Your Car Insurance in 2008

For most of us the hassle of managing our finances gets more difficult every year; food bills, petrol prices, council tax, utility bills and mortgages repayments are set to rise in 2008.

Add to that credit cards, loans, holidays, Christmas (yes I mentioned the “C” word in January) and 2008 is already shaping up to be an expensive and stressful year.

Insurance makes matters worse too; house, car, life, travel, pet the list goes on and on.

With all this to handle a little friendly advice can go along way so when it comes to car insurance we’re happy to start 2008 with an overview of what you can expect from your car insurance provider and how to get the best deal.

Lets start with the bottom line, money…

Cost

Car insurance in 2008 can be summed up in two words: HIGHER PREMIUMS

Nobody wants to pay them but this is what many of us will face in 2008 unless positive action is taken.

Insurance companies should exist to provide protection at a reasonable price. But many exist to make profit. All have expenses to cover and many have shareholders to please.

As a result they need to make more money. And where do they get this from? Us of course!!

Many insurance renewals this year will be sent out not with lower quotes to reward loyalty but with premium increases to take advantage of customer lethargy and improve revenue figures.

It’s not just existing drivers that will be targeted either; those who pass their tests in 2008 will face high motor insurance costs as companies use “high risk” drivers with no NCB to boost profits – young drivers, especially young make drivers (read “boy racer” in insurer’s eyes) will be ruthlessly targeted.

So how do we combat rising insurance costs in 2008? We start by confronting the insurance companies themselves…

Insurance Companies

As we’ve already said insurance companies exist to make profit BUT they also need to compete with each other to win our custom.

This is where we can push the advantage of “you need me more than I need you”.
When that renewal letter arrives odds are you will be looking at a rise in the cost of you car insurance premium.

Should this be the case call your insurer immediately and challenge the increase.

If you’ve made no claims during the year and built up more NCB then a rise in price is unfair and unacceptable. Insurers are banking on the chance you won’t fight back and in the majority of cases confronting your insurer will result in your premium being lowered in order for them to retain your business.

If you are getting insurance for the first time then shop around for quotes and play the insurers against each other, challenging them to beat the price offered by their competitors in order to win you as a valuable customer can lead to huge savings.

Remember insurance agents are under pressure to meet targets so use this to drive down the price.

Now that we’ve taken the first steps to avoiding higher car insurance costs we shouldn’t rest on our laurels. There are savings to be had if you’re prepared to spend a little time on the research.

Whether you want to switch from your current insurance company or you’re buying car insurance for the first time using price comparison sites can help…

Price Comparison Sites

Millions of people in the UK use price comparison sites every year to buy their car insurance online.

Using these sites you can search once and get quotes from around 50-60 insurance companies.

This is an excellent tool in helping to compare prices and unearth good deals, but how will they work in 2008?

Firstly there will be more of them, over the last few years the two main names were confused.com and moneysupermarket.com – in 2007 many others including gocompare.com, comparethemarket.com and tescocompare.com emerged.

In 2008 we can expect to see even more variations start up, trying to cash in by referring us to insurance providers

With more competition in the price comparison market our best bet is to use several of them to search for car insurance quotes, some will have better technology or exclusive offers so results will differ from site to site.

Nevertheless price comparison sites do take a lot of the hard work aware from getting quotes and if they can help us save money on our car insurance then they are certainly worth a few minutes of our time.

Armed with the knowledge that we can challenge our insurers over the cost of our policy and with a vast array of free comparison services at our disposal what is there to stop us making a saving on our car insurance in 2008?

Well in a word…

…us

One of the main factors in a customer paying high insurance premiums is the customer themselves…

Customers

Lets not mince words, we all hate insurance; it costs to much, takes time out of our lives to arrange and deep down we all think insurance companies are out to rob us.

The result of all these negative thoughts is we don’t link having to deal with insurance, we’d rather just push it to the back of our minds and forget about it.

But this is exactly what the insurance companies rely on when they send out your annual renewal (accompanied with a vicious price increase)

The onus is on you, me and all other customers to fight back and obtain a fair and competitive policy. Any remnants of being rewarding for your loyalty is fast evaporating from the insurance market.

Summary

There is no hiding away from it; 2008 is going to be hard on our finances and when it comes to car insurance we face the prospect of higher premiums

But all is not lost; we know we can use the competitive nature of the market against the insurance companies and that we can use price comparison tools to quickly compare a large number of quotes.

Once you find the best deal for you it’s time to be ruthless and switch.

Let battle commence!

A (Very) Belated Happy New Year To All

We’re a little late getting started this year but don’t worry, we’re back now and raring to go. So, what’s in store for the blog in 2008?

Well, plenty of money saving tips and guides for a start! Add to that reviews of providers and comparison sites and any other news from the car insurance arena.

