Robbing bastard insurers

[Bren]

Swinton rang me up today about wife's focii - sniffing for a renewal despite the policy having five weeks to run.

 

The insurer is actually aviva. Necky fekkers wanted £375 for the year - over £100 more than last year despite nothing changing.

 

After politely telling them to FRO they got it down to £294 - still too much. The A6 only costs £215 a year through admiral.

 

The girl on the phone said prices have risen due to floods etc ( always an excuse) and is nothing to do with them being greedy bastards.

 

If scrap prices were through the roof and lots of old chod was being lifted I could understand - but it is'nt.

 

Anybody else recently been bent over?

[barefoot]

I've just changed the bay insurance to Carole Nash after having been advised to insure it for an eye watering £28k - agreed value!

Reading through their small print as you do with a new insurer, it appears that they've charged me £19 for arranging the insurance, 

but bizarrely are planning to charge me £40 for renewing it in a years time.

I predict a cancellation and 'churning' a new policy will save me twenty quid.

[Bobthebeard]

Sneaky renewal prices are nothing new sadly. On all of my cars the price increased silently at renewal time.

Just rang them up and asked them not to renew the policy. Without fail they backed down and offered to reduce the premium. Chancers.

[dean36014]

having the shame trying to swap the insurance from the suzuki swift to the citroen zx. Company want £450 to swap over! A new policy with another company is £350. So i'll take the hit and cancel the policy, get a small percentage refund and start afresh again.

[Supernaut]

Yep. Admiral are a bunch of greedy bastards.

 

When I bought the Omega I was using my 6 years NCD on the Audi, so I insured the Omega with 0 NCD (ouch!). However, I'd got some quite nice quotes, especially from Admiral, with 6 years NCD. Going by this logic, I got a policy with them then expected to reap a £200 reduction once I changed the NCD over.

 

I sold the Audi 2 weeks later, forwarded the proof of NCD to them, and got a whopping... £15 discount for the whole year. I phoned them up to ask why this is the case and they gave me some bollocks about how they re-calculate risk every fortnight etc. etc. so I demanded they just cancel the policy right there and then. They proceeded to charge me an absolutely criminal cancellation fee, but I still saved over £200 by switching to Esure, who are also somewhat incompetent in their own special ways. They got me to post them my proof of NCD. Then they said they didn't get it and threatened to cancel my policy. I phoned them and asked if I could email them it. They said yes, so I did, and got it all sorted in 5 minutes. Why not just let me email you it in the first place?! BELM.

[mercrocker]

The one that pisses me off is "Documentation Fee".   You spawny clunny.  I printed YOUR documents on MY fucking paper so it didn't cost you even a stamp or envelope.   Where do they get £15 for that from?    

[Supernaut]

The main thing that pisses me off about insurance is the whole system itself.

 

Insurance for your car is a legal requirement, yet it doesn't seem to be standardised. This means the robbing cunts can pick a number out of the air because they have you over a barrel.

 

Take Australia for example. You pay your annual registration fee (like our VED) and that includes standard 3rd party insurance cover, then you can buy extra insurance if you want. That's a nice standardised system for something that's a legal requirement, so why can't we get that here?

[Bobthebeard]

Hate insurance companies! They are their own worst enemy. Writing cars off for the slightest reason, using stupidly expensive hire car companies, using stupidly expensive bodyshops, passing your details on to 'cash for claims' outfits and generally being shabby with customers. Increasing the premiums come renewal time and hoping you won't notice is just another ploy.

Rant rant....

[Christine]

why not go straight to Aviva ? Policies are a little dearer ok , but changes of vehicle /cover are all free of admin charges in "My Aviva" . I insured a fiat seicento , changed to a baleno 1600 , back to the Fiat , back to the baleno and then  the vtec honda hrv .. all free AND no changes to premium ..

 

.On top of that the Aviva auto renewal was £175 . and the cheapest online  was 250 with..... yes ,Aviva !!!  So i chose the auto renewal ...    

