37%

[c.morewood]

Ill consider myself lucky then, renewal was £260 with Axa. I paid £165 for the younger Xantia with Hastings through compare the market.
I'd looked at all the others Quidco, gocompare and they all came out at about £205.
£440 for the elder Xantia which has my 22 year old daughter on it, 2nd year of driving, again fortunate as all the others wanted about £800. I had to do a double take and check everything and make sure I'd got everything correct. you just have to try everything, even massaging the quote to get it to work for you

[myglaren]

Mine will be due soon. My youngest son (33) and I on the insurance. With LV at the moment but just yesterday a quote came from the AA in his name, just for him and not me.
£585!

AA is always expensive though, as is Direct Line, the Co-Op and Saga.

[van ordinaire]

One of the van insurers which refused to cover me send me a quote around renewal date (& try to sell me other stuff, like public liability insurance all through the year) I've tried to "unsubscribe" but doesn't make any difference.

[Gibbo2286]

One of the van insurers which refused to cover me send me a quote around renewal date (& try to sell me other stuff, like public liability insurance all through the year) I've tried to "unsubscribe" but doesn't make any difference.

Once you're on the databases you have little chance of ever getting off, I still get calls from people trying to sell me deals for business energy, business insurance etc. etc.

I tell them they've been ripped off by whoever sold them my details as they're fifteen years out of date.

[JohnD]

Reason does not enter into it with insurance companies who will do absolutely anything to............ delay paying any claim.

That's a jaundiced view of the insurance industry. In my experience claims are usually settled promptly. My most recent claim concerned my travel insurance. For part of very winter I take my car and caravan abroad. I take out a comprehensive insurance that covers the car for breakdown and recovery, similarly with the caravan, and also personal health cover. The policy also covers for several other contingencies such as missed ferry bookings, theft or accommodation in the event of vehicle damage. Needless to say, it's not cheap. Almost £300 for 120 days. And lots of people tell me I can get much cheaper insurance.

But then five years ago my wife became ill in Spain and had to be admitted to a private hospital. She was there for two weeks, having several X-rays and MRI scans, but sadly she didn't make it. One of the Insurer's operators had telephoned me every day and at the end, the insurance company relieved me of dealing with all the legal formalities for a death in a foreign country and of repatriating a body back to this country. But the cherry on the cake was still to come. Just as I was contemplating how I was going to manage a 1400 mile journey home on my own, I received another phone call saying, "We don't think you should drive home. We'll send out a driver. All you need do is take a taxi to the airport and collect your ticket." The claim was paid in full and all completed within two weeks of getting home. Cheapest isn't always the best.

[GiveMeABreak]

One of the van insurers which refused to cover me send me a quote around renewal date (& try to sell me other stuff, like public liability insurance all through the year) I've tried to "unsubscribe" but doesn't make any difference.

Yes, if you've ever signed up on a comparison site for quotes - double check the marketing /further communications options carefully. Might be worth logging back in if you have and reviewing those settings under your account. I'm with a few, but never get anything from them except in regard to the latest quote and specifically for what I was interested in.

We are also signed up with the Telephone and Mail preferences services, so got no calls from anyone (as well as being ex-directory). We may get 2 or three of those spamming automated nuisance calls a year - but these just dial randomly. Once I have their number clocked, I add it to the phone's blocked list and they don't get through.

I did have one last week oddly - I was 99% sure from the number it was going to be a spam call, but answered it this time as I was in a foul mood anyway. Sure enough, a woman on the end said "I've been told by one of your colleagues about the accident you've had recently...." I cut her off mid sentence, told her to stop lying, stop harassing people and to go and get a proper job - and that I'd be reporting them to OFCOM and slammed the phone down - then blocked the number. I felt immense satisfaction for my 30 second rant.

And if you get any of these calling you - they are all bogus accident claims calls - and I'm putting them here so that on-line spammers can gladly spam them back! All these are West Midlands, Birmingham area codes:
0121 1814959
0121 1071980
0121 0415330

[CitroJim]

It has long been my opinion that there should be a law against cold calling and junk mail... It should be banned outright, along with those who insist on ramming unwanted leaflets and other junk through your letterbox.

What absolutely horrifies me is just how much junk mail comes courtesy of the postman

[GiveMeABreak]

Too true Jim - the Post Office raise extra revenue through it. I long for the day when we are truly paperless - I know we have a while to go yet and that a lot of people don't have access to digital content (yet alone basic broadband in many cases - us included - we're going from non-viable broadband straight to Fibre To The Premises overnight, and can't wait - only 2 weeks to go )

[van ordinaire]

Based on my own experiences, I've found insurance companies to be devious, unprincipled, obstructive & only concerned with looking after their own interests - so it is heartening to learn of someone who has had such a good experience, especially at such a difficult time. However, we each can only speak as we find.

Mercifully, I don't suffer from cold calls but as far as I'm concerned they meet the ciriteria of "nuisance calls" & would be treated as such. Curiously, only recently I had to threaten BT with reporting them for nuisance calls because, in response to a written complaint, someone kept calling me on my mobile (when I didn't have it with me) & sending texts, when I didn't even know they had the number.

Junk mail: everyone should exercise their right not to accept unsolicited post. I send all mine back, + the business reply coupons that fall out of new phone books, etc & all that rubbish that accompanies bank & credit card statements. Once they had to start paying the return postage & had the inconvenience - & expense - of disposing of it all, it would stop - almost over overnight!

[CitroJim]

Junk mail: everyone should exercise their right not to accept unsolicited post. I send all mine back, + the business reply coupons that fall out of new phone books, etc & all that rubbish that accompanies bank & credit card statements. Once they had to start paying the return postage & had the inconvenience - & expense - of disposing of it all, it would stop - almost over overnight!

I do the same. Generally it works... I only had one case where I had to get very heavy with them to stop the deluge...

[van ordinaire]

Can't say I've ever found it works, I once complained to Virgin that either their post room staff were too stupid to arrange names to come off their mailing list when stuff was returned or THEIR manager was too arrogant to instruct them what to do.

My point is, 2 of us,2 dozen, even a couple of hundred, of us doing it won't achieve anything; every last piece of unwanted post MUST be returned to from whence it came.

[Gibbo2286]

Personally I think that all that returning it, even grumbling about it is a waste of effort, it's harmless enough so it just goes directly from my post box to the waste paper recycle box.

I also really wouldn't want the postman/post office to decide which of my post is to be 'junk mail' and which is not.

[CitroJim]

I get results because I can be a most unpleasant person when sufficiently provoked

As several companies and individuals have found to their cost...

[van ordinaire]

One of the van insurers which refused to cover me send me a quote around renewal date (& try to sell me other stuff, like public liability insurance all through the year) I've tried to "unsubscribe" but doesn't make any difference.

Once you're on the databases you have little chance of ever getting off, I still get calls from people trying to sell me deals for business energy, business insurance etc. etc.

I tell them they've been ripped off by whoever sold them my details as they're fifteen years out of date.

Oh how I wish we had French data protection legislation, which is actually designed to protect the right people. Because I'm on the Retromobile mailing list I get an e-mail every year (I think) asking me to confirm the info. they have is correct AND that I agree to them keeping it.

It's because here, all your personal data is a marketable commodity over which you have no control, that, unless it concerns credit or car insurance, I provide as little info. as I can get away with & that is all false, inaccurate, misleading or ambiguous!

[CitroJim]

It's because here, all your personal data is a marketable commodity over which you have no control

Precisely.... It is so, so wrong in every way... The sooner it is legislated against the better...