Car Insurance

[JamesM]

Got my renewal and its £484, up from last years £340. My circumstances haven't changed and I haven't claimed, so I believe they're taking the piss out of me. I went to a comparison site and the cheapest quote was £278 from Admiral, with all the bells and whistles (courtesy car, legal and windscreen cover, maybe have to pay a bit more for protected no claims). I had a look at a review site because I didn't want to go with someone who wouldn't pay out and they didn't get a favourable write up. So I looked up my own insurance company (Privilege) and nor did they, so I looked at some of the others and they all got poor scores.

So has anybody had any experience with Admiral? Or Elephant.co.uk for that matter as they were £279 for what looks like the same deal, infact they look like they could be the same people?

 

[s_zigmond]

Personally I would avoid Admiral. Also I think Admiral and elephant are the same company.

Try Chris knott and Adrian FLux, telling them both your cheapest quote with admiral.

Also what type of car do you have and how old are you?

 

[Tazio]

I used Go Compare the last time I renewed (despite the feckin' adverts) and got a better quote than any of the other online companies. They set me up with a company called 1st Central. decent policy, small excess and full windscreen cover etc. Even with the extra for paying minthly it came to around £240.

Elephant and Admiral are the same company as far as I can work out as the quotes are always identical.

 

[Skeelsie]

Admiral are fine, their approved repairers are shite though.

If you have an accident specify your own accident repair centre and all will be good.



Have a look at Aviva too, they are doing masses of promotion at the moment and will probably price match/beat anything.

 

[drcarlos]

Admiral, Bell and Elephant are all the same.

They are fine, however some of the companies that Adrian Flux deal with can be hard to deal with.

I have used both lots over the years and there was far more hassle dealing with a company via Flux than going direct to Elephant.

Carl.

 

[pigman]

Would not dream of going without my protected no claims.

I used to know someone who worked for one of the big insurers and he told me protected NCB policies were a load of tosh. Just another product to sell. When you come to renew, the they ask you to state any claims and base their prices on that. So they may allow you to notionally keep your NCB, but the premium will go up anyway cos youre deemed a risk. Not quite the get out of jail card it might seem.

Also, is the protected NCB transferable to another broker, or do you have to stay with the same one for it to apply, if youve made a claim in the year.

My advice is to speak with someone (I know its a pain hanging on the phone) rather than do it online. Its amazing how the price can drop when they see you might walk away. To save face they'll tell you how prices continually fluctuate in the market, and "as we're talking, I'm just running your details through again and its dropped by £50 sir, but you need to decide now ... blah, blah "

 

[Neil]

Would not dream of going without my protected no claims.

I used to know someone who worked for one of the big insurers and he told me protected NCB policies were a load of tosh. Just another product to sell. When you come to renew, the they ask you to state any claims and base their prices on that. So they may allow you to notionally keep your NCB, but the premium will go up anyway cos youre deemed a risk. Not quite the get out of jail card it might seem.

Also, is the protected NCB transferable to another broker, or do you have to stay with the same one for it to apply, if youve made a claim in the year.

No Claims Discount can transfer. It's only protected if you pay for it to be protected, normally.

And it's a discount that applies to your premium - so yes, claims (be they fault, or otherwise) can (and most likely will) affect your premium, but then any NCB discount should then apply to it.

Notable claims nearly always affect your premium, whether NCB applies or not. Protecting it, and / or not having claims that reduce it, though, has another bearing on your final premium.

What NCB is NOT, is some unassailable discount that always applies that won't be affected by any claims history. All it is, is a conceptual discount that then applies, once your premium has been decided.

My advice is to speak with someone (I know its a pain hanging on the phone) rather than do it online. Its amazing how the price can drop when they see you might walk away. To save face they'll tell you how prices continually fluctuate in the market, and "as we're talking, I'm just running your details through again and its dropped by £50 sir, but you need to decide now ... blah, blah "

Tantamount to pressure selling, isn't it?

If anybody tells me a discount only applies if I decide there and then, then it's normally a good signal that they're lying, and if not, I should steer well clear. If it sounds too good to be true, invariably it probably is.

 

[ringo]

Elephant brilliant when my M5 was nicked. No complaints at all with the speed of settlement and comms during process...

 

[REKIBorter]

Use RSA here, excellent service and no problems. Had to make a claim a couple of years ago when my car hit some flying debris on the motorway. A 3ft piece of 4x2 timber flying through the radiator grille at 70mph does a fair amount of damage. Courtesy car delivered to where I work and the car repaired to a very high standard.

 

[longun]

investments etc being tight as they are,most qoutes i got for both cars were higher.shopped around,change of job etc and still higher.just swaloow it for a few years till were outta thge rescession.my rs went from 260 to 410,tried all the usual tricks but i need insurance that works,not the cheapest so stuck with directline. cant wait to get the track car qoute :evil:

insurance will get dearer for a few years,just glad im not a teen or early 20's