Ridiculous insurance renewal prices

My car insurance is due for renewal in September. I couldn't remember how much I paid last year so I put my details into Gocompare. It turns out that renewal quote was approx £60 above the new customer price. That was also about £30 above the cheapest quote from other suppliers. I wrote an email explaining this. I got a reply today.




Hi


Thanks for your email.


We can confirm that we are unable to price match with another insurance company.


If you call our Customer Support Team on the number below, one of our agents can discuss your policy details and cover level.


If there any any changes to your details, this may amend the price that we can offer for your renewal.


If you wish to view your documents online you can do so via My Account or visit our website sheilaswheels.com where you can speak to a member of our Live Chat team.


Alternatively our telephone number is 0345 604 3550 and we are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 9am to 2pm.


Many thanks



What sort of a response is that. Do they want my custom or not? I guess not.

G.

 

Hi,

Thought it was now the rule that they should specify in the new years quote what your premium was last year, ours did ?

All we do now , given we want to stay with the same insurer, is go online, find their best quote and take it - they do not usually say, for new customer only.

If it does and they are not prepared to match, then walk away , unless you have good reason to stay with them.

By the same token, the cheapest quote may not have the best terms or service, so do your homework.

 

they always try to rip you off if they can, saved £75 on my house insurance this year by ignoring the renewal.

 

I've found that the one big cost saver is having a high deductible. My home insurance is still pretty pricey but I wouldn't scrimp on the coverage unless, of course, it's frivolous add ons.

 

After many years with the same insurers Mr S and I decided to shop around last year. Having searched online Aviva came out best for our house insurance and we got a further discount for adding our car.

We've just received the renewal for our house insurance from Aviva and it's gone up from £278 to £361 ! Mr S has 'shopped' around again and has come up with Tesco which has a good rating by Confused.com. We've accepted their quote of £124 - a huge saving!

 

@ARMANDII or @Fat Controller - would it be possible to move this thread to General Discussion please. It's a bit lost here in the Muppet Show.

 

Thanks FC. I hadn't either until I posted on it. I found the thread by searching.

 

Well done @Sheal ! always worth shopping around.

Just done several haggling calls with Virgin Media to get about 25% off what they were wanting for the next year.

Do you follow Marin Lewis and his MSE site and active forum, you can also get his weekly newsletter covering insurance, utilities etc etc with lots of potential savings and offers.

Money Saving Expert: Credit Cards, Shopping, Bank Charges, Cheap Flights and more

 

We don't deal with Virgin for anything, too many horror stories! Having said that our bank has recently merged with them, we're just waiting for the fall out.

No, we haven't bothered to use the site although we have listened to him on the radio from time to time.

 

Insurance has to be one of lifes nightmares. Although it has always been a matter of not really knowing about this and that until you make a claim. Many folk go for the cheaper. Beware! To save a few quid on the premium, you may well lose out when making a claim.
My home contents insurance is via Nationwide. I have been with then for years and despite no claims. I'm content.
My car insurance is with Zurich via the civil service insurance co. My daught is always telling me to compare the market. To be honest, I can't be doing with all this chopping and changing. My car insurance for an 04 reg Nissan Almera Tino mpv costs me say £50 per month. For that I get full comp cover. Full legal costs. Legal advice on any matter. International breakdown cover. Plus 65% NCB. (Note. NCB actually applies to the original premium, not to any subsequent renewals). Recently my car was hit by a single decker bus. Not much damage. Years ago I experienced a similar accident with a bus. This I dealt with myself and the bus company. It dragged on and on. This recent incident. I notified Zurich. Arrangements have been made for your car to be repaird by, at etc. The insurance assessors wanted to write the car off. I said no. Within a week I had in my hand a cheque for over two grand, and my NCB remains at 65%.
That legal advice is very valuable. It covers everything. viz. My neighbour is a pain in the a*** what can I do?

So friends, don't fall for cheapies. You might save now but, you might well lose out in the long run.

 

@Sheal I feel your pain. My home insurance went up as well but not as much as your recent hike. Mine went up to $250 CDN dollars per month. That would be about 160 of your pounds or what I calculate as just under 2,000 per year. Certainly an eye opener.

My house is not in a low lying area so there is no fear of flooding and it is only 30 years old with the furnace, a/c, roof, siding all being less than 4 years old so there isn't much to worry about but the comfort of knowing if something nasty happened, I'd be compensated, is worth the money.

 

@Mike Allen the deal we've got from Tesco's is actually much better than our previous one with Aviva and the price includes house contents as well.

That's a lot of your hard earned cash @CanadianLori ! The quote I gave for ours above is per year not per month.

 

Blooming heck Lori , £2000 a year is very high. I presume you are at high risk from polar bear attacks?
@Sheal , always get new quotes for house and car insurance every year. There is no money to be saved with loyalty. Also once your details are set up on GoCompare or Compare the Market etc etc it only takes about 5 minutes for a new quote. Also car breakdown fees are pushed every year. The RAC kept pushing it up, so I changed to Aviva at a third of the price. Guess what they use the RAC for the breakdown service.