Anyone else experienced Aviva's new Way to retain Customers?

Daibheid

Step 1 - Issue renewal notice for policy with nothing changed - same old car but a year older, license, NCB, etc unchanged - for €418. :eek:

Step 2 - Assume sucker, er Customer :P will be grateful for all the "discounts", Loyalty, Second Car, Points etc and won't check/recall what last years premium was.

Step 3 - When angry customer:mad: notices last year cost €280 explain this is not because of any change in customer circumstances but because Aviva have re-rated cars, addresses, etc

Step 4 - Offer discount of €38 to sucker, er Customer and describe it as a 10% special discount.

In percentages -
Jack premium for no reason by 50%,
Offer to reduce the gouge by %9 and we'll be golden.

Time to find another insurer

Andrewf20

Ive experienced this with 1 or 2 other insurers also. Its very frustrating especially when you get 2nd rate reasons behind these premium hikes.

tipperary

OP, have you tried going onto the Aviva website and getting a new quote? Worked for me last year.

mickdw

Daibheid wrote: »

Step 1 - Issue renewal notice for policy with nothing changed - same old car but a year older, license, NCB, etc unchanged - for €418. :eek:

Step 2 - Assume sucker, er Customer :P will be grateful for all the "discounts", Loyalty, Second Car, Points etc and won't check/recall what last years premium was.

Step 3 - When angry customer:mad: notices last year cost €280 explain this is not because of any change in customer circumstances but because Aviva have re-rated cars, addresses, etc

Step 4 - Offer discount of €38 to sucker, er Customer and describe it as a 10% special discount.

In percentages -
Jack premium for no reason by 50%,
Offer to reduce the gouge by %9 and we'll be golden.

Time to find another insurer

Existing customers get screwed all the time. The only option is to move regularly or ensure you get the real price by bargaining hard.

CiniO

Daibheid wrote: »

Time to find another insurer

Well if you want to find insurer which won't completely screw you over on premium, you'll unfortunately probably need to move abroad.

StudentDad

OP I had a similar experience with axa a couple of years ago. Rang them after getting better quotes elsewhere. I was with axa 10 years, no claims. Told them the other quotes and they still wouldn't budge, bye bye axa

SD

Daibheid

Shopping around is harder now as I've found the insurers want evidence of a better offer so you've no chance of serious bargaining down without an actual better quotation.

tipperary wrote: »

OP, have you tried going onto the Aviva website and getting a new quote? Worked for me last year.

Yup - I always do that, came out at €390 proving they do screw repeat customers.
BTW for anyone doing this just add a 1 to your address, DOB, etc and register with your surname in Irish or any rubbish as you get the quote online. Some companies email it to you to validate your email.

CoDy1

CiniO wrote: »

Well if you want to find insurer which won't completely screw you over on premium, you'll unfortunately probably need to move abroad.

Yes because that will be a much cheaper option:rolleyes:

OP, Motor insurance is in a strange cycle where one insurer's premiums are low for a few months and anothers' is lower for the next few months. Cheaper doesn't mean value either. Insurers change rates when capital is low and funds need an injection so staying loyal helps no one but the insurer.
Always shop around at renewal or even better use a broker who will find the best price and policy for you. Motor insurance is a commodity like everything else so premiums will change even if your circumstances don't.

ironclaw

Always compare like with like, and I mean, verbatim. As cheap insurance (e.g. Liberty) differs greatly from the cover offered by the likes of FBD. No matter how good a bargain something is, all insurers are in a large and saturated market in Ireland so to be cheap they either need a massive customer base (Unlikely) or they cut corners on the extras. Granted, you mightn't need them. But I'd rather have it than be looking for it.

Also, I never understood why people take an insurance premium personally. Insurance is a math and probability game. Older car or more of the same car in that 'risk' bracket and your insurance will rise. Even more so if you fit the bigger categories like 'family' car and 'commuter' car. If you want your insurance to stay the exact same year in, year out, just buy something thats extremely high risk

ironclaw

Always compare like with like, and I mean, verbatim. As cheap insurance (e.g. Liberty) differs greatly from the cover offered by the likes of FBD. No matter how good a bargain something is, all insurers are in a large and saturated market in Ireland so to be cheap they either need a massive customer base (Unlikely) or they cut corners on the extras. Granted, you mightn't need them. But I'd rather have it than be looking for it.

