AIBU in thinking my car insurance company should give me the best price on the phone?

[TheHouseofMirth]

Got a new car and did an online quote with my existing insurance company which came out at £510. I rang them today to swap the insurance over to the new car and was told the cost would be £711.

How is that possible?

cos they are trying it on - tell them the online price and ask them to match it - if they won't tell them to shove it and go elsewhere

Is there a fee for swapping from one car to another? £200 seems excessive, though.

it might be cause they presume all online applications are from new customers, who they will give discounts to for moving from another company,
which is what we found.

They don't have the same rates in the call centre as they do online. It probably infuriates the people in the centre but there are web only rates, comparison site rates and different incentives depending how you search. If you can get a ref number phone them and ask them to match but bear in mind they may have no access to the quote online as can quite often be a different system.

I had this recently when I renewed insurance.

I used every comparison site, and when it asked me what the best price I'd already had was I knocked £30 quid off.

Got the insurance much cheaper than the first quote.

I got an online quote from Tescos and then rung them. The phone quote was £300 more.

OldLady it was a like for like quote.

Apparently there's nothing to stop me cancelling my existing policy and then buying online but I just think it's wrong that the difference is so massive and that they are unable to match the online price via phone. It's the Co-Op and I choose them because they are more ethical but this seems really wrong to me.