Insurance quotes - is this immoral?
Discussion
Won't name the companies or amounts involved (in case I get busted 
) but went around looking for some insurance quotes.
Company A quotes me £X with £500 excess.
Then I call up company B saying I have a quote for £X-70, company B comes back with £X-80 with £300 excess.
So I go back to company A saying I have a quote for £X-150 with £300 excess so they give me £X-155 with £300 excess and full breakdown cover.
So is this immoral or do the insurance companies deserve all they get?
For the record I've never made a claim so they're probably going to be making money either way.
) but went around looking for some insurance quotes.Company A quotes me £X with £500 excess.
Then I call up company B saying I have a quote for £X-70, company B comes back with £X-80 with £300 excess.
So I go back to company A saying I have a quote for £X-150 with £300 excess so they give me £X-155 with £300 excess and full breakdown cover.
So is this immoral or do the insurance companies deserve all they get?
For the record I've never made a claim so they're probably going to be making money either way.
Sounds similar to my insurance company which every year sends a renewal 50% up on last years premium.
When I get a quote from a 'sister' company that comes out cheaper they always match it by applying a 'loyalty' discount.
They are obviously relying on people to let the auto renew go through without checking, so in my opinion you are no more immoral than they are!
When I get a quote from a 'sister' company that comes out cheaper they always match it by applying a 'loyalty' discount.
They are obviously relying on people to let the auto renew go through without checking, so in my opinion you are no more immoral than they are!
I tend to shop around, find the cheapest quote, and then knock 10% off and then say company X quotes me this, what can you do? A couple of times I've not got it any cheaper (couple of pounds difference) but I've got windscreen cover, and legal protection free from it.
Play the game and you can be better off. If they can't match it, go with the cheapest company but say that company Y offered free legal cover...
Play them off against eachother. It's your hard earned money remember.
Play the game and you can be better off. If they can't match it, go with the cheapest company but say that company Y offered free legal cover...
Play them off against eachother. It's your hard earned money remember.
cay said:
Sounds similar to my insurance company which every year sends a renewal 50% up on last years premium.
When I get a quote from a 'sister' company that comes out cheaper they always match it by applying a 'loyalty' discount.
They are obviously relying on people to let the auto renew go through without checking, so in my opinion you are no more immoral than they are!
Indeed - Admiral do exactly that with multi-car - although they're actually great to deal with and very helpful, I've left after 3 years having run out of patience with them trying to double my premium every year via 'auto-renew'. Every year I created a new customer alter ego with exactly the same profile as myself and my family, and the quote generated would be at or lower than the existing premium. A quick call to them resulted in them matching that quote.When I get a quote from a 'sister' company that comes out cheaper they always match it by applying a 'loyalty' discount.
They are obviously relying on people to let the auto renew go through without checking, so in my opinion you are no more immoral than they are!
A very chatty, lovely Welsh girl told me 'that's generated by a computer, you would be amazed at how many people can't be bothered to check/search around and just accept...'
Go figure.
had ham said:
No problem them trying to make money - but it's a touch immoral and clearly very cynical to do it in such a manner.
I don't really see how it's any different to a shop like John Lewis selling things at a significantly inflated price but "price-matching" anywhere in the local area if you bring them proof. You put the effort in, you get things cheap; you don't, you pay for your lack of effort. Such has always been life.
My example;
- In 2013 I paid £1000 to cover my 640D Gran Coupe, the wife's MCS Cabrio and son's Fiat 500 Street
- In 2014 (we all have 1 year extra experience, we are 1 year older, and no claims were made) - Admiral sent me a letter saying that unless I told them otherwise they would take £2000 from my debit card on a certain date.
- The same happened 2012~13 - and having generated a fictitious alter ego profile quote of £1000, they price-matched it and that's what I paid.
kambites said:
I don't really see how it's any different to a shop like John Lewis selling things at a significantly inflated price but "price-matching" anywhere in the local area if you bring them proof.
You put the effort in, you get things cheap; you don't, you pay for your lack of effort. Such has always been life.
It's actually quite different - I've no issue with the scenario you describe above. here, it's the 'opt out' approach I describe above that riles me most.You put the effort in, you get things cheap; you don't, you pay for your lack of effort. Such has always been life.
I always play them off against each other.
Admiral sent my renewal through at £850 (previous year was £650)
So I got new quotes and rang them up (new quotes were all around £620)
After a bit of moaning they managed to match then beat the best quote (Elephant) and I ended up paying £600.
Admiral sent my renewal through at £850 (previous year was £650)
So I got new quotes and rang them up (new quotes were all around £620)
After a bit of moaning they managed to match then beat the best quote (Elephant) and I ended up paying £600.
had ham said:
It's actually quite different - I've no issue with the scenario you describe above. here, it's the 'opt out' approach I describe above that riles me most.
So phone them up and tell them you don't want to auto renew on your policy? You had the option not not auto-renew when you first took the policy out if you did it by phone (although I think you have to explicitly ask). 
No not at all - Insurance providers are all huge companies - you can't apply morals or ethics when dealing with them, because they cannot apply the same to individuals. If a person acted in the same way as a large corporate they'd be consider a Sociopath.
It's something to do with a fractured thought process I.E. decisions are made on behalf of share holders by directors and not by anyone who ever speaks to a 'real person' ensuring they're made as unemotionally as possible, generally only considering the bottom-line - it's the reason why the larger the business, generally the less power a customer facing staff member has.
It's something to do with a fractured thought process I.E. decisions are made on behalf of share holders by directors and not by anyone who ever speaks to a 'real person' ensuring they're made as unemotionally as possible, generally only considering the bottom-line - it's the reason why the larger the business, generally the less power a customer facing staff member has.
kambites said:
So phone them up and tell them you don't want to auto renew on your policy? You had the option not not auto-renew when you first took the policy out if you did it by phone (although I think you have to explicitly ask).
There was absolutely no mention of auto renew in any of the telephone calls. Unless it is explicitly mentioned on a call that auto-renew was the default, how many people would think to bring this up at all? A quick skim of my ins. docs has no mention of the option either.
I can assume that as a patron of these parts that you think about car stuff, and you are likely therefore to be aware of issues such as this, but I bet the great majority of (non petrol/pistonhead) customers are not, and therefore don't ask the question. And therefore default into auto-renew.
Legal, yes, but a touch immoral IMO, and very cynical.
Hmm, frankly I'd argue anyone who signs a contract without reading it probably deserves whatever they get. I know it's very common, but that doesn't make it any less daft.
In the past I've taken out insurance (although not a car insurance one) and then backed out during the "cooling off" period because I didn't like the wording when the contract turned up.
Of course if someone does end up auto-renewing accidentally, they still have a couple of weeks to back out of the contract and get their money back.
ETA: I suppose you could argue that exploiting people's naivety is fundamentally morally reprehensible, but in that case an awful lot of modern society is morally dubious.
In the past I've taken out insurance (although not a car insurance one) and then backed out during the "cooling off" period because I didn't like the wording when the contract turned up.
Of course if someone does end up auto-renewing accidentally, they still have a couple of weeks to back out of the contract and get their money back.
ETA: I suppose you could argue that exploiting people's naivety is fundamentally morally reprehensible, but in that case an awful lot of modern society is morally dubious.
Edited by kambites on Thursday 8th May 17:49
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