The great car insurance joke - Yes, you've seen it all before

[Desmo]

Had my insurance renewal come through the other day and thought I'd get a few new online quotes. The wife and I have a multicar policy insuring our two cars with Admiral. The renewal came through at £653, a fair old increase on last year which I was expecting from what I've been hearing.

Now for the fun part....head over to confused.com and pop in our details as individual drivers. My part on our multicar policy is £383. My quote via confused.com? £270...with Admiral. Same for the wife, her renewal part was £269 and new quote £249.

Now add those together and you get £519 compared to £653. But bear in mind that the £519 is as individual quotes whereas the £653 is our multicar policy that is supposed to be cheaper.

How on earth do they get away with these things? They're going to get an ear bashing later on

 

[lovegroova]

It's a quote, which is only the start of a negotiation.

They only get away with it if you let them.

 

[buzlightyear]

Mrs Buzz and I had the multicar and its was cheaper this year to do it seperatly, I cant remember if we ended up ringing up and complaining and getting it cheaper. Still with Admiral though, so something must of worked out.

 

[Qactuar]

Am I the only person who's finding insurance renewal is getting cheaper? In an unprecedented move, this is my now third year in a row with Admiral, who have consistently become a reasonable amount cheaper each policy year, while the consensus is that the very vast majority are finding premiums are going up.

Worth a haggle though - always.

 

[Desmo]

It's a quote, which is only the start of a negotiation.

Yeah, I know that. Doesn't stop me thinking they're cheeky sods and wondering how they manage to get away with it all the time. Year after year you have to hunt around and get a re-quote. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't the same company that comes out cheaper though. What other industry is there where your current supplier shafts you this much?

They only get away with it if you let them.

Too right, which is why I don't Thing is, Admiral always end up getting my business as for some reason they always come out as the cheapest no matter how many quotes I try and get yet every year I have to phone up and play their game....gets tedious year in year out.

 

[sidicks]

What other industry is there where your current supplier shafts you this much?
.

In what other industry does the supplier have to provide the product and agree the price before they know how much the 'product' costs to make??

Sidicks

 

[Desmo]

It would be a fair point apart from the fact that they're already willing to offer me the same product far cheaper, they're just trying it on (again) with a higher starting price.

 

[sidicks]

It would be a fair point apart from the fact that they're already willing to offer me the same product far cheaper, they're just trying it on (again) with a higher starting price.

Oh yes, I'll agree with your points on the Multi-car policy fiasco!

Sidicks

 

[duncfunk]

Virtually every insurance company gives a high renewal quote and I'm sure a lot of people just pay it without thinking. Every year I have to ring my insurance company and ask what their best price is (house and car). Without fail I save anything from £50-100 (both mine and wife's policy) in a 2min phone call. I was surprised that it worked this year as my renewal actually stayed the same price but they still knocked another £40 off after ringing them.

On a side note I had to laugh at AA insurance. They sent me about 10 letters guaranteeing to beat my renewal quote like for like. They beat the quote but wouldn't include breakdown cover as they claimed this was an 'optional extra' given by my insurance company. Unsurprisingly they ended up being more expensive after wanting to charge me about £80 for breakdown cover. So much for their guarantee.

 

[shafster]

multicar has always been good for me. i was quoted £950 for a bmw 535d on a single car policy. to add it to my astra 2.2 coupe policy which costs me £620 a year would of cost me another £240, so i would be saving £100 and getting another car on the policy

 

[criggy]

I await my Multi-car renewal with dread....will probably get it a week before Christmas too!

One thing I only found out recently was the fact that Confused.com is part of the Admiral group. No wonder 90% of people find Admiral to give the lowest premiums!

 

[shafster]

i always use gocompare.com and even on there, admiral and elephant (same company) are always the cheapest

 

[accyuklad]

my dad was with aa with 6yrs ncb and it was £500 first year with aa insurance and breakdown full cover now they want £700 but he now gone with aviva all for £500 so it looks my dad as to keep changing to keep it low as possible

you should look at hasting they offering low insurance aswell

 

[Trollslayer]

I choosea few at the level I want (MoreThan, Churchill etc.) and if the one I'm with won't match the online quote I use one of the others.

 

[Desmo]

The thing is guys, it's not about trying to hunt down the cheapest insurer....it's almost always Admiral for me and always has been for some reason. My main point was that the multicar renewal comes out more expensive than than two new individual policies. Multicar is meant to be the cheaper option, I just hate the way they try to stitch you up EVERY year.

 

[duncfunk]

The thing is guys, it's not about trying to hunt down the cheapest insurer....it's almost always Admiral for me and always has been for some reason. My main point was that the multicar renewal comes out more expensive than than two new individual policies. Multicar is meant to be the cheaper option, I just hate the way they try to stitch you up EVERY year.

Virtually every insurer sends out over inflated renewal quotes because there must be a large number of people who just pay it. Get on the phone tell them to stop being tools and to give you the real price

 

[Desmo]

Just renewed for £505. £150 saving over the original renewal quote.

 

[Switch625]

More Than wouldn't match/beat a quote which was £30 cheaper than their renewal this year, so I switched. Been with them 6 years with no claims prior to that... so much for keepnig valued customers.

 

[IronGiant]

My renewal quote is a massive £7 more than last year and I had a minor bump that was my fault this year too

 

[paulyoung666]

is Admiral an insurance company or an insurance broker ? ...

 

[Desmo]

Not sure. I guess they're pretty much all brokers at the end of the day aren't they? They all tend to buy their insurance through the bigger companies like Lloyds. Either way I'm not too fussed as long as I'm not being stitched up

I guess on the plus side, everybody who does get stitched up helps to subsidise those who do hunt around for cheaper insurance

 

[qwerty321]

My oh my was I in for a surprise today!

Insurance is up at the end of the month and with my insurance being 4 figures (early 20s, group 10 car) I usually start hunting for insurance 4-5 weeks before renewal. £1225 was my cheapest quote after scouring online this year.

Renewal from Admiral came in the post today. £875!!!

That was most unexpected, their online quote was £1500. Had to change my cover which added a few quid but I am well chuffed! Saved me a few hundred pounds!

Seems like renewals can sometimes be cheaper.

 

[accyuklad]

guessing thats fully comp

you not tryed tesco if you got a clubcard with them they not discount off the price it knocks off about £200

 

[qwerty321]

guessing thats fully comp

you not tryed tesco if you got a clubcard with them they not discount off the price it knocks off about £200

Yep. Fully comp with legal cover (comes as standard) and hire car cover.

Ive tried Tesco and nothing competitive. Fairly high excess at £550 but I think its only £10 extra to get it knocked back by £100 so might do that.

 

[car-man]

Some of you folks should try looking around for motor trade insurance in my postcode area.

I got a letter from my broker telling me my insurance company will no longer quote for my postcode area and that they will look around for me to see if any company will quote.

I looked around myself this afternoon to see what quotes were out there, there were only two companies willing to quote, one wanted double my current premium, the other slightly cheaper than my current cover.

I feel very lucky to actually have cover for the next year.

The whole situation is a complete farce