I have to change my insurance over at the end of the month when I take on ownership of the Astra.
For the Renault 5, I was paying around 145 pounds pa TPFT.
The cheapest quote I've had on the Astra 1.7D is around 200 pounds.
However, my existing company has quoted either an extra 83 pounds to carry on my policy until its renewal in July (which sounds a lot just for a change of car for 8 months), or I could take out a whole new year's policy for 228 pounds.
If I cancel my policy with then and go elsewhere I have to pay 50 pounds penalty.
My question is, is the increase in premium simply due to the size of the car? (all other details are the same)
And do the above quotes sound reasonable?
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You need to be sure you aren't part way through a qualfying year's NCB. If you are and you cancel the policy, the new company will start you off with the last full year's NCB ie if you cancel in the 3rd year, the new company will start you off on 2 years NCB.
If you already have the full NCB it wont matter. To be honest, I'd stick with your current insurer until renewal then get some competitive quotes. Sorry Im unable to say whether the quotes you have are reasonable although they look it.
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Thanks Watcher
I've driven 8 years without making a claim so I presume I have the full NCB.
I think you're right in that the best move is to stick with present company till July and then shop around. In my experience companies tend to offer a good rate for your first year with them, to attract new business and then bump the price right up the next year, which is why I tend to change companies most years anyway.
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My impression too!
When you do get quotes, give Axa a try (am I allowed to say that!?). They gave my wife the best price onher Zafira by a long shot.
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Will do. I believe I tried them a couple of years ago and they weren't my best quote then, but I'll give certainly give them anoher try when the time comes.
Thanks again.
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HF - Try E-sure, if you've got over 4 years NCB which you obviously do then they are likely to be good, my dad pays less than £250 fully comp on his BMW with them! :D
Have you seen the Fully comp vs. TPFT thread? It may be worth considering asking for fully comp quotes as it seems that many people are finding fully comp to be actually cheaper than TPFT, or at least only a fraction more...
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Phone your insurance company again, ask to speak to a senior supervisor, tell her/him that because they have asked for an extra £83, you have shopped around and can get cheaper insurance elsewhere - but you would rather stay with the existing company if they reduced this extra to something like say £25 (or whatever you HF feel comfortable with).
It is likely they will reduce the quote. Make sure they are aware of all your circumstances that could result in a lower premium (eg. how may miles you drive annually, do you want cover restricted to you only, is your car kept off the road or in a garage, do you need cover for business mileage, etc.)
I changed to Esure recently who gave me the lowest quote - they only take on drivers with 4 years plus NCD.
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search the D.TEL on line for
" Rivalry puts brake on premium rises
(Filed: 27/07/2002)
Motor insurance costs were meant to spiral but a mild winter and fierce competition has changed all that, reports Alison Steed "
and go to the comparision table
"Click to enlarge: how motor insurance costs vary" for details.
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Blue, I did try a few online quotes a few weeks ago, but I'm not at all sure that Esure was one of them. I will definitely have a look at them before commiting myself to anything else - thanks. As regards the TPFT v FC argument, I've sen some posts here about it but not a whole thread - I will take a look. When I last got my isurance renewed on the Renault, I did ask about this and FC was quite a lot higher, but circumstances and markets might have changed since then.
MB - this sounds like great advice, thankyou, I will try to speak to a senior member of staff and do as you say, if I can get the confidence in my ability to sound like I know what I'm talking about up sufficiently to do so!
And I will search on D.TEL as soon as I have finished this post - I just have to put D.TEL into my search engine?
Many thanks to you both.
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I tried a quote through esure and they wouldn't quote at all because of the age of the car (G and H reg). Isn't your astra a similar age? I would definitely check out axamotor.co.uk as they were two thirds the price of my current insurer (350 for group 12 car) and £740 for group 18 that my former insurer wanted £1200 for. I hammered through just about every single online insurance company when I was shopping around and Axamotor came out the best. I think the RAC was next (underwritten by Axa) with Norwich Union and Direct Line following. The only other thing you have to watch are the cancellation terms. Some will cancel your insurance in the even of a write off even if it is one week into your insurance term and they will often take off any subsequent premium due for the year from the amount they pay out to you.
teabelly
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Thanks Teabelly, yes my car is J-reg, so I'll have to see what esure say about that! Sounds like axamotor is worth checking out too - and I take what you say about the cancellation terms, thanks, that isn't something that I'd ever thought of.
At the moment, bearing in mind my present insurer's cancellation fee, I need to find something dirt-cheap or continue with them till July.
BTW, tried the D.TEL site as suggested by MB, but couldn't find any search facility on it. Probably my ignorance, but if anyone can tell me how......?
Something just occurred to me - particularly in relation to MB's advice - my present insurer, I think, is a broker rather than an actual insurer. Does this have any bearing on MB's suggestion of my phoning a supervisor there and trying to negotiate? If it's ok to mention, since I am neither trying to sell their services or slag them off, I am currently with Kwik-Fit (don't groan!) Insurance.