All together a healthy mix of news, reviews and advice to make sure we all get the best deal possible from the car insurance premiums we so loath to pay.

Pretty soon we’re going to kick off the year with a look at what 2008 holds for the world of car insurance. So as the saying goes, WATCH THIS SPACE!!

Safety Or Savings? - Striking The Right Balance

Looking back on a previous TCIB post urging people to bin their renewal to save money on car insurance it seems consumer lethargy is still a huge problem for UK motor insurance customers.

Research from Tesco Finance has found that just under one in three motorists moved their car insurance to a new provider in the last 12 months.

Even more worrying was the statistic announcing that 10% of drivers had either never switched their car insurance premium or had stayed loyal to the same insurer for over 10 years.

Those who have switched put price as one of the most important factors when choosing a car insurance quote while those who had stayed with the same provider said price was less important compared to the features and level of cover offered by their policy.

These figures create a split market, those who are concerned with saving money and those who feel prepared to pay more for the safety of ‘knowing’ they have the right policy.

Both sides make very good points. After all a motor insurance policy is there to provide protection so obtaining the right cover is hugely important.

However with the huge range of insurers now offering policies the opportunity to make a saving on your premium should not be overlooked; especially in the current climate of rising mortgage repayments and utility bills.

In my opinion a mix of the two is the ideal mentality when shopping for car insurance.

Make sure your policy has all the features you need but don’t restrict yourself to one insurer and one quote.

Loyalty is rarely rewarded in today’s market and with comparison sites such as confused.com you can easily find motor insurance policies that match your needs on both policy features and price.

So, if you currently care more about price double check that your policy offers the protection you need; the consequences of not doing so could be potentially disastrous. AND, if you haven’t switched your car insurance for a while be sure to have a look at the options available, you can easily lower your premium without compromising on quality.

Limit Your Mileage For Cheaper Car Insurance

Just a very quick post to highlight a very quick money saving tip:

If you’ve applied for car insurance before you’ll know the insurer/broker/comparison site always ask you’re expected annual mileage.

The answer you give has a direct impact on the cost of your car insurance premium.

However, you can use this to your advantage. Before you next apply for a car insurance policy work out how many miles you expect to drive in the next 12 months and if it’s lower than you normally say make sure you let your insurer know.

Driving fewer miles means less chance of having an accident, less chance of making a claim and, in the eyes of insurers, makes you less of a risk.

The result can be a nice little reduction in your car insurance quote. I’ve just tested this myself on moneysupermarket.com and I was able to cut my potential quote from £411 to £390, a saving of just over 5%

This is a great little saving that’s so easy to do, give it a try!

Comparethemarket.com – A TCIB Review

Recently the blog received a comment from FrankPR who handle promotional campaigns for price comparison website comparethemarket.com. They were interested to know what I thought of the car insurance comparison service offered by their client.

Comparethemarket.com has been around for a couple of years now providing price comparison for a range of insurance products. The site recently underwent a facelift in preparation for a massive TV campaign to advertise their car insurance channel.

Always willing to please I made a visit to comparethemarket.com to test out their car insurance finder. Here’s what I thought…

First impressions...

…the first impression of the site is a very positive one, the layout is extremely user-friendly, taking care not to overload you with too much information, navigating to the car insurance comparison tool is simple enough even for the most novice user.

So, what about the comparison service itself...

The question set you have to fill in may well be interpreted by some as being ‘too long’. In truth I would prefer to call in thorough; the site says you can compare quotes in 4 minutes and that seems about right from the searches I performed.

One thing to remember when using price comparison websites is the more questions you answer the more accurate your quotes will be. If you want to use a service where the questions can be answered in seconds be ready to receive inaccurate questions based on many assumptions.

The comparethemarket.com question set strikes a good balance between the two. The questions are ones you would expect and there’s nothing you won’t be able to answer in your lunch hour.

On to the results...

Again the layout is easy on the eye and simple to understand. The quotes are understandably ordered by price with other primary information such as provider name and monthly cost also clearly visible. Clicking on the ‘more info’ link under each quote provides further policy details to help you make an informed decision.

Finishing your application...

The comparethemarket.com site has a promise ‘the price you see is the price you pay’. For a price comparison site this is a massive promise and one that can be very difficult to deliver.

Upon proceeding with my first application, which was a very straight forward process, the price was indeed the same as quoted, which was highly impressive given the number of accuracy complaints associated with the price comparison industry. Admittedly a few other quotes did deviate by a few pounds but overall the accuracy was commendable.

What else impressed...

A particular favourite of mine was an option on the results page to amend and recalculate your quote. You could change your cover type, excess and add/remove legal protection, breakdown cover and NCB protection and generate new quotes without having to take a backwards step. This is a great timesaver that I’m sure is well received by many customers.

