If I swindled or attempted to swindle someone out of a significant amount of money - say £73 for example then I would expect to get my comeuppance in a court of law. After all The Holy Bible tells us not to steal. It is one of the ten commandments.
Three weeks ago I received my motor insurance renewal pack from a leading insurer. Nothing has changed since last year and Clint has not been involved in any accidents or scrapes. All is the same.
Last year my premium was £341.60 but this year they were going to charge me £358.40. I phoned them and after fifteen minutes waiting in a phone queue I finally got through to a young fellow called Rob. He asked me why I was phoning and I told him that I was not happy about the increased premium.
There was no argument or any further pushing from me. After two or three minutes Rob returned to the phone and said he could give me a significant discount on the quoted price. In fact he could bring the premium down to £285,60. A saving of £73 on the original quote! Nothing would be changed. The cover would be exactly the same.
I suspect that many people who receive receive renewal notices from their insurers simply pay up without question, not realising that they are the unwitting victims of daylight robbery. Insurers clearly do not care a fig about loyalty. If they can rip you off they will.
Does this ring a bell with other bloggers or blog visitors in other places?
You could probably get it lower. I've just renewed mine. Surprisingly just £162 with AA insurance. I looked around because my last year's Direct Line premium of £190 had gone up to £214. But then, my car isn't an expensive-to-repair Korean one and I don't live in crime-ridden Sheffield.
ReplyDeleteNo. You live in crime-ridden West Yorkshire. Many people are too lazy or too nervous about challenging renewal premiums or switching to other companies.
DeleteWe leave our cars unlocked here with our wallets and bank cards on the seat. I still think yours should be a lot lower - unless you have claims or points on your licence.
DeleteI am guessing that your "car" is a Reliant Robin.
DeleteWe have internet/cable/telephone "bundle" which basically shot up by 50% from one month to the next. When I called to find out why, I was told that we had received special pricing for an introductory offer. However, when I told them to cancel us. Amazingly, they were able to extend that special pricing. Just for little old me...complaining about a bill that went up from $115 to over $180. They also warned me that they would not do it again.
ReplyDeleteIt is a money-making strategy. Net year you could threaten them with moving to a different provider.
DeleteI really don't know about here. Maybe a company will match of go under another's premium but I've thought they were generally not negotiable.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely ARE negotiable. Give it a try.
DeleteI don't know that our insurance premiums are negotiable unless they raise deductibles. My 88 year old mother called her insurance company (my parents have had them since 1958) to tell them that my father had died, so he needed to be dropped from the policy. They then told her that her insurance for car and house would be going UP $200. Needless to say, she has a new insurance company and her former one knows exactly what she thinks of them.
ReplyDeleteBut do they even care? They are heartless, money hungry organisations.
DeleteNo, they don't care. The woman my mother talked to was very sorry but she is a small and insignificant cog in the uncaring and greedy machine.
DeleteMine keeps going up. I keep meaning to call but I hate making phone calls. I think I will now. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteTake a deep breath and just say, I want to talk about my insurance premium for next year - it seems too high to me. Can you give be a better deal?
DeleteWhat we don't know is (1) if young Rob got in big trouble with upper management afterward, or (2) what the insurance company's financial position is (meaning, how desperately do they want to retain business right now?). And if I bet if you call again next year they won't do the same thing. The squeaky wheel gets the grease (and the rest of the policyholders pay for it) - but only once!
ReplyDeleteI can always threaten them with transferring my business. That should elicit the desired reduction.
DeleteFantastic blog i have never ever read this type of amazing information.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
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You are so kind Eva! Thank you! Are you the same Eva Wilson who was drunk as a skunk at a party in Stirling, Scotland in 1975? I have never heard such foul language in my life! You were a disgrace to your family.
DeleteSurely not. Eva seems like such a nice person.
DeleteEva was as rough and dirty as a coconut fibre doormat.
DeleteThat sounds like Direct Line to me, YP. I use Linea Directa here (same company), and last year my premium for a Peugeot 207 rose to over 500 euros - with full no claims bonus! When I complained they said they would get back to me. Later I got my computer guy to phone them and well, what do you know - they knocked 200 euros off the premium! This reminds me that after checking around, I am cancelling the policy and going elsewhere! I do wonder if being female had anything to do with the extortionate increases, as a friend had a similar thing happen to her.
ReplyDeleteI would never have guessed that Linea Directa meant Direct Line! Their efforts to boost profits target everybody I think - not just women.
DeleteIt does indeed ring a bell with me. My flat is one third of a house, and the other two owners and I have chosen to have one insurance contract for the entire building instead of thee individual ones. It has gone up quite a bit since last year, and when I asked for the reason (there had been no damage or other problems with our house) the insurer said they needed to cover a lot of damage to properties from the previous year‘s hail storms, flooding and so on.
ReplyDeleteNow I know that in theory, insurance schemes are based on the solidarity between all those who have a contract, hoping they will not run into a situation where the insurer has to step in to help. But in reality, of course insurers make huge profits.
Usually, as soon as we as customers threaten to go elsewhere, all of a sudden much lower premiums are possible.
They factor in their profit margin. Clever insurance companies never lose - they make sure of that.
DeleteThis always happens to me on car, house and another insurances such as plumbing repairs. When I then ring to cancel the renewal they miraculously find a cheaper deal. I still tell them to stuff it and leave as they are not to be trusted. My current car insurance is with Quote me Happy. The premiums have actually gone down for the last 2 years so I am sticking with them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about Quote Me Happy. I am s ick of the deviousness and dishonesty of most insurance companies.
DeleteWe both used QMH for a couple of years without seeing the price go up, but then they did increase them and DL quoted a lot less so we went to them, and have now both gone to AA. A couple of hours on the internet to save £50 is more than anyone would pay me.
DeleteWe shouldn't have to shop around. They should be setting fair and honest premiums.
DeleteIs there an insurance ombudsman YP for people to report these dishonest companies?
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea but he or she probably receives backhanders from insurance companies.
DeleteWHAT?! Is their pricing THAT arbitrary? I would probably have simply paid the higher rate, figuring it was only an increase of £17. I'm so happy not to own a car so I don't have to deal with insurance at all.
ReplyDeleteYou are a lucky guy if you don't have to pay insurance. What about house contents insurance?
DeleteI will tell you this- my husband almost never pays what's originally asked for anything. All it takes is his persistence and patience and ability to understand the situation. You're right- most people just pay and grumble, not knowing there are sometimes alternatives.
ReplyDeleteMr Moon should run a personal financial advice blog called "Dark Side of the Moon".
DeleteThere is absolutely no benefit in loyalty. I always ring up, whinge and tell them I've found a lower figure online - invariably I get a lower quote and most times significantly so.
ReplyDeleteMartin Lewis reckons that for most people the best paid days work they can get is to sit down and go through every utility and other bills (typically once a year), getting online quotes and switching to the best value option.
I'm sure he's right. And if you think car insurers are bad, broadband providers are much much worse!