I've had bad experiences with insurance companies in the past, so I always like to stick to one I've heard of, and preferably that I know for certain will cough up if I need them. So what I do for car insurance is find the best quotes, then take a note of them and go back to my broker and let them know. Usually they've matched them or pretty close. Worth a try anyway.
It's worth remembering that insurances companies are there to make money for the company, not to help you out. So while we all need to insure stuff like house, car, and medical expences if going abroad, it might be better not to bother for other things. For instance, for pet insurance I 'self-insure', ie put some money away to cover emergencies. I had a bad experience with a pet insurance company in the past; they changed the rules at the end of the year so as not to cover longterm conditions any more, and I had a chronically sick cat. I took it to the insurance ombudsman, who said "sorry, we sympathise, but it's legal"!
So work out the figures. Even in a worst case scenario you may be better off doing it yourself. For instance, my cat was recently very ill, and cost me £1,400. BUT...with a multi-cat household, I'd have paid out about that much over two years if I'd insured them all, and my cats had been healthy for longer than that. So actually I was better off.
Insurance shopping
Simple ideas to keep more cash in your pocket
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Full rules
Please do not post "get rich quick schemes" or "freebie spam".
Please note that no posts should be considered as financial advice and although we do our best to ensure they do not appear, there is always the possibility that some advertisers are perpetrating scams.
Before making an investment, or changing your financial set-up, you should always take professional financial advice.
WARNING: IWOTY does not control the adverts that Google provides for this site, please only use known, reputable products such as McAfee, AVG, Trend (PC-Cillin), Spybot Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware etc.
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Re: Insurance shopping
by Whirlygirl » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:46 pm
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Whirlygirl - Posts: 16
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:08 pm
Insurance shopping
by dragonthoughts » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:12 pm
I've just spent 2 and a half hours looking for the best car insurance quote for my partner.
Her original renewal quote from Aviva was £423 (or she could have paid £443 by instalments at around 13% APR interest).
By shopping around, using comparison sites like CompareTheMarket.com and MoneySupermarket (via topcashback, for a tiny extra) as well as trying many insurance companies directly.
The car insurance search took around 2 and a half hours, but gave a final premium of £225 (it would have been about £10 less if I had put myself down as a housewife, rather than a househusband) saving £198. The cover level was also better, and had a significantly lower excess compare to Aviva's renewal.
If we treat that improvement in the premium as paid work, then I the saving would be the equivalent of earning about £79 per hour, tax free. That's real money saving.
When I told her, my partner said, "good saving, you have earned your lunchtime kibble even if I have to go hungry with only a banana".
Her original renewal quote from Aviva was £423 (or she could have paid £443 by instalments at around 13% APR interest).
By shopping around, using comparison sites like CompareTheMarket.com and MoneySupermarket (via topcashback, for a tiny extra) as well as trying many insurance companies directly.
The car insurance search took around 2 and a half hours, but gave a final premium of £225 (it would have been about £10 less if I had put myself down as a housewife, rather than a househusband) saving £198. The cover level was also better, and had a significantly lower excess compare to Aviva's renewal.
If we treat that improvement in the premium as paid work, then I the saving would be the equivalent of earning about £79 per hour, tax free. That's real money saving.
When I told her, my partner said, "good saving, you have earned your lunchtime kibble even if I have to go hungry with only a banana".
Be kind to dragons - You may not be eaten 
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dragonthoughts - Posts: 174
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:36 am
- Location: Cheshire, UK
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