I am a trainee couch potato and a post-grad at Coventry University. The picture above shows me doing...
I am a trainee couch potato and a post-grad at Coventry University. The picture above shows me doing my duty for academia in Poland.
Member since:11.06.2001
Reviews:17
Members who trust:8
I am in the process of collecting insurance quotes for my car, and as I am a student (in name, if nothing else) I decided to try Endsleigh as they have links to the NUS and offer student discounts.
In the past I've always narrowed the list of companies and brokers in the following manner: 1) Only call those with freephone numbers. 2) Look for brokers/insurers who say they'll beat any quote and then play them off against each other
This year I've decided to use websites as this means that I can appear to be working when actually I am not! A visit to a few motoring websites (autotrader, fish4cars etc) yielded a few likely sites so off I went, into the cyber-wilderness
Endsleigh was the first choice because as I've said, I'm a student and they give student discounts. The online quote came to £301. I was that impressed that I nearly spilt my coffee (nearly). Now, my situation isn't going to be identical to everyone else's, but as a guide, last year's premium (Norwich Union Direct) was about 420 pounds with a 250 pound excess. Given that Endsleigh only wanted a 100 pound excess, this was good stuff.
A few websites later showed that no-one could touch that price, the nearest ones coming to about 450 pounds! Great stuff! Ten minutes later I was phoned by Darren from Endsleigh who wanted to be my new best friend. Personally, I prefer coolly efficient, but for the price, I can handle a complete stranger calling me by my first name. He took me through the details he had in front of him (a couple of minor errors, including the year of manufacture and number of years No Claims Bonus and the revised price was £380. Errm, so what changed the price? I gave you that information online, so either there is a problem with your system or you are trying to fiddle me. He then explained the process by which they are better than everyone else and tried to fast-track me into buying the policy. Well, he doesn't know this, but until next month I don't have the money. So I told him I'd like to keep looking and would like a reference number. Darren (great bloke, we're going out for a drink later if you want to come) gave me his 'personal' number (which oddly was a freephone number) and told me that he'd call back in a couple of days to see if he'd decided.
I assume he works on commission. Still a good price, though.
Well, no one could touch Endsleigh's price, so when they rang me back I said that I was a bit disappointed about the increase in price. I am very glad that I did this: Darren went to fetch his manager to see if he could offer me any more discount. He said he could knock 40 pounds off the price! Well, obviously people who haggle are lower insurance risks (take note Connoisseur_Haggler)!
That is certainly a technique that I shall be using every time I need to buy car insurance and I would urge everyone else to do the same. The meek might inherit the Earth, but the rest of us can get cheaper car insurance.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Great review. I have been with Endsleigh for the last 3 years now and they can't be beaten on price. I am also a student and they offer by far the best deals around. Having said that, I recently got a quoye from Elephant.Co.Uk which was over £100 cheaper for my renewal this year.
sue.51 16.08.2001 19:39
Very useful - CH beat me to it on the Tesco front - I struggled to find a tidy quote after a couple of unexpected (and one particularly nasty) bumps last year - Tesco came in nearly £300 cheaper than their closest rival - for me this company came in £600 dearer than Tescos - although still nearly £1,000 less than the lovely Norwich Union - who didn't tell me I didn't have protected no claims - just goes to show that shopping around does pay - and for some reason, different companies clearly place people in various risk groups for unknown reasons - I have heard before that this company are good for students - they have set their offices up in the middle of student land in Swansea.
Sue
drummingbunny 13.08.2001 17:58
Thanks C-H, I did try Tesco, but they were quite a bit more for me, I see your point about freephone numbers, though!
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Aug 13th, 2001
(Aug 16th, 2001)
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