You've probably seen the adverts on TV "Click click don't cluck cluck" … well even if you haven't they're worth getting a quote from. The main criteria I use when looking for car insurance is getting the best value deal. Notice I said value not price! For me that means comprehensive cover without ridiculous excess and the ability to make my own choices. With my postgraduate student status opposing my 100% perfect driving conviction record and zero claims I found myself struggling with this.
Swift Push
My battle began with my previous insurance company Kwik-Fit. Their renewal price was more than the previous year. When I rang them up to see if this was an error and if they could knock this down for me they not only refused but also would not give me a quote for a new home I would be moving to only a week after the policy would be renewed. In my situation it was little use knowing the quote for my soon to be old address when the majority of the year would be at a new address. I pointed this out to them adding that if I rang up posing as a new customer they'd give me a quote for that address!
So I began looking elsewhere, mainly using search sites like confused.com and moneysupermarket.com. I used these handy sites to identify my 4 lowest online quotes and rang round those companies to get the best deal. Or so I tried…
Swiftcover
don't have a call centre since they are exclusively online. I thought this was great. No waiting on the phone to talk to someone, no begging for a better deal, just free internet use and one answer. Their quote system is simple and fast. There are many options for example voluntary excess, legal cover and breakdown over so that you can create your own flexible policy. Not only that you can play around with different combinations to whittle your quote down but the online system also allows you to save your quote and return to it later.
As a postgraduate student I was often backed into a corner - other companies viewed me as an irresponsible member of society due to my student status. I've already done my first degree; I'm through with those carefree, happy-go-stupid years. A postgraduate degree is a serious undertaking not just a natural progression from school research PhD students often work 60 hour weeks leaving very little time to be irresponsible in! And to add insult to injury they also wanted to include in my quote daily commuting. Well excuse me, if I'm a student, I don't have a job and therefore I don't commute! Swiftcover differentiate between postgraduate students and undergraduate students, they also allow you to lose the commuting option too.
Joy of joy… a tailored quote and the cheapest I could find to boot. Plus Swiftcover's ability to impress me didn't stop there.
Care and Care Alike
Swiftcover donate £1 to the NSPCC for every new member. Maybe £1 doesn't sound so generous but it's a pound more than other insurance companies!
They pride themselves as being completely online. This means that you receive your policy details via email. If you wish to print them out that is up to you but as a company they are striving to save paper and energy by doing business this way. I think this is very commendable and definitly something I'm proud to be part of.
Human Contact - Swift by name Swift by nature.
Swiftcover are openly available via email. I have had two experiences of contacting them.
The first was to prove my no claims discount: They asked for this to be either scanned into the computer and emailed to them or sent by post. I mentioned my previous insurance company was useless right? They refused to post my proof of no claims discount to my new address because my old address was on their system. When I asked if they could change it to my new one I was informed that I'd have to pay an administration fee despite the fact I was no longer a customer as my policy had expired!
Completely frustrated with Kwik-fit, I emailed Swiftcover explaining my dilemma. They were very helpful and I received their reply email only an hour after emailing them. They offered to contact Kwik-Fit on my behalf and were willing to accept verbal confirmation of my no claims discount from Kwik-fit over the telephone. This itself proved complicated as Kwik-fit claimed to not have record of my policy. Eventually we got to the bottom of the problem. Swiftcover emailed to confirm that they have received proof of my no claims discount and to confirm that my policy was legal. Furthermore they actually thanked me for my patience during the procedure. I think it should be them that should have been thanked and a good slapping issued to Kwik-fit!
The second time I made email contact I was trying to obtain a price for adding a driver to my policy for the weekend so that I could compare it to the quote for adding me to their policy. Again they quickly responded to my email and provided the information I needed including a step by step quide to how I could obtain this information by myself using their online system. If that wasn't good enough it turned out to be the cheaper option… doesn't get much better than that!
You can amend details online whenever you like but for a reply to an email their hours of business are as follows:
Monday - Friday 8am - 8pm Saturdays 9am - 5pm Sundays and Bank Holidays 10am - 4pm
Personally I believe these hours are more than acceptable considering the majority of enquires you might have can be answered or conducted online. Upon emailing them you receive a confirmation email telling you they have received yours and reply emails are always quick, polite and specific to the question asked.
The Website
The design is simple and very user friendly. The white background makes the black text easily readable. There are no fancy illustrations or layout so the pages load quickly and reliably. The clickable buttons are either grey or purple and the overall navigation is effortless.
Once you have your policy with Swiftcover, they provide you with a "My Swift Space". This is a convenient online account that holds your personal details and the policy details. From here you can check your policy at any time using your username and password which are both selected by you when you register. This is important to me as I don't want a complicated username or password issued to me, I want something I choose that I will remember without having to write it down or compromise the security of my details.
In your swift space you can cancel or change your policy. You can also get a new quote and save it within your policy. This would be handy if you had a second car or were considering buying a new car. What I particularly like about the "My Swift Space" feature is that what ever changes you are about to make you can see immediately see the cost of these either you paying them or them refunding you! Also it's available 24 hours a day via the internet so there's no sneaking about at work on hold to a call centre. Also I can pose the question then get on with my business, without having one hand holding the telephone to my ear on the off chance I might get taken off hold!
Summary Cluck
I've have no problems with Swiftcover at all. In fact they've cleared a fair few problems up for me! Their online status is extremely convenient and flexible not to mention environmentally friendly and if that wasn't good enough they are cheaper than the leading competitive insurance companies.
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Sep 19th, 2006
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