That time had come, I was looking around for insurance. But this was different, I was looking round for my first ever policy as I had held a licence for about 6 months but had just acquired a car (ok, I really don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier, couldn’t be bothered I don’t suppose, but hey ho, that’s me!). So, I not only needed a policy, I needed a policy for the new driver, and a lot of insurance companies are glad to help until they hear the words ‘this is my first insurance policy’. They cough, say they are looking through their system and then come up with some ridiculous policy that makes me look like I’m driving a rolls Royce, when infact I’m banging round in a piece of tin! That’s mostly the smaller companies, the bigger companies just tell you straight out that they don’t want your business and that’s that, yet another phone call wasted.
So, anyway, after trying about 5 different companies I saw the ad’s for Tesco Motor Insurance over on dooyoo. Tesco? I thought…..Motor Insurance? I didn’t actually know that they had branched out into finances and you can actually get a lot of financial services and help from Tesco Finances. It’s not limited to Motor Insurance, they also have Home and life insurance aswell as business and personal loans. I suppose everyone else knows this already, but it was a surprise to me!
So there I was, after
clicking on the banner ad, whisked away to the Tesco Finance homepage. I noticed that you could get an online quote in a few minutes, so I gave it a go.
Now, If you have ever used Direct Line’s online insurance quote form, then you’ll recognize the Tesco one. They both run on the same backbone structure, which is very easy to understand, and what’s more, pretty damn quick too. You are asked to enter your usual details, name, date of birth, any convictions, how many years no claims etc. However, something which I was rarely asked by other insurance companies was how far in miles I was expecting to be driving myself. This is asked and the more miles you put (they give you choices in thousands, up to 25k and then its 25k or over)the more your insurance is going to cost you. So I stuck in 4000 miles, although in about 2 months I’ve already used 2000 of that up, however, you can always ring them up and change a few things if you wish too. Anyway…you are then asked about your car details. You can either type in your car registration plate number or you can choose your car manually. If you can type in your registration number I would recommend that you do so. It makes it so much easier and quicker for you, plus, the web page will pick the exact car that your driving, so you know you are insuring the right car. Otherwise, if your looking manually, you can get very confused with some makes as there are so many models that look the same thing, but infact are not and you could end up with an invalid insurance policy and that you really don’t want when you scratch that nice new Ferrari the bloke up the road has just bought himself.
After you have done all that, you will be given your premium quote, as well as a few more options, like comprehensive or third party cover, however if you have a car valued at over £5000, you have to choose comprehensive and they have their own values which is basically the market value of your car that day. You also have a couple more options, like legal cover and protected NCB. ….BUT! Hold on, you also have breakdown cover options. 5 actually, ranging from roadside cover, to cover worldwide. Who the cover is actually with I didn’t quite figure out, but it all depends on your car, your insurance cover and other things as to how much each type of breakdown cover is. For example, my F reg 1.1 fiesta was £35.00 for roadside recovery (which is basically 1 hours service, if they can’t fix your car, your towed to a garage). So, I didn’t think that was all that bad for the age of my car, however, I got into the RAC for £20 for the same cover for the year!
So, now you’ve got your quote, if your happy with it, like I was you have 2 options. Save your quote for later, so you can come back and buy easily, or buy there and then. I chose to buy there and then, so then I had another 2 choices (oh it’s all choices isn’t it!). I could buy the whole years cover in one fowl swoop, or spread it over the year, via 12 monthly instalments via direct debit, which is the one I chose due to lack of funds. It costs me an extra £40 to do it this way, but I do believe it’s worth it as £500 all in one go is a lot of money to me! You are asked to read the terms and conditions and then you are given a screen which details what you are buying just to make sure everything is ok, then you can proceed to buying the thing. I would advise you to read the terms and conditions in this instance as if you do have a crash, and you have agreed to the terms, but you fail to fulfil one of them, you won’t be covered, and then you’ll be left to foot the bill of the repair job, plus, you’ll be illegally driving. Also, take a second to read the page which details exactly what your buying as I found I had made a mistake.
So, you’ve bought your cover. If you put the required start date as the same day as the day you are purchasing the cover, you are covered instantly, I rang customer services to make sure I was and they give you an exact time as to when you are covered from. Pretty nifty if you ask me….so go on, get driving!
So, what do you do now? Simple, you wait a few days until your policy documents grace your doormat, read the cover letter and sign the pieces of paper it tells you to sign. Different policies have different policies to sign, I know this as my dad got his insurance through Tesco after seeing mine and he had different documents to me! He can drive more cars….boo hoo! Also, it asks you to make any changes or corrections to the policy on the documents you are sending back to them. I spotted an error. It stated that I had held a full licence for over 3 years, however, I had only held a licence for 6 months. So, to make sure I was still insured, I rang the customer services and they told me so long as I corrected it and got the policy back to them as fast as I could, they would sort it all out for me. They even thanked me for ringing them! I sent the documents back and so far haven’t heard off them, so hopefully they won’t be putting my premium up! It also stated on the documents that if I wanted to cancel my policy, all I would be charged is one months premium, a lot less than other companies that I know of. You even get a groovy little book which lives in your. They are a bit cheeky though, leaving you lots of space to record lots of accidents! Are they assuming that I am a bad driver or what!?
Talking about their customer services, I must say that I am very pleased with them. The times that I have had to ring them I have never had to wait for more than 3 rings for them to pick up. Whether this is a lack of customers, or just great customer services I have yet to figure out, but either way, I’m happy! They have always helped me out with they queries I have had quickly and efficiently and I have always had a sexy sounding lady the other end, which would make me give them 5 out of 5 straight away, oh they do know how to please their customers!!
So, that’s how I bought my car insurance really. All online and pretty cheap. The only cheaper place that I could find was the Co-operative insurance services, however, they charged more for monthly payments and also, would insure me as I was a new driver.
If you don’t fancy buying your insurance online, you can always ring them up and get a quote, however, at the moment, (at the time of writing this opinion) I you buy online, you get a 5% discount, which may not sound much, but your probably going to be spending a few hundred pounds on your insurance, so could save enough for a good few pints!
I you fancy giving them a ring, their customer services number is: 0845 300 99 00
www.tescofinance.co.uk
And by the way, sorry for any f’s that are missing in this op, the f key has decided to be a bugger on me, I think me needs a new keyboard, doh!! You know how it feels when you fall in love with a keyboard and don’t want to part with it?! No? oh ok…must just be me then!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
This opinion mirrors my own experience exactly. If you haven't had a quote from Tesco, do get one!
SHERENE3 30.04.2002 14:58
I found this opinion extremely useful. I, myself am a new driver and am looking around for my very first insurance policy. Being a new driver is definitely a disadvantage when it comes to car insurance, regardless of age or sex. It has been very disheartening looking around for insurance and reading this opinion has given me a bit of hope. I was aware that Tesco had branched out into Personal Finance, but still it did not come to mind when thinking of insurance - also, when looking for a car you are bombarded with adverts from the more familiar car insurers who are not entirely receptive to new drivers. I will certainly be giving Tesco Finance a call. Thank you!
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Oct 6th, 2001
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