Car Insurance

[Jan Rosser]

My car insurance is due next month and the company I am with at the moment has sent a quote for renewal which is about £100 more expensive. I am naturally looking around but the quotes I'm getting are not that much cheaper. Anyone else renewed lately and finding a significant increase?

The highest quote so far has been with Mini Insurance - having a Mini certainly doesn't give you any discounts - with a few extras it came to over £900 - I almost fainted at the thought of paying that much

[colin parry]

Jan, my premium increased by £100 plus a couple of months ago. I am insured with LV and when I looked on confused.com I got a quote exactly the amount I paid last year. I informed LV and they agreed to honour that figure. They said they wouldn't price match other companies but would honour whatever was on a price comparison site. I would say that it doesn't always pay to be loyal. Look at the comparison sites.
Best of luck
Colin

[oldbluefox]

My experience is insurance companies give you a good deal to get your custom and then increase the premiums appreciably the next year. I always check out the comparison sites and then ring my insurer to tell them I am thinking of moving. Invariably the agent will leave you waiting for a short while whilst they go to speak to their 'manager' and usually come back with a better offer.
The only company who don't move has so far been Direct Line. Good insurers but not cheap.

[Jan Rosser]

My experience is insurance companies give you a good deal to get your custom and then increase the premiums appreciably the next year. I always check out the comparison sites and then ring my insurer to tell them I am thinking of moving. Invariably the agent will leave you waiting for a short while whilst they go to speak to their 'manager' and usually come back with a better offer.
The only company who don't move has so far been Direct Line. Good insurers but not cheap.

I'm sure that is the case and last year I had an offer from my bank which was cheaper than the quote from my insurers at the time plus a cash back offer.

I always look around before renewal so shall now start looking at the comparison sites - I just find it all so tedious

[Lynda and David]

Hi Jan

I had this problem with my car insurance back in March. I was with Admiral for the last couple of years but when my renewal came in this year it was for about £300 more. My cousin suggested I try her insurance company Aviva which I did and the quote they gave me was only £20 more than last year's insurance so I am now insured with them. My car is a Peugeot 3008 2016 (66) Reg and cost £475.

Best wishes

Lynda

[david63]

The only company who don't move has so far been Direct Line. Good insurers but not cheap.

That has not been my experience with Direct Line. I have been with them for several years now and when I get my renewal the first thing that I do is go to two or three price comparison sites (never use just one as they are all biased!) to get a reasonable comparison. More often than not my DL premium is within £20 or so of the "best" offering from the comparison sites once I have tailored it to replicate my current policy. On the odd occasion when DL have been significantly higher then a quick phone call has brought the price down.

The one problem with Direct Line is that they do not appear on price comparison sites and if you have a policy with them you cannot get an on-line quote (unless you use a neighbour's address!!)

My car is a Peugeot 3008 2016 (66) Reg and cost £475.

I presume that the £475 is the cost of the insurance and not the car - if it is the car can we all have the name of your dealer

[Stephen]

My car insurance is due next month and the company I am with at the moment has sent a quote for renewal which is about £100 more expensive. I am naturally looking around but the quotes I'm getting are not that much cheaper. Anyone else renewed lately and finding a significant increase?

The highest quote so far has been with Mini Insurance - having a Mini certainly doesn't give you any discounts - with a few extras it came to over £900 - I almost fainted at the thought of paying that much

£900. What are you driving Jan a mini Lamborghini.

[barney]

I pay £230 a year fully comp for a Mercedes CLK 3.2 ltr
Mrs Barney just paid £192 for her Mazda MX5 1.8 ltr that's fully comp as well with all bells and whistles.
I always shop around. For the couple of hours it takes, it's well worth it.
A ten minute phone call this Monday morning saved me £34 on my AA cover.

Never accept any price without checking.

The time that most spend on social media could be put to more productive use

[Jan Rosser]

My car insurance is due next month and the company I am with at the moment has sent a quote for renewal which is about £100 more expensive. I am naturally looking around but the quotes I'm getting are not that much cheaper. Anyone else renewed lately and finding a significant increase?

The highest quote so far has been with Mini Insurance - having a Mini certainly doesn't give you any discounts - with a few extras it came to over £900 - I almost fainted at the thought of paying that much

£900. What are you driving Jan a mini Lamborghini.

I wish - it's a Mini Cooper S Automatic 66 reg. I've just got a quote from Direct Line and they come in under £400 with a few extras added to compare with existing policy which is less than I paid last year. I did have a bump two years ago which was technically my fault but I still feel annoyed about aspects of it so I wonder how much this affects the premium. Anyway I'll do a few more quotes before committing.

[Stephen]

Try the RAC for a quote.

[Whynd1]

This is a good one

Our sons car insurance was due he has a fiesta that and it's two years old. He is with esure, the quote came and it had gone up by £40.
So he gets on line and looks on the comparison website and esure came up as the cheapest. When he looked it was cheaper than his renewal quote by £70. He rang through to Esure and they go through it all everything is the same he gives them the reference number from the web site and they honour the lower quote.

Sharp practice I say
Market forces they say.

