I was quite shocked by it the negotiations stopped there and then. Needles to say I gave them a miss

 

[sausage]

Ah, Aviva. I'm not certain who the culprits responsible for my worst experience with car insurers, but I'm pretty sure that was Aviva. No claims, but call centres somewhere like Bangalore, you can probably guess what's coming. In about 2003 I had an Audi A4 Avant, not a bad car but horribly uncomfortable, seats like park benches and a terrible ride, but possibly partly my fault for choosing an S model, but anyway, after we'd suffered for two years it had to go, and I chose a Saab. I needed a cover note for the dealer to register the new car, and I called the insurer. Unbelievable. I had to repeat and/or spell every single word several times.

Me, "London Road". Him, "Can you repeat that please?"
Me, LONDON ROAD". Him "How are you spelling that please?"
Me,"L-O-N-D-O-N", this was repeated several times, it felt like forever.
Him. "Is that the town Sir?"
Me, "No, it's London Road Salisbury". Him "Please Sir?" Me, "SALISBURY".
Him "Notsberry?" This went on for quite a while as well.
Him, And please Sir, what car will you be buying?
Me, "A Saab 9-5 2.3 turbo estate".
You can guess how it went from there, but it started with him asking several times, "Please Sir, how are you spelling Saab?" It felt like the toughest call I'd ever made. and I don't thing he could blame me, my wife tells me I sound a bit like an old fashioned BBC newsreader from the Alvar Liddell era.

So a painful experience. In those days it was possible to amend a policy for a change of vehicle, but when the Aviva (?) one expired I decided to take up an offer from Lloyds through my Bank of the same name. I phoned and got a bright sounding guy whose accent immediately raised feelings of dread.

I began, "Before we discuss the details, can you tell me where your call centres are?"

He must have worked out why I asked that.

His friendly reply, "Ah yes Sir, all our call centres are in Ipswich or Newcastle, but you'll probably be talking to a Paki like me".

We got on really well after that, no communication problems at all.

^^ We had similar language issues trying to order take away food as students in Manchester back in the 90s.



Around 2012 the Aviva legal team who handled a claim for me were based in India, they had no understanding of UK roads at all. Trying to get them to understand how to use a multi lane UK roundabout and why someone going into the back of me there was their fault not mine, it was not an easy conversation.

Thankfully Aviva moved their teams back to the UK not long after. I think a legal team was about as inappropriate a team for relocating to India as is possible.

I often wonder how the senior leaders of these organisations justify their salaries. I can only assume in an organisation like Aviva that if you have the remit to be able to shut up UK operations of thousands of people, buildings, infrastructure, make redundancies, and then do the opposite to set up a new operation overseas, recruit and train staff, software and hardware set up, phones, buildings....And then....
...Do the exact opposite again, shut up the off shore operation, lay off staff, decommission buildings, systems etc and return it all to UK, followed by recruitment, training, new buildings, and so on....
This is going to cost hundreds of millions, so...based on that, I assume the managers that did this to every bank, every telco, every insurance company and so on...are probably executives taking home a significant salary.

It seems to me to point out that 1) They are idiots. 2) They all follow each other and are incapable of innovating their own solutions to the problems of the business they represent. 3) They are still there making the same idiotic kinds of decisions... such as "putting everything in the cloud" because everyone else has.
We have also seen recently how these executives have completely and utterly failed to create appropriate business continuity plans...which to me suggests that for at least three decades our largest businesses have been paying execs a lot of money to do their jobs very badly and they only seem to copy one another.


I have no issues with our friends in India and have a very happy professional life working alongside many talented folk in Pune and Mumbai.

 

[sausage]

A while ago I responded to a TV advert from NFU. When I rang a robot asked me to leave my name and number and they would call me back, they didn't.

More recently I thought I would try them again. This time I got to talk to a human and answered their questionnaire. The human then gave me a quote that was almost £1,300 more than I was currently at that time paying. When I told him of the difference and that I was quite shocked by it the negotiations stopped there and then. Needles to say I gave them a miss

Interesting.

A few years back people were recommending LV to me. So I gave them a go and had a similar experience with the price quoted being many times higher than my current premium. I quizzed them and they said "We don't really do your demographic" - or words to that effect. Meaning my age, my car and city living in a flat all combined to a perfect storm...something like that anyway, it was a long time ago and it was an insurance quote.

NFU were 25% less than Aviva for me.
I think getting a fair price is all about finding an insurer that is set up for a demographic that matches your own.
I also imagine that the different offices of NFU are probably run very differently. YEMV.

 

[Rob7seven]

Interesting.

A few years back people were recommending LV to me. So I gave them a go and had a similar experience with the price quoted being many times higher than my current premium. I quizzed them and they said "We don't really do your demographic" - or words to that effect. Meaning my age, my car and city living in a flat all combined to a perfect storm...something like that anyway, it was a long time ago and it was an insurance quote.

NFU were 25% less than Aviva for me.
I think getting a fair price is all about finding an insurer that is set up for a demographic that matches your own.
I also imagine that the different offices of NFU are probably run very differently. YEMV.

All true, some years ago a broker told me that every company had lists of occupations they wouldn't accept, all seemed to love civil servants and teachers, but servicemen, professional musicians and those in hospitality jobs had the most problems finding affordable cover. I'm a lifetime member of the RNLI, which by their definition makes me a "Governor". They sent me an info sheet telling me that LV were offering special low rates for our select few. I phoned them at renewal time, and was turned down flat, being told that LV never accepted self-employed people, which as a company director, I apparently was. That would have ruled out quite a large proportion of the UK population.

 

[Jim2]

All true, some years ago a broker told me that every company had lists of occupations they wouldn't accept, all seemed to love civil servants and teachers, but servicemen, professional musicians and those in hospitality jobs had the most problems finding affordable cover. I'm a lifetime member of the RNLI, which by their definition makes me a "Governor". They sent me an info sheet telling me that LV were offering special low rates for our select few. I phoned them at renewal time, and was turned down flat, being told that LV never accepted self-employed people, which as a company director, I apparently was. That would have ruled out quite a large proportion of the UK population.

I suppose that anyone who had Afghanistan mentioned in their job description would have a major problem getting insurance from them......