Car Insurance Time

[guitarman001]

For 3 years I've been with Direct Line but my quote has gone from £520 last year to £580 this year.....!?

Using gocompare, HastingsEssential comes in at approx £400.

Any tips - feel like I'm being raped (financially)...

[winkie]

For 3 years I've been with Direct Line but my quote has gone from £520 last year to £580 this year.....!?

Using gocompare, HastingsEssential comes in at approx £400.

Any tips - feel like I'm being raped (financially)...

Ring up DL and ask for their competition/loyalty dept...have all the info with you for the like to like quote, excess amount, no claims protector etc.....see if they can match it, they should give you something off.

The thing with taking out new policies with a new insurers they will give you 'brand new customer' discount that only lasts a year, forcing you to shop around each time....bloody hard work all this trying to save money malarkey...wears you down, hoping you give up, but of course you don't.

[corevalue]

For 3 years I've been with Direct Line but my quote has gone from £520 last year to £580 this year.....!?

Using gocompare, HastingsEssential comes in at approx £400.

Any tips - feel like I'm being raped (financially)...

Same experience with DL. See my post on the other thread - I reapplied to DL online, got a cheaper quote. Left it a few days, reapplied again, for an even cheaper quote, about the same as the previous year.

[MrPin]

Like cellphones, and electricity suppliers, it's pretty much a saturated market, so the only way to gain customers is to temp them away from your rivals.

[DrMartinSanchez]

For 3 years I've been with Direct Line but my quote has gone from £520 last year to £580 this year.....!?

Using gocompare, HastingsEssential comes in at approx £400.

Any tips - feel like I'm being raped (financially)...

Welcome to the club man.

A few months ago, I told Churchill to F off because my premium was going up from £280 to £460.

Total waste of money :angry:

[guitarman001]

Thanks for the link - good read!!

Wow, must agree it's a TERRIBLE practice............. absolutely shocking. Here's the story..

Still haven't renewed but I went on gocompare etc and got some cheap quotes (best one HastingsEssential, excess £100 but legal fee not included).

DirectLine sent me an e-mail saying the renewal would be £550 whereas last year it was £520!

I have a 2007 Ford Focus, 1.4L, driving 3 years, 3 years NCB (unprotected).

The guy told me I can't get protected no claims until I get 4 years' worth. He did say that if an uninsured driver hit my car usually that would wipe out the NCB... but with DirectLine if it was somebody else's fault there is the chance of keeping the NCB I've built up. Anyway, he started off saying the renewal was for £505! So much for £550!! I said too expensive, quoted HastingsEssential. He took it down to £479, BUT with £400 excess. (Last year I was still a student and that was my excess then - £150 excess plus an extra £250 for being a new driver/student or something). That's a lot of excess. He said he would include the legal cover for free. Good stuff - said I was going to shop around, but would prefer to stay with DirectLine if possible. He said he would get me a loyalty discount - took it down to £462!! He told me this was quote number seven! Jeez, how many would there be!? Told him I'd phone back asking for that once I'd searched around.

Get this - supposedly I live in a dangerous postcode. And my insurance has gone UP since the transition from student to professional!! Something to do with earning more money (sure he said that!) and driving more, plus no student discount or something.......

I do like DirectLine - hopefully I can get that quote but with a lower excess. I also want breakdown cover (think I can get it from RAC/AA for £28) as my Fiesta broke down on a busy roundabout a few years back when I still had it. Eek... Don't know if I trust HastingsEssential to be honest - haven't heard of them!

But anyway - imagine going from £550 to £462, a reduction of 16% on the original £550 quote!! Pretty shocking having to do all that negotiating - I feel sorry for the meek, old and frail.

Crikey, nearly half a grand to insure the thing, then nearly half a grand to pay out if I have to claim. And then more money for MOT etc later in the year - never mind fuel costs!! Still, at least it's not £1200 like it was in my first year....!!

For a moment I thought I wasn't going to get the price down - he kept saying it was the best he could do - but as soon as I said no a few times it just kept coming down - I had to push for it (and usually not good with this sort of thing) but it did work. At the end of the day they don't want to lose my money to somebody else - they'd better bring that excess down!!