AA Buildings and Contents Insurance

[Barkshare]

Hello,

I've just received my renewal from the AA and it came in at £471 (I pay monthly). Having separated from my wife a year ago, I look after the bills that she used to (She was very good at it). I went on comparison site and managed to get it for £345 - exactly the same cover.

When I rang the AA, they reduced my bill to the same and what really annoyed me was I felt that they were completely ripping me off with the first quote.

Does anyone have an experience of this? Is this how insurance companies work? I'm outraged.

I've started to blog about my life too: barkshare.com - would love any advice.

Oh yes - that's generally how they work. They rely heavily on their own version of inertia selling and direct debit mandates - usually at renewal stage when special or introductory offers run out. ( The 'You don't need to do anything ............' bit.)

A close acquaintance of mine regularly manages to have very large amounts shaved off his insurance and services bills. Very large amounts.

Yep, loyalty is for suckers. And have you run some comparison quotes? Its not too latre.

Also paying monthly adds an interest charge so start saving to avoid that.

Many people still feel that it ought to be counting for something though, special. They 'don't like to' negotiate over amounts and almost give the impression that they think their customer card will somehow be marked with 'A Bad Person' if they say a thing. And the direct debit is in force, the new amount(s) come out - and it becomes 'I'll say something next year'. But again they don't.

And the insurance companies know this.

You've got it.

Saturated market so customer inertia is the only way to make money.

Yes sounds familiar. Sometimes they will match it, sometimes they won't.

I feel like a bit of an idiot!!

They know when someone is just 'going through the motions' I think - have you ever noticed that you have a different number to press if you want to cancel or query a service? I reckon they put their more experienced reps on those calls.

You really have to know the game/have done your homework/be genuinely thinking about leaving and with somewhere else to go to. (Very important that last one because that's when the offers start to come in at you.) Some firms are easier than others, though.

And remember - come the next renewal you'll have to start all over again. There's no rest on this one for consumers.

No reason why you should, Bark.

The big companies have whole sales departments (and multi-disciplinary research teams) focussed just on parting the maximum number of people from the maximum amount of cash. Individuals tire of endless battling but they don't.

Think I need to be looking at my energy bills next then!

It's very tiring, especially if you have a time-consuming job which leaves you little free time. Just think to yourself how many DDs (annual or monthly) you have going out and how many things you're signed up to? Insurances of various sorts, communications/internet, property related items including warranties for white goods, film and TV service subscriptions, supermarket 'passes' etc etc etc. I'd guess that the average householder has at least 30 or 40 such items, likely all staggered so the odd email or letter doesn't really stand out and many having been entered into on Introductory Offers which all come to an end. (But your DD mandate doesn't end.)

Providers set things to 'hook' you in and the whole thing is exhausting to contemplate when you're just an individual dealing with many of them. And there's little respite - the staggering and annual deals give you a pretty well continuous chore.

Best of luck.

No one is born knowing all this , and the rules have changed - loyalty costs now.

Saving on bills takes time, but think of it as being paid for that time. Money saving expert is good.

...but think of it as being paid for that time....

That's an excellent thought.

It is the only way I'll get seventy quid for an hours work!

Trouble is that while there might be a few 'big wins', potentially at least, there's often just so much of the small to medium stuff.

I guess that you just need to sort the big ones and then address the rest as methodically as you can/when they arrive. You're almost bound to lose on a few but that's likely not worth dwelling on for most people.

PS - and address any 'known culprits' of course.