Flipping car insurance rant

SimpleSimon

Well-Known Member
Decided yesterday after my wife once again told me her car was playing up to cut our losses and ditch it. I went to a local garage that I trust today and saw they had a nice replacement. Did an online comparison quote for the insurance and it was cheaper than quotes for her old car. Happy days.
So I called Admiral, with whom we have a multi car policy and enquired about changing the wife's car. Cutting a long story short he wanted nearly another 200 quid off me to insure the car that my research showed should have been cheaper to insure. So I told him to forget it, to cancel her car off the policy and I'll insure it elsewhere.
He then informed me that if I do that I'll lose my multi car discount and the new premium for just my car will be not much less than I already pay for my car and the wife's old one...

Ok, fine. Cancel the wife's and I'll decide what to do.

After getting off the phone (this call took a good 30 minutes by the way, the above is much condensed!) I went and did a comparison search for my car. Admiral (yes, the same Admiral I'm already in my second year with, who just flatly refused to budge on their price) can insure my car for almost exactly HALF of the price the fella on the phone just told me?!

Where do they get these figures from?? The whole thing is totally farcical! Tomorrow I'm going to ring up, cancel my policy, call back on the new business line and save myself 50% :doh::doh::cuckoo:
 
Don't get me started!
I have just been informed by my insurance company that THEY have decided to settle a claim I made against a driver who hit me as "equal blame"!
I have argued 'till I am blue in the face (impressively, the air did not turn blue) that anyone trying to exit a roundabout without checking their route is clear is to blame for any resulting collision. THEY don't agree and say if it went to court the Judge would say that I should have avoided the collision.
My suggestion that since the other driver was behind me and on the inside lane of the roundabout it was her responsibility was simply dismissed. So I am responsible for all the other incompetent drivers on the road, and as such will pay a higher premium in the future.

Guess which company will not be getting my renewal.
 
For an insurance company going to court is expensive, settling with equal blame all around means a modest pay out and increased income in the future from all those people who've been at fault in an accident. It is win-win for them.
 
I do this every year when my premium suddenly gets another hundred quid added to it, it drives me nuts.

Just get a quote from compare the market (or similar) and if it comes out less then call them up, give them the reference number and tell them to match it. They always have done with me and I'm with Elephant which is the same overall parent company as Admiral.
 
Simon Admiral suck 7 years no-claims and last year they decided 250 wasnt enough this year we wont 680 quid,wtf says me n her .Blah blah blah is the reply so off to fattys website <yes HIM>and went with direct choice for £250 .They reward loyalty at Admiral with a kick in the teeth so for ever after il "compare" quotes at renewal time and be as loyal as peter mandelsohn is to the uk
 
Feckin insurers. Last Oct I fancied a new car with a decent engine so called up Direct Line, who had all our other policies to check the price.

"£600" they said. "OK" I said and ordered the car.

When it was delivered a few weeks later I phoned them back. "£900" they said. "

"What do you mean, you said £600 on the same facts a few weeks ago?"

"Yes, but now things have changed"

F'!k you" I replied, I'm going elsewhere.

"OK" they said "but now you have no no claims bonus you can use elsewhere"

"What do you mean, I've got at least 7 years with you"

"Yes, but a year ago you sold your third car and went down to two cars. You are the listed main driver for one of them (and your wife for the other), but technically both policies are in your wife's name, so even though we told you you earn full no claims discount as the main driver and we didn't say anything when you sold the car and cancelled the policy which was actually in your name, technically after a year your no claims bonus lapses as far as other insurers are concerned unless it's applied to a policy in your name. Do you want to pay the £900 upfront or in installments?"
 
Admiral. You mean those lot with the advert where the new female admiral has a meeting to see how they can serve their customers better? Well, Mrs Admiral instead of trying to stiff your customers by hiking their premiums after a year and hoping they will just renew, how about actually giving a DISCOUNT for loyalty? I wouldn't be surprised if whoever did this first would get a boatload of customers who might actually stay with them.


I really don't think there's any rhyme or reason to how they come to decide your premiums. They think of a figure, add some more on if you have had a claim, add some more on if you are driving anything faster than a Fiat Panda, add some more on if you have a speeding ticket/conviction/course, add a bit on for your age, add a bit on if it's a foreign car, add a bit on if there's been a few pay-outs for floods, then add a bit on to see what they can get away with.
 
I have had decent expericne with admiral. They are cheap in my view and easy to deal with over the phone.

Premium went up for use by £50 (2 cars - £900 p.a.) due to an SP30 but during renewal chat (which i always do) i review the policy and they ask if i want anything else - i then remind them that i have been with admiral/ elephant for10 yrs and ask that they go and find some decent discount to save me and them the time of messing around - i get £120 tp £150 knocked off every year in about 4 minutes. Agree it, pay it and forget about it.

