car insurance quote woes

[Hexinthecity]

Having a rant (as DH is fed up of hearing it) but just went to insure a new car and am pretty pissed off.

Theres a local company that we have our other car with so did their online quote form and got quoted a decent enough price but thought I'd call them and see if I could get it cheaper. I didn't tell the guy on the phone this, he didnt give me a chance to, he talked over me and generally came across as a bit of a prick and I felt like I was being to spoken down to .. you know that special way men have of instantly registering a female voice and assuming you haven't got much of a clue about anything.

Well he ended up quoting me at over 200 MORE than the online quote and when I pulled him up on it he got pissy and told me I must have entered my details wrong or put the excess away up. Nope, I left everything as standard precisely so I would have room for leverage on the phone. He actually told me he didn't believe me and when I gave him the quote reference number said it must be a mistake and he'd have to call the underwriters.. WTF? Like it was my fault and he should be telling me off? I called him on it and told him I wasnt happy at all to which is just started typing furiously in the back ground and muttering about how I'd 'dicked about with the excess'.

Incidentally I have since gone back to the online form and changed the excess to see if it made that much difference and the quoted I got changed by a whopping 25 quid so even if I had 'dicked about' with it theres still something serious yfishy going on with the figure he quoted surely? Now considering calling the customer service line to complain as either A. he's an arsehole working on commission and price gouging because he thought he'd get away with itor B. its their company policy to treat their customers this shit.

[Hexinthecity]

In case it saves anyone any money : www.which.co.uk/news/2019/09/why-using-a-comparison-site-can-lead-to-pricier-car-insurance/
Honestly ringing around has up until today always without fail saved us money, sometimes it’s only twenty quid but it has been a lot more in previous years, last month with the other car like I said, it was 50 quid.

[tulippa]

Does no one ring around anymore?

No. They use price comparison websites.

[Hexinthecity]

@Blindstupid ok cool, thanks

[coogee]

Don't think anyone rings around to try and haggle these days really, it's all about the online quote

Ringing a broker can work out better if you have something modified or unusual. Online tools usually can't cope.

[Hexinthecity]

@BagORats we always call up when we get quotes and have always managed to get a reduction, I’m really surprised that doesn’t seem to be the norm, last time was last month for the other car, we told them what we’d been quoted and the guy on the phone just said give me a second and then knocked of 50 quid 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Blindstupid]

I actually came on to post some good information due to working in the industry, but as soon as I saw your ‘pissy’ comments, changed my mind. Don’t really want to help those who put others down immediately.

[Hexinthecity]

@blindstupid thanks for your input

[BagORats]

Insurance companies normally give a discount for taking out the insurance online because its less work for them. Don't think anyone rings around to try and haggle these days really, it's all about the online quote

[Blindstupid]

You’re on a highway to nothing after calling us all pissy ..... seems you have a problem in general - oh no, wait ... you’re the problem ...

[Hexinthecity]

But that’s the point @aprilx I used the local companies online form, you plug in to details and it gives you a figure and emails the quote to you, I then phoned the same company gave them exactly the same details and the guy on the phone gave me a quote back of over 200 pounds more. I just think it’s really dishonest, and his attitude when I queried it was really rude. It is a local company any I’m in NI so we have got different insurance premiums, lots of the big national insurers don’t quote for NI or if they do they’re not remotely competitive.

[AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair]

I genuinely wouldn't be bothered by whatever price was quoted, why would I take it personally?

Being patronized by a knobhead on the phone, meh, couldn't get worked up about that either.

We should all know the drill - start getting quotes 3 weeks before renewal, clear your cookies, try all the comparison sites and websites for the insurers who aremt on comparison sites and choose the best deal.

[isitjustlockdown]

I haven't seen a local broker for a long time (my first proper job was actually in a local brokers branch).

I, and everyone I know, just checks a few comparison sites now, and only ring up the current insurers insurers at renewal to see if they will improve their offer.

[Aprilx]

@Hexinthecity

Righto, got the pissy mumsnetters too then. So no one would be even slightly irritated that they’d been quoted over 200 quid more on the phone by the same company? Does no one ring around anymore? It’s standard practice surely, we’ve always been given more competitive rates by phoning. No one even vaguely irritated to be condescended to either? Fair enough

I don’t have a “local” insurance company to call, didn’t think such a thing really existed.

Anyway you do seem to be looking to take offence, the person you spoke to on the phone isn’t dreaming up numbers, they will have a model that they are plugging information into and yes different platforms might be configured differently.

[8dpwoah]

I don't think I'd bother phoning and wasting more of my time on them but for the sake of a quick email I would let them know why I hadn't chosen to insure my new car with them and why my existing car would not be being renewed with them. I'd be more annoyed about the customer service tbh.

[Hexinthecity]

Righto, got the pissy mumsnetters too then. So no one would be even slightly irritated that they’d been quoted over 200 quid more on the phone by the same company? Does no one ring around anymore? It’s standard practice surely, we’ve always been given more competitive rates by phoning. No one even vaguely irritated to be condescended to either? Fair enough

[Rillington]

Local brokers are always more expensive. Get on comparethemarket.com

[DynamoKev]

Thanks for sharing OP.

[AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair]

Are you new to car insurance?

What do you mean by a local insurer? They can quote you what they like and it's pretty standard to have different prices depending on the platform you're using.

Tbh I think you're making an issue where there isn't one. If the price is too high you don't buy from them.

So the man on the phone was rude and condescending, again don't give them your business

Total mountain out of molehill non issue imo.