Never accept renewal premium.

Duiske

I see a lot of posts complaining about insurance premiums, so I thought I would share what happened when my premium was due in early March. I received my renewal notice about four weeks previous to that, which was for €704 (fully comp, windscreen, roadside assist, personal injury, death etc), which was a decrease of €54 on the previous year. Anyway, I called my insurance company and told them that I had received a quote from another company for €460. They asked if the quote included all the extras, so I said no, only windscreen and roadside assist. The rep told me to hold for a minute and I heard tapping of keyboard. About 20secs later he came back and said "ok, we can do it for €460, AND we will include all the extras listed on the renewal notice". It was that simple. The phone call lasted no more than 3 minutes, and I had saved €244, or looking at it another way, I had got a reduction of €298 on the previous year. I know a lot of people do call their insurance company to try for a reduction, but you would amazed at the number of people who receive renewal notices and just pay up.

While I am extremely happy with the amended premium, the thing that bothers me now is the fact that, by reducing the premium by so much, its pretty obvious that they were trying to rip me off with the initial quote.

mike65

Did you actually have a quote from A.N. Other company for €460?

Mike.

Duiske

No, the quote was complete fiction. The cheapest other quote I got was around €680 (don't remember exact figure), but with no extra's except windscreen. I was actually hoping they would meet me somewhere around €600, but would have been happy with even €50 off.

Anan1

Duiske_Lad wrote:

IWhile I am extremely happy with the amended premium, the thing that bothers me now is the fact that, by reducing the premium by so much, its pretty obvious that they were trying to rip me off with the initial quote.

Not really, IMO. Like any other business, they were trying to bring in as much money as possible for their services. This is no more or less legitimate than your successful ploy to pay less. It's called the free market.;)

Duiske

Anan1 wrote:

Not really, IMO. Like any other business, they were trying to bring in as much money as possible for their services. This is no more or less legitimate than your successful ploy to pay less. It's called the free market.;)

Very true. I pay someone else too much ? I think "Rip off". I charge someone else too much ? I think "Maximising Profit"

drdre

was that company hibernian

Stark

What age are you by the way?

cormie

Would this go down as not disclosing the truth to an insurance company? hehe.

I just renewed mine a while back but I only used authentic quotes for price matching. I don't know if I'd allow myself to do it.

Duiske

Stark wrote:

What age are you by the way?

36...2.0L Celica.

Cormie wrote:

Would this go down as not disclosing the truth to an insurance company? hehe.

I just renewed mine a while back but I only used authentic quotes for price matching. I don't know if I'd allow myself to do it.

Just something I learned from my Dad over the years. But even he was amazed at the size of the reduction. I was actually expecting a call back to say the insurance rep had made an error, but happily it never came.