Car Insurance.

[qprdude]

I've just changed from Zurich to the AA. Policy is with Acromas.

The AA's quote was very attractive as they offered a 15% discount as a new policyholder, and they threw in AA membership and Roadside Assistance for free. Not sure if I'll manage to get the 15% off next year, but will worry about that next year.

You won't. Surprised you didn't get a free "Home emergency cover".
I got those the first year, but not again.
Remember, if you paid up front with a debit or credit card, you have to phone and cancel your AA membership AND your roadside assistance before the renewal date ( Two weeks I think), or they will take your next years membership off your card. They send a renewal but just say "you don't need to do anything...etc etc". I have just phoned and cancelled mine, two different numbers, but what a palaver.
First the new 12months membership was £53 on the renewal, then the guy on the phone said they would do it for £45.....No thanks.......£39.........no thanks.................£33.....STOP! I want to cancel......£29..... I'm going to put the phone down now, and report you unless you confirm cancellation immediately..... you have extra benefits as a "silver member".... Send me a letter confirming cancelation, Goodbye!

Home emergency tried the same but not so persistent.

[Xantidote]

if you paid up front with a debit or credit card, you have to phone and cancel your AA membership AND your roadside assistance before the renewal date

Right, thanks for that. They did say the membership would come up for renewal automatically, but that I'd get notification. Next year I'll get another quote from LV=, but wasn't impressed with the girl sorting my quote this year - didn't seem to be with it - asked my address 3 times

[DickieG]

I Disagree..Its part of driver training at most levels.Its actually a part of your licence now.

Hmm, to obtain a CPC you undertake a training course which can for instance be totally in the classroom behind a desk having lectures on drivers hours, first aid etc, how does that improve or prove competent driving skills?

I have a CPC and can't think of anything less relevant or useful in proving driving ability as you don't need to go anywhere near a vehicle of any kind to obtain a CPC, all it achieves is generating income for the DSA and placing an additional burden on industry.

[qprdude]

I am now awaiting a call back from the AA to see if they will match my quote of £168.54 from Chaucer insurance. I phoned them, and they said if I emailed the quote to them they will honour their promise to beat it. The quote has to be for "like for like" cover. The Chaucer one is identical, except for a lower compulsory excess. I can't see how they can refuse, as I have a letter of promise signed by the AA boss, Andrew Strong. If they don't, I shall cancel and take the Chaucer policy.

[Northern_Mike]

The time has come again to start the search for next years insurance. So far, I have been able to get one quote online.
The reason for the one quote only, is that I refuse to put my phone number on any online form before I actually decide to buy something.
My phone number(s) are private and personal

Back to the point, I have a quote for £196, fully comp for me and SWMBO, with legal cover and protected no claims.

12+ no claims
9000 miles per year
Social and commuting to one place of business
Old geezer with 40 +years of experience.

Am I within general tolerance?

I agree with you 100%. I always put my brother's old landline number in - it's not been active for years. They can whistle if they think they are getting a working mobile number, and they get a throwaway email address too, unless it's car insurance where they send you the documents.

Not a bad quote. I must be ageing, I had my first ever quote under £200 for a non-classic policy. £196 for a 1.7 Ford Puma VCT, fully comp. I'm 39 with 4 years NCB..

[qprdude]

OK, I got an Email back from the AA saying they would match the quote. I had to phone them to confirm that I would accept it. I phoned the number and after going through every number from 1-10, I got to speak to a human being. She took my details and I explained about the quote match promise. She then kept me on hold listening to the AA trying to sell me their products while they thought the phone bill was mounting (it wasn't, I have an all inclusive deal with BT). Eventually she returned to say that they would honour the policy details they had sent in the renewal form I received last week.
That was £196. I said. No she said, it was £217, the £196 figure was before PNCB and Legal was added. OK I said why would I want to pay that. We will give you the same policy as last year, at the price you got from Chaucer and we will pay the difference to AXA or CIS. OK I said, although the Chaucer policy had a compulsory excess of £100, compared to your £250. I'm sorry, we cant reduce the excess for this price. To be honest, I couldn't be bothered going through the whole process again with Chaucer so I just accepted. I had a chipped windscreen last year and they did a decent job by coming to my daughters house in Woking while I was on Holiday and they changed my car details for free in June so I'm reasonably happy with them.
I have a feeling they won't be sending out the Price match promise letters to existing customers next year though.

So, to cap it all, I have a years fully comp for me and the boss, Protected no claims and legal protection for £168.54p, instead of the renewal price of £217.65p.


An hour searching the net, a couple of Emails and a couple of phone calls and I've saved just under £50.

[Xantidote]

I think you've done well - I'd be happy with that