Sainsbury's Bank

...not until I came across Sainsbury's Bank Motor Insurance. Sainsbury's Bank not only reward loyal customers at time of renewal but they beat my existing motor insurance premium by almost £100!! Yes, that's right I couldn't quite believe it Sainsbury's premium was £90 cheaper than my previous insurer; Tesco Motor Insurance.

I had been with Tesco Motor Insurance for 2 years as they had offered me the cheapest quote for comprehensive ...
...if not better cover from Sainsbury's Bank and saved £90 in the process. I got quotes ranging from £800 right down to £335 for fully comprehensive cover for 2 named adults. For illustrative purposes, I am only quoting the 3 lowest quotes.

Example: Quote for a fully comprehensive cover for a car in Group 13 -14 Insurance Group, 2.0L engine (e.g. Alfa romeo 146 Ti) with fully protected NCD


Sainsbury's Bank - Price ... more

This review has been updated most of what I've written still stands true as it applied to my circumstmaces in 2002 -2004. However, as my insurnace runs out 23 May 2005 -I have found Sainsburys are no longer the cheapest and my worst shock is they charge an admin. fee for changing a car details during the year. I dont care how low the fee is -it is in my opinion a totally unwarranted fee.

My current situation is I am getting a new car 2 days after my renewal date and for this Sainsburys say I need to take out a whole year's cover for my existing car and then 2 days later as soon as I get my new car change it over -for this they will charge a fee, they call it an admin. fee , no matter how small this is I dont belive in these 'hidden extras'. In this case it's £7.50 which will go up each year I'm sure. I dont see why they need to charge this when I have informed them bfeore my insurance expires. Most of the review below still stands true for ease of applying, paying and Claiming!! Just see Final Update at end for additional changes.

Original review:
It's that time of year again when my motor insurance was due for renewal. I got a renewal reminder letter from my previous insurance company telling me my premium is going up! Talk about loyalty for existing customers there's seems to be no such thing….well, not until I came across Sainsbury's Bank Motor Insurance. Sainsbury's Bank not only reward loyal customers at time of renewal but they beat my existing motor insurance premium by almost £100!! Yes, that's right I couldn't quite believe it Sainsbury's premium was £90 cheaper than my previous insurer; Tesco Motor Insurance.

I had been with Tesco Motor Insurance for 2 years as they had offered me the cheapest quote for comprehensive motor insurance. At the time of renewal last year, (2002) I found it cheaper to apply for a 'new' quote with Tesco rather than 'renew' my existing policy. Tesco at that time seemed to reward new customers with lower premiums. This year as usual my renewal premium quoted was higher than before so I tried to apply for a new quote with Tesco; amazingly this was even higher; another £30 - 40. Even other companies such as Norwich Union (formerly CGU) were also about 15% more -though if it were just 5% more I'd be willing to accept insurance from Norwich Union as a previous customer, I know they do pay out in event of a claim (see reference list). It was at this point I realised that the likes of Tesco, DirectLine etc were no longer as competitive as they first appeared to be a couple of years ago.

Comparison to other Insurance quotes and policies

It is often easy to save money on insurance quotes but what one finds is that although the cover may look identical you may have hidden extras like an increased 'excess' to pay in the event of a claim or no temporary courtesy car if you car is broken as a result of an accident. I have managed to obtain the same if not better cover from Sainsbury's Bank and saved £90 in the process. I got quotes ranging from £800 right down to £335 for fully comprehensive cover for 2 named adults. For illustrative purposes, I am only quoting the 3 lowest quotes.

Example: Quote for a fully comprehensive cover for a car in Group 13 -14 Insurance Group, 2.0L engine (e.g. Alfa romeo 146 Ti) with fully protected NCD

Sainsbury's Bank - Price £335, Compulsory excess £100

Tesco - Price £424,Compulsory excess £150
Norwich Union - Price £496, Compulsory excess £220

* please note the compulsory excess will vary according to your age and previous convictions etc.
All the above quotes are with ZERO Voluntary Excess - as I don't voluntarily want to pay out any extra for a Claim.

The Cover

Esure Insurance Limited underwrites Sainsbury's Bank Motor Insurance, so you can be assured of a big insurance company name behind it providing the cover. Esure are also a part of the General Insurance Standards council. The cover provided is fully comprehensive and cost me £335 inclusive of extras.

