To distrust all car insurers? Any to recommend? Are Bell horrendous?

[lill72]

I need to pick an insurer - help!!! Tell me your opinions.

My cheapest quotes are Bell, Churchill and Privelage.

Ive been with 2 of 3 above (first two) and had no issues with them. I've only had an issue with Aviva due to their 'online only' service (which you only realised once you've bought) Due to a misunderstanding on their part they said that I was now uninsurable with them and would have find another insurer........it took them 4 days and several emails to reply and then realise that they could insure me with a no protection on NCB. They were very apologetic but I could have killed them and left as soon as the term was up (fully insurable everywhere else and with the NCB protection) Having said all of that I have Health insurance with them and they're fine!

Bell / Admiral / Elephant and Diamond are all the same company. I've used all of them in the past and never had a problem. They're cheap, never a pain to get hold of on the phone and I've always found them efficient.

If you've got a Bell quote, try the other 3 as well as they all differ slightly in price and you may get a better deal. And don't be afraid to haggle a bit on the phone . I'm with diamond at the minute and think it was around £270 for a 9 year old, 1.6 Citroen for me and DH fully comp with 6y ncb.

I've also been with Swift in the past and again, they were reasonable and no problems. In fact, the only issue I've ever had was, again, with Aviva. Fleet insurance though, with an old employer. They were an absolute nightmare to deal with.

Thank you - very helpful. This is my first car in the Uk - though very experienced driver in OZ. INsurance is coming up at 900 upwards. Eek.
Bell is cheapest but you have to put a blackbox in which is ok but i have heard they are hard to cancel if you want to as they autorenew so you almost always lose out.

any thoughts on churchill? they are slightly more exp but will give me two years no claims after one year.

No idea about Churchill but have you tried using a broker? Get them to do the legwork and they can often find deals and use companies that don't have an online presence. Have a Google for brokers in your area and give one a ring - can't hurt

Bell/Admiral/Elephant/Diamond aren't the same company - they're owned by the same company.

I used to work for them many moons ago and still have friends working there. I always insure our cars with one of them.

Going through a broker can be problematic if you need to cancel during the year as they'll charge in full for their commission and any add ons to the policy.

That's what I meant, owned by the same company. And I was floating the broker as an option, not an advisement. Consider me thoroughly chastised though

We have Admiral. They were great for replacing my window-screen when it cracked, but I think that's a pretty low bar.

Try MoneySupermarket.

Have you got another driver you can add on your insurance. Apparently it reduces the premium.

Thanks guys - yes have been on money supermarket. Have not looked into brokers as read there are many shonky ones so not sure who to trust. have not got another driver to add as DH does not drive.

Had very very bad experiences with Adrian Flux. Avoid.

Depends who the driver is as to whether it makes a positive or negative difference. ;)

I am with quotemehappy.com for the second year running. I had a claim last year and they were very easy to deal with for it. There is an app so all I had to do for my proof of ncd was to take a photo of the documents with the app and they sorted the rest. No charges to make amendments as you do it on their website. £150 for me so good pricewise too.

Bell were AWFUL to me when someone crashed into the back of my car. Bell wrote off my car and tried to only pay me £1,000 for it when they knew full well it was worth a lot more than that. They paid me £1,300 in the end which was at least £700 too little. I'd love to know how much they got from the insurers of the car that hit us - a lot more I'd imagine!

They were really slow to sort things out and every time I phoned them I had to speak to a different person. They'd never let me speak to the person I asked for, which meant that I had to keep explaining my situation again and again. It was extremely stressful and some of the staff were really rude. I guess the call handlers deal with insurance claims every day and are desensitised to it which is why they were so uncaring, but I was quite traumatised by having had someone smash into the back of my car and I'd never had to make a claim before in my life! The whole experience was horrible, made much worse by Bell's treatment of me. I'm insured with someone else now who I hope will be a bit more sensitive and helpful if ever I'm in another car accident.

moonunit =- this is what i suspected. i am willing to pay more for peace of mind should i have to make a claim. your comment and others have made me def avoid now thank you.

pasta - will have a look at quotemehappy thank you

A named driver does not have to live with you, anyone you know that has been driving for years and is happy for you to add them will do. DM has my Auntie as a named driver on her policy and she lives nearly 400 miles away. She has added her so that when down on holiday she can drive DM's car.

M00nUnit - you should have dealt with the 3d party insurer in that case rather than yours.

I've made a couple of non-fault claims without any issues that way (including one where the other party was also insured with the same company). Even with a fault claim I had my car repaired by a specialist (non-standard car) which cost a lot more than an approved repairer without quibble.

Most of the problems come from customers not understanding how insurance works.

LV were a reasonable price and a good service.

Only insurer I have had trouble with is Saga.......avoid them. Gave conflicting advice depending on who you spoke to. Told me my car was a write off when some scaffolding came off a lorry and hit my car. It wasn't as it was only cosmetic damage, tho the car assessor they used for the evalution of damage also had car auctions and phoned me privately to make me an offer (really low) for my car. Now with one called Castle and have had no problems over the last couple of years.

AXA are brilliant, very helpful and efficient

I'm with quotemehappy and they've been fine. I had to claim when someone drove into the back of me and had no problem. I pay about £250 a year, with DH as a named driver.

i'm with elephant, passed years ago but recently started driving. they quoted in excess of 800 with DH as a named driver.

my DHs first insurance was through brokers called express insurance who were really good and kept us up to date with what was happening when he was hit from behind, then adrian flux who we thankfully never had an accident with whilst with them but they didnt seem bad.

DisappointedOne I called the third party's insurer's straight away but was told no they couldn't speak to me and I had to deal with my own insurer. Incidentally I ended up buying my written-off car back off Bell and my husband fixed it himself. He probably spent around £150 on parts (and he did a great job - we got it MOTd and the mechanics said it looked brand new. We got a VED check as well of course so it was legal to drive again). Bell had told me it would be £2,000 to fix which is why they wrote it off. I kept asking them to send me the full quote so we could see how they'd arrived at that figure but they kept sending me blank pieces of paper, or just not sending it at all and claiming they had. Arseholes.