Insurance time again.

[qprdude]

Just got the AA renewal quote for the DS5 2.0 l auto.
£346, or £321 without the AA accident cover/Assistance??? No legal cover or anything.

Last years C5 was over £100 cheaper and both cars are in the same insurance band.
So far, I have a quote of £287 for a similar policy.
My AA roadside cover is also due. £49 last year for me in any car, recovery to anywhere in UK etc. Renewal price is £107

Time to shift I think. I'll give them a call and see what they come up with this year. Insurance has probably gone up a bit, but 30% is, is taking the P.
I'm not happy about subsidising their "new business"

[GiveMeABreak]

Despite what others may say, do have a run through compare the market or meerkat or whatever. They consistently beat any direct quotes and save having to go through the rigmarole of entering your details over and over. Fill everything in once and it’s there for each year, just press a button and all the quotes will come in.

Everyone can say this insurer or that insurer, but it is very much different for every individual and where you live, the level of cover and personal circumstances etc. You may be surprised and have nothing to loose.

Regarding the AA, I dumped them 3 years ago after 27 years as each year they kept increasing the premium. I had to keep ringing them up and they would match the previous years renewal. One year they dropped it but not by the amount I was willing to pay, so we parted company. Their loss as I think we only ever used them 3 times ever! If they can’t assess that risk properly then it’s their loss. I have a choice they don’t.

Never looked back. I’ve gone to Allianz and AXA and Green Flag, but again I use compare the market. They already have your details and so it’s a doddle to get the quotes Rick and is less stress.

[qprdude]

Yeah, I've been trawling around the comparison sites. Thats where I got the lowest one so far.

Tried (Low cost car insurance) "Be-wiser" and got an online quote of £518. I was just reading the email confirmation when my mobile rang.

Woman asked to speak to me! "We see you are on our website for a car insurance quotation". Yes, why do you want to speak to me when I ticked the Email contact only box. You are nearly double the price of my lowest quote!

"Yes I know, thats why I'm calling you. We can offer big discounts on a phone quotation"

Why don't you put your best quote online?

"We offer phone quote discounts to our online customers"

So the online quote is only a means to harvest phone numbers for cold calling and is totally meaningless?

"We can compete with most insurance providers"

Why didn't you then?

"I can give you a discounted quote now."

No you can't, I've moved on. You get one chance and you blew it, enjoy the rest of your day!

[qprdude]

Wow, I'm impressed.
It's well over ten years since I used direct line insurance.
Just got a quote of £226 fully comp including PNCB. (£206 without NCB protected.)
Thats just a few quid cheaper than last years cost for the C5.
Quote lasts for a month so I have time to wind up the AA, and get some more quotes. Can't see anyone beating Direct line though.

[jgra1]

[Paul-R]

I use the Money Saving Expert order for checking the comparison sites, i.e. MoneySupermarket, Confused.com, Gocompare and then Compare The Market. Then the companies that aren't (officially - see later) on the comparison sites - Direct Line, Aviva and Zurich. These are usually a waste of time but you never know.

I put an afternoon aside to sort my insurance out. It's not a quick process.

In May I did my own insurance and ended up with an internet only company called QMH. These were cheaper by quite a large margin once I had crossed out the companies that couldn't offer me the level of European cover I need. QMH (Quote Me Happy - eurgh, horrible name) is actually an off-shoot from Aviva - their way of getting into the comparison sites without breaking their "not on the comparison sites" boast.

Then, earlier this month, I did my wife's insurance. Same process and this time the best quote came from the first comparison site that I used. If only I'd known beforehand. Surprisingly enough this was from the AA but it's not likely that I'll be with them again next year as I find that it (nearly) always pays to move on. Sometimes you just have to be a tart and dump a company after a year.

[qprdude]

Yes, I think I've been with at least ten different companies. It's cold outside and I have nothing better to do so I can spend time getting quotes.
I've also got a quote for breakdown cover for £47.75p The company is called "Rescuemycar.com" and the cover level is almost the same as my AA cover who want £107 for renewal. They boast a UK call centre and thousands of operators. I expect they just contact local breakdown services, but so do the AA when they can't respond in time.

