Huge Hike in Car Insurance!

mariesnowgoose

mariesnowgoose

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So, I'm picking up a newer car at the weekend, it's a 2011 1.5 diesel Renault Kangoo.

I've been with NFU Mutual for as long as I can remember, so this morning I rang through the details to them in preparation.

Shock, horror! They unexpectedly phoned me back half an hour ago, which was unusual (and the operative herself was a bit stunned, you could tell!), to say that the premium (fully comp, which I've always had since forever) will more than double to £900 p.a. !!!!!

W*F is going on? She apologised and said she'd had to double check with their underwriters as she couldn't quite believe the price hike either, and was ringing to ask if I still wanted to go ahead with them at that price.

As I said, I've had my insurance with them since forever and really like their service. Only once had to make a claim years ago when someone ran into the back of me and wrote off my vehicle and the subsequent service and the way they handled everything was absolutely superb, so I'm gutted!

So I'm now in the strange territory of finding another insurer {sigh}. I've already found lots of much cheaper quotes on various comparison websites, but no idea if they're any good if it ever came to making a claim, which to me is the important thing - with insurance it's not always just about the price, but £900 squid is daylight robbery! They must think I'm a boy racer or something :)

Bummer (and a blummin' time-consuming irritant!) :(
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... what's even weirder is the new car is a lower insurance group than my existing, it's 9 as opposed to 14 :unsure:
 
Direct Line don’t appear on comparison sites, but over many years I’ve found them to be competative on price. When claiming their service has been excellent.
 
I always use two comparison sites and then Direct Line. Direct Line seems to win every time. I pay under £200 for Peugeot 407 estate 1.6 and £260 for my 1.9 VW T5 camper, there is a discount for insuring multi vehicles.
 
Marie, I've just responded on WC. I tried AIB this year for my car because my previous insurer/broker couldn't even come close to last year's price. My new policy cost less than I've paid the last 2 years and it's underwritten by AXA, with all bells and whistles. Good luck m'dear :)
 
same happened with me marie.......didnt change cars tho....same vehicle....been with same ins comp. for years.....couldnt believe the hike...........WAY HIGH......called AIB......got it for roughly same price as my last years insurance........can but give them a try.,,,,,,,,love your new vehicle.......good luck with insurance....trixie

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Go back to NFU with alternative quote and see if they can be persuaded to match it!!!!
 
Edina said:
Any bumps or speeding fines?

We have similar, a 2012 Berlingo - £250.88 inc breakdown through Churchill
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Nope, neither. No change in circumstances insurance-wise, apart from getting rid of one (similar) car and swapping it for another.

Finding plenty of reasonable quotes around about the £250-350 mark, now just a matter of deciding which one to go with before Saturday :)
 
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the insurance cartel. There are a lot of factors that affect the price you're given, including quotas. AIUI, insurance companies need to spread the risk between drivers of varying profiles. Once your 'profile category' is filled, they don't need your custom and so hike the price to persuade you to go elsewhere. There must be other factors (e.g. time of day, how long to your renewal date, etc.) Even what device you use to get your online quote has a bearing. For example, I've noticed that I get higher quotes if I use my Android tablet than I do if I use my Windows computer. I get even higher quotes if I use an Apple computer. However, even though that OS dependency seems real, that might be coincidence because I've also noticed that I get different quotes if I enter the same data a couple of hours apart.

That said, I've also noticed that if I get a much lower quote than my current insurance provider has given, there is a high chance that my current provider will at least go some way towards price matching. So you might get somewhere by taking your £250 .. £350 quote to NFU Mutual and telling them that you'd like to give them your business but they'll need to get price match to get it.
 
I spoke to NFU again this morning after leaning towards a fully comp quote from the RAC at £295 - £605 cheaper than NFU!

The NFU customer service girl couldn't offer any discount on their original quote of £900, she was apologetic and obviously embarrassed, so I think there's more than a grain of truth to what you've surmised above, Geoff.

Apart from the time-consuming inconvenience & aggro of finding alternative car insurance (grr!) it's now all sorted & in place, so hopefully I can rest easy for anther year :)
 
Glad you are now sorted. I would be interested to know which NFU office you were using, I have heard elswhere that some of their offices, which I believe are franchises, are not really interested in the motor side of the business.
 
LANDS43 said:
Marie,
Give Adrian Flux a call. www.adrianflux.co.uk They sorted me out.
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I'm glad Marie has it now sorted. That said, I agree that Adrian Flux is one of the consistently better brokers that I can't remember seeing returned on comparison sites. Another is 2Gether insurance, who like Adrian Flux offer competitive quotes for the 'weird and wonderful' such as classic cars, self-build motorhomes, expedition-prepared 4x4s etc. but can also be competitive for standard vehicles.
 
Okta said:
Glad you are now sorted. I would be interested to know which NFU office you were using, I have heard elswhere that some of their offices, which I believe are franchises, are not really interested in the motor side of the business.
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Bakewell office in Derbyshire.

Have always used them since I used to live down there and they have always given excellent service previously, but don't know if they're a franchise office or not.
 
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