Best and worst car insurance companies

[Shopaholic100]

It’s renewal time again. Just thought it would be good to share experiences as you never know until you need to make a claim. Which companies were great and which were terrible?

Anyone?

Has anyone tried the RAC?

I suspect most of us don't have to make claims that often, so it is difficult - even if you have had to make a claim - to compare with how a different company handles a claim.

Had to make a claim with Direct Line for the first time. It was my fault but the process was so easy. I know my premium will go up at renewal but will stay with them due to this.

I was with aviva last year when I had a crash (not serious), they were good

Sterling = Terrible.

We were with the RAC when my husband had an accident a couple of years ago (his fault, no one else involved) RAC were excellent and the claim was paid without any issues.

I'm with esure flex, cheapest renewal quote too (although a 30% increase).
Spent 30mins on hold before giving up.
A further 45 on an online chat before giving up.
Eventually got to speak to someone online after a third 25 min wait.
Dread to think what a claim would be like through them.

I'm currently sorting out my renewal and rac were one of the cheapest quotes I was getting? Are you asking because that's the case for you?

I've also been with tesco in the past , and they were good to deal with when making changes during my policy ( although I've not had a claim so can't comment on that)

@Choirgirl30 That’s good to hear.

@Mairzydotes it’s working at one of the cheaper ones for me too.

I moved from Direct Line to RAC last year. I had been with Direct Line a long time and they were very good when my husband had a nasty encounter with a deer running out in front of him. I only moved because RAC were a good deal cheaper.

I stayed with Direct Line. I've had to claim twice in the past 10 years (once my fault, once not) and both times they've been excellent at sorting the claim, getting a hire car sorted and returning my money both times as the cars were written off. The lack of hassle and the guaranteed hire car were what swung it for me at renewal.

Has anyone tried budget insurance? They are cheaper.

I've generally always been with Admiral. Never had to make a claim (touch wood) but been happy otherwise.

Direct Line - great
RAC - not.

Currently with Admiral (came in Much cheaper than direct line so 🤞🤞)

Elephant (cheap one) bloody awful when DH had an accident (multicar accident thankfully not serious but several insurance companies involved). We started getting legal letters threatening to take us to court because Elephant hadn't settled our share of the claim. We've avoided cheap insurance since then.

Churchill - excellent when I had an accident (not my fault). I did have to do a little bit of follow up but I didn't wait too long to speak to people on the phone and they had good records of what had been previously discussed.

I've gone with them this time .
I had a few quotes similar price on the comparison sites but Budget had a lower excess.

Avoid Churchill like the plague. It must have taken 20 phone calls to get our car sorted. It dragged on week after week. They never did anything they said they would within the timescale they said and then lied about things they said they'd done which they hadn't! I had to chase every step of the way. Eventually having to phone them every single day to kick them up the arse to do things. Their car hire was a fiasco - took about 10 days to appear after they promised within a day, and then the hire firm turned up to take it away again without notice and before settlement. Initially they said it would be repaired (after making me take loads of pictures as they had no one available to inspect it), then we were contacted by a bodyshop to arrange to come for it, then they didn't come, and we chased them up to find out they'd been cancelled by Churchill. So we phoned Churchill to ask why, only to be told they'd written it off instead (but didn't tell us). Then we ended up in a different mousehole trying to speak to someone about the writing off procedure, settlement value, etc., which took another couple of weeks of ringing then. The only good thing is that finally when we were able to talk to someone who knew what they were doing rather than clueless and hopeless call centre workers, she was excellent, negotiated a good settlement and money was in our bank the day later! We also got a few hundred compensation after a formal complaint re all the missing about, delays, etc. I'd never touch Churchill with a bargepole.

Honestly I'd say it depends where you live.

Last accident (DH hit a deer) in 2011 we were with directline. Can't fault them, they came and assessed the car, it was driveable, then came a collected it and returned it repaired.

Now with admiral and we were reversed into at some traffic lights.

First they suggested this all singing and dancing service Auxillis. That might have been okay if you maybe lived in a more populated area however, we are expected to take the car to be assessed and in for repairs and collect. The nearest garage the can offer is 45 min drive away and can't do the car hire so that would be separate, as garage is in the arse end of nowhere, the car hire wouldn't be near it.

Back to Admiral, instead we can use their preferred garage and pay them our excess, this time 30 minutes away and in theory they can provide car hire but not confirmed. But still results in 3 x 1hr round trips plus time at the garage and we both work full time.

Now trying to see if there is a possible plan C.

Now if it was our fault then I guess we'd be happier to just suck it up.

We live in a city BTW, just a very small Scottish one.

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Saga were not great when my Husband was in a hit and run. We would not use them again.

I found Hastings were very good when a car went into me in 2021. Everything was really well organised with a courtesy car and repairs comissioned quickly. They have a really easy to use app as well.

I’ve had someone claim against me - no damage to my car, just theirs (they hit me but I couldn’t prove it!) on Hastings Direct and they handled it really well.

Someone hit the back of my car a few years later when I was with admiral and they passed it to auxillis who were also great - picked up my damaged car and dropped off a courtesy car at my home, took care of everything.

im with Churchill and have been years. Had to claim once and very easy. I probs wouldn't use anything but them or direct line these days as has great experiences with both,