Broker trying to rip me off?

homik

Hi All,

My car insurance is due renewal shortly, I have got the renewal pack, the premiuim isn't too bad - €560 (slightly up from last year's but apparently it has gone up across the board).

I am about to start a business and will need Class 3 insurance that covers for social, domestic & pleasure purposes and use in connection with the business of the insured including commercial travelling.

I wasn't too sure if my car would even be considered for this type of insurance, it is a 2 door coupe, over 2 litre petrol engine (I know, it doesn't make sense to drive it commercially, but I am only starting, if things go well, I will get diesel eventually, but that is another topic, let's focus on the broker thing ).

So I rang up my broker yesterday to test waters, pretending to be a new customer looking for Class 3 insurance, I made up all details to match mines (car, year, model, engine, my age, home address in same area, occupation and so on... literally the exact match). They quoted me €665 which was grand, happy days!

I rang them up today, this time as myself, to renew my policy and explained that I need Class 3 insurance. They are quoting me €844 now!

What is going on? Are they clearly trying to rip me off?
Can I ask them to explain this and refer to the test/dummy quote I did with them yesterday? I still have the reference number for this.

Any help/advice will be appreciated

RandomUsername

Have you paid in full ? If so cancel the policy then take out a new one online. You'll need to notify them in writing so give a specific date and time a few days from now to allow time for posting when you wish the policy to cease then take out a new policy at that time.

Edit just re read your post. just allow your policy to lapse by a short period and take out your new policy online

homik

No, I haven't paid. I said I will get back to them and now I am thinking how to talk to them and get a better price.

They were willing to cover me for €200 less, if I were a new customer... joke, isn't it?

I am checking other brokers/insurance companies now, but so far not even one came close.

homik

RandomUsername wrote: »

Have you paid in full ? If so cancel the policy then take out a new one online. You'll need to notify them in writing so give a specific date and time a few days from now to allow time for posting when you wish the policy to cease then take out a new policy at that time.

Edit just re read your post. just allow your policy to lapse by a short period and take out your new policy online

I can't do it online, they only deal over the phone.

Del2005

Most insurance companies give a discount for new business and then start loading in the 2nd year. Only way to avoid it is to change insurance company, doesn't have to involve changing broker, or let your current one lapse and then take out a new policy, problem with this is some companies won't consider the policy lapsed till a few weeks after it was due for renewal.

Odyssey 2005

problem with this is some companies won't consider the policy lapsed till a few weeks after it was due for renewal.[/QUOTE]

Unless you've had an accident. :pac:

kc66

Ask them why the difference.

CoDy1

My guess is, as its a broker you have been given given quotes from 2 different insurers. The higher price you were quoted is probably the price from your existing insurer including the additional premium for class 3. Might be an idea to re-quote the market for you renewal and they should be able to get the same price as you had got as a new quote.

homik

Ok, rang them up today to see if the "test/dummy" €665 quote for a new customer from Monday was stil valid. Sure it wasn't new month, new period, blah, blah, blah.... it has gone up to €775.

Still, much less than if I were to renew and amend my exsting policy.

So rang up again after couple of hours and said that a "friend of mine" was quoted much less for the same thing and mentioned €775.... few mins later they were able to reduce it to 741 for me

Yes, they were trying to rip me off!

pete4130

It's the same everywhere. I'm in Australia and my premium was about $740. I moved house about 5 minutes down the road, with secure off street parking and they wanted to charge me over $1200 because of the post code change. I got a quote online with them for the new address and it was $520.

I argued this with them and they wouldn't budge, stating thats how the "system" loaded my premium with my change of address. So I cancelled my premium on the spot there and then over the phone and asked to take a new policy out, using the quote number for the much cheaper quote. They had no issues with it.

So just shop around every year.

CoDy1

Brokers will normally be able to get cheaper premiums than going direct but they will always have some sort of fee on it that they can use discretionary on to get the business in. All in all brokers are always the way to go for me. They have the pick of the main bunch and of products that are only sold through brokers especially if you don;t tick all the boxes ie. expired bonus, mirroring etc..