Are Quinn-Direct idiots?

tc2010

Just received this years quote. Its 20% more expensive than last year

Are thy looking to lose customers or whats the point?

Ive never had a crash and my insurance is over a grand.

What genius thinks that increasing there insurance costs will get them more customers/profit?

Obviously theyve just lost over a grand profit from me. Idiots deserve to be put out of business

Eric Cartman

tc2010 wrote: »

Just received this years quote. Its 20% more expensive than last year

Are thy looking to lose customers or whats the point?

Ive never had a crash and my insurance is over a grand.

What genius thinks that increasing there insurance costs will get them more customers/profit?

Obviously theyve just lost over a grand profit from me. Idiots deserve to be put out of business

quinn who were the cheapest quote for me in 2008 by a long shot are now quoting me twice the price of axa or travellers for my renewal, i dont know what theyre at but they dont seem to want customers these days

tc2010

I wonder will all the brainwashed employees be out again when they finally shut down

I wonder who they will blame this time.

Who the hell raises prices during a recession in such a competitive market?

heyjude

tc2010 wrote: »

Just received this years quote. Its 20% more expensive than last year

Are thy looking to lose customers or whats the point?

Ive never had a crash and my insurance is over a grand.

What genius thinks that increasing there insurance costs will get them more customers/profit?

Obviously theyve just lost over a grand profit from me. Idiots deserve to be put out of business

According to this story http://www.rte.ie/business/2010/0910/quinn.html they had operating losses of €127m for last year, so I figure that the point in increasing premiums may be to cover their costs as they've noticed that the current premiums aren't producing a profit.

tc2010

But why would people stay with them if they raise quotes??

Surely they should make themselves more competitive rather than less

Are there really that many stupid people out there that they can raise prices and still increase there customer count

That doesnt make economical sense.

Eric Cartman

heyjude wrote: »

According to this story http://www.rte.ie/business/2010/0910/quinn.html they had operating losses of €127m for last year, so I figure that the point in increasing premiums may be to cover their costs as they've noticed that the current premiums aren't producing a profit.

there not going to solve the problem , by being twice as epensive as other insurers , maybee if they just kicked all the boxy starlets and other ****boxes off their policies, claims would go down

Sofiztikated

Point of diminishing returns. They increase it a small amount for you, you leave grand. They increase it by the same amount for someone else, they stay.

Insurance premiums all around have increased, due to the number of claims being put in, and due to losses being made.

Simple fact is, if its better value (not necessarily the cheapest) to go with someone else, go with them. Then they will have to review their practices.

I can get a slightly cheaper policy than who i am with now, but then I wouldn't have the 3rd party extension on other cars. I'd prefer to keep that for an extra €40 a year.

Eric Cartman

Sofiztikated wrote: »

Point of diminishing returns. They increase it a small amount for you, you leave grand. They increase it by the same amount for someone else, they stay.

Insurance premiums all around have increased, due to the number of claims being put in, and due to losses being made.

Simple fact is, if its better value (not necessarily the cheapest) to go with someone else, go with them. Then they will have to review their practices.

I can get a slightly cheaper policy than who i am with now, but then I wouldn't have the 3rd party extension on other cars. I'd prefer to keep that for an extra €40 a year.

true , but nobodys with quinn for any other reason that i know of, they dont have the greatest reputation for paying out , and as one other boardsie heard from a gard "sure thats just a bit of paper to keep us off your back" , they used to be cheap insurance for young people (1600 fully comp for an 18 year old on a 2.5TD Sorento back when axa wouldnt quote me) , now 2 years later and their quoting me 4000 euro fully comp where axa have quoted me 2000 euro on my 3.0TD isuzu

tc2010

Very few people will stay if they raise there quotes by 200 euro.

Thats pushing diminishing returns way too far.

Eric Cartman

tc2010 wrote: »

Very few people will stay if they raise there quotes by 200 euro.

Thats pushing diminishing returns way too far.

quinn was to insurance what meteor is to phone networks, cheap and sh*t but just provides the bare minimum dirt cheap , its the only reason quinn survived imho, and now theyve f*cked that up

celica1994

with quinn 5 years, got this months renewal quote for €680 , im 25 , 5 years no claims living in laois? best quote i could get was with FBD for €450.. what are quinn playing at seriously, well make profit by driving all our customers away to competitors? lol:D

SV

Best quote off quinn.. €2.2k
First quote off Travellers €1.1k



Quinn are going down the drain..

celica1994

wana have a good laugh at my expense?

