Swinton Insurance Services

Why choose Swinton Insurance!

It was the dreaded time for me to look for car insurance again as per usual I check all the price comparison websites. Swinton came up the cheapest on two of them, so I decided to go direct to their own website to see what price was available and read a bit more about them.

The main reasons I decided to go with Swinton was:

*Competitive price – Some £38 cheaper than the next best price and over £50 cheaper than my renewal price.

*Local Shops – I am one of these people who try to keep local companies open, well Swinton has office up and down the country so rather than call the dreaded call centre you can call the local shop.

*Cash back – As usual I always check the cash back sites, and to my delight Swinton was on Quidco. So when I taken the policy out online I got any additional £50 cash back.

*Finally looking online, Swinton sounded very positive and from what I could read many customers were happy with the service they provided.

Applying for the car insurance!

Just like many companies there are many ways for you to obtain quotes and subsequently take up the policy.

Swinton appear on all the comparison websites such as Confused, Money supermarket, Tesco etc. I would always recommend going through all these sites and then do a full quotation with the top company on their own website as often that can be cheaper.

Swintons website is very easy to follow and within 3 minutes you can have a price which will be guaranteed for 30 days. It’s always worth while checking what offers Swinton have on, just now they offer £40 cash back per motor insurance policy.

You can call Swinton on free phone number 0800 138 2412 to obtain a free no obligation quotation.

The best thing is that you can walk in to any Swinton branch and get a free quotation; in addition to this if you buy the policy you will get all the documents straight away.

Paying for your policy

*In Full: It taken out online, over the phone or in person at one of the branches. You can pay in full with a debit or credit card. In person in the branch they will also accept cash as payment.

*Monthly: You can pay monthly by direct debit, pay the initial 10% deposit on a debit or credit card online or over the phone and the remainder will be spread out over 10 monthly payments via direct debit. As this is seen as credit they do charge for that and you can expect to pay 32.1% per annum. Swinton also sign up to the direct debit guarantee and you can choose what date you wish the direct debit to come out of your account.

*Cheque- Swinton do still accept cheques, if this is the preferred method ask the advisor when you call what address to send the cheque too.

What options do I have available?

As you would expect Swinton offer a huge variety of products, But as this review is about insurance I will cover that. I am in particularly referring to car insurance, however they do offer other insurance too.

Three options available for any customer to choose:

Fully Comprehensive

Third Party Fire and Theft - Covers you for the basis road traffic act as well as Fire and theft of your vehicle.

Third Party Only – This is the minimum requirement for any car to be on a public road.

Fully Comprehensive

I have a fully comprehensive policy with legal cover with Swinton but the actual policy is underwritten by Provident insurance. Some benefits are provided by Swinton and some are provided by the insurer direct.

Fully comprehensive covers you for many incidents including: Total loss of your car as a result of theft, fire, or accident. You will receive a courtesy car in the event of your car be unroad worthy after an accident.

You have peace of mind knowing that you have total glass cover, for a high excess of £100 you can have your windows replaced if smashed. This excess is not that competitive in comparison to other companies.

Driving Other Cars- This is provided free too many policies, but you need to check if your policy allows you to drive other cars on a third party only basis. Things to remember is that this cover only cover damage to the other vehicle or property, and the vehicle you’re driving must have a valid MOT, Tax disc and be insured by someone else. I would only recommend using this benefit in an emergency and not a regular thing.

Foreign Travel- Depending what insurance company you have been placed with you will have the great benefit of this.

Guaranteed courtesy car in the event of an accident.

Like all policies sold by Swinton you also have 24hr access to their own claim lines, this is manned by staff in the UK. It’s a free phone number so it will not cost a penny from a landline.

Claiming

If you’re like me then you have to be the unluckiest person alive, I was involved in a non fault accident when some idiot reversed in to me. I called the dedicated free phone number and gave them all the details about the accident. During that same call I was passed to Drive assist who work alongside Swinton. They asked some more questions and advised me what will happen. The first thing the lady told me is that my hired car would be with me at 2pm which was less that 2hrs after the accident happened. I was a little taken a back when she said that but I was like yeah that’s great.

I went off the phone and true to their word a hired car was delivered, my old clapped out fiat had been replaced with a brand new top of the range 207. My car was not road worthy as the registration plate had been damaged.

Two days later I got a call from my insurance company called me to say my car would be written off so I would have to hand the hired car back and they would provide me with a courtesy car. I was a little lost but hey I could not complain at all. They arranged for my hired car and courtesy car to be swapped over on the same day.

Then 6 days later I received a call from Provident to say that my car had been written off and I was to send them documentation. I sent that to them and within another 2 days they called to advise me what they would offer me for my car and explained I could keep the car as it was a Cat C write off. I received the cheque a few days later. The cheque taken 5 days to clear and I had the courtesy car for an additional seven days after that.

I have to say that I am delighted with what Swinton/Provident have done so far, from the time I reported the accident to recovering the cheque was less that 19 days. It really was hassle free and they kept me on the road. The only thing I have to say which annoyed me was the fact I had to change cars. I can’t see why I never got to keep the same car.

Price comparison

Swinton appear on all the comparison websites, However I have noticed that it is cheaper maybe by a pound or two if you go direct. I am sure Swinton are attempting to hit the market as there prices are very generous compared to others.
Contacting Swinton.

You can contact them by phone, in person, by email

Documents

I received my documents within 2 days of taking the policy out and all I had to send back was proof of my NCD, This is what I would expect to sent back anyway.

What are their contact centres like?

Now this is the part I have been looking forward to writing, as I have said many times Swinton has many offices in your local area. So when you need to call them, your usually calling a local number i.e. often just to the town you live in. So it means you’re talking to people who will understand you and no big ques to be held in either.

Down fall is they work office hours and if you need help out with that time, you’re going through to the dreaded call centre, Now that I have had a bad experience I just dislike call centres. All the staff I have dealt with in the local office, claims line and on the out of hours lines has been very pleasant and helpful.

Renewing

Like most insurance companies they attempt to auto renew your policy which means they sent you the renewal letter 6wks before and you forget to cancel and they simply renew it for you. I always check the price against a few others and so far I have been happy. When you renew you get your documents at the time of your renewal letter so make sure you keep hold of that.

Making changes and contact details

A simple phone call and you can have your details changed; remember insurance premium will change if the risk insured changes.

Queries regarding a Car Insurance Quote - call 0800 138 2412

Car Insurance Claims - 0800 040 7019

Breakdown assistance - 0800 015 5083

http://www.swinton.co.uk/branchfinder/

What to remember, When you take out a policy online with Swinton your details will be transferred to your local branch and they will deal with your policy from then onwards.

Final thought

I have been with Swinton for a short period of time, but I have nothing but praise for the company. I have always been dealt with in a professional manner and the staffs make you feel valued as a customer. There price was very competitive when I joined them.

Would I recommend? Most certainly

www.swinton.co.uk

Thanks for reading - Marcellep2