No More For Me (More Than Car Insurance)

Member Name: jo1976

Product:	More Than Car Insurance
Date:	30/10/08 (215 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple to take out policy online

Disadvantages: Customer services are poor, renewal premiums uncompetitive

My renewal notice came through the post last week, marking the end of a year's car insurance cover with More Than (and warning of another large expenditure to come!)

I won't be renewing my insurance with More Than this year. Above all else, insurance policies are one area where staying with the same company just isn't cost effective. I tend to spend a long time researching different insurance companies and comparing prices to make sure I get the best deal. This is really quick and easy to do online. I tend to use a number of comparison websites (confused.com, moneysupermarket.com etc) and also check out the cashback offers from different sites.

Last year, More Than offered one of the most competitive quotes that I could find for my little C3. What swung the purchase was the promise of £75 cashback via www.topcashback.co.uk (one of the better cashback sites available.) This made the premium considerably cheaper than any of its competitors. Obviously, cashback is never guaranteed and I can be the cautionary tale as the insurance policy didn't track and, to this date, the £75 cashback didn't materialise. (Edit: June 2009 - After well over a year of waiting - I did eventually receive the cashback through Topcashback!!) Whilst I'm an old-hand at using cashback sites and know how the process works (and don't hold More Than directly responsible), it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. The policy I ended up with wasn't quite the bargain I was hoping for. The common sense approach would be to select the very cheapest provider after using a number of comparison sites and view any cashback available as a bonus, rather than the deciding factor.

Whilst price is probably the main reason for selecting a particular insurance company over another, you also want the reassurance that the company will offer a good service if you are unfortunate enough to need to submit a claim. Luckily, I didn't have to make a claim with More Than. I did have to contact their Customer Services helpline a couple of times, for minor amendments to my policy and wasn't particularly impressed with the service. Both times, the advisors had quite poor English, making communication about a basic issue unnecessarily stressful. I would assume that the call centre isn't UK-based and this would put me off using More Than in the future. Even when we got over the language barrier, I didn't find the customer services staff to be particularly knowledgeable and wouldn't feel very confident about having to deal with them in the event of an accident or theft.

Taking out the policy online was pretty straightforward, following the same basic format that most online insurance companies seem to use. I chose to pay the annual premium in a lump sum by credit card although there was the option to pay monthly by direct debit (subject to additional interest charges.) My insurance documents arrived through the post within a matter of days without any issues.

My renewal premium for this coming year wasn't very competitive at all - reinforcing my belief that insurance companies treat existing customers with contempt. They just profit from customer apathy and their failure to shop around for better quotes! In fact, the quote I found via www.comparethemarket.com from More Than was over £60 cheaper than the renewal price I had recieved through the post as an existing customer! The policy that I eventually took out was actually £140 cheaper than my More Than renewal!

Shortly before my policy ran out, More Than contacted me by phone asking whether I wanted to renew the policy. I explained that I had found a (much) cheaper policy online and they offered to 'look at the price they could offer.' Again, this annoys me as they can clearly offer the policy at a much lower rate and just hope that existing customers won't bother to shop around. With the existence of so many online insurance comparison sites nowadays, there really isn't any excuse not to find a cheaper quote.

If More Than comes out the cheapest insurance company for you, I'd probably take out the policy - just bear in mind the possibility of poor (non UK-based) customer services and, be warned by me, don't take any cashback for granted!

Summary: No More For Me!