Car Insurance increases

[bigsigh]

Someone may have covered this in the 9 pages, but incase hey haven't, AbbeyAutoline were up from £390 to £460 this year for me, TescoBank through the comparison websites came in at £278 and £303 with the NCB protected. just incase anyone is looking about

 

[DC.]

Direct Line just about matched my quote from last year so will likely go with them.

 

[IL]

I'm Currently with Admiral... Who else does a Multicar Policy for N.Ireland?

 

[Ian A]

I'm Currently with Admiral... Who else does a Multicar Policy for N.Ireland?

NFU can do multi cover policies, but were miles off admiral from my checks.

 

[IL]

NFU can do multi cover policies, but were miles off admiral from my checks.

I use NFU for my House / Land Cover, but in the past they have never been competitive for the Cars

 

[kharma45]

I'm Currently with Admiral... Who else does a Multicar Policy for N.Ireland?

Direct Line do multicar/multipolicy discount but it wasn't as cheap this year to stay so I split one car away from them. Still have 1x car and home with them.

 

[Coog]

Direct line give you a discount for multiple policies. Ive business van and car insurance through them which gives me a bit of discount.

 

[Ben]

1st Central do multi car, but I’ve found them not great to deal with.

 

[Mel_45]

1st Central do multi car, but I’ve found them not great to deal with.

On the other hand I've had a claim with 1st central and they were brilliant for me. No messing around, paid out in full in 2 days.

 

[Ian A]

On the other hand I've had a claim with 1st central and they were brilliant for me. No messing around, paid out in full in 2 days.

Same for me. Both had a fault and non fault claim, flawless both times. No fuss at all.

 

[Graham2]

Wife's renewal on the Q7 just came through, up from £525 to £750. Time to do some shopping around.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/car-insurance/when-to-renew/

 

[Graham2]

Wife's renewal on the Q7 just came through, up from £525 to £750. Time to do some shopping around.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/car-insurance/when-to-renew/

Comparison sites coming in at circa £750 as well as Direct Line multicar policy. Lets see if the price is lower in a few days as per Money Saving Expert.

 

[anlygi]

Comparison sites coming in at circa £750 as well as Direct Line multicar policy. Lets see if the price is lower in a few days as per Money Saving Expert.

I've seen a few people get renewal quotes suspiciously close to the lowest price on comparison sites. It's almost like they're shopping around on customers' behalf then setting a price that people will take to avoid the hassle of moving!

 

[DC.]

Moneysupermarket etc were no real help to me. Found it better going direct to the different sites.

 

[Ben]

On the other hand I've had a claim with 1st central and they were brilliant for me. No messing around, paid out in full in 2 days.

Same for me. Both had a fault and non fault claim, flawless both times. No fuss at all.

I've had the opposite experience, I've been in 2 accidents in all my driving, and both times I happened to be with 1st Central (I near enough always change insurer every year). The first time with with the B5 S4. They were useless, I had legal cover, but they said it didn't apply to me being charged with careless driving. No courtesy car even though I should have, and they took months to pay out on the Audi. Plus I was told at the time I would have the option to buy the car back, was never offered, and they never let me know where it had been taken. And then when paying out they only offered something like £2500. Had to fight tooth and nail to get it up to around £4500 (was worth about £7k at the time).

Second time was more recently, in May this year on a 3 lane carriage way, I changed from lane 1 to lane 2, and at the same time another car changed from lane 3 to lane 2. Neither of us seen each other until we were touching so small bump on my wing and their wing and door. I had indicated, checked mirrors and hadn't seen them, and they said the same, so we both said look it's probably split fault and agreed to let insurance sort it out. I spoke to 1st Central and they agreed it sounded like split fault. Asked if wanted to let them fix the car but I said no, I'll be able to get it sorted myself for probably the same price as the excess. They advised then if I didn't claim, and the other party claimed, as it was split fault it wouldn't affect my NCD. Happy days I thought. They said they would keep the file open for 6 months, and let me know if the status of the claim changed etc. I checked the claim status in September again on the policy account and it still said pending, I rang up and they said basically once 6 months passes they will close the file, and remove the claim.
Come November, 6 months from the incident, I get my car sorted and decide to check the claims section on my policy account to check the claim has gone. Not only has it not gone, it shows that I am at fault, and my NCD has been lowered to 3 years, and the status of the claim is resolved and closed. I was furious, I rang up and asked for an explanation, which apparently they couldn't give me as the claim is now closed they cannot access the specifics. I asked to speak to the claims team and they advised it is an external 3rd party claims team and say they will put me through. I was on hold for 45 mins and they it hung up on my. I tried again to speak to 1st Central and ask for management, I get put on hold for another 45 mins and it cuts off again. I have sent emails which have been ignored and tried ringing again but every time it's someone different who tries to pass me off to someone else who never picks up. Absolutely useless. It's looking like I'll either have to take it on the chin or escalate to the financial ombudsman .

