General The Fun & Games of insurance Renewal

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OK its that time of year, the insurance renewal notice lands on the mat,

Bloomin Jokers!

Last Year was Aviva £205 - £65 Cashback = £145 Fully Comp on my old 500 1.2 Lounge (Insurance Group 6)

Mid Term Change to the 500c 0.9 TA Lounge begining of April, advised there was no extra premium to pay for the remaining 2 months (Rather suprised as the 500c is a lot more value and Group 15)

Anyway the renwal arrives £255..

Do a few comparisions and options pop up around £200, give Aviva a call and they say sorry we can knock a tenner off at best so £245.

Ask for autorenewal to be cancelled and will go elsewhere,

Check Aviva Website (Via Quidco for Cashback), comes in at £184.18 - £65 Cashback so £119.18 all in for the year

Based on Female 40 + Male 50 Business Use 25K miles PA

Total Jokers, all you get for loyalty is totally stuffed, take out a new policy and get the best deal by far.

Anyway happily covered for another year and under £120 not too shabby

Just had to vent as I find the ripping off of renewing customers abhorent!

 

[1st500]

The problem these days is that loyalty is not rewarded. More interested in generating new business and that surely has to be riskier than keeping existing customers with a blemish-free record happy?

At least there are plenty comparison sites that will make renewal easier.
IMO it rarely pays to stick with the same insurance company twice and I also ensure that I go with a company that:

(a) that has no silly 'admin' charges for changing the minutest detail
(b) lets you strip out all the unnecessary extras
(c) lets you manage the policy online.

Also, don't forget to tweak the compulsory excesses - sometimes they don't make any difference to the premium at all when you increase them so get away with the lowest possible.

Finally, I always opt out of auto-renew. That's all for their convenience - not the customer's! Good luck.

P.S. As it happens, I am currently with Aviva having secured £65 cashback from 'topcashback'.

 

[flashyphotos]

[P.S. As it happens, I am currently with Aviva having secured £65 cashback from 'topcashback'.

Aviva seem to be pushing hard for new business at the Moment, my Daughter has just gone with them as well and got a really great deal (for a youngster)

She had a prang last year (Write off) and lost her only years NCB

So was starting from 0 NCB and with a Total Loss claim within 12 months, and they still offered her 12 months for £685 - £65 Cashback so £625

On a 2010 Chevrolet spark 1.2 LT @ 20 Years of Age Driving for 2 Years,

Seems like a fortune to me, but a real steal for her!!

 

[306maxi]

I don't see the problem really? Businesses have always relied on people to be stupid and just stay with them so as to make more money.

We've been with admiral for about 2 years and have found them really good, first year they were quite cheap on our Subaru, last year the Subaru went down in price and the 500 went up, called up to protect my NCD and see if they could drop the price on the 500 a little and they ended up knocking off about £150 AND protecting my NCD

 

[SteveTDCi]

Admiral always put the prices up every year with our Puma, A Plan who we have the TT & Cupra with usually come down a bit.

I'd never go with a Aviva out of principle

 

[RobinPJ]

Which principle?

 

[306maxi]

Admiral always put the prices up every year with our Puma, A Plan who we have the TT & Cupra with usually come down a bit.

I'd never go with a Aviva out of principle

I went for Aviva for the first year of the 500's cover as they were decent on price, converted 2 years of NCB that the wife had on our 406's policy into NCB for me and did new for old cover.

 

[SteveTDCi]

Which principle?

They always come across pushy, annoying adverts and can never understand a word they say, oh and they don't cover modified cars. I had the misfortune of dealing with them a few years ago when i had an A3, i had to ring up and get the 7 day cover for the dealer to be able to tax the car, despite me still having 9 months to run on my policy and the price being higher than what i was paying. It took me 5 minutes to get the message across that i only wanted the free cover

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Just had to vent as I find the ripping off of renewing customers abhorent!

Well to be fair, your new business quote was cheaper, but the cashback is a completely different incentive all together as no company gives it to existing customers, so even if the renewal was the same as the new business quote it's always going to be cheaper than the renewal, it's just how the system works.

They always come across pushy, annoying adverts and can never understand a word they say, oh and they don't cover modified cars. I had the misfortune of dealing with them a few years ago when i had an A3, i had to ring up and get the 7 day cover for the dealer to be able to tax the car, despite me still having 9 months to run on my policy and the price being higher than what i was paying. It took me 5 minutes to get the message across that i only wanted the free cover

Never understand what the Scottish or Norwich lot say? Oh and they do cover modifications

Perhaps they couldn't understand you

 

[rkt2003]

Best advice is to always check like for like cover from all insurance company`s, i.e( excess to pay do you get a free courtesy car etc) .Every year i look around for a lower quote, then phone my provider with the lower quote sometimes with success they match it.

 

[loveshandbags]

Best advice is to always check like for like cover from all insurance company`s, i.e( excess to pay do you get a free courtesy car etc) .Every year i look around for a lower quote, then phone my provider with the lower quote sometimes with success they match it.

I did the same this year in January but they only came close to matching it. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't know.

