Good car insurance companies....

Berger

Berger

Berger

Soldato
Joined
22 May 2003
Posts
10,856
Location
Wigan
That time of year, renewal from Aviva is a bit meh.

Main ones being legal cover £30 and the small print being we will represent you if we will win (might as well use no win no fee).

None approved repairer excess of £200 none negotiable.

Only one approved garage, which is not that close to us (Solus) who get terrible reviews.

We should have <£400 car insurance, 17 plate Fiat 500 Lounge. Both mid 30s, my wife is the main driver, full time employed, married, home owners, driveway parked, 6 years ncb, no accidents, no points. 12k per year and need business use for traveling to occasional meetings.

I’m sure someone mainstream will do us fine, but who are actually good to deal with, I’d happily pay £50 more to speak to someone English within 5 minutes of calling up. Recommendations?
 
Try comparison sites? I find that only works out cheaper than going round ringing company to company.. also saves a lot of time as you have to give them all your information which is a good 20 minutes on the phone/form if not longer
 
Check other insurance policies you have for things like home insurance/life insurances etc. Legal cover normally applies to you as an individual and not specifically to the insurance policy, so if you have legal cover on your home insurance you possibly don't need it on your car insurance as well.
 
Most insurers are useless come claim time in the event of legal representation or trying to get your car repaired at rubbish garages to save money. If you have a non fault accident go with an accident management company.
There’s very few companies who can even do the basic tasks these days according to all the terrible reviews on review sites. The only ones off the top of my head that I would go with are; LV, Aviva, Churchill, Direct Line, Elephant/Admiral, Hastings and AA. There’s a few good specialist insurers but none of them would even quote me as I don’t live in a safe postcode
 
Dav4 said:
Most insurers are useless come claim time in the event of legal representation or trying to get your car repaired at rubbish garages to save money. If you have a non fault accident go with an accident management company.
There’s very few companies who can even do the basic tasks these days according to all the terrible reviews on review sites. The only ones off the top of my head that I would go with are; LV, Aviva, Churchill, Direct Line, Elephant/Admiral, Hastings and AA. There’s a few good specialist insurers but none of them would even quote me as I don’t live in a safe postcode
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You've mixed that a little between insurance brokers and insurance companies.
The company will deal with the claim, there may be a little benefit from the broker but its negligable.
You missed AXA for example, one of the biggest insurance companies in the UK
Elephant/admiral certainly aren't a top tier insurance co, more focussed at the budget / young end fo the scale

As far as where repairs will be undertaken thats the point in reading the policy before you take it out. The vary, if you always buy the cheapest policy you will get the cheapest service.
There are often other reasons they use approved repairers, guarantees on work, already semi approved repair limits etc which can mean the repair happens faster within that network

Privilege used to be good, if you met their criteria

Honestly even though i worked for the competition (one of those mentioned above) I really really rate Aviva highly.
I look at the £200 excess this way, if its a significant repair it may be worth paying £200 for going to some specialist, but for most repairs on most cars is the lower premium to start with better value vs the possible risk of having to pay out an extra £200 to go outside the normal system should that be needed.

Legal cover is normally best to buy elsewhere, every single one sold by a party I have ever seen will specifically exclude any support to sue that party you took it out via.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
You've mixed that a little between insurance brokers and insurance companies.
The company will deal with the claim, there may be a little benefit from the broker but its negligable.
You missed AXA for example, one of the biggest insurance companies in the UK
Elephant/admiral certainly aren't a top tier insurance co, more focussed at the budget / young end fo the scale

As far as where repairs will be undertaken thats the point in reading the policy before you take it out. The vary, if you always buy the cheapest policy you will get the cheapest service.

Honestly even though i worked for the competition (one of those mentioned above) I really really rate Aviva highly.
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Random question as I’ve gone with Aviva this year as they had great reviews but why do they only acknowledge upto 5 years no claims? If I leave them next year I will have 8 years no claims but they only put 5 on there proof of no claims so how do I prove when going to another company that I have 8 instead of 5?
 
Dav4 said:
Random question as I’ve gone with Aviva this year as they had great reviews but why do they only acknowledge upto 5 years no claims? If I leave them next year I will have 8 years no claims but they only put 5 on there proof of no claims so how do I prove when going to another company that I have 8 instead of 5?
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Don't know as I don't nor ever have worked for them, but
It used to be that plenty of ins cos only had discounts for each years no claims up to a max of 5. They still increased the count of years but it made no diff to the premium.

If your paperwork you supplied (usually renewal notice) had a higher number before I would expect them to add 1 to it come renewal time.
 
