Car insurance

[CortexRock]

Hope I'm posting this in the right forum...

Just had a lousy experience with a car insurance company I'm with, called Quinn Direct and thought I'd spread the word to avoid.

Picked up a cracked windscreen on my Pug206, thought "That's got to be covered on my insurance... but no!"

Ended up costing me £120 (that's with a discount btw), otherwise I'd have had to make a claim, lose my no claims bonus and pay £135 excess.

A fully comprehensive policy that doesn't include glass damage?! It's a joke - no wonder they were one of the cheapest. I found them on www.confused.com, so if anyone else uses that site, beware of Quinn Direct's artificially low price.

[Fromagepas]

Surely you looked at the policy to ensure that it covered what you wanted and didn't just take the cheapest quote.

[CortexRock]

No, it wasn't the cheapest quote... but shouldn't "Fully Comprehensive" cover mean the same thing whichever company one chooses?

I suppose it's a case of caveat emptor, but I felt it was worth sharing my bad luck so others don't fall into the same trap.

[DanB]

You want insurance world, its 3rd right out the door.

[Chewie]

Yes, you'd expect insurance companies to cover windscreen damage with comprehensive policies, but insurance companies are renowned for being more slippery-slimey than a greasy snake. If there's a way out of something then they'll generally try to use it.

There is and lesson we can learn from your experience; that we should always check exactly what the policy covers.

[lynx]

Glass cover is one of the things I always check for. When my last renewal notice came I noticed that although the price was virtually the same as the previous year the glass cover had altered significantly, enough to be almost worthless.

A quick shop around got me better glass cover than before, a lower excess overall and at a lower price. Stupid thing is the people I'm getting it from now don't do car insurance directly, they farm that side of the business out to Churchill, and it was Chruchill who I was with before the change.

A word of warning to those buying insurance online - watch out for hidden security questions. It's ok giving out those details once they've got your business, but they have no valid reason to request them before that. Since some insurance companies ask for those details it stands to reason that third party companies like confused.com also have to ask those questions, but can you really be sure that you are not giving your security away?

[Sherwood]

Quinn Direct are an Irish company who have started selling insurance in the UK as they are now allowed to do by EU law.

The part that sells Commercial insurnace is notorious for quoting cheap prices for heavy risk industries and then avoiding the claims.