Insurance Is Bizarre

P

Posidrive

New member
New to this forum, but feel like a rant after a call to Admiral's call center where I spoke to a gentleman who was absolutely incapable of deviating in any shape or form from his script sheet.

At least for me, Admiral are by far the cheapest option and I got a quote last week for adding the new convertible to my existing multi car policy which I was very happy with but didn't take up immediately while I checked the alternatives. My son has recently turned 25 so I thought I'd make his day and see if I could put him on the policy. Checked on the money comparison web sites and it is £14 a year extra to add him, so I call Admiral to add him to the quote and they tell me its an extra £360 a year if I do it on my multi car policy and has no idea how I managed to get £14. At this point I give up and call the cancellations department with the hope of getting someone from the call center in Wales which I did. They then explained that on a multi car policy the rates are fixed to those at the annual start date of the policy no matter what the start date or type of change to the policy but I was free to start a completely new single car because there was nothing they could do with the price if adding to the multi car policy. The upshot is that they essentially want to charge me over £300 less for the same cover and more admin.

My son has been told that if he as much as scratches the car he will be disinherited :)
 
Your subject line says it all: there often seems to be no rhyme or reason as to the decisions they make.

Many years ago I tried to insure an XKR that had 20" wheels which had been added at some point after the car left the factory (it was originally specced with 19"s). One company wanted over £1000 extra because of the wheel change, in spite of them being a factory option, another company said it made no difference. Go figure.
 
And then.....

So I then try and take out the separate policy online and it refuses to automatically take it and I have to phone them. This time I get "Oh I am sure we can sort that out" and within 5 minutes I have the cheap rate on the multi car policy with an additional discount for having more than one car. Go figure.....
 
We've got 3 cars on a multi car policy with them. When my son passed his test last year and we moved a car into his name.... Oh the confusion. In the end we got the price we had initially been promised and a £100 goodwill gesture..
 
Don't forget the price comparison sites use cookies too. Always delete browsing history for the session before going to an alternative comparison site. They are in short day-light robbers.

Each time we get to renewal now I use the comparison sites without logging in. Get the cover and price I'm happy with and take up a new policy. If I log in and then get prices they are invariably higher. Also quite often I see renewal prices on a comparison site from my current insurer lower than the quote they have given me - total madness and quite honestly something which needs to be examined by the regulator (if there is one with any teeth). :evil:
 
tell me about it. i remember when i insured my p380 last year one company on the compare sites wanted 320 pounds comp after me filling all the details needed including ncb ect not bad for a 61 year old with full ncb i thought....... i rang them to pay with the quote ref number and some kid said after asking me what car i had last owned “oh no sir it will be 1200.00 p.a due to not having experience in a car like this before ! when i asked if a kawasaki z1000 counted as a fast mode of transport that only “experienced” people would ride apparently it didnt . needless to say the next company up the price chain insured me no problem for 360.00.
 
Best one I had was where my car was written off after someone crashed into it while it was parked (how you can miss a bright red convertible I don't know - so glad I no longer have to deal with on street London parking!), spoke to insurer and they're happy to protect the NCB.

Find new car a week later and go to insure it under the existing policy, all fine - then get a call from them a week after that saying they needed to re-assess my cost as I had told them I had a NCB but that they could see I'd recently made a claim. Ended up having to ask them to listen to their own recording of my previous call so they could realise they were the ones who agreed it could stand! Bizarre.
 
Yep totally agree prices can be bizarre! I had a quote of £800 from a number of the top insurers.

Eventually went with LV as it was £495 as part of the multi car policy.
 
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