123.ie screwing me?

Didn't know where else to post this. Had a pretty crazy experience with a ridiculous renewal quote that I received from 123.ie. The full story is here.

To sum it up for those who don't want the full story. Last year my Third Party, Fire and Theft car insurance was about €650. This week, I received a renewal quote for €1100, despite no changes. To make this even more interesting, I got a quote of €423 from their website last month. This evening, I got a quote off their website for €618, despite two separate customer care reps informing me that they couldn't help me lower my renewal premium down from €1100.

What on earth is going on with RSA? I know they're hiking, but by 69%? Are people in their 20s bearing the brunt of it?

toyotaavensis

OP have a look at the other insurers in the market. I think i saw a list on a thread here recently.

Also give a few brokers a call as some insurance i.e. asguard and arb dont sell direct to drivers.

Hope you get a decent quote.

Miscreant

Mine went from €550 to €680 last year with 123 for no reason. Same car, same address, same circumstances, higher no claims experience and yet the premium still went up.
Vote with your feet is all I can recommend. Get on the phone and call a few brokers to get a better deal.

toyotaavensis

toyotaavensis wrote: »

OP have a look at the other insurers in the market. I think i saw a list on a thread here recently.

Also give a few brokers a call as some insurance i.e. asguard and arb dont sell direct to drivers.

Hope you get a decent quote.

Oh, I've done that and I've been pleased to find that there are quotes between €450 and €520 for me. I'm having a few of them sent out to my house. Just completely intrigued by what is actually going on here. Are they pushing younger people out before of their (RSA Insurance) financial issues? What will happen to 123.ie and their moto if it continues like this?

toyotaavensis

By the way last year i got a renewal quote for 500.
Shopped around and another company offered me 470.
Rang my own insurance co and said i had a quote for 450.
They dropped from 500 to 430 there and then.

Play them off against each other.

rovoagho

Usually a giant leap like that, with a refusal to negotiate, is an indicator that they're reorganising the way they cover. Same thing happened to me a while back with van insurance at FBD, they simply didn't want to do it any more.

Move on. If they haven't shifted by now they won't shift. There's plenty other insurers out there. Try an AXA office, I've got good deals from them for a while now. But an office, not the phone. Sit down them with a bust of online quotes and work them down, they've a rake of discounts available to bring the price down if they want to.

sullivlo

Zoie Important Therapy wrote: »

Didn't know where else to post this. Had a pretty crazy experience with a ridiculous renewal quote that I received from 123.ie. The full story is here.

To sum it up for those who don't want the full story. Last year my Third Party, Fire and Theft car insurance was about €650. This week, I received a renewal quote for €1100, despite no changes. To make this even more interesting, I got a quote of €423 from their website last month. This evening, I got a quote off their website for €618, despite two separate customer care reps informing me that they couldn't help me lower my renewal premium down from €1100.

What on earth is going on with RSA? I know they're hiking, but by 69%? Are people in their 20s bearing the brunt of it?

I had a similar issue with 123.ie

Initial quote for €350, got a second quote about 10 days later for €400 and when I rang them to query it they quoted €450!

Zuzi

A friend of mine had with them a terrible experience.
Last year he got a quote of a 900 euros, and cause was the first year he accepted.
Than this year was expecting the insurance should go down since he didn't have any claim etc...but they send a letter and said they will offer the new year for 1300 euros!!!
He got the quotation tough the website and that was around 1000 again, so he called the customer service, and only the second time they went back saying that was an error in their letter.

So guys, from my side, last year my and boyfriend went to a broker and was really good, 800 euros for both of us, then this year they find a better quote for us: we paid only 500 euros!

So please don't stop on line, go to a good broker!!!

toyotaavensis

toyotaavensis wrote: »

By the way last year i got a renewal quote for 500.
Shopped around and another company offered me 470.
Rang my own insurance co and said i had a quote for 450.
They dropped from 500 to 430 there and then.

Play them off against each other.

Tried it. The woman on chat asked me if I had got quotes lower than €1100. Told her that a number of companies were offering on average about €500 and that their policies also had similar bells and whistles. She just responded by saying that there was nothing she could do to lower my premium. Felt like I was just getting shut out and that was that. Left a real bad taste in my mouth, to put it lightly.

rovoagho

Why are you even asking then? They don't understand loyalty. Move on.

