car insurance - esure caveat
Oct 6th 2006, 9:23 am
#1
Anglophile Scientist
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Posts: 28
car insurance - esure caveat
Hiya,
so I've found a lot of good advice on this site, and have been pointed to a few insurance companies and esure has come out as one of the cheapest. it needs to be used with one big caveat though: you need to be aware that you'll be handled by incompetent indian call centre reps as well as incompetent live chat reps. my position was a bit complicated, i admit: having arrived in the UK at the beginning of September 2006, i wanted to insure my car, having a full EU licence for 12+ years. On the website conditions I found out that my details included 'Resident of the UK for over 1 year'. Now the livechat imbecile told me that I could buy the insurance online (to take profit of the 10% online discount) and then rectify this issue by phone. OK, went ahead, then called India to be told: 'We can't insure you if you have not been in the UK for over a year; we'll insure you for 7 days and then cancel your insurance'. Me: 'Ask your supervisor'. Same thing. OK, thought one more customer service idiot who doesn't know shite. Called back to get another bloke on the phone. Now the problem was 'You don't have a UK licence'. Me: 'Yeah that's what I told everybody before I bought the insurance'. Them: 'If you don't have a UK licence you can't get insurance from us'. WTF? So, I'll be waiting for my refund (which will hopefully arrive) and go with another company. Summary: be cautious with those guys.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
Best,
Ralph.
so I've found a lot of good advice on this site, and have been pointed to a few insurance companies and esure has come out as one of the cheapest. it needs to be used with one big caveat though: you need to be aware that you'll be handled by incompetent indian call centre reps as well as incompetent live chat reps. my position was a bit complicated, i admit: having arrived in the UK at the beginning of September 2006, i wanted to insure my car, having a full EU licence for 12+ years. On the website conditions I found out that my details included 'Resident of the UK for over 1 year'. Now the livechat imbecile told me that I could buy the insurance online (to take profit of the 10% online discount) and then rectify this issue by phone. OK, went ahead, then called India to be told: 'We can't insure you if you have not been in the UK for over a year; we'll insure you for 7 days and then cancel your insurance'. Me: 'Ask your supervisor'. Same thing. OK, thought one more customer service idiot who doesn't know shite. Called back to get another bloke on the phone. Now the problem was 'You don't have a UK licence'. Me: 'Yeah that's what I told everybody before I bought the insurance'. Them: 'If you don't have a UK licence you can't get insurance from us'. WTF? So, I'll be waiting for my refund (which will hopefully arrive) and go with another company. Summary: be cautious with those guys.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
Best,
Ralph.
Oct 6th 2006, 10:36 am
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 436
Re: car insurance - esure caveat
Originally Posted by bassman578
Hiya,
so I've found a lot of good advice on this site, and have been pointed to a few insurance companies and esure has come out as one of the cheapest. it needs to be used with one big caveat though: you need to be aware that you'll be handled by incompetent indian call centre reps as well as incompetent live chat reps. my position was a bit complicated, i admit: having arrived in the UK at the beginning of September 2006, i wanted to insure my car, having a full EU licence for 12+ years. On the website conditions I found out that my details included 'Resident of the UK for over 1 year'. Now the livechat imbecile told me that I could buy the insurance online (to take profit of the 10% online discount) and then rectify this issue by phone. OK, went ahead, then called India to be told: 'We can't insure you if you have not been in the UK for over a year; we'll insure you for 7 days and then cancel your insurance'. Me: 'Ask your supervisor'. Same thing. OK, thought one more customer service idiot who doesn't know shite. Called back to get another bloke on the phone. Now the problem was 'You don't have a UK licence'. Me: 'Yeah that's what I told everybody before I bought the insurance'. Them: 'If you don't have a UK licence you can't get insurance from us'. WTF? So, I'll be waiting for my refund (which will hopefully arrive) and go with another company. Summary: be cautious with those guys.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
Best,
Ralph.
