My insurance has always been a rip off! always around £550 a year, didn't matter who I went with, what I had, business, sdp and commute, sdp only, fully comp, third party fire and theft, working, not working, house husband, retired, always a rip off.
The best one was last year, I had been given a car by a client, insured it and taxed it, a week later the engine went, my insurance was as usual around the £500 mark. I couldn't afford to replace the car so cancelled the insurance, towards the end of the month I bought an identical car and rang the insurers, the price came back £2.5k! I rang another one and got a slightly better quote,£1.9k, I decided to leave it and go get drunk instead, when I made enquiries the following day my original company were the cheapest and it was back to the price I had paid on the other car, mystified I asked why,and received this cracker of an answer,
"well sir, it's the end of the month, and it's a new to you vehicle" , I asked what the guy meant and what the end of the month had to do with it, "it's like this sir, at the end of the month everyone gets paid and goes out drinking. now it's a new to you vehicle that you may be unfamiliar with and are more likely to have an accident while you are out" .
Right now, I'm a police trained driver, the only thing I didn't do was the T PAC course, I,m 51 years old, been driving for 30 years and never had an accident that was my fault, in fact in all that time I've only been involved in 3 minor shunts. Now all of a sudden the fact that I'm obviously inexperienced and the fact it's the end of the month and the fact the car is worth the princely sum of £800 justifies a quote of £2.5K does it? Well how come at the start of the new month, 24hrs later it's back to normal? Have I suddenly gained experience overnight? Is it ok for me to go out and get blind drunk and drive, because it isn't the end of the month?
When it was due this year they sent me a quote for £750, I declined it and after told the guy to cancel it then put me through to the new policy section, he asked why and I pointed out that I'd had a quote from them over the phone for the same as I paid last year. his reply was brilliant, " but sir, if you cancel this one and take out another you'll have to pay £40 up front on your card, if you let it renew you wont". Hmm let me see, £40 now or an extra £200 over the year, very tempting but I think I'll pay the £40 up front.
