Has car insurance gone up this year?
I'm with chris knott and normally they are always good to go with its always been with Highway insurance,but this year chris knott has given me a quote with Equity red star never heard of them?With Equity this year its £292 where last year with Highway i paid £271 Not much of a difference but reading further down it sounds like Highway was asking for more this year this is why they have found it cheaper with Equity red star.
I do normally phone around but always find im back to chris knott. Mine never goes up because I always shop around for best deal at renewal time. NEVER accept the existing insurers renewal because it is usually way overpriced. I also shop around as i said i end up going back because they are the cheapest. I'm with them through Adrian Flux brokers.
Last December I was hit while stationary, the other guy had crossed the white line and hit the back of my car.He admitted fault and I thought it would be simple.Scuffed rear wheel arch and alloy.
I rang AF, gave them all the details.They passed me to a claim management company, I gave them all the details again - by now I'd been on phone over an hour - I'd just had an accident with my kid in the car in front of a bunch of mums trying to cross the road with pushchairs so I was a bit shaken up.The second claim company then passed me to another 3rd party who wanted the whole thing again data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7I was properly annoyed and had to go out so I had to ring back and do it all again the following day.
They took 2 months to get my car booked in for an estimate that involved an 1 1/2 round trip.
When I took the car in for the repair they'd not booked me a hire car.They said I could do it all again the following day and there'd be a car - but I'd have lost 3 working hours - I'm self employed so told them I'd take a taxi and claim it back - cheaper all round anyway vs. a hire car for a week.Then I had to get another taxi back to collect it.Not delighted that there's a fresh scratch on the front wing that they did but I can't prove as I didn't photograph the whole car, just the damage.
Weeks go by and I've not heard from the claim management company so I chase.
They make me e-sign some credit agreement for the original repair - even though it's been paid - so they can chase my taxi fares.Months go by with my prodding them by email and getting told the other party aren't talking.
Eventually they tell me they're going to take them to court - not for the repair which was paid - but for my £50 in taxis.I consider dropping it as a solicitors letter will be more than the cost of the cab fares and tbh it's "my" claim management company who are responsible for not providing the hire car as agreed or attaching my costs to the repair claim.
When they write and tell me they're closing the file I contacted the other party's insurance company directly and explained what had gone on and that I'd prefer my money to a court case.
They put me in touch with their claims company who after 2 emails agreed to pay up in full.
Then they paid "my" claims management company who took another month of chasing to pay up.I got my money back in October.
I vowed not to touch them again but I had a minor bump in my partner's car on Monday.As I'm at fault and the claim is in progress with no indication of the cost I'm getting stupid quotes so I've just stumped up another year with these muppets against my better judgement.
Equity Red Star - I'd recommend them as very cheap, just hope if you have to claim it's not the same farce I've endured data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Now thats not good, I'm not with them yet so i will be phoning around just to see what prices I'm getting. Who do they use for windscreen claims and what do you have to pay? Find this funny about them
http://www.insuranceinsider.com/equity-red-star-renamed-ers ERS has been an insurer in the UK since the 1960s. At one point it was one of the largest.
They made huge losses prior to 2014 and had new owners hence the rebranding
There is also another thread about insurance going up in this forum.
Insurance premium increases rise I'm with Admiral at the moment, they've stuck mine up by a bit, shopping around on the meerkat I can't find anything cheaper so it seems to have gone up.
Car is nothing special, haven't moved house and very little crime around here.
Any options/advice? Use quidco for some cashback...I can see uptown £60 cash back from the various providers... I ran a quote through topcashback and the cheapest was £400, the cashback wouldn't have bought it down to the £320 I paid last year data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7