Insurance time again.

[Gibbo2286]

Well I seem to be stuck with Saga as the cheapest through MSE at £1089+ (they'll hold the quote for just 6 hours) all the rest are £1200 up so now the decision is do I bite the bullet and stick with who I know Direct Line or move to Saga who have never before been in the running pricewise and save £200 this year?

[NewcastleFalcon]

On the other side of the Insurance game, Direct line are not bothered about your loyalty Gibbo. you could give them one final call, quote the SAGA quote and see if they will match. If they don't walk away and go with Saga.

Neil

[GiveMeABreak]

Saga are fine - but like most, to try and hook you with business, so be prepared to walk away next year if they hike it up. Agree - loyalty has gone out the window these days.

[Gibbo2286]

Well that's done, Saga has it and I'm down £1056.90. Direct Line couldn't be persuaded to match it.

[bobins]

Saga gets the thumbs up from me because of their customer service. No idea what they're like in the event of a claim though - probably average !

[myglaren]

I only have one example of Saga, the father in law of a workmate, his new SAAB was hit by another car when he was stationary and it dragged on for months with a very poor outcome. This was at least ten years ago and they may have improved, or it may have been an isolated incident.
I got a quote from them about twenty years ago, far in excess of all or most of the others and they sent tons of emails about all sorts of nonsense until quite recently.

[GiveMeABreak]

Saga gets the thumbs up from me because of their customer service. No idea what they're like in the event of a claim though - probably average !

Terrible as far as house insurance goes - picked our claim to bits. Dumped them thereafter. Never claimed on house insurance ever until then - so not a good experience.

[Gibbo2286]

I only have one example of Saga, the father in law of a workmate, his new SAAB was hit by another car when he was stationary and it dragged on for months with a very poor outcome. This was at least ten years ago and they may have improved, or it may have been an isolated incident.
I got a quote from them about twenty years ago, far in excess of all or most of the others and they sent tons of emails about all sorts of nonsense until quite recently.

That's been my experience until now, never in the ballpark so it's wait and see now how they perform.

[NewcastleFalcon]

A slightly different approach which involved taking a gamble and it appears to have worked.

If like me you never even think about insurance renewals until the offer from your current provider comes through the post, I certainly hadn't noticed that the renewal offer tends to be made now 21 days before the policy runs out and whether this is a discretionary or standard required thing I don't know.

The current policy for the extended Falcon fleet bargain basement Clio was with the RAC expiring next month, and in advance of receiving the renewal notice the comparison sites were used, and up popped a number of quotes which when combined with one of the many "cash back" sites resulted in a net cost of £150. Can't remember the name of the insurance policy provider (but it was fronted by one of the "high street banks"), nor of the cash back site used.

Maybe scouring the sites at the 30 days back time produces cheaper quotes than the 21-day enquiries when the renewal drops through your electronic letter box. Personally I have never used the cashback sites.

Neil

[myglaren]

I too would be wary of the cashback sites.

I have, long ago, use some of the comparison sites and generally get reminders just over a month before renewal. After one month before the prices increase considerably.

[NewcastleFalcon]

The current policy for the extended Falcon fleet bargain basement Clio was with the RAC expiring next month, and in advance of receiving the renewal notice the comparison sites were used, and up popped a number of quotes which when combined with one of the many "cash back" sites resulted in a net cost of £150. Can't remember the name of the insurance policy provider (but it was fronted by one of the "high street banks"), nor of the cash back site used.

Maybe scouring the sites at the 30 days back time produces cheaper quotes than the 21-day enquiries when the renewal drops through your electronic letter box. Personally I have never used the cashback sites.

Just remembered it was Santander....never had them pop up as one of my cheaper quotes on comparison sites.

Neil

[myglaren]

Oddly enough I used to be insured through Santander as it is my bank.
But the insurance was actually Churchill. Got too expensive though.

[NewcastleFalcon]

A slightly different approach which involved taking a gamble and it appears to have worked.

If like me you never even think about insurance renewals until the offer from your current provider comes through the post, I certainly hadn't noticed that the renewal offer tends to be made now 21 days before the policy runs out and whether this is a discretionary or standard required thing I don't know.

The current policy for the extended Falcon fleet bargain basement Clio was with the RAC expiring next month, and in advance of receiving the renewal notice the comparison sites were used, and up popped a number of quotes which when combined with one of the many "cash back" sites resulted in a net cost of £150. Can't remember the name of the insurance policy provider (but it was fronted by one of the "high street banks"), nor of the cash back site used.

Maybe scouring the sites at the 30 days back time produces cheaper quotes than the 21-day enquiries when the renewal drops through your electronic letter box. Personally I have never used the cashback sites.

The gamble paid off, it was always going to. The RAC policy for the current year was £230, and the renewal notice arrived yesterday at £290. Insurance for next year with Santander £190, and the cashback shenanigans netted that off to an outlay of £150.

In this instance it worked, do your comparisons well in advance of the renewal notice, see if it works for you.

Neil

[bobins]

Now..... by my man-maths reckoning, that means you've ended up with around £100 spare to spend on something else. That's how it works, isn't it ?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Now..... by my man-maths reckoning, that means you've ended up with around £100 spare to spend on something else. That's how it works, isn't it ?

Not me, I wasn't switched on enough to do the same for the Leaf and the Micra, just started to look when the renewal arrived as per usual, 21 days before expiry and ended up just sticking with the same providers as the comparison sites at that time didn't come up with anything significantly cheaper enough to switch.

Neil