Phoning around insurance brokers or just going with Admiral

[SlowDarren]

I am thinking of buying a 10 year old basic Corsa, am currently a long-term bus user (ie no no claims bonus) and technically unemployed, in my late 30s.

Found a insurance quote on Admiral for £650 which seems to be just about reasonable.

Is that likely to be about as good as I am going to get or is it worth calling Aviva, NFU Mutual and brokers? My impression is that the likes of Aviva and NFU don't particularly want to insure unemployed people driving old bangers.

That said, I am intending to get some temporary work soon, so I want a policy where I can amend the occupation multiple times without lots of fees, and hopefully get a rebate as well.

[plenty]

You won't know until you get competitive quotes, and no one else will know as insurance pricing is highly specific.

You can get an initial feel by trying price-comparison sites, but not all underwriters are represented by these sites therefore it's worth making some phone calls if you can, starting with brokers who can pick from a selection of insurers (as distinct from the likes of Admiral and Aviva who are the insurer - but think you've noted that already).

[broadspeed1]

plenty said:

You won't know until you get competitive quotes, and no one else will know as insurance pricing is highly specific.

You can get an initial feel by trying price-comparison sites, but not all underwriters are represented by these sites therefore it's worth making some phone calls if you can, starting with brokers who can pick from a selection of insurers (as distinct from the likes of Admiral and Aviva who are the insurer - but think you've noted that already).

I've never managed to get a better quote then a comparison site for normal cars, not classics etc. I just use a comparison site and call it a day, it only takes 10minutes vs wasting hours on the phone to be told then can't insure me anyway.

[QJumper]

I've used Admiral before and they were great both times I had to use them. One my fault, the other someone else's.

Also try one's like Direct Line, who don't appear on comparison sites. They were by far the cheapest on my last quote, although your situation may be different.

[plenty]

broadspeed1 said:

I've never managed to get a better quote then a comparison site for normal cars, not classics etc. I just use a comparison site and call it a day, it only takes 10minutes vs wasting hours on the phone to be told then can't insure me anyway.

The offers on comparison sites are geared toward the 'typical' profile.

Someone with zero NCB like the OP falls outside of 'typical' underwriting hence going to a specialist may be worthwhile.

[sixor8]

I haven't phoned an insurance company for a quote for over 20 years, ever since comparison websites were invented. I've phoned to cancel and they sometimes drop their price however.

You can tailor the quoted to increase your expected mileage, kept on road / drive / garage, job description etc and keep re-running them.

However, I used to find them all roughly the same, but recently got quotes from confused.com that were 30% lower than on the meerkat for the same car and policy details. The only difference was that they were '1 day only' quotes and not the usual 28 day validity.

[broadspeed1]

plenty said:

The offers on comparison sites are geared toward the 'typical' profile.

Someone with zero NCB like the OP falls outside of 'typical' underwriting hence going to a specialist may be worthwhile.

I did mine this year with no NCB it's not really a rare scenario, maybe you were out of the country for a couple of years, named driver, lived in a city and didn't need a car.

[plenty]

broadspeed1 said:

I did mine this year with no NCB it's not really a rare scenario, maybe you were out of the country for a couple of years, named driver, lived in a city and didn't need a car.

But how would you know that better deals weren't available unless you shopped around thoroughly?

[Networkgeek]

QJumper said:

Also try one's like Direct Line, who don't appear on comparison sites. They were by far the cheapest on my last quote, although your situation may be different.

I really must not be the target demographic DL are looking for, either that, or it's my choice of cars they don't like.

I'm 34, I have 14 years NCD, live in the middle of nowhere, have a clean licence, and they wanted £1000 more than other insurance companies on my M2.

I'd like to be insured with DL, as I hear good things and I'm happy to pay £50-100 more for a better company, but not £1k more

[sixor8]

I'm with Admiral for my house insurance and for that they were very competitive, but no experience of their car insurance.

I used to use DL a lot but they seem to be targeting lower risks or a different demographic these days. A normal 'daily' quote was competitive, but I once had a TVR insured with them. They are double what other companies want now to insure it.

[Nefos]

sixor8 said:

IHowever, I used to find them all roughly the same, but recently got quotes from confused.com that were 30% lower than on the meerkat for the same car and policy details. The only difference was that they were '1 day only' quotes and not the usual 28 day validity.

I tried phoning around for a modified car insurance last year and I had no luck (small amount of NCB, city centre location).
2 things helped me:
1 using different comparison websites: gocompare gives me much smaller rates (hundreds of pounds) with the same details than confused for example.
2: going to some of the websites and do a quote directly. Admiral gave me £200 less than it was on the comparison website, same details...

[Sheepshanks]

edthefed said:

i would not touch Admiral with somebody elses barge pole

Truly awful company - happy to take your money but worse than useless in the event of a claim

I would agree - but if driving a 10yr old Corsa that's not so much of an issue.

Pretty well anything worth claiming for is going to write it off.

[SlowDarren]

Thanks for these answers.

In terms of admin fees, which.co.uk says NFU Mutual has a fee score of 100% with no fee for any adjustments.

Admiral seems to have a fee score of 66% with adjustments costing £9.50 online or £25 by phone (so not too much).

But that doesn't include the adjustment in the premium for the occupation being more or less risky than an unemployed person.

Do temporary workers really have to adjust their policy every time they change jobs? or is there a reasonable expectation that until you get a permanent role, you can just leave it as unemployed?

[SlowDarren]

Nefos said:

1 using different comparison websites: gocompare gives me much smaller rates (hundreds of pounds) with the same details than confused for example.

Presumably this would come out the same once they had passed you onto the actual insurer website though?