My first quote with quinn (and i paid it) back 5 or 6 years ago for insurance on a 1.3ltr mazda 323.... €5200 a year!!!!!! lol:eek:

oldyouth

Quinn has an imbalance on it's books of too many young drivers. They are addressing this by increasing the premiums for this and other profiles. Basically, they either want you to bugger off or pay the significantly higher premium. Either way, they have to do it for solvency reasons nd they are fully aware of the consequences

Johnny Bitte

Just think of the amount of just plain lazy people who let their insurance roll over every year. That's who their banking on!

FFS the amount. Of people I talk to who just won't spend half an hour on lone going through the website qoutes.

cantdecide

celica1994 wrote: »

wana have a good laugh at my expense?

My first quote with quinn (and i paid it) back 5 or 6 years ago for insurance on a 1.3ltr mazda 323.... €5200 a year!!!!!! lol:eek:

Back in 2000 when I was 18, Tipo 1.4 cost me £800 to buy and £3,885 to insure. I still haven't crashed or claimed <yes, I'm knocking on wood>

From my experience of their bike insurance, they seem to make it up as they go. Bikers call them the insurance wheel of fortune or something like that.

Yawns

The_Goose135 wrote: »

Just think of the amount of just plain lazy people who let their insurance roll over every year. That's who their banking on!

FFS the amount. Of people I talk to who just won't spend half an hour on lone going through the website qoutes.

EXACTLY!

I know people too who just can't be arsed! Or 1 woman who says ah sure I've always been with Quinn! Her car was stolen and burned a few months ago. She was left with no car for nearly 3 months because Quinn took that long to pay out. She won't listen to reason that you get what you pay for.

bazz26

I don't see why some folks are getting worked up. Just shop around for the best price/policy and go with that. If they loose enough customers then they will be forced to either reduce their premiums again to stay in business or cease trading.

djimi

bazz26 wrote: »

I don't see why some folks are getting worked up. Just shop around for the best price/policy and go with that. If they loose enough customers then they will be forced to either reduce their premiums again to stay in business or cease trading.

Pretty much this. Theres nothing special about Quinn, so if they come in with a price and Company B come in with a cheaper price then go with Company B.

Anyone who doesnt shop around come insurance renewal time deserves to be ripped off to be fair.

Cionád

Quinn, 2ltr almera, 20yo in year 1.
Year 1: 2,600; next cheapest was 3,300
Year 2: 1,200 (full license); next cheapest was 1,350
Year 3: 850; cant remember next cheapest
Year 4: 660; down after renegociating quote of 800
Year 5: 540; next cheapest was 600
This year: 430; down after renegociating quote of 550

Hibernian wouldnt quote me until year 4 because of engine size, even though its a 74bhp diesel, and then the quote was 1,800, burst myself laughing at that one.

guil

Didn't bother gettin a quote with Quinn but my INS is up Saturday with axa. Last year it was 700 tpft. This year they quoted 900 and aviva will give me the same cover for 531.
Axa said the best they could do was 730
I'm 24 with 6 years ncb and a full
Licence 6 years with no points

orourkeda

Anyone i've spoken to who works in the industry has said that this collapse was just a matter of time.

guil

Just got a quote off Quinn for 537

Sand Wedge

Is it not an Administrator running Quinn now?

furtzy

Have never used Quinn due to their very high quotes and their terrible reputation. Although they aren't as bad as FBD. I have 16 years NCB...full licence for years and years and FBD still quoted me €1500. My renewal is normally €500 ish. They quote me these ridiculous figures every year

markpb

orourkeda wrote: »

Anyone i've spoken to who works in the industry has said that this collapse was just a matter of time.

The fact that Quinn went from nothing to 20% of the market in a few years and stole a lot of their business wouldn't make other insurers annoyed at all

-Chris-

I think it's a bit unfair to call Quinn Direct idiots or refer to the employees as brainwashed.

