A review/cautionary tale of Post Office Car Insurance!

Advantages: cheap car insurance, some polite and friendly staff
Disadvantages: stressful, costly, some lying staff, hassle, grief, don't touch with a barge pole

...My experience of Post Office Motor Insurance was sadly not a happy one. I took advantage of a cash back offer for taking out a comprehensive Motor Insurance policy, within a short time the documents arrived, but then I found a better offer. As I was still well within the 14 day okay-to-change-your-mind 'cooling-off' period, I cancelled the policy and took one out with the alternative provider. Somehow the Post Office, despite being very pleasant and understanding on the telephone, and having had the Certificate of Insurance documents returned to them as requested, somehow charged my debit card for the full amount anyway. I thought this must simply be an error, however I was concerned as my bank account was not exactly flush at the time, I had after all just paid the OTHER insurance provider for their policy, and lots of other bills...

razielle 19.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Post office car insurance.

Do not touch Swifcover Motor Insurance with a bargepole!!

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Totally useless

...My car windscreen was smashed by vandals. I phoned the windscreen 0800 number for Autoglass ,provided with my insurance policy , at 9am on Friday morning. I was advised someone would phone me back within 2 hours. This they did, and advised me they could replace my windscreen on Wednesday!! I phoned the claims number (an 0871 no.) and was put on hold for an age, while a syrupy prerecorded voice advised that the operators were busy "giving a customer the same personal service that we will soon be giving you". -(No into' on what number you are in the queue) I finally spoke to a female who told me to try another of their authorised repairers - the RAC windscreen replacement service and gave me another 0800 number. I asked her if I could use a local firm and was advised they would not pay more than £100 if I did this. I said I had...

angie1001 20.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Swiftcover Motor Insurance

1CAR1 BEWARE

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Too many to mention

...When I arrived to collect the car at 8.00am it was not ready and needed to be cleaned. The computer system was down which compounded the delay. The car was not from the group which I had requested The fuel tank was empty. Following a quick wash with a pressure hose a quick check was made of the vehicle in the dark and I was asked to sign for the damage. I was not requested to inspect the car in detail in the day light. I completed the paperwork in the office and was informed there would be a charge if I removed the 1car1 sticker - no mention was made of the £500 excess Hire The handbrake warning light came on intermittently - I pointed this out during the return inspection where upon the guy said 'Oh yea I know its been like that for ages' Return I left work early to return the car, on the Tuesday evening as there was...

larr20 23.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of 1car1 Car and Van Hire

Swinton Car Insurance

Advantages: Easy to contact, good website, good value
Disadvantages: Is it too good to be true?

...It's that time of year again - just after Christmas co-incides with when I bought my car (off my mum!) last year having just passed my driving test. Bit embarrassing leaving it so long, but money was tight and the busses were good to and from work ..... Anyway, went through Moneysupermarket.com to find a suitable insurer for my 2nd year on the road and came across Swinton. They were not the cheapest on the list for my circumstances, but they did offer everything I needed (plus legal cover as an option) and £50 cash-back after the policy has been in place for 90 days which made it cheaper than the other options anyway. Their website was easy to navigate and make the appropriate payment and the confirmation page came up with useful details like the address and telephone number of the nearest Swinton office. The only thing that...

Vixterbelle 16.01.2009 · Read review
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Review of Swinton Insurance Services

1st time car insurance costs

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: poverty for most of the year

...Im 18 and a student, so have very little money in the first place. Ive just paid for all my lessons and managed to pass my test...so what comes next, buying a car. EMERGENCY STOP! 'Wrong!!!' before you buy a car you now have to look at home much your going to get stung on the insurance. I can understand the premiums being higher, after all, im an 18 year old male with no NCB's and apparently thats the worst thing to be, but havent things got a little out of hand?!? I was eyeing up a nice Rover Metro, only going to cost me £200 and went for quotes, the first one was £2400!!! no wonder so many people are driving around with no insurance. So its now got to the point where buying the car is the easy bit, paying for the insurance is now a much bigger deal. Im assuming all these 'No win, no fee' companies that advertise on the TV...

simonfroude 23.09.2001 · Read review
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Review of Motor Insurance - In general

Bridge that gap with Gap Motor Insurance!

Advantages: Peace of mind, security.
Disadvantages: A bit of extra expense.

