Its Insurance Time!

[davepruce]

So - currently with Norwich Union, all bells and whistles, £120 excess, £60 windscreen, 5 years protected NCB etc etc - they wanted £464.

Hmmm - bit much I thought - so I ring around, go on the net etc etc and end up with a quote from Direct Line matching my current policy at £330 - OK thinks I, sounds good, so I ring NU to cancel.

Automated answer (what else??), "press 2 to cancel your policy", 2 gets pressed and I expect to get through to somewhere in India but NO, I get a chatty Liverpudlian!

NU - "So sir, what is the reason for wanting to cancel - a cheaper quote elsewhere?"

Me - "Yes - £130 cheaper" I said smugly

NU - " Well sir, we've just realised that our quotations have been going out too high and we are starting to ring our customers to tell them"

Yeah right!!!!!

NU - "If we can match your current quote would you stay with us?"

Me - mercenary to the end "Of course!"

So he then quotes me £330 (strange that - smack on) and then says

NU - "one moment, I'll ask my manager if I can reduce it even more, is that OK?"

Me - "Ummmm ..... Of course its OK!" He obviously sold double glazing in a former job!

So he went for at least 10 secs then came back with

NU - "Ok sir - all up that will be £326 - will that be OK?"

Well you cant actually snatch his arm off over the phone but you get my drift

So - same policy - no agg - no wondering what a new company is gonna be like and I save £138 and pence into the bargain.

Reeeeeesult!

Dave :D :D :D :D

[MacRS200]

Go back to Direct Line and tell them you got a better quote :D

[peter026]

So he quoted you Happy then

[Chris Skelton]

Co-op did exactly the same to me too, except the local agent, who calls here!, called unasked with a lower figure.

So, sorry Saga, maybe next year......

(Try the Co-op though folks? Not the first on everyones list. But ethical too, he said at the end of 'Fairtrade fortnight'.)

[maneesh]

For a 4 litre V8 luxury car, that is dirt cheap insurance!! Well done for using your head and price matching!

[panda]

For a 4 litre V8 luxury car, that is dirt cheap insurance!! Well done for using your head and price matching!

When I went from a GS 300 to an LS 430 I found it was only one insurance group higher and it was only70 quid more for the year. It must be that the claims history on Lexus is very good. One of the better side effects of the 300 and 430 series being viewed as 'old men's cars' !!

[steve2006]

For a 4 litre V8 luxury car, that is dirt cheap insurance!! Well done for using your head and price matching!

When I went from a GS 300 to an LS 430 I found it was only one insurance group higher and it was only70 quid more for the year. It must be that the claims history on Lexus is very good. One of the better side effects of the 300 and 430 series being viewed as 'old men's cars' !!

Had a few problems with insurance for my imported Celsior, the mainstream insurers didn't recognise the make and model, eventually found a specialist insurer with fully comp,protected NCB for £310.00.

Now where's my zimmerframe gone this time!!!!!!

[moriwaki]

I think they have a bloody cheek !... "sent out your quote too high" and " starting to ring customers "....what a load of b***%cks !...sorry but I would have still told them to stuff it...Norwich Union are famed for rip off prices...Sorry to rant but have experienced this bu**s*it tactic before...BEWARE Guys...they make say 800 million a year and pay out 20 million...go figure :duh:

[JellyBean]

And then, to make even MORE profit, they move their call centres abroad, with consequent UK job losses.

[chris vince]

Funnily enough I am also with NU, this year I completed their website questionaire for an on-line quote, because I did this online it meant an automatic 10% reduction on their online prices which are cheaper than their direct line prices, they were also running a 14 months cover for the price of 12 offer.

Armed with this quote I contacted their direct line dept and demanded equality with the online quote, and threatened if not, I would be offski.

Guess what, I got the online deal.

When my lads Corsa insurance was due also with NU, I used the same ploy again.

I never used the shop around or haggle for insurance but now do so all the time I find it easier over the phone, not having to look at their disapproving faces.

Regards,

Chris Vince

[lexusluther]

Are we all with NU? perhaps LOC can work some great deal for us all (soz if this has been done in the past), my policy has gone up year on year with NU so I got a few on line quotes, swiftcover.com have just quoted me £218.00 for the year thats £111.00 cheaper than Nu!, guess they will be getting a call from me this week!