Pointless thread is pointless.

Jesus.

I'm with them myself and after reading that I'm dreading the renewal letter coming through the door :eek:

What I don't understand is how they can quote you a crazy renewal price yet on the internet, as a brand new customer, you can get it much cheaper. It happened me a couple of years back and I rang them up and asked them how that could be and they just said, here we'll give you the internet price so.

Weird.

Squeaksoutloud

My quote from 123 doubled also...even though online was same as year before. Shopped around and ended up getting my insurance cheaper than what I had paid with 123/RSA last year. They must be trying this on with everyone as have seen a few people saying it.

Supergurrier

Most insurers i find work like this.

1st Year = Decent quote
2nd Year = Slightly lower quote
Year 3/4/5 etc bunp it up bit by bit until you leave

rovoagho

rovoagho wrote: »

Why are you even asking then? They don't understand loyalty. Move on.

Pointless thread is pointless.

Because they're chancing their arm in an attempt to get customers to pay more, just so that they can push prices up across the board. Out of all the threads that you could consider pointless, I doubt it is one that gives others a slight heads up about one of the most popular insurers in the country. Its a matter of principles.

fearcruach

I had the same experience with Liberty. I've been with them two years. Changed to a 2l Alfa during the year which pushed up my premium. My renewal quote this year was €1580 from Libery (25 yr/old, 3 years NCB).

I got a quote from No Nonsense for €850. Definitely pays to shop around.

Doom

Insurance will rise across the board, RSA are exposed to a lot of household claims in Ireland, UK and some northern European countries

dudara

There is no scam or "screwing" tactic here. Insurance companies want to get you as a customer & then they hope that your sense of loyalty & inertia will keep you tied to them. You also need to combine that with the different market segments they target plus actuarial statistics.

Simple fact is, don't be loyal. Play the quote game every year, and don't take it personally.

bodonnell

Renewal quote from 123 (rsa) €486 fully comp up about 60 from last year despite changing to less powerful car. Insured today for €310 from 25plus.ie (aig). Got another quote from cornmarket (rsa) for €615 !

Last years premium was 474 with 123 (fully comp). Renewal this year was 567, rang them up and said I wanted a lot better. Came down to 507 and wouldn't budge. So rang around and nobody would get near to it, next best was 660 and I got a few no quotes and one or over 1k. All in all I'm happy with 123, might be up a bit on last year but they are still destroying everyone else's price for me.

enviro

bodonnell wrote: »

Renewal quote from 123 (rsa) €486 fully comp up about 60 from last year despite changing to less powerful car. Insured today for €310 from 25plus.ie (aig). Got another quote from cornmarket (rsa) for €615 !

I also moved from 123 to 25plus, there was a huge difference in the quotes I got from both... as others have said, shop around.

Cogsy88

Zoie Important Therapy wrote: »

Didn't know where else to post this. Had a pretty crazy experience with a ridiculous renewal quote that I received from 123.ie. The full story is here.

To sum it up for those who don't want the full story. Last year my Third Party, Fire and Theft car insurance was about €650. This week, I received a renewal quote for €1100, despite no changes. To make this even more interesting, I got a quote of €423 from their website last month. This evening, I got a quote off their website for €618, despite two separate customer care reps informing me that they couldn't help me lower my renewal premium down from €1100.

What on earth is going on with RSA? I know they're hiking, but by 69%? Are people in their 20s bearing the brunt of it?

They quoted me 850 on a 1.25 fiesta this year, which is ridiculous. I got cheaper insurance on my van last year. Go elsewhere op.

SniperSight

My sister got an intersting one with 123.
She got a quote of €890. For some reason she was down as having 2 points (her info was passed on from AON, who stopped personal cover).
She called the to inform them that she has no points, and how much it'd had loaded onto her quote.
Guy on the phone said about €90.
He said to give him a minute and he'd fix the mistake.

He came back with a quote for €1200....the points had been removed, but all of a sudden she lived in a "dangerous" area; which is utter scat! Area couldn't be safer!

Oh how we laughed!

