Insurance

[brick10]

Hi

Recently had renewal quote from Hastings Direct for £497.00, went on go.compare and got insurance through the AA for £295.00! phoned Hastings up and said they could do it for £325.00 but decided to switch to the AA - had all the same benefits as what Hastings was offering so switched.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Nicely done !

 

[vtaylor78]

Good news , you’ve got to shop around.
No loyalty it seems where insurance is concerned.
Theres probably someone with the AA that’s changing to Hastings

 

[AMGeed]

Lucky escape switching to the AA.
Hastings have really poor reviews for car insurance. They are/were cheap for good reason.

 

[Rappey69]

I switched from AA to hastings direct !
The previous year the AA were the cheapest so went with them.
A year later they wanted triple and wouldn't budge so went with hastings as they were the cheapest.
Hastings renewal time and they wanted about 33% increase but haggled on the phone and they dropped to match the lowest quote I found !

 

[S500 Pete]

I shop around every year and when I contact an insurer to tell them I am moving they always offer a lower rate. I take great delight in telling them that they should have offered me that in the first place and I might not have been looking around.

 

[Bluegrass]

I read with envy these cheap insurance quotes. What ever car I have because of my location NW London nothing below £800.

 

[davemercedes]

You have to be "creative" to get a good result...

Depending on your age and history ( i.e.: presuming you haven't had serious and costly claims in the last 2 pr years?) there MUST be cheaper quotes available - I would target a reduction of £200...

- If you have a clean history, try Saga regardless of your age - they just want non-claiming customers - and will usually offer at least healthy introductory discount - you may be pleasantly surprised and the cover is considerably better than a lot of others.

- Same with LV: the first quote online can usually be improved with a phone call.

If you're a younger person (or "medium mature..."), try this odd trick: adding an elderly relative can sometimes reduce premiums nicely even though in real life they may never drive your car! Also, search the web for job titles - for example a job called "Mobile Engineer" will often attract a much bigger charge than "Engineering Consultant".

Best of luck - go for it!

 

[Dean Fletcher]

I changed my wife insurance fro Hastings. Her renewal was 48 pounds a month not down to 14 with o2 drive. Its only a 107.

 

[Bluegrass]

No accidents, clean history and in the mature age range with 9+ years no claims. I have tried with various job titles and still high price.

Same details at a friends place in Derry £170.

The "nice" area I live in is my downfall. Even downgrading recently from my Benz to a Zafira 1.8 only brought the price down by £34 and after £25 admin fee to change car details on their system I was left £9 better off.

 

[Blobcat]

I shop around every year and when I contact an insurer to tell them I am moving they always offer a lower rate. I take great delight in telling them that they should have offered me that in the first place and I might not have been looking around.

I do that and won’t renew with them even if they drop the price. My reasoning is that they should have given me the best price to start with and not tried to profiteer - and I tell them that.

 

[AMGeed]

I do that and won’t renew with them even if they drop the price. My reasoning is that they should have given me the best price to start with and not tried to profiteer - and I tell them that.

I do exactly the same. The first price should be the best price.

 

[davemercedes]

But it never is - so you have to play their game. I think insurers make double glazing sales people look respectable!

 

[AMGeed]

I won't stay with a company who won't give their best price at renewal.
If I can find it cheaper on a comparison website then they won't and don't get my business.

In a slightly different market, I have just dumped Virgin Media for exactly the same reason. They only offered a better and competitive price once I'd left. Too late.

 

[davemercedes]

I won't stay with a company who won't give their best price at renewal.
If I can find it cheaper on a comparison website then they won't and don't get my business.

In a slightly different market, I have just dumped Virgin Media for exactly the same reason. They only offered a better and competitive price once I'd left. Too late.

Yes... there's something deeply satisfying about going elsewhere especially when they try to keep you too late. Unfortunately it's just a numbers game and if they expect 2 million renewals, the fact that you or I drop out isn't even an irritant.

The only time they would sit up and take any notice is if they lost say 10% of renewals and then all they would do is have a meeting at which the Sales Manager would probably say "lots of people objected to the increase" (if his telesales staff are reporting properly he would know that).

And then they'd reduce it - maybe. But all too late for for us who went elsewhere (and 11 - 12 months later the same pantomime is ready to start all over again)!

Like I said earlier, it makes double glazing sales people seem respectable!

 

[Rappey69]

Same with LV: the first quote online can usually be improved with a phone call.

I,ve found that most charge an admin or arrangement fee if you ring them up rather than doing it online!

People can complain as much as they like when ringing up but the telesales operator doesn't really care so its wasted breath?
I so hate virgin offering deals to new customers that are nearly half the amount they want to milk me for.. But threaten to leave and often its "ok, bye" .. but I don't leave as no one else can match their broadband speeds .

Useless would be a complement for hastings when I got driven into, but I just couldn't ignore £180 fully comp with business use (per year) compared to AA renewal price of £357.. Just got to make sure I avoid any collisions

 

[flowrider]

This year both myself and my wife had renewals with LV that were considerably higher than last year, despite getting lower quotes from rival insurers LV refused to lower their premiums so we moved to another insurer.

Virtually all insurance companies are great to deal with until you want to make a claim, only then will you find out just how good they are.

 

[EmilysDad]

we have 4 cars' insurances to sort out for next month. So far, it looks like LV is the cheapest so far for their multi-car policy

 

[JBell]

Just did a comparison on mine and I am paying £348.96 a year and hastings are £248 via money supermarket, no brainer

 

[Altamar]

Lucky escape switching to the AA.
Hastings have really poor reviews for car insurance. They are/were cheap for good reason.

My sister was insured with Hastings and her car was written off by a foreign driver not understanding how roundabouts work in the UK.

After her claims experience I vowed NEVER to buy from Hastings, even if they were offering insurance for £50 a year. Insurance is only as good as the claims experience...