 

[Lyons]

That’s the sort of experience that makes me glad I ignore the likes of 1st Central and stick with a bigger name. Not that there’s no chance of that happening with them tbf.

 

[Coog]

I wouldn't use first central if they were free.

 

[Crow555]

1st Central were always among the top results in the different comparison sites which prompted me to check out if there were any reviews of insurers and that's where I stumbled onto a which? piece about insurers and they didn't paint 1st very positively. It was also the reason I went directly with LV in the end.

 

[Chris100]

I've had the opposite experience, I've been in 2 accidents in all my driving, and both times I happened to be with 1st Central (I near enough always change insurer every year). The first time with with the B5 S4. They were useless, I had legal cover, but they said it didn't apply to me being charged with careless driving. No courtesy car even though I should have, and they took months to pay out on the Audi. Plus I was told at the time I would have the option to buy the car back, was never offered, and they never let me know where it had been taken. And then when paying out they only offered something like £2500. Had to fight tooth and nail to get it up to around £4500 (was worth about £7k at the time).

Second time was more recently, in May this year on a 3 lane carriage way, I changed from lane 1 to lane 2, and at the same time another car changed from lane 3 to lane 2. Neither of us seen each other until we were touching so small bump on my wing and their wing and door. I had indicated, checked mirrors and hadn't seen them, and they said the same, so we both said look it's probably split fault and agreed to let insurance sort it out. I spoke to 1st Central and they agreed it sounded like split fault. Asked if wanted to let them fix the car but I said no, I'll be able to get it sorted myself for probably the same price as the excess. They advised then if I didn't claim, and the other party claimed, as it was split fault it wouldn't affect my NCD. Happy days I thought. They said they would keep the file open for 6 months, and let me know if the status of the claim changed etc. I checked the claim status in September again on the policy account and it still said pending, I rang up and they said basically once 6 months passes they will close the file, and remove the claim.
Come November, 6 months from the incident, I get my car sorted and decide to check the claims section on my policy account to check the claim has gone. Not only has it not gone, it shows that I am at fault, and my NCD has been lowered to 3 years, and the status of the claim is resolved and closed. I was furious, I rang up and asked for an explanation, which apparently they couldn't give me as the claim is now closed they cannot access the specifics. I asked to speak to the claims team and they advised it is an external 3rd party claims team and say they will put me through. I was on hold for 45 mins and they it hung up on my. I tried again to speak to 1st Central and ask for management, I get put on hold for another 45 mins and it cuts off again. I have sent emails which have been ignored and tried ringing again but every time it's someone different who tries to pass me off to someone else who never picks up. Absolutely useless. It's looking like I'll either have to take it on the chin or escalate to the financial ombudsman .

Why go back to them, if they had been so bad the first time?

 

[Ben]

Why go back to them, if they had been so bad the first time?

The first time was 7 years ago, and since then they have rebranded, changed their underwriter and offered some new types of policies (multicar, online only etc). I thought I'd give them a go as they were around £150 cheaper than the next option too. Never again.

 

[Toeman]

Like most things you get what you pay for Sometimes pay that bit more knowing you have better product

 

[Chris100]

The first time was 7 years ago, and since then they have rebranded, changed their underwriter and offered some new types of policies (multicar, online only etc). I thought I'd give them a go as they were around £150 cheaper than the next option too. Never again.

All reviews I have read said they were absolutely terrible, they had been the cheapest quote for me for some years. But a 2 minute search for reviews made me run a mile.

Cheapest is rarely worth the saving, normally a very good reason they are cheap.

 

[it_carwasher]

after many, many, many searches, many phone calls (NFU, etc). Best I can get is £2047 with Admiral (been with them 7 years), thats for Defender, 992 and House Insurance bundled in. HFX renewal with 'extra' discount was £408. So then 1600 for the cars, they were 1362 last year. So maybe not too bad considering.

These better drop back next year.

Strangely enough the contents insurance for our Apt has dropped from £76 to £61, so its clearly its rebuild/matieral costs.

Bunch of shysters all the same.

 

[Gavlar]

Car renewal landed there and it's £100 more, can't find anywhere cheaper either, *******s

 

[Graham2]

Comparison sites coming in at circa £750 as well as Direct Line multicar policy. Lets see if the price is lower in a few days as per Money Saving Expert.

Nope! Can scrape it below £700 if I increase the voluntary excess up to £500. But price like-for-like isn't changing at all.