The extras I took out were Motor legal Aid (costs £16.99) and No Claim Discount (NCD) Protection -which I cannot stress enough how important it can be to take this extra cover out especially if you've built up some NCD and don't wish to lose it in event of a claim. I have more than 5 years no claim discount for which Sainsbury's gave me 70% discount, compared to only 65% that Tesco were offering. Sainsbury's start all new customers with 5 years or more NCD with 70% discount. If you've got NCD for more than 5 years then further discounts can only be earned at time of renewal (guess that's a good incentive to remain with Sainsbury's). You can earn up to 75% NCD discount for 10 years plus NCD. Sainsbury's NCD protection allows you to make one claim in any period of cover without losing your NCD accumulated or 2 claims in three periods of cover. If you exceed the number of claims beyond that then your NCD will be reduced e.g. for someone with 70% NCD and 2 claims in one year of cover this will go down to 55%.

Like most fully comprehensive motor insurance policies, the standard items are covered such as damage to windscreen, medical expenses, personal accident cover, audio equipment, free courtesy car etc. The windscreen cover which has a reduced excess of £50 but you need not part with your fifty quid if its not necessary; there's a free windscreen repair number and providing the damage is small enough you can get it repaired free of charge.

Other notable benefits compared to Tesco is double the amount of cover on some personal cover, for example there is up to a £200 medical expenses cover for compared to Tesco's £100 and similarly £200 of cover is provided for personal belongings. Personal Accident cover is also double the level of cover at £10,000 at Sainsbury's compared to £5000 for Tesco. The maximum payout for motor legal aid is same as Tesco at £50,000. Sainsbury's also provide a free courtesy car whilst yours is being repaired at one of the recommended repairers (Tesco have now added a premium for this at approx £12 extra). Also repairs are guaranteed for 5 years which is excellent as a lot of insurance companies only give a 3 year warranty to any insurance reapairs. Apart from the fantastic low premium price the other main attraction for me is that my compulsory excess is only £100 and that I could be earning up to 75% discount in years to come by making use of my accumulated NCD.

Ease of Application

So, in case you like what you hear you will be relieved to know the application process was really straightforward and only took me a couple of minutes. I applied online via the secure website and unlike the Tesco's website which seems to be taking ages to re-load the Sainsbury's one is faster to re-load. As the page re-loads so quickly each time you make changes its easier to say adjust your compulsory excess or voluntary excess in an attempt to get the premium down -this is something I found the Tesco website very slow in doing. Don't worry if you've made claims in the last 3 years such as I have there is space to select the type of claim and enter the date of the claim. Once the application details are taken, you are given your premium figure with the option of paying annually or monthly but as with all insurance quotes if you pay monthly you will incur interest. I made payment online using my Visa card. The payment seemed to go through ok.

24 hours after I completed my online application, all my documents arrived in the post by 1st Class post for me to check and sign and return enclosing proof of my NCD using the free postage paid return envelope.

The next day another letter arrived saying there was a problem with my card payment (which I'm not surprised with as although I knew my card number I didn't have the expiry date to hand so guessed it! I knew it was still valid and I wanted to collect even more nectar point by paying using a Sainsbury's card). A quick phone call to customer services in the evening sorted it out and I was told not to worry and just to make payment as soon as I get my new card (I requested a new Visa card -just to be on the safe side).

There is also a 10% discount for online applications. You can apply by telephone too, by dialling a freephone number to get a quote which is 0800 032 0000.

Proof of NCD

Now here is the part I really like about Sainsbury's remember all the hassle one can go through when you swap insurance companies and want a letter proving your previous no claims discount -well, at Sainsburys all they ask is for you to send your renewal letter from your previous insurance company as that states how many years NCD you have. Simple! When I joined Tesco a couple of years back I had to wait, weeks till my previous Insurers sent me a letter stating X has Y number years no claims discount and during that time I got at least 4 automated nasty letters from Tesco saying where is your proof of NCD.

