If I had been asked to write a review of Kwik-Fit Insurance Services a year ago I would certainly have recommended them as a great value company. I have used Kwik-Fit for four years now and always felt that they offered good value for money. However, that has all changed since June 1999 when my wife was unfortunate enough (through no fault of her own) to be involved in a collision. Following the ‘correct’ procedure the police were called and statements taken. We called the ‘accident hotline’ and arranged for the car to be collected and for a replacement to be delivered. All went well and the car was fixed and returned. Great - no hassles ‘100% customer delight’ as promised – wrong!! The next thing we heard from Kwik-Fit was in November 1999 when our renewal notice was delivered. The cost of our policy had risen from £350 to over £800. When we called to enquire about this we were informed that the claim that we had made was still outstanding and we had lost our no-claims bonus. When we asked why the claim had not been settled they told us they didn’t know. We then had to contact the insurance company directly to find out why - the other driver was not insured. OK, these things happen, but Kwik-Fit really ought to have known about the state of our claim. The insurance company told US to contact the Police and try to get the guy prosecuted. In the mean time we tried to negotiate a lower payment with Kwik-Fit and got the policy down to £697 with a £250 excess. We contacted the Police and the other driver was tracked down and prosecuted. The claim was settled in January but Kwik-Fit never told us this until June, and only after we phoned to ask about it. All in all to get this whole thing cleared up has taken us about 15 phone calls to Kwik-Fit, a number of calls direct to the insurers, and a few calls to the Police. Each time we called Kwik-Fit it took about ten minutes at national rate. Occasionally we got really fed up hanging on the phone and asked for someone to call us back, they always agreed to do this but seldom actually called. The whole thing is now cleared up and our no-claims bonus is reinstated, but our policy this year has cost £100 more than last year and has an excess of £250 compared to none last year. After all the chasing about that we had to do I contacted Kwik-Fit Customer Services to complain about the hassle that we had. They assured me that they would send out a letter of apology and details of what our policy would now cost … they never sent it. I called them back and eventually got a letter and our new payment details, but only after another couple of calls to various departments. Bizarrely, they use two separate systems for claims and Customer Service, so each time you phone them you have to give all the details again because they can only access one system at a time. The last time I asked them to call back they told me they did not have that facility!! If you are looking for cheap insurance then Kwik-Fit may be the company for you – but heaven forbid you have to make a claim. Frankly, when my policy expires in November I will drop Kwik-Fit like a hot stone. I genuinely hope that I do not have the misfortune to have to deal with such a company ever again. Although, to their credit I was 'compensated' with £22 plus £10 for phone calls.
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