Axa Ripoff and the value of shopping around..

lazygit

Well today was my first real experience in shopping around for car insurance, and I have to say the difference is staggering!

A bit of info first:
I’m 29 and on a provisional license, I have 2 years driving experience driving a 1ltr(973cc) Opel cosra. my origal insurance was €1800 fully comp with AXA and like a mupped it paid it..

i changed the car about 4 weeks ago for something with a bit more power and size, so i looked around and settled on a suzikie grand vitara, phoned axa and got the insurance changed over, and paid the €200 excess, ok i thought, my insurance will be €2000 next renewal, not a chance! got the new quote in the door today... €2950!! phoned them and asked what the hell!! nothing they could do they said.. id be lucky to get a good quote anywhere....

3 phonecalls later, one quote for €2000, one for €1500, and the one i accepted €1031 fully comp from Eagle star....

So as the government says... shop around!

fletch

Your point being??
How much is your policy now? Did you see a big reduction by changing insurer?

lazygit

lol something strange happned! and the post did not submit fully

Tabnabs

I used to be with AXA (family loyalty blah blah blah) but rang around and the AA were about €600 less. Thank you Mr AA

drdre

I got quoted over 6k when i was 18 and then i rang hibernian and it was only around 2800. After the 1st year it fell to less than 1500.
I think hibernian are the best.Well im going to stick with them for afew years :)Now 3 yrs on i was quoted 800 fully comp on a 1.4 car and im only 22.I think thats a good price as i can drive any other car third party.

Lorax

Thanks OP. Must shop around more when renewing my insurance in august.

smash

wrong dre, you can drive any other car with the same power or less... check the fine print. Anything over a 1.4 or with more power than yours and you're not covered!

drdre

steve06 wrote:

wrong dre, you can drive any other car with the same power or less... check the fine print. Anything over a 1.4 or with more power than yours and you're not covered!

Ah no. I rang them 4-5 times to confirm this and went to dun laoire branch and they said ANY car once i have permission from owner.I drive my fathers car all time and i have confirm this many times even from the manager.I confirmed this so many times because when i was 18 i couldnt believe this additional extra.thats why i went with hibernian i had a cheaper quote from another company but paid the extra.I drove my uncles xc90 for 2 months under my policy and i rang hibernian to make sure and they said its fine that i dont need to put the jeep in my policy and that im covered.

drdre

steve06 wrote:

wrong dre, you can drive any other car with the same power or less... check the fine print. Anything over a 1.4 or with more power than yours and you're not covered!

Just another thing i got caught speeding in the xc90 and the jeep was taken from me.I had to prove my licence and insurance as i didnt have it with me.So i called the insurance company to confirm i was insured on volvo jeep and they said yes.So then i brought all paper work to realease the jeep.So under my policy i can drive other cars i dont know about your policy.

Keith C

lazygit wrote:

Well today was my first real experience in shopping around for car insurance, and I have to say the difference is staggering!

A bit of info first:
I’m 29 and on a provisional license, I have 2 years driving experience driving a 1ltr(973cc) Opel cosra. my origal insurance was €1800 fully comp with AXA and like a mupped it paid it..

i changed the car about 4 weeks ago for something with a bit more power and size, so i looked around and settled on a suzikie grand vitara, phoned axa and got the insurance changed over, and paid the €200 excess, ok i thought, my insurance will be €2000 next renewal, not a chance! got the new quote in the door today... €2950!! phoned them and asked what the hell!! nothing they could do they said.. id be lucky to get a good quote anywhere....

3 phonecalls later, one quote for €2000, one for €1500, and the one i accepted €1031 fully comp from Eagle star....

So as the government says... shop around!

If you had shopped around the previous 2 yrs you would have saved yourself best part of 2 grand!! dont live up to your username!!!

drdre

Keith C wrote:

If you had shopped around the previous 2 yrs you would have saved yourself best part of 2 grand!! dont live up to your username!!!

Heehehe Excellent

MercMad

Funny I find that it literally depends on the car, one of mine was quite a bit cheaper with AXA and they asked if they could quote for the other when due, they were far dearer.

However I have got their loyalty card and I've used it in quite a few places, including Halfords where I got 15% off tools and a mountain bike !

Happy enough !:)

smash

drdre wrote:

Just another thing i got caught speeding in the xc90 and the jeep was taken from me.I had to prove my licence and insurance as i didnt have it with me.So i called the insurance company to confirm i was insured on volvo jeep and they said yes.So then i brought all paper work to realease the jeep.So under my policy i can drive other cars i dont know about your policy.

I still wouldn't be so sure. If this was the case then people could get a 1ltr micra and a ferrari, put the ferrari in someone elses name and drive it around without paying the insurance on it. On my policy I was told the same and when I questioned it and read the fine print, it's not an open insurance policy and they'll only actually cover you if it's not your car and if it's the same or lower power/engine size than your own.

h3000

steve06 wrote:

I still wouldn't be so sure. If this was the case then people could get a 1ltr micra and a ferrari, put the ferrari in someone elses name and drive it around without paying the insurance on it. On my policy I was told the same and when I questioned it and read the fine print, it's not an open insurance policy and they'll only actually cover you if it's not your car and if it's the same or lower power/engine size than your own.