so I've found a lot of good advice on this site, and have been pointed to a few insurance companies and esure has come out as one of the cheapest. it needs to be used with one big caveat though: you need to be aware that you'll be handled by incompetent indian call centre reps as well as incompetent live chat reps. my position was a bit complicated, i admit: having arrived in the UK at the beginning of September 2006, i wanted to insure my car, having a full EU licence for 12+ years. On the website conditions I found out that my details included 'Resident of the UK for over 1 year'. Now the livechat imbecile told me that I could buy the insurance online (to take profit of the 10% online discount) and then rectify this issue by phone. OK, went ahead, then called India to be told: 'We can't insure you if you have not been in the UK for over a year; we'll insure you for 7 days and then cancel your insurance'. Me: 'Ask your supervisor'. Same thing. OK, thought one more customer service idiot who doesn't know shite. Called back to get another bloke on the phone. Now the problem was 'You don't have a UK licence'. Me: 'Yeah that's what I told everybody before I bought the insurance'. Them: 'If you don't have a UK licence you can't get insurance from us'. WTF? So, I'll be waiting for my refund (which will hopefully arrive) and go with another company. Summary: be cautious with those guys.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
Best,
Ralph.
Has your US insurance company have UK offices? We were with Pilot Insurance in Canada which is part of Aviva. Norwich Union is also Aviva so my wife and I got 65% no claims discount when we moved back to the UK.
When we returned to the UK in 2005 we changed our old UK license for the new EU photo style. It may be worth doing some searches on the internet and look at some of the online quotes as they stipulate if you need to have so many years in UK or type of licence.
We managed to insure 2 family cars fully comp for under ₤400 after being outside the UK for over 8 years.
I can not see an issue having a EU driving licence either. Hope you find a good deal.
Oct 7th 2006, 4:33 pm
#3
Anglophile Scientist
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Posts: 28
Re: car insurance - esure caveat
hi hudd, thanks for your helpful comments. I'll need to change my EU licence anyhow to a UK licence if i want to drive in the UK for longer than 3 years ... but I did get a nice quote from Virgin and have taken a policy with them. They were quite helpful and did not make a fuss.
Best,
Ralph.
Best,
Ralph.
Originally Posted by hudd
Ralph
Has your US insurance company have UK offices? We were with Pilot Insurance in Canada which is part of Aviva. Norwich Union is also Aviva so my wife and I got 65% no claims discount when we moved back to the UK.
When we returned to the UK in 2005 we changed our old UK license for the new EU photo style. It may be worth doing some searches on the internet and look at some of the online quotes as they stipulate if you need to have so many years in UK or type of licence.
We managed to insure 2 family cars fully comp for under ₤400 after being outside the UK for over 8 years.
I can not see an issue having a EU driving licence either. Hope you find a good deal.
Has your US insurance company have UK offices? We were with Pilot Insurance in Canada which is part of Aviva. Norwich Union is also Aviva so my wife and I got 65% no claims discount when we moved back to the UK.
When we returned to the UK in 2005 we changed our old UK license for the new EU photo style. It may be worth doing some searches on the internet and look at some of the online quotes as they stipulate if you need to have so many years in UK or type of licence.
We managed to insure 2 family cars fully comp for under ₤400 after being outside the UK for over 8 years.
I can not see an issue having a EU driving licence either. Hope you find a good deal.
Oct 10th 2006, 5:24 pm
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 182
Re: car insurance - esure caveat
Originally Posted by bassman578
hi hudd, thanks for your helpful comments. I'll need to change my EU licence anyhow to a UK licence if i want to drive in the UK for longer than 3 years ... but I did get a nice quote from Virgin and have taken a policy with them. They were quite helpful and did not make a fuss.
Best,
Ralph.
Best,
Ralph.
I'm writing before I've looked, but not sure where your from, a couple countries are basically.. interchangable if you like with UK licences. Example: People with a Candian licence, can come to the UK and swap there licence for a UK without doing the test. Sure it's not quite that simple, but probably easier than re-sitting the British test!
As for insurance quotes etc, might want to try www.confused.com It lists almost every insurance company possible and lists individually what there quote is, to find you the best quote.
