Car Insurance - what a swizzle
My car insurance was up for renewal, and I was expecting my premium to come down a little bit due to having an extra years no-claim bonus. In fact, my present insurers renewal was £440 - UP £100 from last year!
Well, I did not feel that this was fair, so went to go compare and found a range of quotes from £220 upwards. Good enough, as Car Insurance is a big con anyway in my opinion.
Then I remembered that I am a member of Quidco, and that they offer insurance deals. A quick hunt on there led to a £30 cashback deal which brought a number of the quotes down to below £200!
In the end I went with a quote for a grand total of £196 and a few pence.
So, this year I've already saved myself well over £200 for a few minutes spent on Go Compare and Quidco. Here's the kicker;
Both the old insurance and the new insurance are underwritten by the same insurer! What a con.
Comment by Mike@TheWhippinpost — November 10, 2011 @ 2:20 pm
Received my renewal quote last month, an increase on last year (of course). Went to the same comparison site I found them on last year and, lo and behold, all contenders were more expensive. But the curious bit: my insurer wasn't even shortlisted.
The interesting bit is the parent company of my insurer owns the comparison site.
However, the same "coincidence" occured on two other comparison sites too.
The market is rigged. As soon as you input your details they are forwarded to all bidders. Try ringing them up and up pop your details. Oftentimes, these bidders are subsidiaries of the same parent. You can go to the same comparison site a day or two later and discover a juggled price table, even though the risks are the same.
It's as if the algo is set to give all bidders an equal stab at each demographic, and then hold on to them in following years. They may lose a few (perhaps to another sub of the same parent Co.?) to avoid anti-competition laws, but like a fruit machine, the algo is weighted in their favour overall, IMO.
Comment by burt — November 11, 2011 @ 12:45 pm
Mike, it's a big f-in con! Admiral and Confused?