[Bobthebeard]

why not go straight to Aviva ? Policies are a little dearer ok , but changes of vehicle /cover are all free of admin charges in "My Aviva" . I insured a fiat seicento , changed to a baleno 1600 , back to the Fiat , back to the baleno and then  the vtec honda hrv .. all free AND no changes to premium ..

 

.On top of that the Aviva auto renewal was £175 . and the cheapest online  was 250 with..... yes ,Aviva !!!  So i chose the auto renewal ...    

Be patient... They will bide their time and swindle you one day! They all will, and do!

[Christine]

Be patient... They will bide their time and swindle you one day! They all will, and do!

ah but i'm switched on to their sharp practice . I find its the brokers who should be working for "you"  are the robbers . They work for themselves to get the best commission...

[gordonbennet]

This year's been bloody brill for car insurance, both the cars i insure are through Cornmarket (who specialise in HGV/PSV/IAM drovers) and their renewals were cheaper than anything on the comparison sites, SWMBO's renewal from Saga again was so reasonable, roughly same as last year it wasn't worth the bother of searching.

 

We try never to claim if poss, even to the point that i get screens changed via local one man and his dog screen fitters and pay the full whack which is bloody cheap so long as you avoid the big hitters who advertise on telly/radio, i have no doubt this is at least part of the reason for the good renewals, so far anyway, touch wood.

[DVee8]

I renewed my multi-car policy with aviva on sunday,fully comp,protected no claims,legal,business use and hire cars,for just over £500.

 

 

According to the lad at aviva the more cars you have on a multi-car policy the cheaper it becomes"if i had 2 cars on my drive their could be a 50/50 chance that 1 could be stolen,if i have 4 then a 25% chance". Man maths at it's finest.

 

All robbing bar stewards.

[Bobthebeard]

ah but i'm switched on to their sharp practice . I find its the brokers who should be working for "you"  are the robbers . They work for themselves to get the best commission...

True probably... But the insurance industry, not the brokers, needs a shake up. They are driving up costs massively due to the silly practices they insist on. Cat C? Perfectly good car written off for a scratch in the paint.

Ask me how I know.... Grrr

[fairkens]

I renewed my multi-car policy with aviva on sunday,fully comp,protected no claims,legal,business use and hire cars,for just over £500.

 

 

According to the lad at aviva the more cars you have on a multi-car policy the cheaper it becomes"if i had 2 cars on my drive their could be a 50/50 chance that 1 could be stolen,if i have 4 then a 25% chance". Man maths at it's finest.

 

All robbing bar stewards.

I am simultaneously lolling and cringing at that ^^ what a fucking stupid thing to say/believe

[DVee8]

^^ Yep that is what i was told lol.Hopefully recorded for training use.

[Bobthebeard]

Just to add, my insurers auto renewed my policy two weeks before it was due. Resulting in much faffing around cancelling direct debit and claiming back the fictional cancellation fee!

[barefoot]

Aviva tried to stiff me over that Lancia Y10

I could use my aviva to add it on, then I could swap it for anything I wanted,

but I couldn't cancel it without getting on the phone and paying £19.08

I complained that they hadn't told me that & they waived it

but once Bittern as we twitchers are wont to say...

[Timewaster]

Said it before. Insurers are like nappies.

 

They should both be changed often and for similar reasons.

[Matt]

I can't say I've ever had much bother with Elephant. No admin fees or anything like that when I've changed cars or added modifications. That said I'm due to renew in under a month so they can still screw me over. I did a multi car quote with Admiral last week for my Swift and the XM... £980. How about no.

 

Adrian Flux have a product called FlexDrive that basically insures you fully comp on any insured car so long as the owner doesn't live at your address. Considering I'm 23, who wants to have a guess how much I'll get quoted for that?

