Yesterday I received my car insurance renewal documents. I thought I would shop around for a better deal. On the renewal document it says in bold something like "this is the best deal available from our insurance underwriters". Having found a better deal (saving myself £150!) I rang up my existing insurers to cancel - at this point they decided to offer me a much cheaper premium, not as good as the deal I had found but pretty close to it.

So I am wondering - is this even legal? ... It is a deliberate attempt to try and defraud me as they are stating on the form that this is the best deal available to me (from them not other insurers obviously).

I'm struggling to see where the issue is here??

"this is the best deal available from our insurance underwriters" could mean with the current scheme you would have been on. They are able to offer you a discount because they can then 'rebroke' and find an alternative insurer (or scheme) to place you with. This is a fairly common complaint within the MoneySupermarket forums and most think that the insurer/broker/intermediary should be the ones finding the best deal at each renewal. It's absolute rubbish and not feasible to do so. If the client is happy paying at the rate specified, then they will. If not, then they should call up to see if there is anything better they can do and offer a comparison price.

If the insurer had said "this is the best deal available to you on the entire UK insurance market" then you would have grounds to complain, but it does highlight that it is specifically the best deal from them whilst you are on the current scheme.

The only thing they are guilty of, is shooting themselves in the foot by not saying something like "Give us a call if you find this cheaper and we will match this" or something to that effect.

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Kind Regards,

Vicissitude

thanks for the reply ... the issue for me is one of honesty and a desire to receive a duty of care from any business that I have a financial arrangement with.

just got home and checked the exact wording which is "The best price from our panel of insurers is underwritten by .." It seems to me they are stating that they have looked around for the best deal for me - at the very least this is deliberately misleading and given that the exact same insurance company that they quoted the price from gives a £100 cheaper quote with the same criterea makes me think this is a deliberate con.

I do take your point though .. and even though I was a bit miffed when I wrote the post I'm happy to have found a great deal elsewhere. Yes it is worth me searching for the good deal and not relying on anyone else.

Your final point is spot on ... I would have likely stayed with my existing broker if they had made an effort to be helpful and dare I think it -> Honest?

What you have to realise is that many insurance companies (direct/brokers etc) take a loss if this your first year of insurance with them (it is a very competetive market) you cannot expect this to continue year on year (they would never make any money) so it is likley that your renewal was the best price from their panel of insurers.

I agree with budgetperson. I suspect this is why we are seeing the proliferation of new adverts geared towards not raising your premium in subsequent years, its an attempt by the insurance companies to keep their customers and make the maximum profit.

Banks do the same thing. You never receive a letter telling you your current account only earns 0.5% interest and there is a better deal, one that pays 5.5%. In financial matters it definitely is a case of "You snooze, you lose."

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Joe Blogs

Yes, I've come across this as well this year. Been with the same company for 10 years and all of sudden my premium doubled! No claims etc to explain it. Anyway, shopped around and managed to save £203 on combined comp insurance and breakdown cover. I did find though, that when I filled out the form on money supermarket my current insurer declined to give a quote, which I assume means it would have been lower than already offered!

lynr:I did find though, that when I filled out the form on money supermarket my current insurer declined to give a quote, which I assume means it would have been lower than already offered!

No, it means the data they are receiving (or lack of) is not sufficient or accurate enough for them to provide a quotation. It could also mean that the underwriting has changed which would not accept your criteria at new business, but may continue to provide cover as an existing customer.

When you put your details into the price comparison site, it does not automatically search the insurer's database for an existing client - despite comments to the contrary by people supposedly 'in the know'. The quote is processed in the same way as any new business quotation.

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Kind Regards,

Vicissitude

Interestingly when i filled in the form on moneysupermarket the same underwriter (but different broker) gave me a much cheaper quote.

Again, more evidence of year 1 write downs to gain new business in order to make profit across years 2 and 3 through high renewals.

Remember: "you snooze you lose."

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Joe Blogs

Alexei:Interestingly when i filled in the form on moneysupermarket the same underwriter (but different broker) gave me a much cheaper quote.

Different brokers are given different rates depending on a number of things; mainly the GWP:Claim ratio. Whereby some brokers are extra vigilant when it comes to accepting a risk within the terms and therefore a more appropriate premium is written to cover the claim should one arise. These brokers are often rewarded with higher commissions and higher discount rates from screen prices, allowing these discounts to be passed back to the customer.

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Kind Regards,

Vicissitude