...Motor Insurance! We are bombarded with adverts and offers about it from all sides - T.V., newspapers, magazines, e-mail and snail mail! Do we need it? Of course! Apart from it being a legal requirement, often our cars are the biggest investments in our lives after a house. We need to protect the money we pour into them against that unfortunate day when we have an accident or even worse for some, when you come out of the shops laden with shopping to discover that your trusty steed is not where you parked it, it`s been nicked! In the worst case scenario, your vehicle is a write-off or is unrecoverable and the insurance company decide, eventually to pay you with a big fat cheque. Oops, they say, we know that you bought the car new only a couple of months ago and that it cost £18,000 but you only get the current market value...

bwanamdevu 22.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of Motor Insurance - In general

NOT the CHeapest - but CHeerful Motor Insurance

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)

...looking for fully comprehensive cover, for a 2.0L engine car (Group13-14 Insurance Group). Fortunately I have always had ‘protected’ NCD so my previous accident/claim did not make any difference to my premium. I tried about 8 different insurance companies ranging from my previous insurers CGNU (Norwich Union), Axa, AA (very expensive!), Prudential, Churchill, Eagle Star and Direct Line. These premiums ranged from £580 -£800, but Direct Line - turned out to be cheapest quote (£440)- but following a poor customer service and numerous errors I decided to cancel that Policy (see opinion). Tesco’s Insurance Quote and Cover ------------------------------------- Although I had a competitive quote from Direct Line [DL] I was dissatisfied with the level of customer service and knowledge. I was pleasantly surprised...

Connoisseur_Haggler 01.08.2001 (27.05.2003) · Read review
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Review of Tesco Insurance

How hard can it be to insure a car

Advantages: None, I suppose they may pay out if you need to claim.
Disadvantages: Too many to list, read on, can't pay by cheque for many companies, won't quote untill I'm 17, TOO EXPENSIVE, too many mistakes, stressfull and after 100 calls, I AM ANNOYED

...I am currently 16 years old, so immediately you are probably saying, why does this person need car insurance? Well next week I will be 17 and I'm trying to get my car insured before my birthday, so that I have insurance cover so that I can drive on my birthday. I also need the insurance policy to tax the car. My car is a Fiat Cinquecento, M Reg, with no extra security and has not been modified, it has the tiniest engine you could imagine. An 899cc engine, so you would imagine that it should be fairly cheap to insure compared to a 1.1 litre car which are normally common for the first car. It should be a group 2 car for insurance purposes, but I have heard that this can change from insurance company to insurance company, as they classify cars differently. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have rung nearly one hundred...

PeterFarrell 06.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Motor Insurance - In general

Express Insurance - Good for me!

Advantages: Price, Friendly Service
Disadvantages: None

...I had been searching around for the best deal on my car insurance! i was with Elephant Insurance and on renewal the price they offered was higher than the year before which prompted me to shop around and not just automatically renew as i have done in the past! i saw an ad for them on the net and then spoke to Sam who offered me a really good price and explained exactly what my policy included (including courtesty car cover which was very reassuring after hearing a horror story from my friend). i called elephant and they werent able to price match. seeing as the policy was over £90 cheaper i went with Express Insurance and i would definitely use them again and will be recommending them to my OH when his insurance needs renewing....

shoegal09 30.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Insurance Express - Motor Insurance

AutoTrader Car Insurance - just DON'T do it!

Advantages: I got insurance on my car
Disadvantages: They don't even bother reading emails + double your premium because of their incompetence.

...an error not of my making. It is not a good start to an insurance relationship that first I am not asked for NCD until your letter arrived on 27th October, and then when I send it on the exact same day as an email attachment, I still get sent a threatening letter telling me my policy cost is doubling because of an error at your end. It doesn't reflect well on your company at all. I attach yet again, copy of my NCD for your attention and trust this sorts the matter. Regards ***** Follow-up letter: 15th November 2007 Dear Sir or Madam Re: car insurance policy XXXXXXXX car reg XXXXXXXXXXX I refer to your letter dated 11th November 2007 enclosing changes in insurance policy from £153.89 to £360.81. I would wish to respond as follows. 1. In the email from Trader Publishing dated 12 October 2007, it stated I...

sdys15453 20.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of AutoTrader Car Insurance