Car Insurance

[gerry]

Caulfield insurance Cookstown beating Quinn Direct ...

same with me

[mylestheslasher]

Don't know if you are north or south but I have got my best prices of www.insure.ie (south). Have never got a decent quote of quinn.

[comethekingdom]

Got my insurance this year from chill.ie for 316 €uros - fully comp. Had to leave the insurance company that I was with for 10 yrs as their new renewal was 500 euros and their premium last year was only 380 !
I think insurance in general in the 6 counties is usually much higher than the rest of Ireland.

[The Biff]

I've been with Allianz for a few years. Recently got my renewal quote - €490.
Remembering I paid just €400 last year, I tried a few websites. Zurich.ie (Eagle Star) came up with €340.

I phoned Allianz and asked them why my quote had risen so much as I had a clean record.  They came down to €400 quickly enough but I said that was not good enough.  They begged me for info about my better quote, and eventually I told them what it was.  They matched it, so that was a drop of €150 in one phonecall.

I asked Allianz to re-issue the revised quote and I would think about it.  Just as well because when I went back into Zurich.ie, I couldn't retrieve the original quote and now the value was nearly €390.  I phoned them to check to hear that a special web discount was applied first time, but had now expired.

Moral of the story:
1. Dont accept your Renewal Quote as their best offer.
2. Do shop around on websites, and try a good few to get a feel for what is possible.
3. Be aware that many companies may have special temporary discounts, as they try to balance up their liability base.  This may not be obvious on the website (as Zurich.ie gave me no suggestion that I had to confirm the original quote or it would not remain valid for the expected 3 weeks or so).
4. Get back to your existing Insurer with the value of your best other quote.  I reckon they will match it in most cases, unless your risk or claims status has changed.
5. If you are a real gambler, you could try "bluffing" lower values in step 4.  I was happy with the truth; it saved me €150.
6. Make sure to get their reduced quote officially re-issued to you in writing, just in case your other better offer falls through.
7. Make sure to be truthfull in your details. You are paying for Insurance specifically in case you need to make a Claim in the coming year.  If the Insurer finds you have told any "porkies", they could well refuse your Claim, leaving you having wasted your premium payment and having to meet the Claim Bill yourself.
8. Drive carefully and keep your record clean.

You've guessed it - this is a bit of a favourite subject for me.

p.s. I did renew with Allianz.  They give good cover and extras for little cost, whereas many of the cheap sites you hear advertised a lot may give a low initial quote, but then you find they have added no extra cover at all.