You may recall back in early June I told the story of how some idiot had banged my car which was parjked outside my house whilst he was reversing into a parking space. 20 years living here, never had an issue until this idiot decided that he would show us all how not to park. Anyway, I did not claim because the criteria did not fit the definition of an accident and the scuff mark polished out, but idiot in his panic phoned his insurance company (there was quite a bit of damage to his car mind) which is owned by my insurance company who in turn phoned me and I had to go through everything chapter and verse. I did make it quite clear it was not my intention to claim as there was nothing to claim for, but I did add a footnote that if it affected my premiums, then I would be making a claim to recover my increase in premiums as it was unreasonable to regard me as an increased risk when I was not in the car and the car was parked and stationary at the time. Anyway, yesterday, insurance renewal comes through. I have a multi car policy for mine and the Mrs car and surprise surprise, the premium had increased by nearly £200 on last years policy. So, a quick shop around online using the comparison sites and I found several quoting cheaper than I paid last year, so I phoned my insurance to let them know that I would not be renewing and why I would not be renewing and guess what?..... They matched the new quotes meaning that to renew the insurance for both cars is cheaper this year than last with enhanced features included in the cover. As far as I am concerned, a result as it means I do not have to mess around getting proof of no claims, setting up new direct debits and so on. In the same post was my renewal for Green Flag, They had increased the annual premium by £30. So again, a quick shop around and as a new customer I could get the same level of cover £40 cheaper. So another phone call with the new quote in front of me and guess what? "Oh we will match that!" So why not do it in the first place? I asked. It is all computer generated was the reply. Load of B@llocks thoght I, but hey ho, another saving made and no need to mess around with changing anything. I hate insurance companies
Insurance is such a scam. In the end, they are a vendor and like all vendors (I am the purchasing director for a fairly large firm here in the US, so I deal with this daily), they never give you the best price up front. I find that, like you experienced, if you just look around and shop your needs, a better price can be found. Glad you had a good result!
The old 'computer did it' doesn't wash with me. People input data and presumably check data before they're sent out. Never heard of anyone on the forum telling us 'the computer' gave them a real cheap premium. From your perspective though, a bit of effort (which shouldn't have been required!!) returned the correct premium.
Insurance company gets a chance to offer me their best price when they send me a renewal notice. After that they get binned if more expensive as it only takes 10 mins to do a comparison and switch providers. All NCD stuff seems to happen automatically these days, worst I've had to do is tell new insurer my old policy details.
Just picked up a high mileage BMW 525D M-Sport for peanuts only yesterday, and as my Transporter and her Juke Nismo are both insured I have no NCD to use on the car. Never mind, I did a comparison and ended up getting the best quote of £476 with E-Sure and a quid extra with Sheila’s Wheels (same company). I decided to ring SW as my wife’s motor is insured with them, they gave me a 10% reduction on both cars and quoted me £317 ??????? How is that even possible using the same database? Even the 10% would have made it around £350! The operator says “ok sir that’s done and I’ve applied the ten percent reduction on the Juke, and saved all details including the card details for next years renewal”....... I told them in no uncertain terms that the card wasn’t to be saved and I wanted auto renewal removed... that’s another huge scam!
Too right. It seems to crop up everywhere now. If we buy a product/service for 12 months that's all I'm committing to. These presumptuous money grabbing anus heads think they can romp over us and summarily bind us to them for evermore. I, too, won't have a bar of this rort!