Anyway, she got far cheaper quotes elswhere, so sod 123.

rovoagho

Zoie Important Therapy wrote: »

Because they're chancing their arm in an attempt to get customers to pay more, just so that they can push prices up across the board. Out of all the threads that you could consider pointless, I doubt it is one that gives others a slight heads up about one of the most popular insurers in the country. Its a matter of principles.

Why would people need a heads-up? Anyone that doesn't fight back against the insurer's blatantly transparent attempts to rip people off (we'll have to agree to disagree on that Dudara, because I don't consider it anything but) deserves all they get; if they're not able to figure out that their quote from this year is much higher than last year, they shouldn't be driving a car.

You get (at least) 3-5 quotes, you shove them in the insurer's face, and if they don't match or better it you tell them that you find their attitude to their customers offensive; you ask them to remove you from their marketing databases immediately; you tell them you won't be consulting them for quotes for the next 3-5 years (of course you will, but they need everyone to tell them to stuff it); and you walk out the door.

No heads-up required. Until everyone starts doing this, the entire industry will remain blissfully aware of the meaning of the word "loyalty".

"Let's do it to them before they do it to us." --Sgt. Stan Jablonski, Hill Street Station

Limbo123

Last year fully comp with a named driver for €500 with 123. Renewal just in for nearly €800.

Any recommendations for decent brokers please?

1 2 3 . I E
want to rob all my money!

Liam McPoyle

Do people not watch the news?


RSA had to get over £200,000,000 pumped into them from their UK counterpart towards the end of 2013 due to "irregularities" with their claims reserving. It resulted in a number of high profile executives over here either resigning or getting the door. It also badly hit their share price as a result.

They (123) spent years under charging for insurance in an effort to get market share and are now paying the price.

As for a good brokers, there are loads out there. Try First Ireland, O'Callaghans, McCarthys or Campions. All 4 have a large amount of personal lines business on their books so would have a huge amount of potential insurers they work for.

TheNog

Got a renewal from 123 couple of weeks ago of €580 which was €100 more than last year. Not impressed. Was able to get it down to about €460 with other companies.

This morning found Aib doing a deal with up 75% discount with an additional 20% off before the end of March. Got it for €380 and no deposit over 12 months. Policy is for me with 20yrs full licence, 10 yrs no claims, learner permit just over a year additional driver. I'm back below the €400 mark again. Delighted!!!

Never ever stay with the same company because as people say they don't have loyalty to their customers.

JustAddWater

TheNog wrote: »

Got a renewal from 123 couple of weeks ago of €580 which was €100 more than last year. Not impressed. Was able to get it down to about €460 with other companies.

This morning found Aib doing a deal with up 75% discount with an additional 20% off before the end of March. Got it for €380 and no deposit over 12 months. Policy is for me with 20yrs full licence, 10 yrs no claims, learner permit just over a year additional driver. I'm back below the €400 mark again. Delighted!!!

Never ever stay with the same company because as people say they don't have loyalty to their customers.

Yeah 123 annoy me with large enough deposit and 10 months payments

The first year is ok bit the next year wanting a deposit again is stupid. Especially if you paid up no problems before.

Really stupid of them to break the cover into TPFT and TPFT 'lite' and same with comp.

Breakdown assistance is covered on the TPFT but not on comp lite for example. Stupid

Moved to a staff scheme with Allianz so I'm fully comp with less than what I was 3rd party with 123 so happy days

The €40 admin fee for doing just about anything is a big pain

Del2005

Zoie Important Therapy wrote: »

Because they're chancing their arm in an attempt to get customers to pay more, just so that they can push prices up across the board. Out of all the threads that you could consider pointless, I doubt it is one that gives others a slight heads up about one of the most popular insurers in the country. Its a matter of principles.

Every insurance company tries to get its customers to pay more. It's the customers job to shop around for the best deal for themselves. If you blindly pay the renewal it's your fault for paying too much not the companies.


Personally I never go back to my original insurance company of I get a better quote. If you want my money give me your best price not a random quote which can be changed after I spend my time getting a cheaper quote.

oldyouth

There are various threads on this topic which basically boil down to the same thing "spend a day on the phone/computer getting quotes from loads of insurers and save yourself a fortune". It is, of course excellent advice.