Virtually every insurance premium has gone up in the last few years due to the economy and markets
Quinn Direct aren't run today by the same people who were running it when you got your last quote, the aims of the business are different
Quinn Direct are currently in administration, one of the causes of this is that their premiums were lower than nearly everyone else
The administrators are currently planning to sell the business, and so are probably working hard to plug any holes in their balance sheet and to ensure that the risk profile of their drivers is favourable

Put all these things together and it would be reasonable to assume that retaining or increasing market share isn't high on the priority list at the moment.


In all honesty, the only idiots are the people who renew their insurance without ringing around.

tc2010

I called them brainwashed because i once worked in an identical job. Everyday emails and other communications going out telling us everything is great. propoganda BS basically. The company could do no wrong. Next thing there in the same situation as Quinn

People marching the streets actually believing that Quinn never made a bad business decision and everything is someone elses fault. Thats brainwashed

Quinn will be gone soon. Probably rebranded after being bought out by a better company

youcrazyjesus!

Unlike day to day stuff when it comes to products I can research on the internet I'm the tightest man on the planet and I know a lot of people who are the same.

Last year I went to renew my mother's insurance with Quinn and the price had doubled. When I rang to see what the story was they said there was nothing they could do on the price. There were no claims involved or penalty points, nothing. They lost the business.

I went to insure with Quinn earlier this year for myself, they were the cheapest by about 50 euro. Despite multiple phone calls and emails they still took over 2 days to accept my new NCT cert, I gave up with them and by the time they got back to me I'd gone elsewhere. They messed me about on the phone and gave me conflicting information. Just a pain in the ass to deal with. The attitude of their staff in both cases was appalling, they were very rude. I'm glad they're going out of business if that's the attitude of their staff. I went with Axa in both cases, seem to be easy to deal with and were very quick to get back to me with one or two queries I had.

zilog_jones

I got a renew quote off Quinn that was more than last year - only €30 more (about €840), and I was here thinking turning 25 would finally make insurance cheap for me! Turns out it will - most other quotes I got from elsewhere are at least €200 less :rolleyes:

guerito

Sand Wedge wrote: »

Is it not an Administrator running Quinn now?

Exactly. And they're going to be very risk-averse. Low premiums = higher risk for insurance companies. An independent company can take as much risk as it wants (until it gets caught out). A company in administration will take a very different view. Quinn's premiums were always going to rise after the scheisse ht the fan.

Theboinkmaster

-Chris- wrote: »

The administrators are currently planning to sell the business, and so are probably working hard to plug any holes in their balance sheet and to ensure that the risk profile of their drivers is favourable

If that's true why would their concern be the balance sheet? It really should be their monthly EBITDA figure - they should be aiming to reducing costs, not raising premiums significantly.

ilovelamp2000

From what I remember Quinn were able to undercut competition because they broke the capital guidelines for Insurance companies, this is what led to the administrators stepping in.

Now that they have to operate on a level playing field it was inevitable that they'd have significant increases on premiums. That said the less premiums they take on the less their capital on hand needs to be.

Gitb1

Mine increased 50% with them this year from just under 1100 to around 1600. I rang them to cancel and they just said ok. Never even asked why or tried to hang on to me as a customer in the slightest

robtri

Gitb1 wrote: »

Mine increased 50% with them this year from just under 1100 to around 1600. I rang them to cancel and they just said ok. Never even asked why or tried to hang on to me as a customer in the slightest

maybe they didnt want your custom.... and where happy to be shot of you....

it might be a drive to push out a certain customers who are considered high risk... raise premimums high enough they leave, and in theroy they have lower claims and losses

charlemont

i always thought quinn direct were targeted by fianna fail as they were an example of an independent irish company doing well and actually attempting to offer quotes to people who were young etc ( probably not giving backhanders to fianna fail either )

i dont pretend to know a lot of detail about the company but iv been with them for 5 years now and only pay 31 euro a month now and i reckon the government only wants us to be insured with expensive companies that scratch their back plus i also think fianna fail have an agenda against ulster, they sent that administrator in very quick considering anglo helped create the mess...

i think the administrator is deliberately attemping to drive customers away, sure less jobs more emigration it all suits FF

testicle

Eric Cartman wrote: »

there not going to solve the problem , by being twice as epensive as other insurers , maybee if they just kicked all the boxy starlets and other ****boxes off their policies, claims would go down

Maybe the OP is one of the aforementioned starlet drivers, and this is their way of getting rid of them as a customer?

