Recently turned green, luckily it's not with envy! Please help me get to Blue! xxx
Recently turned green, luckily it's not with envy! Please help me get to Blue! xxx
Member since:09.02.2006
Reviews:15
Members who trust:3
I have been insured with Tesco car insurance now for about 4 years. The reason I insured with them was largeley that they gave the lowest quote.
I know that you never really know how good your insurance provider is until you have to make a claim.
Two weeks ago, after nearly 9 years accident free on the road, I had my first accident. Driving home from work, on a hot Friday afternoon, I misjudged the traffic infront of me, and when I went to break, my foot accidentally slipped onto the accelerator and I crashed into the queuing traffic infront.
I immediately admitted liability (there would have been no point in not doing so.) Whilst I only took the bumper off the vehicle infront, the crumple zone on my vehicle completely went and it was undriveable.
I did the obligatory swapping of details etc, and arranged to have my vehicle recovered to a local garage (one which would be able assess my vehicle.) The recovery of my car was at my own cost as I did not pay extra for that service in my policy (which I will be doing next year!)
When I got home, I immediately phoned my insurers to report the accident, and I gave them all the details they required. Despite the fact I phoned at nearly 8pm, when their phone lines close at 8pm, they were very helpful, and did not seem to rush me through the process. They also gave me a reference number and phone number that the third party could use to chase the claim. They asked where the vehicle had been taken to, and after checking on their system, they agreed that the garage was an approved repairer and
they would instruct them to assess the vehicle. They also said they would arrange a temporary hire car for me, which I would be able to have for two weeks.
The following morning (Saturday) I recieved a call from the garage to say that they had recieved a fax from Tesco authorising them to quote on the vehicle. I also recieved a telephone call from a car rental company letting me know they had recieved the booking, and that a car would be available on the Monday. In my opinion, Tesco dealt with this very efficiently.
On the following Tuesday, I recieved a call asking for further details on the passengers in the other vehicle involved and I was told that they were just about to call the other party to advise that they could get their vehicle repaired. Also, on this Tuesday, the garage submitted the quote to Tesco's for my vehicle. They recieved authorisation to continue with the repairs later that day.
At the end of the week, I recieved a letter from Tesco saying that the other vehicle was being repaired and that if I wanted to know any details concerning the costs being paid to the third party then I could phone to request these. Other than that, they felt the claim had been dealt with and would close down the claim as soon as they recieved the bill from my garage.
Unfortunately, also on this day, while I was driving the hire vehicle, a transit van crashed into the back of me (Yes, it was a hugely unlucky week for me!) Whilst I waited for the AA to come out and make the vehicle safe to drive back to the rental company, I called Tesco to report the claim. The driver of the van admitted full liability at the scene of the accident. I recieved a letter from Tesco at the beginning of last week (4 days after the accident, which included a weekend) advising me that the other party had not reported the claim to their insurers and that they are persuing the matter. I telephoned to ask if it was worth me phoning the comapany involved as I had spoken to them on the day of the accident to get their insurance details. They advised me to leave it in their hands. I am still waiting back on that one and I will call them again at the beginning of next week, as I had to pay my £150 excess to the car hire company and will now have to recover it through the insurance.
I now have my vehicle back, fully repaired, and I have returned the hire vehicle. Whilst I do not know how well they dealt with the third party in the first accident, they certainly kept me well informed.
I also did not pay extra to protect my no-claims discount and my renewal was due two days after my first accident, I have not yet been advised that my premium has increased and if this is down to inefficiency on their part, then I am certainly not complaining!!
I will keep you updated on the progress of the second claim, but so far I am very impressed with the way that Tesco have dealt with the first accident and with how they are dealing with the second accident (**touch wood**, considering my luck at the moment!) I will have no hesitations in continuing to insure with them.
****************************************************************** Well, I promised you all an update, sorry it's a bit late but what with one thing and another time ran away with me!
Considering this accident happened on the 7th July 2006, this one took rather a bit longer to sort out. Tesco's put me onto a solicitor because I had legal fees cover included within my policy and after two weeks the other party still had not admitted liability to their insurers.
I responded to the solicitor's questions (details of accident etc...) and about a week later I recieved a letter from Tesco advising that the other party had now admitted liability. I contacted Tesco who told me that the excess I had paid to the car hire company was now recoverable by the solicitors. On the 18th August (almost 6 weeks after the accident) I recieved a call from the solicitors who advised me that Tesco's were required to recover my excess as the other party had admitted liability without legal action being taken, I was also advised that Tesco would deal with it.
I waited a week and after still no sign of my money I called Tesco, she told me she would arrange for the other party's insurers to send a cheque direct, sure enough two days later it arrived!
I have to admit that I think I would still be waiting if I hadn't chased Tesco and I certainly hope that the people who claimed off my insurance for the first accident didn't have to wait as long as I did.
Despite all this, 3 months on from the first accident and despite definately not having no claims protection, Tesco still have not put my premium up! Therefore I'm reluctant to argue with them too much!
To finally conclude: Tesco seem very helpful if you cause the accident but not quite so when it isn't your fault (which almost seems a bit backwards!). Regardless, I still agree with my original statement that I would definately insure with them again as I know people who have experienced far worse, and for a low premium I don't really think I could have expected much more.
************************************************************************** This is my final update on this review.
A year on from the accidents, I still had not recieved notice that my premiums would increase. A couple of weeks ago, my insurance renewal landed on my door mat. I sat down to open it, fearing the worst as I did not have protected no claims. I am now breathing a huge sigh of relief as Tesco have not taken any no claims discount from me, and in fact, my premium has slightly decreased!! Needless to say I will be insuring with them again this year.
A year on from starting to write this review, with further information to go on, I now change my rating on Tesco insurance from 4 to 5 stars!
Happy motoring!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Really well written, detailed and very informative review there, I'm also with Tesco Car Insurance, and have been now for over 6 Years, and they have been excellent with me too, and no-one can match their premiums either. I also have had an accident, and made a claim, and it was dealt with very quickly indeed. So they are by far the best Motor Insurance I have ever been with..........Roy.....
leo2483 19.08.2006 17:53
Good review. Glad to hear that you have a good experience with Tesco Insurnace and that you're staying with them. I, on the other hand, have had a very bad experience with them.
Compare Car Insurance Quotes at
Quotezone? Our quote technology compares
quotes from leading car insurance
companies and brokers in real time, so
you only have to Fill in One Form to
Compare lots of reputable Insurers!
Advantages: 5% discount for online quotes, easy to apply, competitive premiums, helpful staff Disadvantages: need to get letter for NCD proof, (not available in R.O.I or Northern Ireland)
Connoisseur_Haggler 01.08.2001 (27.05.2003)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Tesco Insurance
Jul 16th, 2006
(Jun 30th, 2007)
very helpful by (100%):