[GiveMeABreak]

Well done on the insurance - I used to be with their offshoot 'Privilege' for the XMs many moons ago and then they got silly.

The only thing to be aware with some of the breakdown companies is the amount of time they will spend at the roadside to fix it before they charge you - so as long as you tell them to knock it on the head and get you transported you should be fine.

[milleplod]

I use a 'proper' broker these days, A-Plan in Macclesfield - they have other branches too. I can't recommend them highly enough - real people at the other end of the phone, which is always answered within a few seconds (no call centre 'choose from one of the following 17 options' stuff!), they call back when they say thy're going to, if you have a bump or other claim, they deal with it in-house, all of it, no farming it out to 'claims handling' companies.....and they're usually as good as the best price on the comparison sites, give or take a few quid. We now have our 3 cars with them, my bike and our home insurance, as do quite a few of the family and many friends.

I've absolutely no connection with them btw, I just rate them very highly!

Pete

[qprdude]

Well done on the insurance - I used to be with their offshoot 'Privilege' for the XMs many moons ago and then they got silly.

The only thing to be aware with some of the breakdown companies is the amount of time they will spend at the roadside to fix it before they charge you - so as long as you tell them to knock it on the head and get you transported you should be fine.

Yeah, I noticed some of them also had a £40 charge for the first hour at the roadside.
I've got used to reading the full terms and conditions, escape clauses and charges.

[qprdude]

I use a 'proper' broker these days, A-Plan in Macclesfield - they have other branches too. I can't recommend them highly enough - real people at the other end of the phone, which is always answered within a few seconds (no call centre 'choose from one of the following 17 options' stuff!), they call back when they say thy're going to, if you have a bump or other claim, they deal with it in-house, all of it, no farming it out to 'claims handling' companies.....and they're usually as good as the best price on the comparison sites, give or take a few quid. We now have our 3 cars with them, my bike and our home insurance, as do quite a few of the family and many friends.

I've absolutely no connection with them btw, I just rate them very highly!

Pete

Direct line called back a couple of hours after I got the quote. A nice chap called tim, with a hint of a geordie accent , spoke at length about the quote .
He assumed that I wouldn't have had the renewal policy from my current insurer so I didn't enlighten him. He said he would call back in a couple of weeks (Wednesday the 13th at 6.30 precisely he said) if that was OK.

He said that although the quote was good for thirty days, he might even be able to trim it down a bit, but no promises.

To be honest, the only time I have had a major shunt that required the involvement of an insurance company was in 1996, when a boy racer in a Golf GTI poleaxed my Mondeo on the M1/M40 roundabout. That was with Direct Line and matey boy tried to slide out of the blame. There were witnesses in another car he had narrowly missed and Direct line pursued him through the courts for full payment, plus a decent bit of compensation for me. They had the car repaired at Lancaster garage where I was headed in Colchester, loaned me a Daewoo (yes, I know) to drive to Aberdeen where we used to live, let me keep the car for three weeks , then flew me down to Stansted and provided a car to take me to Colchester to collect the repaired Mondeo. Apart from writing to thank the witnesses, I didn't actually have to do anything.

As a footnote, we were on our way to Colchester after seeing the Eagles "Hell freezes over" gig at the old Wembley stadium.

[Michel]

I was going to suggest Direct Line. I've been with them for years and they always are cheapest. They'll try putting the price up every year but just ring them and tell them you're off and it miraculously reduces..

[Gibbo2286]

I know these companies are often intertwined but I was a bit surprised to find that Churchill is part of Direct-Line.

[qprdude]

I know these companies are often intertwined but I was a bit surprised to find that Churchill is part of Direct-Line.

Part of the same group, but obviously not part of the same policy quoting service. Churchill wanted nearly double the quote from Direct line.

[lexi]

I know these companies are often intertwined but I was a bit surprised to find that Churchill is part of Direct-Line.

Part of the same group, but obviously not part of the same policy quoting service. Churchill wanted nearly double the quote from Direct line.

Yes. My 2 cars went from Churchills £225 renewal quote, down to £155 from Direct Line, this month.