Also, I never understood why people take an insurance premium personally. Insurance is a math and probability game. Older car or more of the same car in that 'risk' bracket and your insurance will rise. Even more so if you fit the bigger categories like 'family' car and 'commuter' car. If you want your insurance to stay the exact same year in, year out, just buy something thats extremely high risk

To Elland Back

I can never understand why people get so worked up when their insurer puts a massive increase on their renewal. Surely everybody has realised by now that covering the market is an annual task which must be undertaken for every type of insurance policy.

Those who complain about this, appear to be the same people who automatically renew the policy if it comes in at the same price as last year, which is equally foolish

RandomAccess

To Elland Back wrote: »

I can never understand why people get so worked up when their insurer puts a massive increase on their renewal. Surely everybody has realised by now that covering the market is an annual task which must be undertaken for every type of insurance policy.

Those who complain about this, appear to be the same people who automatically renew the policy if it comes in at the same price as last year, which is equally foolish

I really don't get what you are trying to say.

To Elland Back

RandomAccess wrote: »

I really don't get what you are trying to say.

I'll try and simplify.

What difference does it make if your current insurer increases your renewal invitation by €10, €100 or €1,000? You don't have to accept it and should ALWAYS shop around regardless.

If you renew with your insurer just because the premium is the same as last year, you could be missing out on a better deal elsewhere

Del2005

Daibheid wrote: »

Shopping around is harder now as I've found the insurers want evidence of a better offer so you've no chance of serious bargaining down without an actual better quotation.

I never go back to my current insurer if I get a better quote. If you want my money give me the best price at renewal time, as if you can miraculously match a better offer then you where trying to rip me off and I will never give my money to people I know tried to scam me.

joujoujou

I'm using two different insurance brokers and comparing their quotations against each other. Hard negotiations always involved as well. And no loyalty thing whatsoever - since current customers are treated worse than new ones, I don't bother.

RandomAccess

Yeah I use a broker as well. McCarthy insurance, they take a lot of the hassle out of shopping around. But of course you still should get your own quotes. The big benefit of using a broker is that if they switch you to another insurer then they take care of sending all the documentation which is a godsend to me as I hate all the photocopying and form filling that is required if you do it yourself.

BMJD

I remember Quinn Direct did that to me a good few years ago, premium more than doubled, when I rang them up to see what they could do, some moron proudly told me that they don't do price matching.

biko

Whenever this comes up, and its more often that you'd think, I just have one advice - jump ship.
It's doesn't pay to stay loyal to insurers.

Daibheid

www.25plus.ie worth a look and in the lead at about 330 like for like

Complaint sent into Aviva about waffly "rerating" and approach to customer retention and getting a cheaper quotation online as a new customer. Can't hurt!

As for this ....

To Elland Back wrote: »

I can never understand why people get so worked up when their insurer puts a massive increase on their renewal.
......
Those who complain about this, appear to be the same people who automatically renew the policy if it comes in at the same price as last year, which is equally foolish

best case it's a troll otherwise looks like someone who is
A) extremely slow and/or wealthy,
prone to making completely unfounded assertions with zero data
and
C) an insurer's fantasy customer but thanks it gave me a chuckle!

PurvesGrundy

Daibheid wrote: »

Step 1 - Issue renewal notice for policy with nothing changed - same old car but a year older, license, NCB, etc unchanged - for €418. :eek:

Step 2 - Assume sucker, er Customer :P will be grateful for all the "discounts", Loyalty, Second Car, Points etc and won't check/recall what last years premium was.

Step 3 - When angry customer:mad: notices last year cost €280 explain this is not because of any change in customer circumstances but because Aviva have re-rated cars, addresses, etc

Step 4 - Offer discount of €38 to sucker, er Customer and describe it as a 10% special discount.

In percentages -
Jack premium for no reason by 50%,
Offer to reduce the gouge by %9 and we'll be golden.

Time to find another insurer

I had this exact same thing with Axa. My insurance premium was slightly more than last year and when I pulled them up on it, they only brought the quote down by forty euro or so. They had me over a barrel in the fact that I didn't have much time to shop around and it was a Friday evening when my insurance was on the last day of its overdue period.

Pissed me off a bit. They were also highly inflexible towards insuring cars I've looked at which were far from high risk.

byte

Same happened me when my renewal came up last August with Liberty. Premium had went up around €200, but they wouldn't budge, even when I was getting cheaper quotes elsewhere.

