Hi
Just renewed my car insurance with The Post Office (I don't think this breaks any naming and shaming rules). I know that this issue has been discussed on here, but just wanted to share my experience.
Renewal comes through at £315.56, I've gone online in the last few weeks with The Post Office and completed a new insurance quote and got a price of £288.90 (a difference of £26).
I enquired why there was a difference there and he said that the renewal price is what the price was 28 days before the renewal date. I explained that I'd got the online quote on the 27th October. He stood by the fact that the price was that much more when they sent out the renewal.
I said that I thought it was a bit cheeky if, for every renewal they charge £25-£30 more than they need to and they're onto a bit of earner.
He said that every business needs to make money and I said surely not by overcharging by £25-£30 on every renewal.
His response, word for word - "Insurance is a dodgy old game, trust me."
Well I've renewed the policy with them so we'll see what happens if I have any problems......
Chris
Edited by Chris White on 08/11/2007 at 18:22
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They (insurers in general) usually say you don't get the "new customer" or "web" discount when you renew. To which I normally say "I'll be a new customer then - somewhere else".
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This happens to me every year, and I've never had a company refuse to honour the "new" quote. In fact my current insurer not only honoured the £45 saving that they'd quoted for new business but knocked another 10% off because SWMBO had taken her policy out with them in the past month.
£80 saved by making a simple phone call and I didn't have to argue for any of it. The internet is great for finding quotes, but always speak to someone as well.
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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Direct Line did the same to me with both car and house/contents renewals.
I got an online quote from them and then phoned to stop the auto renewal.
They were able to see my online quotes and renewed at the internet price.
There must be lots of busy/lazy/forgetful people that get caught out though.
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I'm surpised you renewed if you dislike their approach so much. Presumably they honored the lower quote? Even if they did, I'd have been inclined to shop around out of principle. A run through of your details on Confused would probably have found something competitive.
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Probably the overheads for your method of renewal are higher than if you'd applied online as a new customer.
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L\'escargot.
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I'm just about to start the annual hunt for Lower Insurance. "Saved" over £200 on the hosue insurance recently by switching (even though when I told the original supplier that I didn't want to renew, they magically reduced their quote by £200).
It pays to shop around these days.
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I renewed with them for a few reasons and, judging by the responses on here, most of the other insurance companies seem to apply the same method.
I've been with The Post Office for a few years and they have a UK based call centre which is very important to me, I don't pay any excess if I get hit by an uninsured driver, 60 days European cover and they arrange to get my car to my home address if I'm involved in an accident.
Again, as previously mentioned on here, you never know the level of support you get until you have to claim and, touch wood, I've avoided that so far.
The overheads for my method of renewal are no more than applying online as a new customer. I shopped around using the online comparison websites and then made a 5 minute phone call to The Post Office, job done and renewed at the lower rate.
It's no hassle and I'm a little bit better off. It's horses for courses, I feel happy the way I've done it because I've shopped around and get the best deal (in terms of price and cover) I could just by spending a little bit of time on it.
Chris
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