 

[deeyup]

I went with quote me happy dot com for my caravelle.
You can admin the policy on line such as change of car etc.

The fiat is insured with rac and I can't wait till it expires! Firstly they charged 'admin' fee of £25 to switch from my old c1 to the 500, and secondly they don't do European comprehensive cover! Not even for an extra payment!' You'll have to find a separate policy from a different insurer' was the answer from them! That sounds like it'll be cheap!
I know it was probably in the terms but who reads all that?? I will from now on

 

[loveshandbags]

I went with quote me happy dot com for my caravelle.
You can admin the policy on line such as change of car etc.

The fiat is insured with rac and I can't wait till it expires! Firstly they charged 'admin' fee of £25 to switch from my old c1 to the 500, and secondly they don't do European comprehensive cover! Not even for an extra payment!' You'll have to find a separate policy from a different insurer' was the answer from them! That sounds like it'll be cheap!
I know it was probably in the terms but who reads all that?? I will from now on

That was a bit of bummer.

I remember Frupi (hopefully I'm correct on this) checking the small print on his renewal. Luckily I didn't have to resort to that but I did ask the question about points. It seemed that on the cheaper insurance quote that I got if I received more than 6 points in the year they would 'dump me' and it would involve going with someone else. That means when I applied somewhere else I would have to come clean and state that 'I was refused cover' which would then involve going to a specialist insurance company. Sticking with the one that I was with - they said that they would keep me on no matter what the circumstances. So it was worth it for the extra €20.

 

[SteveTDCi]

Well to be fair, your new business quote was cheaper, but the cashback is a completely different incentive all together as no company gives it to existing customers, so even if the renewal was the same as the new business quote it's always going to be cheaper than the renewal, it's just how the system works.



Never understand what the Scottish or Norwich lot say? Oh and they do cover modifications

Perhaps they couldn't understand you

They cover mods - yes, but if the mods get stolen or are damaged in a claim then they don't replace them, a proper modified policy will. The same as ticking all the option boxes when speccing a new car, they only cover a basic one. Check the small print I never have a problem with the scottish, welsh or people from Norwich ... just Indian call centres.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

They cover mods - yes, but if the mods get stolen or are damaged in a claim then they don't replace them, a proper modified policy will.

They do though

Admiral group (EUI ltd) on the other hand don't, and also reserve the right to use used/2nd hand parts on any repairs they undertake!

 

[SteveTDCi]

That's changed since I last spoke to them, I'll stick with a plan for the time being though

 

[wigit]

just had to renew the insurance for Pootle, issue i had last year on the 500 i wanted to start from scratch as was my second car all be it my insurer gave me a discount, not aided by high mileage business use for both and 4 years ncd and a SP30 in feb 11

last year was via Sky through Chaucer (Sky insure the other two cars we have given modifications), Sky came through with a comical £522 this year but generously said on the phone that would come down to £450, online search and £350 with Swiftcover with legal cover

unfortunately Sky will be probably losing custom on the other two cars given they gave me a royal f#cking on my GTI insurance and mods (but took the pain as wanted my extra year NCD)

so shop around

 

[flashyphotos]

just had to renew the insurance for Pootle, issue i had last year on the 500 i wanted to start from scratch as was my second car all be it my insurer gave me a discount, not aided by high mileage business use for both and 4 years ncd and a SP30 in feb 11

last year was via Sky through Chaucer (Sky insure the other two cars we have given modifications), Sky came through with a comical £522 this year but generously said on the phone that would come down to £450, online search and £350 with Swiftcover with legal cover

unfortunately Sky will be probably losing custom on the other two cars given they gave me a royal f#cking on my GTI insurance and mods (but took the pain as wanted my extra year NCD)

so shop around

Swiftcover are showing £28 cashback thru Quidco, and TopCashback, so if you have not already renewed if you go through either of those 2 sites you will get £28 back off your price..

 

[deeyup]

Quotemehappy gave me a very good price of £170 odd.

 

[frupi]

I said it before on a previous insurance renewal thread, just be wary of what you're actually being covered for. It's all very well whooping with joy when you get a quote for say 180 quid for the year, but check the small print in the policy, it may not prove to be the golden policy you were hoping for.

Personally, for me, whilst the car is under Fiat's warranty, I'm being very careful about exactly who I insure with. Some of the cheaper end of the insurance market definitely do not like you using your own preferrred repairer should the worst happen and they can sometimes make life difficult for you if you take matters out of their hands. I doubt they will give a monkey's if their preferred repairer doesn't use genuine Fiat parts on an accident damaged two year old car as an example. At this stage of our ownership, if we have a prang, I want our own Fiat, to remain a Fiat, not some cheapo repair job using after market parts. Sure, once the warranty has run out, I'll likely go for the £180 a year quote and should a prang happen, send it to whomever the insurance company specify.

Insurance is I absolutely understand, a personal choice and each to their own, but as has been said so often in so many of the other threads on this forum, if you can afford to spend between 10 and 14k brand new on a tiny little car like our 500's, you can afford a little bit extra on an insurance policy that will do what it says when you most need it.