I was looking for a new car and in the process my friends had a lot of advice but the thing that struck me most was that they had all had their car Insurance with the same company since they had bought their cars. In one case my friend had been with the same short term company for almost 5 years and had never even considered getting competitive quotes even though every year his payment increased and was now hellishly expensive. In another case my mate had bought a car of a similar value and was paying about 20% less after 3 years.
I was on a bit of a budget and wanted to know the insurance cost so that I knew exactly what my monthly commitment would be, before this my company was paying for the car and the insurance so I had absolutely no idea what it would cost.
I called my broker who I had my household contents insured with and he gave me a price, I then called another Insurance company who specialised in short term Insurance and their price was more or less the same and was about to just add it to my other short term insurance policy when I decided to have one last go at getting a better deal.
The idea of calling up a whole number of Insurance companies did not grab me so I decided to try out the Car Insurance Quote comparison websites. I completed the form and in seconds had an sms confirming my request. While I was reading the sms, the phone rang and the Car Insurance agent was on the phone. I spent about 7-8 minutes on the phone giving him the details he needed to get me competitive car Insurance quotes and then we discussed the options available to me.
Initially I was a bit surprised as the premiums were only slightly lower than I had originally been quoted and told him that. His response was, “let me see what I can do” Well this is where it got interesting and in the end, after starting at an R875.00 premium it came down to R630.00. I was amazed and would advise that you do not simply accept the first quote offered to you, negotiate with them and you will get the best car insurance.
Needless to say, mu friends did the same exercise and have all reduced their premiums by between 12% and 23%. This is really worth doing. Graham J, Sandton