Still hate paying though.
 
Over the years i have found no consistency with car insurance quotes for the same or similar vehicles.

Directline were cheapest this year at £223 fully comp, protected NCB for a Defender 110. They quoted over three times that last year for my old 90.

I thought that was a bargain tbh. (I'm 32 with 11 year NCB)
 
there is virtually zero customer loyalty in the insurance industry. I know I used to work in it and it all about new business discounts. The only exception I find is with my car insurance with NFU Mutual, who never seem to take the biscuit (on cars anyway).

I have had the same issue as the OP on house and pet insurance - rate go up, do a "Compare the Market", find a much better deal, often with the same insurer and same terms.

I have had this 3 years in a row with M&S pet insurance. Renewal is always a hike, no joy following a phone call. Take out a new deal on line and cancel the old.

House has been with 6 different insurers in the last 10 years.

Play them at their own game. Be a rate tart at every renewal.
 
My 13 year old Honda CRV was written off by a muppet in a car park, very minor bump but as the car is worth virtually nothing it was a write off. It took weeks to sort out (Assessor drove from Liverpool to Norfolk to take a 5 minute look at it!) all the time I had a hire car at £280 day. Once they finally decided I wasn't going to get it back they offered me about £1400. I can't remember exactly how the figures worked out but I got to keep the car, have it repaired privately (by the same company that the Insurers were going to use), get the car back in better shape than it was in before the accident and be financially better off! I worked out that the total cost of the farce must have been about £12,000!
 
My 13 year old Honda CRV was written off by a muppet in a car park, very minor bump but as the car is worth virtually nothing it was a write off. It took weeks to sort out (Assessor drove from Liverpool to Norfolk to take a 5 minute look at it!) all the time I had a hire car at £280 day. Once they finally decided I wasn't going to get it back they offered me about £1400. I can't remember exactly how the figures worked out but I got to keep the car, have it repaired privately (by the same company that the Insurers were going to use), get the car back in better shape than it was in before the accident and be financially better off! I worked out that the total cost of the farce must have been about £12,000!

What kind of car do you get for £280 a day?
 
What kind of car do you get for £280 a day?

High spec Vauxhall executive saloon. Possibly the least suitable car in the world for me! I asked for a basic van so that I could put my dog cage in it but they insisted that I had a 'like for like' car which would have been a automatic 4x4. When they discovered that they didn't have any auto 4x4's they said that I had to have a car of equal value. You couldn't make it up!
 
Well I'm glad it's not just me!

I've just been online and got a new Admiral policy. Exact same terms as we already had (except new car for the wife) for LESS than he wanted earlier on to keep just my car on the policy :rolleyes:
I've given up trying to understand, I'll just be happy with my saving...
 
Im still convinced your insurance is worked out by slaughtering a chicken at full moon and reading the entrails then finding a number x 3 and divide by the bones in the chicken,s ear :cuckoo:
 
I have had this 3 years in a row with M&S pet insurance. Renewal is always a hike, no joy following a phone call. Take out a new deal on line and cancel the old.

Have to be quite careful with this. Any pre-existing conditions are not covered with a new policy. Insurance companies can conflate simple issues already noted in the medical record with more serious issues later. This is often why a new policy is cheaper.
 
Its not just insurance. My AA membership is always up £20/30 on the renewal notice but if I ring up and say I don't want to renew, as if by magic they find they can match last year's premium again. They must make a few quid from people who are away when the renewal come through and didn't know it was on auto-renew or didn't stop it in time.
 
Magazine subscriptions are another one. I always used to get an annual subscription to a couple at the Game Fair, pay by cash or cheque rather than Direct Debit, get 20-30% off and a bottle of whisky. Completely lost interest in them now so don't bother anymore.
 
My mate at work got hit in his Fiesta which was worth about £1000. Clearly not his fault and he was provided a replacement car by Hertz who just so happened to have something to do with his insurance!:rolleyes: He got a brand new Quashqai to begin with, followed by a series of similar new cars over the next few months! The wrangling continued between insurance companies even though it was a clear cut case. Meanwhile, Hertz charge an opposing insurance company thousands of pounds, which will ultimately be covered by the rest of us in inflated premiums! Eventually, my mate gets about £1000 which is a fraction of the cost of his replacement cars!:cuckoo:
Is it any wonder that a large percentage of drivers on the road don't bother with insurance now, especially when the fine for not having it is far less than an insurance policy!
"Crash for cash" claims and guaranteed payments for whiplash even during minor shunts are now far too commonplace. It is way beyond time that this situation is clamped down on by the government as it is destructive to our economy.
MS
 
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