I was with Hibernian up till this year and was insured to drive anything up to the value of €75,000 and of course I was licened to drive as long as the vehicle was not mine and it was owned privately (not a company or rental vehicle).

drdre

h3000 wrote:

I was with Hibernian up till this year and was insured to drive anything up to the value of €75,000 and of course I was licened to drive as long as the vehicle was not mine and it was owned privately (not a company or rental vehicle).

Thanks for confirming this but i was told ANY car and i asked even ferrari and she said yes.Thats why i have driven high powered cars just because im insured or i would never have driven them

fletch

drdre is correct, there is no stipulation or conditions on my policy also. And I asked the girl on the phone to confirm this to me and to ask her supervisor as I also couldn't believe it when she told me

MaxFlower

Imagine this!
SWMBO shopped around at renewal time and managed to get a quote of 600 online as opposed to over a grand with AXA. She promptly signed up and lo and behold the online quote was with ... AXA. They made no bones about and sent out the disc.

PixelTrawler

Something similar happened me this week. Hibernian directly wanted 1150 off me and in the end I got a Hibernian policy off AIB for 672

drdre

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

Something similar happened me this week. Hibernian directly wanted 1150 off me and in the end I got a Hibernian policy off AIB for 672

Woo thats a huge difference for the same company insurance.There must be some change in the policy.Did you get windscreen cover and breakdown assist

NiSmO

This post has been deleted.

Vikings

MercMad wrote:

However I have got their loyalty card and I've used it in quite a few places, including Halfords where I got 15% off tools and a mountain bike !

Happy enough !:)

I got that last year too, and rightly so. Its the least they could do after charging me over €3k in premium. Oh and you don't have to stay with AXA to keep taking advantage of that card.

I recently changed over to QD to save my wallet some and still use the AXA plus card, saved me €30 on my new radio

The open driving thing isn't all its cracked up to be. You have to have a full license and the cover then is still only 3rd Party, so when you wrap that OPC or Ferrari around a tree or lamppost good luck paying it off for the next decade.

Stark

AXA are crazy expensive. I remember getting put down as a named driver on my parents' 1.4L at 23. Even after making me take 10 lessons (at my own expense), they still quoted me over €1500. Wanted to get my own insurance the next year with them and they quoted me €2200 which included named driver experience discount and family discount. Quinn Direct me €1600 and that didn't include any discounts.

Bogger77

Strangely enough, I've found Axa cheaper than QD

When i got my first car (in 2000), Axa quoted me 3k punts full comp, on a brand new 1.4VVTi Corolla. Quinn wanted 5,600K comp.
3 months later, I passed my test, Axa refunded 1K, and my price per year has gone down to almost match my fathers, with a similar car. I find haggling or popping into the office ( or getting my dad to it for me), rather than phone works best, and I always getting reduction from the printed quotes.

Leon11

NiSmO wrote:

This post has been deleted.

if you were to insure a 1ltr car and then drive an opc what happens if it gets stolen. you've no insurance* and say goodbye to the guts of €30k.

*assuming you own an opc and no-one else has theft coverage

UsedtobePC

I don't know if it's still the case but AA in my experience have always been cheaper than AXA for the same coverage. Still when you get the disk, the car is insured with AXA. Funny old world.

Stark

Leon11 wrote:

if you were to insure a 1ltr car and then drive an opc what happens if it gets stolen. you've no insurance* and say goodbye to the guts of €30k.

*assuming you own an opc and no-one else has theft coverage

I think NiSmO was referring to his parents getting open drive on their insurance as opposed to named driver only option, as opposed to the common scam of getting insured on a 1.0L then using the driving other cars extension to drive a 3.0L.

Any open drive policies I've seen only allow drivers over the age of 26 with full licences to drive the car btw.

tuxy

Insurance quotes in Ireland are decided by someone closing their eyes and mashing their hand on the keypad.

littlejukka

i've been with hibernian and st. paul travellers through britton insurance (brokers) for the last 2 years. i rang britton's with a quote i got from quinn of 1100, their own best offer being 1650, and they immediately matched it. it's worth shopping around but also worth making a call and seeing what they can do for you.

oleras

RE:Open driving.

Folks, everyone is forgetting one very important piece of info.

The car you are "openly" insured has to have a current and valid insurance disk.

Stark

Afaik, you can put the insurance disc from your car into the other car if the other car doesn't have a disc already. It's also a good idea to carry around your insurance cert when you're in another person's car regardless of whether it has a disc or not.

craichoe

The Car you are driving HAS to have a Valid Insurance Policy for your Policy to be in effect. When it is you are covered Third Party Only (Not fire and theft).

Hibernian and Axa are the two I know of that have this policy, was the same when i had the bike and Hibernian were still doing it.

If the car does not have an active insurance policy on it the open insurance on your policy is not in effect. You have to temporarily transfer of cover to this vehicle and aprise the insurer of the Registration and Value of the Vehicle.