However, can I urge people to at least spend an hour studying the vast difference in cover offered for the price quoted? Please be comfortable in your knowledge of what is meant by excess, bonus protection, step-back bonus, open drive, driving of other cars, breakdown cover etc. You can then decide which options are important and whether the cheapest is actually good value for your circumstances

dr.fuzzenstein

dudara wrote: »

There is no scam or "screwing" tactic here. The scam works like this Insurance companies want to get you as a customer & then they hope that your sense of loyalty & inertia will keep you tied to them. You also need to combine that with the different market segments they target plus actuarial statistics.

Simple fact is, don't be loyal. Play the quote game every year, and don't take it personally.

Yes there is, you're even describing it in your reply.

andersat2

Zoie Important Therapy wrote: »

Didn't know where else to post this. Had a pretty crazy experience with a ridiculous renewal quote that I received from 123.ie. The full story is here.

To sum it up for those who don't want the full story. Last year my Third Party, Fire and Theft car insurance was about €650. This week, I received a renewal quote for €1100, despite no changes. To make this even more interesting, I got a quote of €423 from their website last month. This evening, I got a quote off their website for €618, despite two separate customer care reps informing me that they couldn't help me lower my renewal premium down from €1100.

What on earth is going on with RSA? I know they're hiking, but by 69%? Are people in their 20s bearing the brunt of it?

where you got your driving experience?
if not in Ireland or your driving license are not from Ireland - RSA has new price policy for such drivers. All my friends facing same story.
F*ck them, there are a lot of insurance companies around.

robot7080

Supergurrier wrote: »

Most insurers i find work like this.

1st Year = Decent quote
2nd Year = Slightly lower quote
Year 3/4/5 etc bunp it up bit by bit until you leave

I've had the exact same experience as this!

dudara

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Yes there is, you're even describing it in your reply.

I don't consider it a scam at all. It's business sense that they will try to get more money from you, and it's common sense that you should try to get it as cheap as possible.

rovoagho

It's also business sense to engender loyalty in your customers, rather than pegging every one of them as brainless, and then attempting to take advantage of said brainlessness. They're the PT Barnums of business. And sure wasn't Barnum was a lovely fella, salt of the earth, not a scam artist at all.

inforfun

Was with 123 as well till this week

Last year after paying 540 the year before i was quoted 760.
Gave them a ring, did a new online quote and it was 480 i finally paid

This year, another year NCB added, the quote was 670.
Called them again asking why, while in theory i should pay 10% less due to the NCB going up, they expected me to pay about 40% more than last year.
Well the reasons you ll hear are nothing short of ridiculous. Levies that were there last year as well, all kind of non sense.

They couldnt do better than what i paid last year so i just changed insurance company.
**** them, they need me more than i need them.

Anan1

rovoagho wrote: »

It's also business sense to engender loyalty in your customers, rather than pegging every one of them as brainless, and then attempting to take advantage of said brainlessness.

Is it? I'm guessing their way is more profitable.

H3llR4iser

Zoie Important Therapy wrote: »

Because they're chancing their arm in an attempt to get customers to pay more, just so that they can push prices up across the board. Out of all the threads that you could consider pointless, I doubt it is one that gives others a slight heads up about one of the most popular insurers in the country. Its a matter of principles.

Exactly; They clearly try their chance hoping that somehow, people will just pay and shut up - and the fact they did it with so many people (been served a 1711 Euro renewal myself in October), might mean they have been successful at some level.

What is really infuriating is the blatant lie: "the prices increased across the spectrum" was given to me too. False, as running a quote online with the same profile and same car returned a 690 Euro quote. I'd really like to understand WHY they prefer taking onboard new customers which they don't know and lose existing ones with a spotless payment and claims history...

wonski

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Exactly; They clearly try their chance hoping that somehow, people will just pay and shut up - and the fact they did it with so many people (been served a 1711 Euro renewal myself in October), might mean they have been successful at some level.

What is really infuriating is the blatant lie: "the prices increased across the spectrum" was given to me too. False, as running a quote online with the same profile and same car returned a 690 Euro quote. I'd really like to understand WHY they prefer taking onboard new customers which they don't know and lose existing ones with a spotless payment and claims history...

You know you can buy a new policy online with them instead of renewing the old one? Did it last year with no nonsense.

H3llR4iser

wonski wrote: »

You know you can buy a new policy online with them instead of renewing the old one? Did it last year with no nonsense.