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Do brokers add a fee when you change car? I ask because I was quoted and charged £73 to change from TPFT on my old Tipo to FC on my new Yaris, but the updated policy document only showed a £55 cost for the altered cover. I wasn't told of any charge for altering the car - should I have been?
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Yes brokers can charge you a fee when you change car, but they must be upfront about it.
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In that case i would suggest using a better company who don't have any charges. CIS don't charge to cancel or amend your policy, unfortunately they aren't always the cheapest for everyone.
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Yes that's what I did when my broker started imposing extra charges for changes. I'ts also a question you need to ask when getting a quote from the many direct telephone based insurance companies.
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In that case i would suggest using a better company who don't have any charges. CIS don't charge to cancel or amend your policy, unfortunately they aren't always the cheapest for everyone.
These people were much cheaper two years back, and still cheaper by about £10 last year, but there was no mention of any charges at any point. I've found that the majority of companies (Direct Line etc) wanted in excess of £600 to insure me. A couple got this down to around £400-450, but only two offered cover for about £330. This after getting upwards of 20 quotes each time...
(As an aside, I'm having serious trouble with CIS over my home insurance - it all appears to be one complete muck-up and despite it appearing to have been resolved a few weeks back, just reared it's ugly head again yesterday.... If they weren't so cheap for home insurance I'd definitely go elsewhere)
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There are ways and means of being upfront. It would be very rare to find a broker who said "your insurance company have charged 20 and we've lumped another tenner on top".
There is normally a notice on the wall, or perhaps in all the renewal paperwork.
It is usually not obvious, it is usually charged, and it is usually not very small.
Even to the point where you may have changed to a lesser rated car and the broker may reduce the return premium he passes on to you.
Ask for a copy of the policy endorsement. There is always one, and you are entitled to see it. At least you will know what you were charged. They may, of course, tell you its not available, that they don't have it, that they will try and get a duplicate etc. etc.
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There is normally a notice on the wall, or perhaps in all the renewal paperwork.
This is an internet / telephone broker. (Alexander McNichol) I haven't actually had any paperwork other than the cover note and schedule, and didn't get a renewal quote at all - had to phone up for it.
Even to the point where you may have changed to a lesser rated car and the broker may reduce the return premium he passes on to you.
Must admit that I wasn't expecting such a difference. Is the additional premium charged as for the full year, or pro-rata? Going down from a group 8 to a group 2, but with £55/73 for an extra 7 months seems a lot. (I'd assumed there would be little or no change as most comparative quotes were similar or lower for the Yaris over the Tipo)
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>>CIS don't charge to cancel or amend your policy, unfortunately they aren't always the cheapest for everyone.
I have been with CIS for many years and have found them not only to be competitive but flexible. I wanted to modify my car, roll cage larger brakes etc - nothing to the engine - for autotesting and still use it as a day to day car. CIS were the only company I phoned who would accept my proposals as long as it didn't make the car go faster or look like a better model. There were guidelines to the modifications that could be made.
I beleive they have a discount for Helpless Female drivers as well!! They are also extremely competitive for young drivers.
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I beleive they have a discount for Helpless Female drivers as well!! They are also extremely competitive for young drivers.
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Thank you Hurman for a much-needed laugh!
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>>Thank you Hurman for a much-needed laugh!
Good luck with your insurance hunt, a thankless task!!!
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Yes brokers can charge you a fee when you change car, but they must be upfront about it.
Hmm... I was only told the additional cost, nothing about a charge being included in this.... Is this worth a complaint, and if so, who to?
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Take it up with your broker no question.
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£228 minus £145 = £83. They should be charging you 2/3 of £83 i.e. for the 8 months left on your policy. Either the broker has made a mistake or they're imposing a fee of about £28. Might be worth asking them why they're charging the full £83 rather than just two thirds.
What's the £50 penalty for? Is this a broker or ins co. charge?
Are you prepared to name the insurance co? (not the broker)
Never use a broker unless you're a 'difficult' risk and you think they have expertise in finding a good deal.
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>>Never use a broker unless you're a 'difficult' risk and you think they have expertise in finding a good deal.
I wouldn't neccessarily agree. The wrong thing to do is to use a brokers without understanding the service and its cost (value to you).
I always use a broker; its faster, easier and typically more efficient. Whilst there are always examples of people getting cheaper premiums without a broker, it is more usual that you get a better deal.
Also, its a service. It removes a lot of administration and organisation, and as such is a service I am prepared to pay for. Just make sure you know how much you are paying for it.
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>>> BTW, tried the D.TEL site as suggested by MB, but couldn't find any search facility on it. Probably my ignorance, but if anyone can tell me how......? <<<<
Go to
www.telegraph.co.uk/
then, just under the header is a line with the search button on the left and today's date in the middle.