As said comparison sites and ring around for the best deals. All of them are happy to take your money and terrible to get money out of when you need to. Adrian Flux did the best deal for me this year.
 
The big ones are mostly terrible when you actually need them.

Specialist brokers are the best and far nicer to deal with. But they have more limitations to bring costs down and are more picky on who they will insure (usually limited mileage per year, max car value, or only certain car types/brands. E.g. Greenlight refuse to insure any BMW).
 
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Dav4 said:
Random question as I’ve gone with Aviva this year as they had great reviews but why do they only acknowledge upto 5 years no claims? If I leave them next year I will have 8 years no claims but they only put 5 on there proof of no claims so how do I prove when going to another company that I have 8 instead of 5?
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Does the price change much from 5 NCB to 8 for you?

If I put 9 on mine which is correct, changing it to 10 is insignificant really over a 12 month period.
 
Clov!s said:
Does the price change much from 5 NCB to 8 for you?

If I put 9 on mine which is correct, changing it to 10 is insignificant really over a 12 month period.
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I’ve always thought 8 years is the magic number to get to and then anything over that makes no difference if it’s 10 or 30 yrs?
LV and Direct line in the past advertised 75% discount for 8yrs or more no claims so of course it will make a difference to some if I have 8 and not the 5 that Aviva will put down
 
I've stopped paying for legal cover and just use the free one (which is essentially the same since your insurer is simply taking the £30 to refer you onto someone else) from https://www.freemotorlegal.co.uk/

Nasher said:
Specialist brokers are the best and far nicer to deal with. But they have more limitations to bring costs down and are more picky on who they will insure (usually limited mileage per year, max car value, or only certain car types/brands. E.g. Greenlight refuse to insure any BMW).
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That really threw a spanner in the works for me, I was half way through a policy with them when I bought my 335d. I really wanted to stay with them but they just couldn't offer a policy. Shame as they were absolutely fantastic to deal with as well, the guys there really knew their stuff and were proper car enthusiasts.
 
Dav4 said:
I’ve always thought 8 years is the magic number to get to and then anything over that makes no difference if it’s 10 or 30 yrs?
LV and Direct line in the past advertised 75% discount for 8yrs or more no claims so of course it will make a difference to some if I have 8 and not the 5 that Aviva will put down
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It varies, but historically 4 years then 5 etc, but your getting ever reducing % discount as you add in more years, really its just a marketing gimmick as the base premium will have more of an effect than 2% extra discount at 7 years.
 
Usually 5 years is the max discount and it caps at 9, which is pretty lame because you always lose a certain amount when you claim :/
 
Nasher said:
The big ones are mostly terrible when you actually need them.

Specialist brokers are the best and far nicer to deal with. But they have more limitations to bring costs down and are more picky on who they will insure (usually limited mileage per year, max car value, or only certain car types/brands. E.g. Greenlight refuse to insure any BMW).
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Again your confusing the position of broker and insurance company

A broker will typically be an agent of the insurance company, many used to have agency agreements, not sure if they still do, some time since I worked in that industry.
In this scenario a broker has little impact on the policy, the ins co will deal with all claims etc. The only advantage a broker can bring is if they are significant they may have access to people at the ins co who can expedite something.

When you take out a policy its with an insurance company. This is via underwriting, they can then reinsure the risk out etc.

A specialist is likely to have a direct relationship with probably a lloyds underwriter. The specialist will still function as an intermediary but they will be more involved, the agreement will be complex but its unlikely they will have all decision making powers. They don't really specialise to bring costs down, they specialise in order to be better at judging the risk than others, so they tend to carve out a niche they try to operate within, and as such a far better analysis of the risk to premium.
They feel nicer to deal with as you are less in a computer says no and more in an expert says maybe type environment, but you do pay for that.

The two tend to operate as "nice neighbours" as they are really after different target markets, the mainstream after known risk, high volume lower profit business although they are happy to take some of the higher risk as well. The specialist in the area of the more involved high risk, such as modified which falls far enough outside the not really relevant and into the materially relevant to a mainstream insurer. Mainstream don't want lots of exceptional policies as they break all the underwriting models they are building, which are already complicated enough!
 
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Might have to stay with Aviva.

Having lived in the UK for 25 years, then abroad, then back in the UK works against me, and limits the insurers who I can use, a lot want you to have been a resident of the country for >2 years of the time from taking the policy out.

Axa would be cheaper but wouldn't cover me due to this. NFU haven't bothered to call me back after I submitted a request online, heard they had good customer relations.

Ran into similar issues with mortgages. Its a little short sighted if you are a UK citizen and hold a UK license, but they can pick and choose I guess!
 
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