[richardmorris]

Also the chancellor doubled insurance premium tax last November which will add another 5%. The sneak*

[Danblez]

You can't blame the companies as they are just in the business of making money. It is the whole industry and regulation there of which is fucked and for that I blame the government.

 

Bollox posted a very interesting article about how the regulators had said it was too difficult to sort the shambles out so they weren't bothering unless it gets worse.

 

GETS WORSE? Fuck me, I think they would have to start selling my granny into sex slavery for it to be much worse than it is already.

 

Government probably say "meh". Why should they care, they still get all sorts of tax kick backs from the whole sorry mess.

 

Fucking shitehawks the lot of them.

[Ghosty]

 

Take Australia for example. You pay your annual registration fee (like our VED) and that includes standard 3rd party insurance cover, then you can buy extra insurance if you want. That's a nice standardised system for something that's a legal requirement, so why can't we get that here?

 

This'd save us young folks a hell of a lot of money we don't have.

It won't happen as you'll have a load of chavs farting about in the fastest, cheapest cars they can find (look how cheap X300s are, for example), generally raising hell.

 

If insurance policies have to be mandatory, why isn't there a state or state-sponsored insurance company? And why is there no upper bound on policy prices?

 

Also, insurance ageism is bullshit. I'd say most people of 18/19/20 on fresh tests will drive better than a lot of over 65s, etc.

[Mr A Lawrence]

I can't say I've ever had much bother with Elephant. No admin fees or anything like that when I've changed cars or added modifications. That said I'm due to renew in under a month so they can still screw me over. I did a multi car quote with Admiral last week for my Swift and the XM... £980. How about no.

 

Adrian Flux have a product called FlexDrive that basically insures you fully comp on any insured car so long as the owner doesn't live at your address. Considering I'm 23, who wants to have a guess how much I'll get quoted for that?

 

£2400??

[fairkens]

You can't blame the companies as they are just in the business of making money. It is the whole industry and regulation there of which is fucked and for that I blame the government.

 

Bollox posted a very interesting article about how the regulators had said it was too difficult to sort the shambles out so they weren't bothering unless it gets worse.

 

GETS WORSE? Fuck me, I think they would have to start selling my granny into sex slavery for it to be much worse than it is already.

 

Government probably say "meh". Why should they care, they still get all sorts of tax kick backs from the whole sorry mess.

 

Fucking shitehawks the lot of them.

Plz link to article, deffo not what is happening. Insurers are getting dry bummed by regulators for the failings of the banks 8 years ago.

 

Nb regulator has chuff all to do with whether you're premium goes up or down or how good the customer service is, although you do have recourse to the Ombudsman if you would like

[carlo]

Have always been a fan of Direct Line having used them for years, but they increased Mrs_Carlo's premium by £130 this year with an increased NCB!

 

Won't be renewing.

[mercrocker]

so long as you avoid the big hitters who advertise on telly/radio 

 

This has long been my motto for everything, not just insurance. 

 

Kelloggs, B&Q, We Sell Shit Sofas, Thomson, Kwik Fit and all the other thieves.  Stuff 'em and their ranting babble.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

This is the link Fairkens

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/28/car-insurance-and-credit-hire-agencies

[SiC]

Oz 3rd party doesn't cover damage to yours or anyone elses car & property. So if you hit someone, they'll get 3rd party cover from your cover for medical injury - but not to fix the car. For that they'll take you to court to reclaim those costs. Thus you still really need insurance of some sort.

[Eddie Honda]

Also the chancellor doubled insurance premium tax last November which will add another 5%. The sneak*

Hang on a minute. Even though I'm usually the first one to call Gideon a cunt, to say IPT was "doubled" last November is cod.

 

The Standard Rate of IPT for tax year 2014/15 was 6%. It was then raised to 9.5% last November. I make that a 58.3% increase and quite a way off a 100% increase.

 

Anyway, I've found mainland UK motor premiums a bit more competitive than the arse ripping that happens in Ireland. They're not just shitehawks, they're mega-shitehawks.