Car Insurance Madness?

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  barbeler Posts: 23,827

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  28/04/15 - 11:01 #2

  The golden rule is never to accept the renewal price. Go onto their website and enter your car details as if you were a new customer and the price will nearly always be at least £50 cheaper. They always try to explain it away by saying that it must have suddenly switched to another underwriter - or some nonsense like that.
  
  Something you must do before going onto any price comparison website is to set up a new email address for that purpose and then never use it again. You are guaranteed to be absolutely deluged by spam emails otherwise.

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  DerekPAgain Posts: 2,708

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  28/04/15 - 11:12 #3

  barbeler wrote: »

  The golden rule is never to accept the renewal price. Go onto their website and enter your car details as if you were a new customer and the price will nearly always be at least £50 cheaper. They always try to explain it away by saying that it must have suddenly switched to another underwriter - or some nonsense like that.
  

  
  Oh I agree on checking the price - I was just astounded at the difference that a two day change in the policy start date created. Given that the guy at the AA could "see" the comparethemarket quote in realtime I do wonder if the responses from comparethe market enquiries are being filtered and adjusted to create the impression that the direct renewal quote from the AA is a good thing.
  
  I think that's legal if a little unfair on renewers (but then we all know loyal customers are there to be shafted, don't we?)

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  Porcupine Posts: 25,250

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  28/04/15 - 11:20 #4

  A similar thing happened with me. I had my home insurance via Legal and General. I got the quote, then went to Compare the Market to see what I could find. The same policy with L&G was about £30 cheaper online along with a few other companies who were cheaper still.
  
  I called L&G who said they would log into my system without me doing anything, and they could see all the quotes / prices that I had been quoted on the website. It was quite freaky. Big Brother is watching !!

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  glasshalffull Posts: 22,291

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  28/04/15 - 11:30 #5

  DerekPAgain wrote: »

  Just had a completely bizarre conversation with the AA
  
  I got a renewal quote from them of £222 which wasn't bad but wasn't the cheapest on Compare the Market.
  
  Then I noticed that the exact same policy on Compare the Market from the AA was £168???????
  
  So I called the AA up and they said that the quote was different because it started on the 24 May rather than the 26 May??????? I said that I'd cancel and restart two days early if I could get a £54 saving so they had a chat with their manager and matched the price.
  
  I then checked Compare the Market with the 26 May date and the AA price was £244!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  I have no idea whats going on? Does anyone else know why this could be happening?
  
  I'm wondering if the AA "tailor" their quotes so that renewers get a bum deal (or at least worse than the emailed quotation direct) on the price comparison sites and putting in a slightly earlier date fools this system?

  
  It's par for the course...got £80 knocked off my house insurance last year by doing much the same thing.
  
  There is **** all advantage to on-going/loyal customers of anyone these days...but if they think they can poach you from someone else they roll out the red carpet.
  
  Indeed if you ever point this put to the "computer says no/call centre droids" who have to run to "their manager" they will agree with you

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  Paul_DNAP Posts: 26,041

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  28/04/15 - 11:48 #6

  Basically, they will quote you renewal prices based on what they think you might be dumb enough to pay without double checking. Basically, they tried their luck to squeeze you for an extra bullseye, and you caught them at it.
  
  And they have a random excuse generator handy for the reason they're suddenly magically able to remove that extra, or part of it. But the difference in start date is a bit far fetched, unless your birthday is on the 25th May in which case you're a year older on the cheaper quote?

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  killjoy Posts: 7,920

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  28/04/15 - 13:23 #7

  The best bet is to alternate between the AA and RAC and do it via one of the cash back sites like Quidco;
  
  http://www.quidco.com/aa-uk-breakdown-cover/?st=aa&fr=search

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  grumpyscot Posts: 11,354

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  29/04/15 - 08:52 #8

  And always clear your cookies before going in for a quote or a re-quote. (Like Ryanair and easyjet, the cookies help then "up" the price to encourage you to deal now rather than later.)

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  c4rv Posts: 29,624

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  29/04/15 - 09:05 #9

  I've changed between tesco, admiral and direct line for the last 12 years, NEVER accept the renewal quote.

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  Philip Wales Posts: 6,373

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  29/04/15 - 15:29 #10

  Same boat, every year mine goes up by about £100 or so at renewal. Every year I go online and get a better rate from the same insurer, ring them up and they match it. What an absolute waste of paper, telephone calls and money.

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  stripe Posts: 999

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  29/04/15 - 15:39 #11

  daughter was with admiral, £650 last year, this year with another year no claims it had gone to £1250, rang them up and got it reduced to £950.
  then canceled and got it for £520 online with aviva.
  
  does seem crazy but to many people just let it slide,,,easy money.

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