Eric Cartman

testicle wrote: »

Maybe the OP is one of the aforementioned starlet drivers, and this is their way of getting rid of them as a customer?

maybee so , but theyre also trying to get rid of me (a commercial 4x4 driver) and one of my mates (an avensis driver) and a rake of other people by doubling our premiums, with me it may be age but my mate is in his 30s and neither of us have ever claimed so i cant see why they are doubling premiums accross the board especially for people who've had no claims and drive unmodified modern safe vehicles

Voodoomelon

Eric Cartman wrote: »

quinn who were the cheapest quote for me in 2008 by a long shot are now quoting me twice the price of axa or travellers for my renewal, i dont know what theyre at but they dont seem to want customers these days

Exactly the same as me. They want exactly double what my cheapest quote is now.

kardarie

Well unlike everyone here so far Quinn have been very fair in both my house insurance and car insurance this year and last year too. In both instances i have shopped around and they have been by far the cheapest with both. Saving at least €100 in the house insurance and €90 in the car insurance. So i will be sticking with them for another year at least. But in most instances if you get a cheaper quote and ring them letting them know you have got a cheaper one they will more than likely try and match that quote. In this recession its all about saving money anyways.

ronaldo84

i got insured with quinn the first time i started driving they were da cheapest ba a long shot for 3rd party insurance and i took it just coz it was a piece of paper so i could drive legal on da road

-Chris-

kardarie wrote: »

Well unlike everyone here so far Quinn have been very fair in both my house insurance and car insurance this year and last year too. In both instances i have shopped around and they have been by far the cheapest with both. Saving at least €100 in the house insurance and €90 in the car insurance. So i will be sticking with them for another year at least. But in most instances if you get a cheaper quote and ring them letting them know you have got a cheaper one they will more than likely try and match that quote. In this recession its all about saving money anyways.

Did you renew your insurance before or after April this year?

markpb

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

If that's true why would their concern be the balance sheet? It really should be their monthly EBITDA figure - they should be aiming to reducing costs, not raising premiums significantly.

They have cut their costs. Almost 900 staff were let go this year.

Rosco1982 wrote: »

From what I remember Quinn were able to undercut competition because they broke the capital guidelines for Insurance companies, this is what led to the administrators stepping in.

You're mixing up two different things. They didn't follow the normal standards for investing premia - instead of having a high ratio of safe to unsafe investments, they did it the other way. Insurance companies normally have a few high risk investments and lots of safe ones like government bonds. QDI bought stocks, property, etc. When the markets were going up, it meant the company was very profitable (but mostly from the investments, not from the underwriting business). When the markets tanked, there were less profits from investments.

Separately, the insurance company acted as guarantors to other parts of the Quinn Group for their debt (which is normal for large companies but not for insurance companies). The regulator ruled that those guarantees could not be counted towards the company's reserves and was in breech of the insurance law which is why the administrators were called in.

Right now, they need to build up their reserves to a suitable level so the company doesn't need reserves. I'd imagine that means losing not only high-risk customers but also customers in general. Fewer customers means a lower reserve.

kardarie

-Chris- wrote: »

Did you renew your insurance before or after April this year?

My house insurance was due 2/3 weeks ago. And my insurance for the car is due the end of next month but got quote out a week ago and have shopped around. There still the cheapest by far. Im not one to just send off the renewal before checking out every possible avenue for a cheaper quote.

astrofool

Renewed back in July, initial quote was 10% over the previous years price, rang around the others, who gave me a price a couple % below the previous years cost. Rang Quinn, and they beat their previous years price by 10% (so 20% on the initial quote). Rang back the others, who couldn't match it.

Went with Quinn in the end.

Phone calls took me about 10 minutes.

TouchingVirus

The be fair Axa did that on me between 2008 and 2009 - Increased my premium by €300 for no reason. It happens and that's why you shop around.

tc2010

testicle wrote: »

Maybe the OP is one of the aforementioned starlet drivers, and this is their way of getting rid of them as a customer?

Nope. Definitely not a starlet. Its an A4 1.6

A lot of people from all different age groups have come forward and said there quotes have increased. I dont think its exclusive to young people who drive modified cars