Further Bonuses

Good news especially for you Sainsbury's Nectar point hunters you will get 1000 nectar points if you take out a policy -this is equivalent to £10 in real money terms. At the time of my application I was a little confused by the website whereby it appeared you could get these points or even further discount by paying using a Sainsbury's Visa card -I have just telephoned Sainsbury's Customer services to clarify this point and they state that you can get the 1000 nectar points irrespective of what payment method you use. Don't worry if you don't have a nectar card or Sainsbury's Visa card these are just extra promotional features to get a few collectors points -your premium should still be low and competitive.

As Sainsbury's Bank insurance is underwritten by esure you may find exactly the same cover and probably price too so it may be worth logging in to esure.com and www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/insurance to check, though Nectar point hunters wont get Sainsbury's nectar points there and also I cant comment about esure customer service though the cover and premiums should be about the same.

Customer Services

I did have a few queries regarding my cover and payment and each time I telephoned Sainsburys Customer services I got connected quite quickly within 2 minutes to always very friendly staff. I have not had to make a claim yet (touch wood!) so cant comment on that aspect. Overall, I found the staff pleasant and helpful.

UPDATE November 2003

Since taking out this cover six months ago I have had to call Sainsburys Customer services on several occassions to ask them to cover me for courtesy cars I have hired from dealers whilst my car is being serviced or repaired. As my dealership usually charges £4.99 per day to cover me, with Saisnburys this cover is free. They also faxed over the Insurance cover note to the dealership to prove the car was insured. I also received a copy of the amended insurance by First Class post.

The only delay I would say you have with getting the insurance cover note for hired cars is that the department that issues the faxes is elsewhere and Sainsburys Call centre staff have to send an e-mail to the department to send out faxes. The longest delay I've had is 2 hours to get the fax as that particular day there was a long line of faxes customers wanted sending. Dont worry though the car is covered as soon as you make that phone call. I thought Id mention this in case some garages/dealerships want to see the fax before releasing the car.

My tip: Best to arrange cover the day before you need the car if you know the car model, engine and registration number perhaps.

UPDATED 2004:- CLAIM

I have now renewed my 2nd year of Motor Insurance with Sainsburys as again in 2004 they were able to offer me the cheapest quote for fully comprehensive cover.

CLAIM PROCESS
Well, it had to happen eventually didn't it..I had an accident; nobody injured just damage to the rear door of my car. So, unlike my previous experience of claiming off my motor insurance (e.g. Norwich Union) I had NO paperwork at all to fill in. All I had to do was make one phone call to customer services (who can be busy at times but will call you back). I was put through to a very friendly and helpful chap who took all the details of my accident on the phone and as there is no forms to fill they just ask you to answer yes/no to a few formal questions as a declaration and basically that was it. As usual they do try to get you to use an 'approved repairer' whereby Sainsburys will guarantee the work for 5 years and provide you with a courtesy car. However, I chose NOT to use an approved repairer of Sainsburys as my car is quite new ~2 years old and still under manufacturers warranty I wanted to use my car manufacturer's official garage in this case SEAT. So, Sainsburys let me use the garage of my choice I just took it there got an estimate of the damage and work required. The garage then faxed it to Sainsburys (a whopping £700 worth of damage) and in a few days Sainsburys said YES GO AHEAD get it repaired. So hey that wasn't too bad was it???? and No, I did not lose my 'no claims bonus' (NCD) as its "protected". (worth reading the small print though to see how many accidents/claims you can have in a period before you lose that NCD).

Overall, I find the level of cover fully comprehensive with a highly competitive premium, ease of application and claim (in case of accident) and backed by helpful customer service, therefore recommended.

FINAL UPDATE 2005
As mentioned at start of review Sainsburys do have some hidden charges like admin. fees if you make changes to your Policy eg Car after the renewal date even if you inform them beforehand like in my case. I also found they are no longer the cheapest. So as of today I am no longer with them! I found another large insurance company who's I've been insured with before and who do NOT charge any admin. fee for changing details and they were £50 cheaper than Sainsburys!!

Personal References

1. Norwich Union (CGNU) -Making a Claim "ACCIDENT - Helplines and farewells - Updated"
http://www.ciao.co.uk/CGU_plc_CGNU__Review_5042212
2. Tesco Motor Insurance-" Not the CHeapest -but CHeerful and Comprehensive Motor Insurance"
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Tesco_Insurance__Review_5125544

For further information
http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/insurance
Tel. 0845 608 6030

connoisseur_haggler ©ciao 2003, updated 2004

 

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