Advice About Car Insurance Please

Confused like many of the "comparison" websites is owned by one of the major insurers. What they do is show you a lot of quotes then if they want to insure you (strategically) they then undercut the quotes with one of their own. Or at least they compare against products less favourable than theirs.

Not that this is a bad thing, but be aware that the cheapest quote at Confused is rarely the cheapest quote on the market.

I am afraid nothing beats shopping around.

Personally I found SwiftCover the cheapest and got their quote through MoneySavingExpert.com but it depends on your circumstances.
 
Im with Sheilas Wheels now - I swapped to them from Esure ( who were also very good) and saved about £50 ( fully comp with protected no claims).

The bizzarre thing is that SW are underrwritten by esure - but when I asked esure why they couldnt match the SW quote - they couldnt tell me.....
 
Esure and SW have quite different target markets and thus offer different products.
 
Also look for new brands/companies (obviously underwritten by a reputable company) as in their first year they often offer preferential rates in order to get some money "in the bank" so that they have the capital to pay out claims.
 
join quidco.com and there are companies prepared to offer £125 cash back if you take out a policy with them. I changed both home and car, pocketing £250 cash back.
 
I use Norwich Union and they have always been fine, however I have not had to make a claim so can't comment on that aspect
 
I was insured last year with the NU, and I'm making a claim right now [young hothead came down a windy Berks lane with lots of hills and high banks, ie blind corners, took one at c45mph and drove into my right front apron - his van was a write off and my ancient Rover is also being written off...]

They have been v helpful many way, and given me a courtesy car which is great, but you have to go for assessment/repairs to their Solus chain which has been mega inconvenient

My new policy is with Fortis. I leave it all to my agent Peter Best Insurance of Chelmsford who always get me a new insurer each year to undercut the quote from the one before, I have comp with protected NCB, but it's a bit more expensive than some quoted on here; mind you have had to claim most years! [can give you PB's email Kathy if you like, the helpful Barry will look after you]
 
Confused.com is a useful site.
Personal experience, I would steer clear of Diamond. Very unhappy about their service after an accident that wasn't my fault, they didn't have the balls to keep challenging the idiot who hit me when I was stationary!! despite what I said. Not worth paying money to.
Am currently with Elephant and no probs so far, although no hits yet. They are cheap for a young driver under 25, so not sure how much help this would be! :D
 
confused is very similar to screentrade but its worth trying both, as screentrade for me was about 15% cheaper than confused
 
Interesting. I will try screentrade next. Thanks everyone for your input. By the way, Confused's cheapest quote (Kwikfit?) was approx £125 cheaper than the quote I had had from Directline, my current provider.
 
Screentrade couldn't insure me for business mileage.

Direct Line. I got them to quote online, and they were £100 cheaper than the renewel quote I had received through the post. I phoned to query why this would be and I was told the posted quote was direct from their underwriters but I could get it 10% if I purchased online. I explained that £100 of £425 was not 10% and he said, well just cancel the renewel and buy on line. :brows:

A warning for everyone to check their premiums if they arrive via their current insurance company via the post. :what:
 
Originally posted by Griffin@Jul 2 2007, 08:17 PM
I'm with Swiftcover and so far they've been excellent. I've got glass cover on my policy and when I had a broken window they sent RAC out to my house to replace it on the driveway. A very stupid woman crashed her Frontera into my poor innocent car in a car park last week :angy: The bullbars scraped and dented most of one side of my car, from just above the rear wheel arch to part way across the drivers door :angy: She left a note with her details under the wipers, admitted full responsibilty and since I contacted Swiftcover they've been really helpful. I've had no trouble at all with them.
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I retract my comment that I'd had no trouble with them :angy:

Took my car to the garage they appointed on Monday last week. In it's place I was given a hire car, a brand new Chrysler Grand Voyager 2.8 Executive CRD nonetheless :D I was in love :wub:

I spent a very happy week driving Bruce, as he became to be known as, and was rather sad to receive a call on Tuesday informing me that I could go to Swindon to collect my now fixed car. I went along yesterday morning and was puzzled to find the drivers seal belt didn't work shrug:: Obviously I couldn't drive it away in that state. The garage claimed the damage wasn't caused by them, it must've been wear and tear. I pointed out that was a heck of a lot of wear and tear in a week as it'd been fine when I left it. Still the arrogant piggy eyed feckwit refused to budge and was effectively holding my car to ransom! I went back outside to Bruce and all four junior Griffins who were waiting very patiently and spent the next 35 fecking minutes on my mobile to my insurance company. They eventually advised me to drive the hire car home and that they'd call me back in the afternoon.

By 4pm I was even more livid as I knew the insurance for the hire car expired at midnight (it was provided by the other parties insurance and as the repairs had been done they refused to let me use the car any longer) so I called them again. Still nothing. Mr GG called them when he came in from work, still nothing but they promised to call us in the morning.

Yet more wafflybollox from my insurance company this morning, they didn't call me, I chased them at 12 noon. 4 phonecalls in 24 hours and still they'd done nothing to rectify the situation. They then claimed that as the damage didn't relate to the accident it was nothing to do with them and I should take the matter up with the garage.

So I had a very enlightening chat with a man from the Financial Services Authority :D After agreeing that my contract was with insurance company and my vehicle was there responsibility whilst it was at their appointed garage, he supplied me with all the contact details of the company director :D Within minutes of emailing him, where I just happened to also mention the fact the FSA had told me my rights, he replied :D I've now had two emails from their directors and one of the directors secretarys called me this evening to say that they'll be instructing the garage to fix my car and if it cannot be returned to me tomorrow they'll be sending me another hire car :D

Bruce left us this afternoon but I hope he can come back for a few more days :wub:
 
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