Open Driving is something else:
(From one direct)

Our open driving option allows anyone to drive your car as long as they are over 25 and under 70 years of age with a full licence. This is available for an additional 15% on your net premium. To qualify, you the policyholder must have your Full/EU licence for more than 5 years and have a minimum of 30% No Claims Bonus. This is available for Class 1A and Class 1B only.

Speaking of shopping around for insurance quotes, my broker quoted me

1388.14 TPFT with Hibernian
911.00 TPFT with Coyle Hamilton
I got some crazy uber f*ck off quote with AXA, was up around 1800
and Finally when with YEEE HAWW Inc (Quinn Direct) initially it was 686 but i stuck on Windscreen cover as an optional extra which brought it to 721 TPFT.

This is on a 00 1.9 TDI Skoda Octavia which is actaully working out cheaper to insure than my old 1997 1.4L Opel Astra.

I was reluctant to go back to Quinn but could resist the decent price.

I'm 26 with 2 years no claims on a provisional license in Cork Suburbs.

Stark

craichoe wrote:

The Car you are driving HAS to have a Valid Insurance Policy for your Policy to be in effect. When it is you are covered Third Party Only (Not fire and theft).

Hibernian and Axa are the two I know of that have this policy, was the same when i had the bike and Hibernian were still doing it.

Some people say this, but I've never seen it written down on an insurance policy. I needed my dad to drive my car home for me when I bought it because I had no insurance, and he rang AXA to ask if it was okay for him to drive another car that wasn't insured and they said it was fine.

The following is the text from my Quinn Direct policy:

Driving other cars
If your certificate of insurance says so, we will also cover you, the
policyholder, for your liability to other people while you are driving
any other privately owned motor car which you do not own or
have not hired under a hire-purchase or lease agreement, as long
as:
1 the vehicle is not owned by your employer or hired to them
under a hire-purchase or lease agreement;
2 you currently hold a full European Union (EU) licence;
3 the use of the vehicle is covered on the certificate of
insurance;
4 cover is not provided by any other insurance;
5 you have the owner’s permission to drive the vehicle;
6 the vehicle is in a roadworthy condition; and
7 you still have your vehicle and it has not been damaged
beyond cost-effective repair.

No mention of the other car having to have valid insurance. No mention of restrictions on my insurance cert either.

Clank

Well ive just shopped around and it turns out AXA is the cheapest.
For me on a provisional, with 1 years experience driving a 1ltr it was €2200 last year (fully comp.) and now €1400 this year (fully comp.).
Im 21 by the way, thats why the high premiums.:(

Quinn was the closest though by €50.

drdre

Clank wrote:

Well ive just shopped around and it turns out AXA is the cheapest.
For me on a provisional, with 1 years experience driving a 1ltr it was €2200 last year (fully comp.) and now €1400 this year (fully comp.).
Im 21 by the way, thats why the high premiums.:(

Quinn was the closest though by €50.

Im 22 and my premuim was under 900 fully comp on a 1.4 litre with hibernian.

afatbollix

mine is 1002 with quinn... im 19, full liance.. on a 1.6 skoda octavia.... get up your arses and get a full liances.. even with the amount of lessons its cheeper

Stark

anto-t wrote:

get up your arses and get a full liances..

Carlsberg don't do ironic typos, but if they did...

hobochris

tuxy wrote:

Insurance quotes in Ireland are decided by someone closing their eyes and mashing their hand on the keypad.

lol..
no no.. its dartboard... im telling you.

All the insurers get together on the weekend and have a game, ofcourse with their own rules:

"Bullseye, Everyone pays more!"

drdre

hobochris wrote:

lol..
no no.. its dartboard... im telling you.

All the insurers get together on the weekend and have a game, ofcourse with their own rules:

"Bullseye, Everyone pays more!"

Thats a good one

neacy69

fletch wrote:

drdre is correct, there is no stipulation or conditions on my policy also. And I asked the girl on the phone to confirm this to me and to ask her supervisor as I also couldn't believe it when she told me

My hibernian policy says the same:
that i can drive any other car with the owners permission and i am fully insured....

craichoe

neacy69 wrote:

My hibernian policy says the same:
that i can drive any other car with the owners permission and i am fully insured....

Until you crash ... Then they'll ask where the L Plates and Fully licensed driver were. ...

They'll say your covered until you have an accident then they'll worm their way out of it.

Stark

craichoe wrote:

Until you crash ... Then they'll ask where the L Plates and Fully licensed driver were. ...

And I'll just tell them the L-plates went in the bin some time ago and I was sitting in the driver's seat. What's that got to do with needing to have the other car insured?

craichoe

Stark wrote:

And I'll just tell them the L-plates went in the bin some time ago and I was sitting in the driver's seat. What's that got to do with needing to have the other car insured?

Seriously though, conversations between the gardai and an insurance company go like this:

Garda: Hello i'm ring up about x .. just want to know if he has insurance

Insurance Company: Was there an Accident ?

Garda: no no, just routine check

Insurance Company: Oh yes he's covered .. no problem

Goes the other way and it's

"We will have to investigate this further"