Insurance Renewal - What a Pain.....

[Gilez]

What a hastle I have had renewing my insurance.

Prices are, well, pricey for a start and the insurance companies all have different policies to do with drivers, accidents blah, blah, blah. What a pain in the ar$e. I got it down to two in the end and the problems were.....

1. 2nd named driver has been driving for around 14 years but about 2 years ago surrendered their EU driving license for a UK one. One insurer said you have to assume that the person has only been driving for 2 years on a UK license so the premium shot up. The other said doesnt make any difference, just select 14 years on an EU license.

2. One insurer doesnt take into account a no-fault claim in their price, the other charges an extra £32.

3. For some reason, and i will need to ring the DVLA, when i put my reg number in the box it comes up with a Rocco, but the wrong engine and automatic transmission.

4. I used confused.com and for some unknown reason it transferred a mileage of 9000miles onto the insurers website, and i didnt notice until i bought the policy. I then had to make a change that cost me £37!

Unfortunately, I tried Chris Knott, but they cant cover cars that have been owned less than 12 months or if the person to be insured hasnt had a similar car in the past.

[iAmbu]

Gilez, I feel your pain, getting car insurance can be a right P.I.T.A.

A couple of points...

1. When I was entering my reg number into the insurance websites, it was also resulting in the engine/spec being listed as an automatic. This worried me as I thought the car may have been registered wrong with the DVLA. My V5C states it is a 170 engine but has 'S-A' after it which I thought (presumed) may have meant semi-automatic (e.g. DSG). I phoned my VW dealer and the DVLA, on more than one occasion to get different opinions from different people - Both said they didn't know what the S-A stood for
So I left it as it is and manually adjusted it on the insurance websites.

2. When you noticed the error with the mileage after buying the policy, could you not have used your standard 14-day cooling off period, cancelled the policy free of charge and taken out a new policy?

I also had the same trouble with Chris Knott - Wouldn't insure me, primarily because my previous car was no-where near as powerful as my Scirocco.

[Gilez]

iAmbu,

I havent got around to calling the DVLA yet, but will try and see what they say.

As for the "cooling off period" i thought of this, but the insurer would have stung me with a £25 admin charge. The extra cost was purely for the additional mileage and didnt incur any admin charges.

All done now anyway, so will remember this for next year!

[Ibanez33]

Chris Knott, but they cant cover cars that have been owned less than 12 months or if the person to be insured hasnt had a similar car in the past.

Oh I was going to try chris knott to but i didn't know that, I'm ok on the car front the car I have now is more powerful (but strangely slower) than the roc i'm getting.

[sir_rocco]

I just renewed my insurance on my modded roc. Renewal with Greenlight was over £500 which for 43 years old and full no claims in a very safe postcode was taking the mick I thought...so

Called Chris Knott and they basically said whats your best quote and who was that with. When I told them the name of the company they said they coul dnot quote me as they use the same insurer and were not allowed to undercut a rival using the same company. Advice was to try another company and come back to them when I had a better quote and they would beat it.

I went into my local A-Plan broker and got a quote for £440 which I took, did not bother going back to Chris Knott as I was cheesed off with them. My thoughts are "I work hard for what I have, if you take the piss out of me and try to overcharge then I ain't interested. Chris Knott should of given me their best quote there and then and not said its £500 quid unless someone can beat it in which case we will lower our quote to get your business" Well guess what Chris Knott, you got my middle finger.

[davemac5]

£280 Fully comp inc full legal. Axa through compare the market.com. I'm 48 with 30 years driving.

[lancs_lad]

Unfortunately, I tried Chris Knott, but they cant cover cars that have been owned less than 12 months or if the person to be insured hasnt had a similar car in the past.

They covered me on my new Roc in March. I upgraded from a Nissan Note 1.5 TDCI so don't think that would qualify as similar to the Roc

[PIP39]

Unfortunately, I tried Chris Knott, but they cant cover cars that have been owned less than 12 months or if the person to be insured hasnt had a similar car in the past.

They covered me on my new Roc in March. I upgraded from a Nissan Note 1.5 TDCI so don't think that would qualify as similar to the Roc

How strange - i went from the same type of Note to a Roc in Feb - about to renew my Insurance so will see what happens

[ashley1407]

Tell me about it! I dread the time of year when insurance comes round. Fingers crossed I can get it under £1400 this year!

[maisbitt]

Can't understand the insurance companies formulas for working out risk. I went from a 170TDI GT Sport Golf - Group 16, to a 140 GT TDI Scirocco - Group 12, same address, no changes in policy etc, still full NCD and my Roc renewal was £60 more than renewal for the Golf

I'm 34, currently pay £380 with full NCD, with NCD protection in a low risk area in a small town near Newcastle upon Tyne, parking on the drive.

Not sure how useful Chris Knott are. They're not genuinely cheap - they won't provide you with a sensible quote unless you have a renewal figure for them to undercut. If you have full NCD, a clean(ish) licence and/or a lot of driving experience then one of the bigger ones good for me are: More than, Priviledge, Elephant.

I would avoid Elephant like the plague though. A bus clipped my lawfully parked, unattended car (4 week old Golf GT Sport TDI 170) and caused £6500 damage. The bus company's insurance was 100% liable and paid for everything, my NCD was unaffected and still Elephant wanted to up my premium from £430 to £850 at renewal 2 months later! I was apparently a greater risk of hitting something myself because my unattended car had been hit

[ZephyR]

Some tips ...
Use a comparison web site to find out who's offering the best quotes for you but make sure they are quoting like-for-like. Double check things like Protected no-claims, Courtesy car provision, Legal protection service and especially what excesses they want (compulsory and voluntary).

Once you have narrowed it down to a few companies go to their own web sites to get further quotes - you will usually get better terms than through the comparison web sites - and buy direct from them. If you've got time hang fire for a bit and they will ring you up to chase up your enquiry and you will probably get an even better deal when they phone you, with a bit of haggling.

Have a look at Quidco. There can be some great money back offers on at times if you buy your insurance on-line through Quidco. I got £60 off on both mine and the wife's car (£120 in total) when I did this last time.

Look for multiple car discounts if you've got other cars insured with other companies.

[chr15]

Have a look for a company called Keith Michaels.

I was with HIC when I got the rocco 16 months ago but in January at renewal time they would not renew it and I found a lot of trouble getting quotes below £1500 when I paid £750 the year before. I phoned Keith Michaels, got a quote instantly over the phone which was the best experience I have ever had dealing with an insurance company, of £640 including the remap and exhaust. Not bad considering I had just turned 23!!

Chris Knott wouldn't give me a quote. Everything was just hard work with them. Only insuring people with a years experience of the car aswell? Rubbish!

[sir_rocco]

Thats a few votes of no confidence for Chris Knott then.

Perhaps Tim who posts on here in respect of Chris Knott would like to comment.