I have had varying quotes for my insurance, ranging from around £260 to nearly £500. The ‘obvious’ thing to do would be to go for the cheapest, but could this be a mistake?
What should I look for in a quality insurance service??
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Personally, I go for the cheapest every time. I take the view that insurance is a somewhat unfair compulsory tax whereby all drivers pay for the incompetence / misfortune of the few. I am highly unlikely to make a claim in anything other than a major accident, because of the future impact on my premium. I therefore choose a very high level of voluntary excess, and leave the NCD unprotected - which is the best combination for a low annual premium.
In other words, I'm making a prediction that I won't be involved in an accident where I am at fault. In these circumstances, the attractions of "free" roadside assistance, courtesy cars and all the rest of the fringe benefits designed to make a policy sell are zero.
So it all depends on how comprehensive you want your comprehensive cover to be. As regards widely varying quotes, make sure you're comparing like-with-like in terms of voluntary excess.
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The cheapest is not always the best as I recently found out.
My renewal came through and they wanted 2k so I checked a few other people out and found using a certain supermarkets insurance services I would save myself nearly £800.
I obviously went with the cheap quote and was happy until I needed a repair done caused by a flying brick on the M25.
They wanted my car to go to a repairer that we have used once with the vans and are awfull but seem to get a lot of insurance jobs. I told them that I wanted my car to go to the M.B. dealer who is very competative price wise but they said their policy was that it had to go to the idiots place for repair.
I promptly cancelled the policy with them and demanded a full refund and then rang my old insurers and managed to get the quote reduced by nearly £500.
Make sure you read the small print.
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I thought that the insurance companies were obliged to fix it where you want it fixing, not where they want. Of course they can entice you with things like free courtesy car if you use their recommended repairer etc.
I ignored Direct Line's recommended repairer, took it to the local Mercedes specialist, got given a free Merc A-Class courtesy car and got a top job done on the car. My car is a Fiesta. :)
Blue
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Blue Oval,
I too thought this but this certain supermarket insurance company said that it was not their policy and it could only go to their approved repairers who presumably are cheap because their standard of work is awfull.
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I insure my Polo 1.6cl with Volkswagen insurance and have found the price similar to the better known insurance companies. In addition you also get free European cover which is a help as I go to the Continent and Ireland two or three times a year. Finally it should be easier to sort out repairs as you take the car to the nearest VW dealer
It is worth checking out if your car manufacture has any insurance set up.
Hugh
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Most cars now come with extensive bodywork warranties. What would happen if your insurance company insisted you had a repair carried out by an independant outfit and the new panel or whatever rusted through ? I cannot see the manufacturer being intersted in sorting it out. Do these type of repairs have the same level of guarantee to that offered by the manufacture and if they do, will the repair shop be around in x years time to honour it if needed ? I thought you had a right to be put back into the situation you were in immediately before the accident and if you end up with a part of your car not covered by your original guarantee then clearly you are not.
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This was my argument and the supermarket insurance company said the work carried out at the two bob bodyshop would be covered by its own extensive warranty. I pointed out to them that the Merc now has 30 yrs warranty on the bodywork to which I was told that by then I would have sold the car so it wouldn't be my problem.
Not the sort of attitude you want really.
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Marcos,
If you've got a Merc and need any bodywork doing, you can't go past Steve Watson Coachworks in Boldon, Tyne & Wear.
Appears to do all of the local Mercedes garage repairs for them, and even gets more exotic stuff trailered up from as far afield as Manchester 'cos his is the only bodyshop that people will entrust their precious cars to.
Would highly recommend him, he was only £10 more than the Ford Main Dealers accident repair centre for my work, and this is on body repairs in the region of £850, so a very small percentage more really.
Blue
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