... Nevertheless, I thought I would share my experience of Norwich Union Direct and let you Johnny Consumer know what is good and bad about this particular company.
For those, like me, who struggle with the terminology I have included a guide to insurers lingo at the end of my review.
Norwich ... Read review
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Advantages: As competitive as any other, prompt postage of cover notes, additional options. Disadvantages: Poor customer service, little empathy for those they insure.
...would share my experience of Norwich Union Direct and let you Johnny Consumer know what is good and bad about this particular company.
For those, like me, who struggle with the terminology I have included a guide to insurers lingo at the end of my review.
Norwich Union Direct is the largest insurance company in Britain and the group it belongs to Aviva is the fifth largest insurance group in the world. As such if nothing ... ...a claim!
Norwich Union provides all kinds of insurance from accidental death, homes and contents and car insurance. There car insurance claims to be, "Flexible enough to meet your individual needs".
Let us talk about my experiences with them. Firstly, I have been insured with them for seven years man and boy, 17 to 26. Setting up my original insurance was surprisingly easy over the phone on a freephone number ... more
A car insurance review, I bet your excited already I know I am. Nevertheless, I thought I would share my experience of Norwich Union Direct and let you Johnny Consumer know what is good and bad about this particular company.
For those, like me, who struggle with the terminology I have included a guide to insurers lingo at the end of my review.
Norwich Union Direct is the largest insurance company in Britain and the group it belongs to Aviva is the fifth largest insurance group in the world. As such if nothing else you can be fairly sure they won't go bankrupt before you need to make a claim!
Norwich Union provides all kinds of insurance from accidental death, homes and contents and car insurance. There car insurance claims to be, "Flexible enough to meet your individual needs".
Let us talk about my experiences with them. Firstly, I have been insured with them for seven years man and boy, 17 to 26. Setting up my original insurance was surprisingly easy over the phone on a freephone number but took over half an hour. They ask what seem to be standard questions for all insurers including: personal details, car make and model, engine size, whether the car has any alarm and whether it will be parked on the road, garage or driveway. All these things and more determine what your premium will be.
Now being 17 and living in what can only be described as a high crime area my premium on a 1.0 Fiat Panda (how I loved that car!) was quoted at £800 for third party, fire and theft. At the time this was cheaper than any of its competitors (trust me I rang them all).
So, all good then? ********************
Indeed it is so far. My cover note arrived the very next day and wahey, I was insured. Two years go by and no problems whatsoever as I have no need to contact with them and renewal is automatic. The payments become lower due to increasing no claims discount so all is good.
However, one winter morning driving to work, an oncoming vehicle driving over the white line clips my car. Both myself and the other party report this to our respective insurers yet but two weeks later I receive a later from their Solicitor suing for damages, loss of earnings and various other things I cannot even pretend to understand.
On contacting Norwich Union (after being on hold for twenty minutes (and listening to pan piped Greensleeves!) I was assured all was in hand and to send the Solicitors letter to them, they would take care of it. As there were no witnesses and we both dispute the claims it would be a 50/50 claim.
Two months later I receive a later from Norwich Union explaining the other parties’ insurers had won full compensation and I immediately lost my two years no claims bonus. After several phone calls, and being left on hold for twenty minutes each time which by the way are not free once you are a customer, I was told there was nothing that could be done but perhaps I should have been contacted sooner.
Writing it off as a bad experience (no pun intended), I continued my insurance with Norwich Union simply because the thought of transferring to another company bewildered me. Back then I was not the cocky so and so I am today and simply took it as my lot. I even half convinced myself it was my fault due to my inexperience.
Five years later I am still insured with Norwich Union. There quotes are competitive and they continue to be prompt delivering my new documents and any changes that have occurred to my insurance cover.
However, as I have already mentioned there customer services are poor and more recently they have developed a nasty habit of transferring you to various different departments for the simplest of matters such as changing your address. They have also developed a tendency of trying to add on to your premium whenever you call attempting to pressure the perhaps more naive into breakdown, no claims protection and even life insurance.
On the positive side the additional cover options can be beneficial. I have additional breakdown cover as part of my quote, which for the mechanically inept such as myself is handy. Breakdown cover is provided through Green Flag who are contacted through Norwich Union. Luckily, this IS a freephone number and there is no "on-hold". When I have used them they have always been prompt and efficient.
Other additional cover options include no claims protection, European breakdown and Personal accident insurance in case you have an injury whilst driving.
As with all insurance companies there is a 10% discount on your quote if you apply via form online. Quotes seem much easier to obtain and hassle free compared to the "hard sell" of a phone quote.
A nice addition to Norwich Union's policies is the addition of a Rapid Bonus for Young Drivers scheme which provides fully comprehensive motor insurance that provide a full years no claims bonus in 9 months for young drivers between 19-29 (yeah me I am still a young driver!). In effect in a five-year period you would receive full no claims discount 15 months earlier!
However, as with all such things there is a catch and this is that the excess if a claim is necessary is high at up to £570.
Continuing in what seems to be, there support for younger drivers those who complete the Pass-Plus test are immediately awarded one year’s no claims bonus.
So, all in all not a bad company with low premiums and a good deal for younger drivers. However, the customer service is terrible, as is their representation of customers who have been involved in an accident.
And as promised for people like me here is a layman's guide to insurance terminology.
