So yesterday, I had my car insurance renewal through as it is due on the 14th of next month.
We have one of those all inclusive polices which covers my car, SWMBO car, daughters car and house and contents insurance, and to be fair for the past 9 years we have been very happy with the premiums come renewal and it avoided having to set up several different direct debits.
Anyway, I was in for a bit of a shock this time. The premium for my car was up by over £150. On SWMBO car it was up by over £200 and on my daughters car it had gone up by over £600 TPF&T on a 22 year old Nissan Almera to over £1,000 despite her having 3 years no claims, so an increase of over £900 a year just on our vehicle policies before we started looking at our house and contents policies which had also gone up a substantial amount.
So I suggested to daughter that now might be the time to look for her own policy. "No problem" says she and an hour later she phones back to say that she had a new policy which was now comprehensive, was cheaper than her previous years premium and also allowed her to include son in law who is still a learner. Result 1....
I then phoned our insurers (Admiral) to see if I could negotiate a better deal on our premiums as I have done in the past to get the response "That's the premium, take it or leave it" So I said "To start with then please cancel the policy for my daughter" "She needs to call us" was the response. "I am the policy holder" I said, "but the certificate is in her name" he responded.
He could not or would not listen, so after about 20 minutes I said "Don't bother, just cancel the lot, cars, building, contents, the lot!" This is about £2000 worth of business.
"Oh hang on a minute" the call guy said, "I am sure we can do something" by this time I had lost the plot and my patience and said "You had your chance, cancel" and I also reminded him to replay the tape of the phone call back if it was queried why we had cancelled all of our policies.
So all those premiums were lost in one foul swoop by a lazy arrogant call centre handler.
Anyway, I then immediately started shopping around, and to cut a long story short, my car (Jaguar) SWMBO car (C-Max) are now insured but the cost of both premiums together is cheaper than what I paid for my car on its own last year.
House and contents SWMBO found with a better level of cover for 50% less than Admiral were quoting on renewal, so we have actually saved ourselves around £600 per annum across all our policies for in a couple of cases a better level of cover.
So what I thought was going to be a pain in the Ar*e actually ended up doing me a favour.
Not the best way to spend a Monday, but worth it given the result that I am happy with. Goes to prove that it pays to shop around.
Oh and as a by the by, guess who came out cheaper with a decent policy and now have my business?
The RAC 😉😊
We have one of those all inclusive polices which covers my car, SWMBO car, daughters car and house and contents insurance, and to be fair for the past 9 years we have been very happy with the premiums come renewal and it avoided having to set up several different direct debits.
Anyway, I was in for a bit of a shock this time. The premium for my car was up by over £150. On SWMBO car it was up by over £200 and on my daughters car it had gone up by over £600 TPF&T on a 22 year old Nissan Almera to over £1,000 despite her having 3 years no claims, so an increase of over £900 a year just on our vehicle policies before we started looking at our house and contents policies which had also gone up a substantial amount.
So I suggested to daughter that now might be the time to look for her own policy. "No problem" says she and an hour later she phones back to say that she had a new policy which was now comprehensive, was cheaper than her previous years premium and also allowed her to include son in law who is still a learner. Result 1....
I then phoned our insurers (Admiral) to see if I could negotiate a better deal on our premiums as I have done in the past to get the response "That's the premium, take it or leave it" So I said "To start with then please cancel the policy for my daughter" "She needs to call us" was the response. "I am the policy holder" I said, "but the certificate is in her name" he responded.
He could not or would not listen, so after about 20 minutes I said "Don't bother, just cancel the lot, cars, building, contents, the lot!" This is about £2000 worth of business.
"Oh hang on a minute" the call guy said, "I am sure we can do something" by this time I had lost the plot and my patience and said "You had your chance, cancel" and I also reminded him to replay the tape of the phone call back if it was queried why we had cancelled all of our policies.
So all those premiums were lost in one foul swoop by a lazy arrogant call centre handler.
Anyway, I then immediately started shopping around, and to cut a long story short, my car (Jaguar) SWMBO car (C-Max) are now insured but the cost of both premiums together is cheaper than what I paid for my car on its own last year.
House and contents SWMBO found with a better level of cover for 50% less than Admiral were quoting on renewal, so we have actually saved ourselves around £600 per annum across all our policies for in a couple of cases a better level of cover.
So what I thought was going to be a pain in the Ar*e actually ended up doing me a favour.
Not the best way to spend a Monday, but worth it given the result that I am happy with. Goes to prove that it pays to shop around.
Oh and as a by the by, guess who came out cheaper with a decent policy and now have my business?
The RAC 😉😊
