Treacodactyl
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Insurance renewalsI've just renewed my buildings insurance. The renewal has been rising a fair bit over the last few years bit so I got some online quotes which were about half the price, including one from the same company!!
After a few phone calls and ignoring them telling me I would have to cancel my existing policy and take out a new one I eventually managed to get them to renew my existing one for the lower price - saving over £100. 
It seems there's a special team who do this and I expect most companies are similar. Might be worth doing when you next get a renewal.
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Treacodactyl
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Same thing has happened this year, expensive renewal quote, get online quote from same company, ring up and put through to 'cancellations' team who happily renew using the cheaper quote. Again saved well over £100. It seems quite common these days but I just wish they'd give a more reasonable renewal quote in the first place. 
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Silas
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Ha!
Well, last year I decided to go for a fixed rate mortgage with a different BS. They asked me if I wanted an insurance quote, I said OK. I had been with Britannia for over 20 years and had paid without question every year.
The qote I had from the new company was less than half what Britannia were charging me, so I did a bit of shopping around and found that almost everone was half what I had been paying.
I had been paying twice as much as I needed to for twenty years because I was stupid enough to trust Britannia Building Society!
We live and learn.
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Jonnyboy
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | | Same thing has happened this year, expensive renewal quote, get online quote from same company, ring up and put through to 'cancellations' team who happily renew using the cheaper quote. Again saved well over £100. It seems quite common these days but I just wish they'd give a more reasonable renewal quote in the first place. |
I'm about to do that with my current home insurers, but I won't be renewing with them for that principle.
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Treacodactyl
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I'm not sure what other insurances are as bad as buildings insurance, I've found my car insurance renewals have usually been very reasonable and not worth switching.
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Treacodactyl
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| Jonnyboy wrote: | | I'm about to do that with my current home insurers, but I won't be renewing with them for that principle. |
I don't have principles!  Seriously, I prefer to keep the same insurer for buildings insurance in case I need to make a claim. That way they can't say it was a previous problem etc and they've got all my history.
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Jonnyboy
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | | Jonnyboy wrote: | | I'm about to do that with my current home insurers, but I won't be renewing with them for that principle. |
I don't have principles! Seriously, I prefer to keep the same insurer for buildings insurance in case I need to make a claim. That way they can't say it was a previous problem etc and they've got all my history. |
There is that, I'm just getting a bit sick of them trying to rip me off. Even the letter suggests that ringing them will get me a better quote, so why not ******* offer it in the first place? 
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Treacodactyl
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I quite agree although it seems many, if not most, of the companies do it.
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Behemoth
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I've got similar re my mortgage - the suggested course of action is I remortgage current home to do up future home at advertised interest rates. I'm then given a 'special' telephone number to secure my current 'advantageous' rate. I can then 'port' my mortgage to the new house and get an interest rate at the market rate and go through the process again. I was less than enthusiastic about entering into a deal that would be changed to my benefit only after I had signed at a worse rate. it all seems a bit nudge nudge wink wink.
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vegplot
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I'm very wary of household insurance considering that our insurance didn't cover us specifically for the items we had stolen. The policy was vague enough to give us the impression we were covered when we weren't. I would check very thoroughly that you are covered for what you think you're covered for.
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bernie-woman
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| Jonnyboy wrote: | | Treacodactyl wrote: | | Jonnyboy wrote: | | I'm about to do that with my current home insurers, but I won't be renewing with them for that principle. |
I don't have principles! Seriously, I prefer to keep the same insurer for buildings insurance in case I need to make a claim. That way they can't say it was a previous problem etc and they've got all my history. |
There is that, I'm just getting a bit sick of them trying to rip me off. Even the letter suggests that ringing them will get me a better quote, so why not ******* offer it in the first place? |
Excetly my sentiments with the co-op who could not explain why the renewal quote they had sent us was £43.00 more expensive than the quote stated on confused.com - they told me we could cancel ours and take the lower quote with them -
On principle I have gone with someone else whiich luckily have quoted even cheaper
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Northern_Lad
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| bernie-woman wrote: | | ... £43.00 more expensive than the quote stated on confused.com - ... |
I was looking at car insurance recently. I filled out exactly the same details on AA on confuddled.con; the AA price was about £200 cheaper.
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cab
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Seems to me that I get a good deal each year for our insurance, but that does require that I actuall shop around and make a few phone calls. It always strikes me as reprehensible that unless you do so and threaten to move to a new company, you can bet you won't get the best deal out of your existing company.
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samsdad
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Use a cashback site when you renew your insurance. Cashback sites split the commission they receive from an insurer with their members. My contents ins cost me £12.50 net after cashback last year.
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Treacodactyl
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I don't think all companies use those sites though. For me Direct Line seems to offer the best value and were fine when I claimed; they don't use the comparison sites and I'm not sure they use the cashback sites.
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samsdad
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | | I don't think all companies use those sites though. For me Direct Line seems to offer the best value and were fine when I claimed; they don't use the comparison sites and I'm not sure they use the cashback sites. |
Direct Line will not pay commission to third parties which is why they are not on cashback sites. Many are though; for example last year I paid £35 net of cashback for comprehensive insurance for my Nissan Primera, including Green Flag cover, from Prudential. This year wasn't quite as good: £96 net of cashback/incentive through More Than. That's still a third of the price I used to pay with Direct Line.
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Treacodactyl
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£35 for a fully comp insurance policy and breakdown cover? Unless I knew why that was so cheap I'd be a bit concerned.
Of course you can always get quotes from direct insurers as well as the various comparison/cashback sites as prices tend to vary a fair bit.
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samsdad
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | | £35 for a fully comp insurance policy and breakdown cover? Unless I knew why that was so cheap I'd be a bit concerned. |
The full premium was £165 but I got cashback of £130. It was an outrageous deal though; because it was Prudential I had no qualms.
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