Premium? ************
The annual amount for your car insurance. This amount is split into twelve monthly payments usually made by direct debit i.e. a premium of £1200 would require twelve payments of £120.
Claim? ********
If your car is damaged as a result of a crash you can claim for damages and may be awarded a cash sum to cover car repair, loss of earnings or trauma.
No claims bonus/discount? ******************************
Awarded yearly when you do not make a claim. This reduces your insurance premium dramatically. Full no claims bonus is usually received after five years and can entitle you to reductions of up to 75%.
No claims protection? ************************
An additional premium which covers you and your car for a set amount of accidents (in Norwich Union's case two). If you have an accident you will not lose your no claims bonus no matter who is responsible.
50/50? ********
Nothing to do with Who Wants to be a Millionaire this means that when an accident between two parties occur both sets of insurers lay equal blame on the drivers involved. Although both are compensated, both usually lose their no claims bonus.
Fully comprehensive? ************************
This cover provides insurance for all eventualities. If you crash and it is your fault you can still claim from your insurers.
Third party, fire and theft? ****************************
Covers legal fees incurred in the event of a crash and also covers fire damage and re-imburses the driver in the event of theft (to the value estimated by the insurer).
Pass-Plus? *************
A six month course taken generally by younger or inexperienced drivers which covers motorway driving, night driving and driving in treacherous conditions. Can reduce insurance premiums by up to 20%
...for the same cover!!! Norwich Union Direct is by far the best for both service and price. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having written an opinion on my previous insurers 'Eagle Star' you will read my reasons for seeking another insurer. Basically I was looking to insure a Ford Fiesta Ghia (M Reg) fully comp, with 2 other named drivers and protected no claims. I also needed cover for the weekend ... ...SERVICES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I rang Norwich Union Direct and explained the situation to them. The gentleman on the phone was most polite and helpful and thank goodness knew what I was talking about (!!) and said that they could arrange for a Temporary Cover Note 'no problem'!!
We went through all the questions and he instantly gave me a quote which was very very good. I had previously been paying just over £300 and I was quoted, with everything I ...
SecretFormula 26.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Norwich Union Direct
...leaflet through the post, about Norwich Union Direct, and because my Motor Insurance was up for renewal at that time, I decided to give them a call. The sales person on the other end of the phone was polite, very informative and friendly. I was given a quotation which was considerably lower than any other company and told that it was valid for 60 days. I was given a reference number to quote if I was to go ahead with this policy and a FreeFone Number ... ...my Driver's Licence to them or a copy of my No Claims Bonus (they operate their Business on Trust) which I was extremely surprised at. All in all Norwich Union have provided me with Outstanding Service and I will hopefully remain with them for many years to come. ...
abcdefg 11.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Norwich Union Direct
...about £800 when I rang Norwich Union up, to tell you the truth I expected another high quote but I give them a go anyway. Like most insurance companies I was asked my details, the car details and I was put on hold and within a few minutes I got a quote. For fully comprehensive it was £956 and third party fire and theft was £650, wow that was impressive, the cheapest quote by far. Even better was the fact that they would reduce it for me to £587.25 ... ...If anyone who is young and aged between 17-21 I would suggest Norwich Union, you can find them in the Yellow pages or ring them on:
0800 888 112
and just see the difference, from last year I saved over £300 and that was just me by myself. ...
WAD1-2-3 09.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Norwich Union Direct
Advantages: Easy quotes off their website, friendly staff over phone, good rates Disadvantages: age bias, almost mandatory alarm system, unproven with claims recovery
...days the old creaking giant Norwich Union had a bit of poor reputation with a lot of bikers, mainly due to their rather high premiums and hassles trying to get any money out of them when your bike goes walkies.
These days, now that bikes are fashionable again and selling in relatively large numbers, NU have cottoned on to the fact that they have to be a little more personable to encourage more custom with so much competition flying around.
I joined ... ...tootling along on a 125. Fortunately comprehensive insurance wasn't too bad then because they reckon that when you reach a certain age (25 plus usually) they keep the premiums relatively low.
Its only when I wanted to make a claim did they make it awkward - delaying tactics, low compensation offers, double checking testimonies etc. And then of course they go a bump up your next premium even though it wasn't your fault in the first place.
So I took ...
Sonatine 03.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Norwich Union Direct
Advantages: Cheap Disadvantages: Shoddy service when need to claim
...family. There we contacted Norwich Union and advised them what had happened. Very helpful, confirmed our level of cover, the excess (£220! yikes! seemed like a good idea at the time) - which would be refunded if/when the other driver(s) was found to be at fault; and also that we were entitled to a courtesy car. They said a local garage would contact us within 24 hours about the repair and the courtesy car. This was 5pm on a Thursday.
3pm the following ... ...the car in, which he did. The mechanic had a cursory look round the outside of the car and informed my husband that it was 'fit to drive' the 300 miles back home and we therefore would not be getting a courtesy car. His main reasoning was that the brake lights had (somehow) escaped damage & we were therefore legal. We were not happy with this - to us, the car *looked* badly damaged - the rear & boot were pretty much caved in where the van had hit ...
siberia 20.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Norwich Union Direct
Price
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Privilege came up trumps for me. I was getting quotes for over £400 a year from people like Direct Line, AA, Diamond, NorwichUnion.
But with Privilege, the bill came to just £276 at around £23 per month.
Living in Oldham - famous for its car theft - I needed a break. Privilege gave me one.
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