Insurance ....once again.

[qprdude]

Like most people, as the dreaded renewal day approaches but you haven't yet received next years quote from your current provider, you start to have a look around, especially if you got a "new customer" deal last year, and expect your loyalty to be rewarded by a huge increase.
I've been through most of the comparison sites and the ones who pretend that they are not on those sites. (but are part of the same group who are!)
Unsurprisingly, the quotes have been between £40 and £110 higher!
I've also been getting quotes for a possible change of car, but that's a different story.
Today, the dreaded envelope from Direct Line landed softly on the hall doormat.
With much trepidation, I retreated to the dining room for the paper knife.
" When you hear my laughing uproariously, you'll know Iv'e read the quote" I said to the boss lady.

A few minutes passed while I perused the new deal.
"I can't hear you laughing" said my owner, "have you fainted"?

"No I bleedin' well haven't" I replied. "I'm shocked speechless"

There in front of my very eyes, was a quote that was hard to believe. For the pleasure of having my business for the next 12 months, Direct Line are asking me to renew my comprehensive policy for £1. 12p LESS than I paid last year. You could have knocked me down with a feather!
The princely some required is £225.12p
I'll be doing the lottery this week, my luck seems to be in.

[Hell Razor5543]

Yikes!

[GiveMeABreak]

Mine has been FALLING over the past 3 years Rick - not sure I should be posting that here - they may be watching!

[Paul-R]

Excellent news. My latest renewal saga is a few posts/pages back. I had to go through the "process" to get my best price. Mine was lower than last year as well.

[qprdude]

Paul. I'm not sure whether to go through "the process" this time to see if I can shave a couple of quid off or not. I usually enjoy phoning and haggling to see what figure they will come up with, but I think i'll just let sleeping dogs lie this time.

[GiveMeABreak]

I forgot to mention that I have set up my details on the 2 main comparison sites and then everything is saved - so just a matter of checking details for any changes each year and running again to get the new quotes.

It was the hassle and repetitiveness of providing details to individual companies on the phone for every quote that moved me over to the sites in the first place

[qprdude]

Yes, I have that Marc. Makes it much easier to get a quote for a different car too. You just click "Edit" and change car. Shove in the new reg and scroll through the pages and wait for the quotes. The only thing I need to do is tick he "don't send me breakdown quotes", everything else is saved. My insurance is with Direct Line though, and they don't provide quotes on the comparison sites (not as Direct Line anyway.) I've tried just about every company, from Asda to Saga and can't come within £20 of my renewal quote. It's always tempting to hoist the Voluntary Excess to a ridiculous amount but with my luck,that would be the first year since 1996 I would have a claim!

[Gibbo2286]

Direct Line did the same on my car insurance and my house and contents went up by just 10p this time, sticking with them for another year on both.

[qprdude]

Unusual for existing customers to get a better deal than new ones these days, but a welcome saving. I've been reading about the drop in the pounds value and the business uncertainty over Brexit, so I was expecting the worst. My house insurance is with a different company, and it's also a few pennies cheaper!. They actually gave us a refund as their prices had gone down a couple of months before our renewal but as we pay monthly by DD they didn't want the hassle and cost of changing the Direct Debit and just rebated the excess.

[Michel]

I never have much of a problem. I'm with DL for the car, have been for years. Process is the same every year - get ridiculous renewal quote, ring up, tell them I'm off unless they do something. They do, I stay.

[van ordinaire]

DL seem to be well thought of here but I found ridiculous quotes were their house speciality: over twice the going rate! BUT (a) that was along time ago (b) the C15 is absurdly expensive to insure - & the Xantia even more so (although nothing like as difficult) so, might give them another chance next year.

[bobins]

Direct Line seem to be intent on targeting their market quite precisely. They're normally cheapest (or as good as) for my C5, but ridiculously unfathomably astonishingly expensive for my pick-up truck. As far as I know, I'm the same person driving both vehicles with all the same declarations and restrictions - they must just have a phobia about some vehicles

[qprdude]

I suspect they have less claims from C5 drivers. It's not always about the driver, but about the statistical likelyhood of a claim when driving particular vehicles.

[van ordinaire]

That, I figured, was why an ordinary Cherokee Ltd is, marginally, more expensive than an "Orvis" - being a limited a edition, there are fewer of them, so, statistically they're a lower risk. DL must be the exception to the rule because (2CV aside) all insurance companies seem to have a phobia about - Citroëns!