The search facility is one of the better ones around on the internet. Enter your keywords from the article I quoted earlier. You have the option to narrow the search by restricitng to heading, author, text of article, etc., as you wish or to use them all.
Restrict your search by ticking the "radio-button" to the "date range" and limit the range to the last 6 months dates or so. In the type of articles to search, tick the "money" and "motoring" sections only - untick any others.
Please post again to report whether this works or not.
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Hi MB,
yes it worked this time thanks, I'd been in completely the wrong site before.
Interesting to see how much insurance varies from company to company - have been trying to use the Telegraph insurance finder for some more quotes but it's been down all day so far.
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Interesting to see how much insurance varies from company to company
It also seems to vary from person to person in identical circumstances, and between identical cars. I've also found it varying from day to day, for the same person and same car and same company.
Nothing anybody recommends ever works out best for me - the only answer I think is to sit down and get lots of quotes at the same time, and snap up the best on the spot.
You would have thought that was what a broker was for, but their quotes vary too.
In an ever diminishing world of instant communication you would have thought all quotes would be identical, like 2 petrol stations next door to each other.
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In an ever diminishing world of instant communication you would have thought all quotes would be identical, like 2 petrol stations next door to each other.
Exactly. Even in my own situation, where the companies aren't going to be making much out of me anyway, the difference between some of the quotes I've had so far is proportionately huge. I would have thought competition would have eradicated all this by now.
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HF - Have you tried 'More Th>n' ? I've had quite a few quotes and always found them cheaper than Direct Line, Norwich union, Churchill, AA, etc. etc.
The tel. no. is 0800 300 285.
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HF - Have you tried 'More Th>n' ? I've had quite a few quotes and always found them cheaper than Direct Line.
I found the exact opposite. In my case I know why they call themselves "More Than" because they quoted me £150 more than DL did to insure my Vectra.
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Yes, unfortunately today I tried all the companies suggested to me on this thread, CIS, Esure, MoreTh>n, Axa, and some others that I can't recall offhand - and all were considerably less than the cheapest I've had so far, which was from Budget Insurance. I still think though, that with the penalty that Kwik-Fit are claiming if I cancel with them, my best bet is to stick it out for the extra 7 or 8 months and then go elsewhere. However, I have not yet tried MB's suggestion of trying to persuade them to quote lower, which is definitely something I will do before paying up. Although when I asked for the quote originally I did ask if they had anything better - but as he said, I should maybe try and speak to a supervisor. Can't see anyone doing me many favours though for a policy that's only going to be costing maybe 120-130 quid.
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and all were considerably less thanthe cheapest I've had so far, which was from Budget Insurance.
Dammit just realised -all were considerably 'more', of course!
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Funny isn't it - Kwik Fit rang me with a quote at the time of my last renewal and were about £50 off the pace !
My last renewal for my 940se Turbo (ins. group 15/16 ) with More Th>an' (incl. NCD protection 'for life') was £329 fully comp. which I think is very competitive. Does anyone know of a better deal ?
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Ps. that's for a London borough by the way.
Also, I found that More Th>n were willing to give reduced rates for those who for example do lower mileages, did they ask you your mileage HF ? It can make a big difference to the quote.
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Yes, I gave my mileage. All the above quotes were online quotes by the way, and as such I know not 100% accurate, however I think they give sufficient indication of the likely price. I think, bearing in mind more pressing issues that I have to deal with, I'll stick with Kwik-Fit for now and change in July.
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I'd agree for sure. You've then got time to shop around for a better quote.
BTW, I think you might have better luck if you actually spoke to the companies concerned - most of which offer freephone numbers. The last time I did it the representative was very helpful and pointed out ways in which I could reduce the premium significantly that were not obvious to me. The mileage issue was one, another was the agreed 'excess' amount. That's a bit of a gamble I know but unless you're very unlucky that should be one way of reducing the premium. Do you know what excess you have at present ?
I found that whilst some companies offered lower premiums, the excess figures (which weren't highlighted) they were applying were much higher than my existing policy. Not wanting to sound patronising but you do have to compare 'like with like' and often the 'small print' contains the reason why the quotes differ so much. My advice is to decide what cover, excess, mileage etc. you're going to have the quotes based on and ensure each company contacted quotes on the same basis. The quality of the NCD protection provided (if any) is another factor to consider.
One final point, Your old banger was TPFT cover wasn't it ? Surely you'll be wanting fully comp. for the much newer Astra won't you ? This will probably cost more but it is worth it.
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You are right, Volvo, I should phone around a bit. I will do so if I can get my head round it in the next few days. I think my excess is 100 quid at the moment, which is what the other companies have been quoting for too. As far as I'm aware, all details are exactly the same as for my present policy, except of course the car itself. For all of them, NCD protection costs extra, and as such I have not asked for this protection.
Of course, ideally I would like FC rather than TPFT, and I know most people say the difference in price is relatively small these days, but since even the increased premium for the change of car is stretching me to the limit, it's not an option for me.
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