My Experience Of Using Elephant.co.uk (Elephant.co.uk)

Member Name: andrew_dav

Product:	Elephant.co.uk
Date:	26/10/09 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable and Easy To Get A Solution

Disadvantages: Can Be A Little Cheeky With Charges And Retention

I've used Elephant for a couple of things: Car insurance and travel insurance. They've been pretty good to me on both occasions.

With travel insurance I've found them to be pretty cheap and easy to arrange. I did it at short notice last time and as well as posting the documents out to me which I wouldn't have been able to get in time anyway, they emailed them to me so I'd have the certificate and points of reference should I be able to call on them. I haven't but it's nice to know they went that one step further to know that I was able to use it should I have needed to.

I use them mainly for car insurance. Again I've never had to rely on them as I haven't had an accident or theft in the four years I've had them. They can be pretty crafty with charges but if you use them wisely you can avoid them. For example, if you choose to pay monthly rather than annually then there is a huge increase in price. My advice to you is just stick it on a credit card if you have to and pay that off swiftly after because even with the interest your bank will charge you it doesn't come close to amounting to what they will add in interest. Secondly, if you move house or add any amendment to your motor insurance, then they levy a £15.00 charge to your annual cost. This can be frustrating and when I moved there was nothing I could do about it but it's a gentle word of warning should you decide to.

On the plus side their calling queues are short, they are based mainly in Cardiff although I have on a few occasions been placed into a calling queue abroad so you're likely to get someone who understands the complicated point you are trying to make, and a lot of things can be done over the website which is pretty user friendly. They also do a service when you can accumulate a year's worth of no claims in the space of ten months. This is great as it brings your premium down quicker but I'm unsure what this will do when I eventually try to change providers.

One other thing they do is automatically renew your policy and to be honest, this is the reason why I've never changed in the last four years and probably for them what they were hoping for. It's again a little crafty because you think to yourself "oh it's done now so I might as well live with it" but it's worth shopping around before they do that and complacency kicks in.

Personally, I think they are good and do the job they are asked to do by you well but they are a little sneaky with charges and this can artificially inflate the price when, for the sake of a piece of paper and a few keystrokes, it needn't

Summary: Good, But Could Be Better