The retrieve a quote option is also incredibly handy. If you don’t have time to complete your application, simply save it and return later on. One point on that, if you’ve already obtained a price you like make sure you return before the quote expiry date passes.

Areas for improvement...

When compared to the long established aggregators the number of quotes returned can be a little thin on the ground for more specialised insurance requirements. If they continue to grow I’ll be looking for comparethemarket.com to include as many providers and quotes as possible to persist in improving the service they provide.

Introducing some free guides and tips to help customers better understand their car insurance policy and the money saving options open to them would be a useful addition to the newsletter option currently offered. I would also like to see a forum introduced to increase customer interaction. As the car insurance comparison industry becomes evermore competitive customer retention will be vital to long-lasting success.

My overall opinion...

Comparethemarket.com is a welcome addition to the car insurance comparison arena. A well presented, easy to use site combined with accurate results makes for a very satisfying experience for the customer.

The site offers excellent possibilities for finding a cheaper motor insurance policy and has the potential to break the stranglehold enjoyed by the established aggregators.

Should you use it...

I would certainly add comparethemarket.com to your list of price comparison sites when searching for cheap car insurance quotes. The site is easy to use, offers a thorough comparison (for those prepared to answer the questions) and most importantly works to provide accuracy in its search results.

From my experience most people prefer one comparison service over another depending on what they’re looking for as well as their level of expectation. The next time your comparing car insurance quotes give comparethemarket.com a try and see how they stack up to any others you may have used in the past.

To learn more about comparethemarket.com visit their site.

If anyone has used comparethemarket.com to search for car insurance please share your opinions with us, good or bad, in the comments.

Mystery Surrounds Thecomparisons.com

Following the recent launch of tescocompare.com it appears another car insurance comparison site could be waiting in the wings.

Thecomparisons.com has been getting mentioned more and more in the last few weeks but we still have very little idea what the site will actually do. Although you have to admit this is a very clever way of generating buzz for a site before it’s even launched.

When first appearing on the radar, thecomparisons.com featured a
rather attractive logo of the “typical family” with a tag line promising to compare prices for the entire family.

While this has since been replaced with a more mundane “coming soon” message it has done little to dispel the intrigue surrounding the site.

With car insurance being one of the most lucrative areas of price comparison it would be a good bet that a facility to compare car insurance quotes will appear somewhere; of course we could be wrong about that.

However with one popular theory being that The AA is behind this mystery a facility to compare car insurance quotes seems a logic explanation.

So we wait in anticipation to see what thecomparisons.com has to offer, will they help people find cheaper car insurance? Or will they be another poor site in an already crowded market?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. On a lighter note if it turns out we like thecomparisons.com then we can all be friends on their myspace page.

If anyone has any knowledge of what’s going on with thecomparisons.com please share it with us in the comments.

Tescocompare.com Enters Car Insurance Comparison Market

Today sees the introduction of the latest financial comparison website to hit the UK. Tesco have launched tescocompare.com which will initially offer a car insurance comparison service before moving into other areas.

Facing fierce competition, in an already crowded market, that includes household names such as confused.com and moneysupermarket.com; Tesco, according to managing director Peter Dingle, aim to make an impact by focusing on accurate quotes and policy details:

“We have placed great emphasis on the fact that our site not only compares price but also looks at individual policy features to allow users to make sure they are getting the right policy for them. There will be no extra costs or charges when it comes to paying your insurance, the price quoted will be the same as if the customer went direct."

It is the last part “the price quoted will be the same as if the customer went direct” that is bound to stir up intrigue within the industry. One criticism of some motor insurance comparison services is that the quotes they find sometimes differ from what is offered upon application. This is because of assumptions the aggregator sites have to make and is something they continually strive to improve.

So how does tescocompare.com aim to deliver on this promise?

The tescocompare.com site has been launched in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland. The comparison service offered by this paring covers 25 insurance brands. They includes Churchill and Privilege; owned by RBS and Virgin Money, Lloyds TSB and Nationwide; underwritten by RBS.

By having this close control over the insurers on its panel their hope is they can provide greater accuracy. After the teething problems experienced by tescocompare.com on its debut it is hard to pass judgement on the quality of its service.

One notable absentee from the panel of compared insurers is Direct Line, one of RBS’ largest brands, who recently launched scathing attacks on the price comparison arena and appear to be sticking to their guns.

So will Tesco triumph in yet another industry? Only time will tell, they certainly have the brand power and the marketing budget but will limiting their panel to the RBS stable prove a wise move? Or will it restrict their ability to offer the cheapest car insurance quotes compared to sites such as confused who compare 95% of the market?

You decide…