Insurance Renewal Rant!

snips86x

snips86x

snips86x

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I logged into my Hastings accounts to check my European cover and spotted a September renewal letter for quoting me an extra £200, compared to what I paid last year. Phoning them about this, they're not sure why this occurred and when asking them to adjust, they advised "you'll have to setup a new policy".

If I go through a comparison site, I can go with the same company for only an extra £40...which is fine but they want intimidate payment - which I'm not sure I agree with considering they've totally fluffed the renewal up.

I'm going to have to renew no matter what as I'll be driving home from Italy when my current policy expires but I was wondering, have you been in a similar situation and how have you gotten them to correct it?

I'm just annoyed that in light of what's happened, they can't simply correct it.
 
If they are shafting you then switch?

Its not a mistake, its common practice for good offers to be reserved for new customers only. I'm surprised this is news to you really. The only unusual thing is that they will actually let you just set up a new policy to take advantage of the savings.
 
new boy said:
If they are shafting you then switch?

Its not a mistake, its common practice for good offers to be reserved for new customers only. I'm surprised this is news to you really. The only unusual thing is that they will actually let you just set up a new policy to take advantage of the savings.
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It's not news to me in the slightest. I was expecting some kind of increase but not by that amount. Even if I did switch, the same company came up as the cheapest...
 
Every renewal you play the same game.

Just phone them up with the quote number and tell them to match it or you will go somewhere else.
 
Interestingly this year's renewal for me went up slightly (as expected, the whole market appears to have gone up) but my renewal (with AXA if it makes a difference) was the best part of £400 cheaper than a new quote! The renewal cost was only £40 more than the cheapest on the renewal sites, so for the first time in 16 years, I've let a renewal happen automatically!
 
paradigm said:
Interestingly this year's renewal for me went up slightly (as expected, the whole market appears to have gone up) but my renewal (with AXA if it makes a difference) was the best part of £400 cheaper than a new quote! The renewal cost was only £40 more than the cheapest on the renewal sites, so for the first time in 16 years, I've let a renewal happen automatically!
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This is what I did last year as there was like a £10 difference so I left it. I know I've moved house and changed car but I didn't pay excessively on the mid term adjustment, like £40. No idea where the additional £200 just appeared from...
 
snips86x said:
It's not news to me in the slightest. I was expecting some kind of increase but not by that amount. Even if I did switch, the same company came up as the cheapest...
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Ah. Best just play their game then. Then wont just correct it, as they are hoping you are lazy and will just not bother and let it renew (which a massive amount of people will be happy to do).

I'm sure you don't have to renew as your driving it Italy when it expires. Just cancel the renew on your current policy (you might even get them to just match the price at this point when you get through the the "cancellation department" and then buy the new policy. You should have no problems doing that 2 weeks in advance.
 
I've been with the same insurer for about 13 years.

I get the renewal and, every year, phone them up for their 'best price', which means they knock about £50 to £100 off the renewal. Whenever I compare to others, this always works out cheapest.
 
Insurance Premium Tax as well as changes to the amount of costs they can recover is to blame for insurance price hikes. I would expect them to increase year on year from now on.
 
I don't even bother to ring up these days, just do an online comparison quote, then ring up to make sure it won't be auto-renewed where I tell them the price I'm being quoted, if they can match or better it then fine else I tell them I won't be renewing.
 
IAmATeaf said:
I don't even bother to ring up these days, just do an online comparison quote, then ring up to make sure it won't be auto-renewed where I tell them the price I'm being quoted, if they can match or better it then fine else I tell them I won't be renewing.
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+1
Andi.
 
Got my renewal from Aviva and it too went up by £200 as i added European cover towards the end.
Didn't need insurance though as car part exchanged when it expired but new car quotes are coming in at half the price for a more powerful car. Will probably double next year.
 
Just to add my experiance for this year.

Churchill renewall was £200 more at £900. Okay dog, sure have my money. Checked comparion websites and they were of a similar amount a few cheaper around £800 or so but they were those naff looking companies like 1st central and others.

Tesco was near the cheapest still than than the renewal so I went directly to their website instead of clicking through and it come to £490 and a few pence.

Had a look at going through TCB and Quidco but the prices came out at £700 or so.

So direct I went. No meerkat or free movies this year but it's not worth that much £££.
 
cheesyboy said:
I've been with the same insurer for about 13 years.

I get the renewal and, every year, phone them up for their 'best price', which means they knock about £50 to £100 off the renewal. Whenever I compare to others, this always works out cheapest.
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This is what I do every year with Admiral.

I've never paid more than a previous year for my renewal.
 
Interestingly, my renewal with Aviva was cheaper than last year (albeit by a whole £3.66), but still ~£100 cheaper than the next lowest (Hastings) after doing all the comparison sites etc.
 
Jester* said:
Every renewal you play the same game.

Just phone them up with the quote number and tell them to match it or you will go somewhere else.
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Every year i complain and every year the mrs rings up and guess what its brought down to or below last years anything.

Same game but isnt half a waste of time.
 
I continually switch between two insurers that give the cover I need. That way I always get the new customer price, many insurers now will not price match or explain why their quote has shot up after the previous year. It is basically a scam relying on people to be misinformed or lazy.
 
Just did some of works. A single van with two people on a quote had a small increase (interestingly the broker we usually use was £90 out).

Also renewed self drive van hire and the quote came down about £100. Not a huge drop given the cost but expected a rise. The market seems all over the place as per usual.
 
snips86x said:
It's not news to me in the slightest. I was expecting some kind of increase but not by that amount. Even if I did switch, the same company came up as the cheapest...
Click to expand...

I had the same issue, it's due to differences in underwriters. I called them up and got the comparison site price.
 
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