Lindsey

[Dancing Queen]

A couple of years ago we had all our insurance with Saga but after getting 'silly' renewal quotes and doing a few price comparisons we moved to M&S who at the time I thought were very reasonable, last year I thought the prices had gone up rather a lot but still stayed with them as all insurance companies seemed more expensive, this year however for one of our cars the premium was bordering on ridiculous so it was back to looking for an alternative, surprisingly Saga came in at half the price so they got the business .. a couple of weeks later we got the renewal from M&S for the house insurance and again it was a ridiculous price, I got a quote from Saga ( didn't bother shopping around this time as the price was very acceptable ) so they have got that one too and no doubt will get the business on the other car when the renewal is due.

I just think insurance companies are getting greedy and think once they've got you you will stay with them, you expect some sort of increase but not 40%/50%.

[CaroleF]

Slightly at a tangent but I have had a AA breakdown policy for years - and years. A couple of years ago my renewal price came in, for on road breakdown and recovery, not breakdown at home, at a ridiculous price of something like £120. Previously I think I'd been paying between £80-£90. So I started looking at the AA site and getting a quote for the same coverage which came out at something like £70. I then went to the RAC and they quoted within a couple of pounds of the AA. So I phoned the AA and one of the choices when you phoned was if you were thinking of leaving the AA so I pressed that button. I told the agent that I had been with the AA since I was 25 - now 70 - and the renewal price was ridiculous and if I was a new member I would be getting a much better deal and the RAC were offering me a much better price. He asked me to wait a moment, disappeared and came back saying that as I was such a long time member (hardly ever call them out now-a-days - when I was a student it was different) and to reward me for my loyalty how did (£68 for both breakdown and that recovery would be included free for as long as I was a member). I said that was fine - rather a difference from £120! So well worth phoning round for all insurance quotes.

Carole

[barney]

Absolutely Carole.

As I said earlier, I check everything and always get a better deal.

It really is worth the little bit of effort. ( and a bit of fun as well)

Top tip is ALWAYS go armed with factual evidence as they are all linked in and will know if you're bluffing.

Never be afraid to walk away if they won't budge.

I know some feel uncomfortable bargaining, Mrs Barney does.
I love it. Maybe I was a barrowboy in a previous life.

[qbman1]

Absolutely Carole.

As I said earlier, I check everything and always get a better deal.

It really is worth the little bit of effort. ( and a bit of fun as well)

Top tip is ALWAYS go armed with factual evidence as they are all linked in and will know if you're bluffing.

Never be afraid to walk away if they won't budge.

I know some feel uncomfortable bargaining, Mrs Barney does.
I love it. Maybe I was a barrowboy in a previous life.

I have visions of you flogging carpets in a Souk in Old Cairo !!

[Lynda and David]

My car is a Peugeot 3008 2016 (66) Reg and cost £475.

I presume that the £475 is the cost of the insurance and not the car - if it is the car can we all have the name of your dealer

Very good David

[Stephen]

Absolutely Carole.

As I said earlier, I check everything and always get a better deal.

It really is worth the little bit of effort. ( and a bit of fun as well)

Top tip is ALWAYS go armed with factual evidence as they are all linked in and will know if you're bluffing.

Never be afraid to walk away if they won't budge.

I know some feel uncomfortable bargaining, Mrs Barney does.
I love it. Maybe I was a barrowboy in a previous life.

Same here barney

[Kendhni]

Never ever accept a renewal quote. As others have said go through the various comparison sites and then ask your insurer to match the lowest quote. I would also suggest start getting quotes 30-60 days in advance of your renewal (different companies have different timescales when quotes expire - so check) since these can be saved and the companies will honour them even if there is a price rise between the time of the quote and the time you renew.

This year the renewal for my multi-car policy came through at £468 - I had a few saved quotes and got on the phone and in the end we agreed at £310 ... I did push for £300 but I think I had exhausted every thing they could offer me..

[Jan Rosser]

Well happy to report all sorted - did not renew with existing company - the new policy with the same bells and whistles is actually £150 cheaper than the renewal quote so good result. Thanks for all the advice - one of the most difficult things about being on one's own is taking decisions - you know the "have I done the right thing" so your help is appreciated.

[Stephen]

Who did you end up insuring with Jan, if you don't mind me asking.

[Jan Rosser]

Who did you end up insuring with Jan, if you don't mind me asking.

Direct Line

[Kendhni]

Who did you end up insuring with Jan, if you don't mind me asking.

Direct Line

So you let Winston Wolf extract the readies from you

[Jan Rosser]

Who did you end up insuring with Jan, if you don't mind me asking.

Direct Line

So you let Winston Wolf extract the readies from you

I confess I had to google that Ken - of course I recognised Harvey but if you'd asked me what he advertised I wouldn't have been able to tell you - lots of advertisements have that effect on me - unmemorable

As an aside David recommended them and may be next year they will rise significantly but as you rightly say never accept the renewal offer - shop around.

[david63]

David recommended them

I will await with eager anticipation for my commission cheque to arrive

[Stephen]

David recommended them

I will await with eager anticipation for my commission cheque to arrive

Before the company goes into liquidation prefereably