Have the days gone when your insurance goes down each year for loyalty

[MacRS200]

Have the days gone when your insurance goes down each year for loyalty

:) :) :) :) :) "Brand New Customers Only" :) :) :) :)

[toffla]

I change my insurance company every year between tesco/more than and this year its elephant also i find that more than will do you an on line quote then a day later e-mail you a better deal.

I pay £420 fully comp at 33 years old 6 years no claims and 3 points (which i got in a daewoo )

always best to a have shop around as you all know.

I will try co-op next year as there may be a discount on a funeral included

[chris vince]

I tried More Than last year, ended up talking to a very nice Indian lady, it all went wrong when we got to the security device section, she wanted the make and model of the immobiliser/alarm, I told her it was a factory fitted standard system.

I then spent the next spent 40 plus minutes on the phone arguing with her that there was no security device make or model it was a Lexus system.

I had to curtail the quote when her supervisor told me to take the car to a Lexus main dealer get them to identify their alarm then ask for the part numbers, and phone back to complete the quote!!

One of the problems I have encountered with insurance, phone, and other companies going 'abroad' with their call centres, is that once you veer off of the standard response answer sheet the handlers have in front of them the conversation rapidly goes to rat s**t.

Regards,

Chris Vince

[lsnut]

We shop around evry Year but always end up back at Ryan Insurance in Ipswich. They are not always the very cheapest but are always witrhin 5 or 10 quid of the best quote. However, they give excellent service.

This Year we had to replace a cracked windscreen. I call them up and ask what to do and the very helpful bloke says "I'll call you back within half an hour". Of course he didn't, but another bloke from the windscreen compnay did. He said he would go to my wife's office in the morning and replace the glass. He did. He then told my wife that he had a deal set up with Ryan and it only would cost us £30.00.

The last claim we had was about 12 Years ago. This was dealt with with no hassle to us and it only affected our premium by about 15% the next Year.

Sometimes it is worth paying a little more to get the best service.

[carlo]

Hi Guys,

Interesting topic. I pay 324 quid with Saga but take the car off the road for 6 months each year. Finding a 6 month policy was really hard & with Saga I get a year's cover but just suspend the policy from Octoer - April. They send me a cheque for the suspended period. They'll catch on some day I expect & give me grief. Anyone know of a decent compan that accommodates short-term cover I'd be interested.

Cheers.

Carlo

[davepruce]

please remove

[sjm22]

Well i think you should all be well happy!

I pay £2400 third party fire and theft on my ls400/celsior. I'm 22 with 8 points (oops)

[toffla]

Thats your age mate. nice to see a young man in a old fellas car. also insurance group is higher than a scobby wrx.

[lutonmatt]

i drive a 400 and i am only 22 pay £700 insurance tptf but its the power when it kicks down if the back wheels stop spinning and the room in sid e plus it looks good at the golf course car park

[carlo]

please remove

What's up Dave? Remove my post? Explain please.

Carlo.

[davepruce]

please remove

What's up Dave? Remove my post? Explain please.

Carlo.

Sorry Carlo - I didnt mean remove yours - I meant remove mine which was posted in the wrong place, so I editted it and removed the text which left a blank post, just trying to be tidy - sorry for the confusion.

Dave

[carlo]

:) Cheers mate.

Carlo

please remove

What's up Dave? Remove my post? Explain please.

Carlo.

Sorry Carlo - I didnt mean remove yours - I meant remove mine which was posted in the wrong place, so I editted it and removed the text which left a blank post, just trying to be tidy - sorry for the confusion.

Dave

[Nick The Greek]

Just thought I'd get a quote before I seriously look into purchasing an LS400.

Got a quote through my current insurer (direct line) for a 1994 LS400, and they only want £439!

Thats about £300 cheaper than i'm paying them at the moment for my S/C IS200! :D

[maneesh]

Just thought I'd get a quote before I seriously look into purchasing an LS400.

Got a quote through my current insurer (direct line) for a 1994 LS400, and they only want £439!

Thats about £300 cheaper than i'm paying them at the moment for my S/C IS200! :D

It's because the LS400 is viewed as a grandpa car and so is less likely to be crashed or stolen than a young geezer's car like an IS200....

Be very careful, once you drive a LS400, you won't be able to own any other car as they will seem crap in comparison..except maybe for Bentleys etc.