That is exactly the thing I find absolutely odd. What is the caveat? Why is this happening, they can't just be stupid...

AlanMcC23

Woudnt touch 123.ie with a bargepole gave me ridiculous quotes every year since i started driving in 09 they were always over a thousand every year

I find liberty the best been with them since i started and i paid 530 for mine last year fully comp with windscreen cover on 07 golf tdi sport, 23 years old with 4 years ncb

Fizman

I renewed a month ago with 123. I think this is my 4th or 5th year with them. Every year has been cheaper for me, and significantly cheaper than alternatives when I shopped around.

wonski

H3llR4iser wrote: »

That is exactly the thing I find absolutely odd. What is the caveat? Why is this happening, they can't just be stupid...

Nah, they just thought i was stupid;)
Some customers will renew, some will shop around. My premium is so low at this stage that it can only go up. This year I had quotes ranging from 400E to 1800E:eek: Renewal is an offer, if the quote online is lower then you can buy it, the only thing is you have to send all the forms and documents again. I would happily do that if it saves me few hundreds.

dr.fuzzenstein

dudara wrote: »

I don't consider it a scam at all. It's business sense that they will try to get more money from you, and it's common sense that you should try to get it as cheap as possible.

One can only hope that people are aware of this, IMO it's verging on sharp practice.
My own experience, i was with Aviva and they tried it on with me, jacked up my premium from €450 to over €700. Got a very good quote of no nonsense (around the €400 mark for fully comp with breakdown assist and windscreen cover) and have been with them for 4 years now.
My premium gets renewed automatically every year, it was never jacked up and I pay by direct debit.
It's the perfect relationship, they leave me alone and I leave them alone. I am lazy and would hate to have to ring every insurance company (and then ring them back in a different voice for a different quote) every year because my company decided to rape me for more.
I would not even change to another company that offered a slightly lower quote, because they might jack it up then.
I don't see how it is good business sense from Aviva, because they lost a customer due to their greed. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
So now they have to spend large sums of money on stupid ads with Mario Rosenstock to hoik in more people and do the same to them.

bladespin

It's just a quote, an invitation to contract,no-one's screwing anyone.

rovoagho

Fizman wrote: »

I renewed a month ago with 123. I think this is my 4th or 5th year with them. Every year has been cheaper for me, and significantly cheaper than alternatives when I shopped around.

You're showing your age.

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

My premium gets renewed automatically every year, it was never jacked up and I pay by direct debit.

I would never autorenew with an insurance company. Never, ever.

bladespin wrote: »

It's just a quote, an invitation to contract,no-one's screwing anyone.

It is if the policy is on autorenew, which is very common. AXA autorenew by default, for example.

inforfun

bladespin wrote: »

It's just a quote, an invitation to contract,no-one's screwing anyone.

Yeah well, was with the same insurer for 10 years in Holland because every year i added more NCB i actually paid less than the year before.
It just makes no sense whatsoever to give me 10% more NCB and at the same time quote me 40% higher than what i paid last year.

I am now with my 3rd insurer in 4 years in Ireland and frankly, i find it a huge pain in the ass to get through this scenario again and again.

dr.fuzzenstein

rovoagho wrote: »

I would never autorenew with an insurance company. Never, ever.

Why not? They send me a letter with the new quote and if I don't do anything (which I excel at), it automatically gets renewed.
If I don't like it, I don't have to take it.
It has stayed at the same price for years and should it go up (which it doesn't look like it will), I will gladly go somewhere else.
Unless I miss that they hike my premium by 200% and I miss it, I don't see the problem.

fl4pj4ck

happened to me last year. I just went to the website and ordered it online

rovoagho

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Why not?

Because I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. I would've thought that was obvious.

dr.fuzzenstein

rovoagho wrote: »

Because I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. I would've thought that was obvious.

Well, of course you can't trust an insurance company, I'm not that daft.
But its not like I don't get a renewal quote beforehand and if I don't like it, I don't have to take it.The only difference is that I don't even have to get off my behind to do anything, which is always a bonus.
I shopped long and hard before settling on my insurance and I won't get a better deal in a hurry. So for now no worries unless they decide to screw me.

rovoagho

So for now no worries unless they decide to screw me.

Until is the word you were looking for...