Bit of backstory for this one - ~18 months ago, the 'rents van ended up needing a new gearbox due to ending up xles deep in water on a flooded road... Then a couple of weeks ago the van succumbed to french-electricitis and as a result was scrapped... Phone the insurer to cancel, as there's nothing to insure any more, only to be told 'oh if you'd phoned last week, we would've covered it as being caused by the flood damage'... FFS... that alone, is annoying enough... Today, phone them back to get a quote on a potential replacement only to be told, less than 24 hours after the old policy ended - 'sorry, we don't give quotes for your area...' Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...
They really are a law unto themselves They probably stopped quoting for that area because of the flooding
If only... It suffered the flood damage in rural northumberland... trying to get a quote for [urban] Gateshead... But nope, most insurers don't want to know as soon as you mention the word 'van'...
That's the thing with insurance, we're all essentially paying for a service we don't ever want to use... When I went through car renewal time last and spoke to the nice chap at Admiral who was adamant I wouldn't get a cheaper quote elsewhere I literally had to tell him to shut up and listen before explaining that, just because I've been with them for 3 years, it doesn't mean I am a "loyal customer" or happy to give them a glowing recommendation or review - I literally haven't needed to contact them or use their service in that entire period, so how would I know what I am actually getting for my money or have a reason to continue using them?? I'm sure they are happy though, they've been getting money off me every month for the past 3 years without having to lift a finger.
As someone doing their test and getting their first car in a few weeks most insurers give me quotes 5x the value of the car. Because yes Mr Insurance person, I'm going to write the thing off 5 times a year. Makes sense.
Sometimes insurance insanity works out for the better, at least. I like to think over a lifetime it probably evens out. When I called up to get a quote on the Lotus, they first did that sucking through their teeth noise when they entered the make and model, mentioning that it's a very high group car. They did it again when I said I didn't have another NCB to use, and subsequently quoted way less than I thought they were about to. I then queried how much more it would be to change it from social only, to social plus commuting, and it went down by £150. And also reduced the insurance on one of my other cars by £50. Random. My wife is a Female, A Doctor and a University Lecturer - turns out that's also the jackpot when it comes to adding a secondary driver, chopping the policy in half whether she drives it or not I also never really understood why, in my early days of driving and insurance was monstrously expensive, getting third-party, fire and theft quotes with a view of saving costs, it was actually more expensive than fully comp.
No, but you might cause damage to a another car or injure a person that costs the insurance company 5 x the value of your car.
It's not the cost of your car that's relevant its the possibility of you totalling someone else Ferrari , as unlikely as that is.
It's good that, isn't it. Mine makes the insurance on the RS6 really quite cheap (but she likes to drive it )
Can confirm, first year's insurance was £2000 on a Golf TDI Bluemotion. Second year I was quoted £2500 by the same company, because I'd bumped into someone's car at 4MPH at a junction, was not impressed. Dropped now to ~£1000 for virtually anything I ask to be insured on, ranging from tiny little microcompacts to old Jags and Porsches, I'm stuck at my current values for another year and a bit till I hit 25, it seems.
Compulsory insurances are a huge scam. You don't claim: they gain a lot. You claim: they gain even more because they've got you by the balls. I found Location and car makes a big difference: Was around 22, insured at my parents remote village, driving 9 years old Volvo S40 mk1, no NCD: £700 Last year 28, insured at my home N London, driving 9 yr old Mercedes C coupe, 6 yr NCD: £1600 This year 29, insured at my home, driving 4 yr old Skoda Octavia mk3, 7 yr NCD: £1000 Of course the recent premiums include commuting and mileage gone up to 15k.
Car insurance companies are a PITA. Rang my insurance company at the time of the renewal to cancel because they were quoting £100 more than the previous year, even though there were no claims or anything made. They told me they could knock off £10 and that was it, and the price quoted was the cheapest I would find so whilst on the phone I did a search on the meerkat site and got it £300 cheaper and the real kicker was it was with the same insurance company. Asked them if I could just take that price on the phone there and then and they said no, I would need to cancel my policy and then take out the new one which I did, cancelled the policy and then 2 minutes later took out a new policy with them. I know my sister had issues trying to get house insurance where she lived previously because she lived within 1 mile of a canal that has flooded once in the last 20 years, eventually she found a company to go through but the price was shocking. Owning an insurance company to me is a license to print money.
THIS THIS RIGHT HERE This is the thing that makes me go from "disgruntled customer" to "you will wish you never got out of bed today" when on the phone to ANYBODY. When I was trying to cancel my phone contract with 3 back in April, the rententions bloke was absolutely adamant that £50 a month was THE CHEAPEST I could get an iPhone 7 for without paying up front - I was literally arguing with him that I was looking on multiple comparison sites at deals for well under £40 PM, with better allowances... HALF OF WHICH WERE TARIFFS BEING OFFERED BY 3!
Don't get me started! Too late... My insurance falls into a perfect calendar year starting on 1st January through to 31st December. Paid £200 insurance for a 2 litre Saab. Come April I was changing it for a 2 litre Audi so had to inform my insurer. I was thinking along the lines of £50 - £80 for the amended policy. They quoted £350! That would have been £200 + £350 for 1 YEARS INSURANCE! I couldn't believe it and initially thought they hadn't taken the £200 into account but they checked again and it still came out that £350 had to be paid on top. Needless to say I cancelled the policy netting a refund of £140 and bought a brand new policy with an alternate insurer for £300 for a full year of insurance!