So now with Allianz. I hate having to change insurers, but one thing I won't do next time is wait til the last week of insurance before making decisions! THe previous year, Liberty were quick to match the other cheap quotes I was getting, but not this time around.

bigtimecharlie

Policy in April 2013 was €310. Renewal at the end of March 2014 was €636!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rang for an explanation, not given and no discount offered.

Gone. Bye Bye.

To Elland Back

Daibheid wrote: »

As for this ....



best case it's a troll otherwise looks like someone who is
A) extremely slow and/or wealthy,
prone to making completely unfounded assertions with zero data
and
C) an insurer's fantasy customer but thanks it gave me a chuckle!

I've told you not to Accept Aviva jacking up your premium and take your business elsewhere and you call me a troll?

Your comprehension of my post leaves a lot to be desired

mossy50

aviva are complete cowboys

had house insured with them last year 280 this year 480

car was 635 last year this year 875

van was 430 last year this year 635 no explanation at all just deal with it

went to quote devil and got house 210

car 420 and van 330

all with ZURICH simples

MJ23

August 13 - fully comp policy for €280.
July 14 - Issue of renewal for €486. Rang them up and spoke to nice lady. No penalty points, no changes to car. Renewed my policy for €300.

edburg

Yet to see insurance company that doesn't do this.

My astra insurance has gone up every year in last few years and only thing changed is annual mileage gone down from 15k to 5k km a year.

Insignia gone other way lol

Also seeing more n more giving out max 6 year ncb certs now to, even though must be like 15 years since had to claim on my own policy. Used to be about 10 max couple years ago.

As already suggested look around every year for best price. The insurance world is a strange place.

Henry Ford III

I don't undertand all these "my insurance renewal sucks" threads.

If the renewal suits then renew. If not shop around. Pretty simple stuff really.

Caliden

I'm with a broker. Insurance went slightly down this year but not by much given the change of address.

Got a quote from the AA online and used this as leverage to get a further reduction of 140 euro. Delighted as my quote is 300 euro less than what I was paying last year

ninty9er

If you switched to Aviva last November because they were the cheapest, the the likelihood is that many other people who had renewals last November did too, resulting in an increased customer base for Aviva for the 12 months to this November. More customers = more claims = larger risk accruals = increased premiums this November.

Different insurers will be cheaper depending on what month of the year it is based on their liability reserve requirements.

seagull

Ì was with axa a few years back, got the renewal letter, and laughed. Called them up to see what the best offer they could do was. Got a quote through the AA which was way lower and took that. It was exactly the same cover with axa at about €50 less than axa would offer me direct. Bizarre - they were paying a commission to the AA to sell the same product for less.

rocky

In my experience, Nononsense's renewal is the same as what you'd get on their site, and in my case a bit cheaper than last year.

Silvera

tipperary wrote: »

OP, have you tried going onto the Aviva website and getting a new quote? Worked for me last year.

My Aviva renewal was due last month. I got a call from them c.two weeks before the renewal date asking if I was 'happy' with my renewal quote. I said I wasnt, so after a bit of waffle he knocked a bit more off the price. I said leave it with me. I priced around and got slightly better prices.

I then went onto Aviva's website as a 'new' customer...and hey presto I saved €100 off the renewal quote!

Isnt it amazing how they will 'bend over backwards' for new customers and yet treat existing customers like c#@p!?!

Contrails

Silvera wrote: »

Isnt it amazing how they will 'bend over backwards' for new customers and yet treat existing customers like c#@p!?!

I'm due for renewal with this crowd soon. The woman at the call centre was great to be fair. She basically "mentioned" lots of people getting lousy renewal quotes are logging in as new customers to get a better deal. However she wouldn't say it was technically legit.

Did you have any hassle? Like if i send in my no claims bonus proof as a new customer but there' a big Aviva logo on it they're not gonna politely tell where to go?

jack of all

I always price around at renewal time every year for the two cars in our household and rarely ever stay with the same insurer as they invariably jack up the premium regardless of your claim-free history. This year, for the first time I've renewed both car policies with Aviva again and with a little haggling over the phone I was able to knock another €30- 50 of each policy, just by asking, so I was pretty happy! I am always amazed that a lot of people stick with their current insurer, despite a hefty premium increase. You have to price around, it's a nuisance and takes a little time but it's time well spent especially if there's a significant saving to be made. But all policies are not equal (as pointed out by a previous poster) and you've got to compare like with like.