Boring insurance question

[Orange Cola]

I’m currently renewing two cars. Previously I’ve just gone with whoever offers the cheapest cover and assume they’re all shithouses. Over recent years the defacto(?) ratings seem to be more and more prevalent in the selling elements with not many companies offering 5 star ratings. I’m now getting quotes for 5 star companies at around or slightly more than the cheapest quotes and I don’t know if it’s worth the extra, I’m keen to point out I don’t want to test this out for myself but if an extra £20 might stand me a shit load of hassle (and time I won’t get back) should the worst happen I think I’d be inclined to pay it.

Question is, should it ever come to it, has anyone found the 5 star companies to be any better at handling claims and giving better service compared to the less expensive ones?

[Jobbo]

Presumably the people who gave the star ratings did. Why not check out how the ratings are given?

[Nic]

I only deal with the NFU (who are 5 star rated) now, local contact for everything, no admin charges for plate changes etc and their competitive on price, changing the Touareg to the Cayenne was an extra £36.

[Orange Cola]

Presumably the people who gave the star ratings did. Why not check out how the ratings are given?

The ratings aren’t based on people’s actual experience with a given insurance company, instead they decide for themselves

https://defaqto.com/insurance-brokers/s ... thodology/

Doesn’t mean the system is actually any good when it comes to it.

[Jobbo]

In which case I’d ignore it. There’s your answer.

NFU were good to me when I made a house insurance claim back in 2012 but they’ve always been way overpriced for my cars; and in fact for house insurance since, but I think that’s because they want to recoup some of what they paid out

[DeskJockey]

Admiral were great when we had a claim on the car earlier in the year.

Direct Line were awful when we had to deal with them.

[Jobbo]

Admiral are big enough now that they’re trying to change what is standard practice in the market - there are plenty of things they’ve done over the years which I’ve disliked (asking about optional extras on your car, asking about speed awareness courses etc) so I’d prefer not to use them these days. They haven’t been cheapest for me since I turned 40 anyway so it’s no issue avoiding them.

[DeskJockey]

Didn't know that. They didn't ask about SACs (ahem) when we took out a policy with them last year.

Edit: I'm almost 100% sure. Asking that question puts them in the same category as the telemetry box policies: a flat no.

[Orange Cola]

Well that’s rubbish. The more detail they go into the more likely they are to catch someone out who’s not trying to cheat the system either, for example how many people buy a used car and check if it’s on its OEM spec tyres? Very few, they’ll check the tyres are legal but that’s about it. I know if you have a crash there is an onus on proving the undeclared modification didn’t contribute to the crash in a negative way but it’s not making life easier is it?

I guess I’m just fed up of shelling out hundreds of pounds a year in insurance and there’s no one out there who even offers a half decent level of service when you need them to.