ecarinsurance.co.uk, opinions please

[speedy king]

They have given me a really good quote however my mum is about curious as it's SO good.

So....has anyone had experience with them? First of all, are they legit? Are they good to be with etc?

[Luffield]

never heard of 'em. Sorry :(

[Daniel]

Did you do a search through www.moneysupermarket.com (http://www.moneysupermarket.com)

Caroline saved 200 quid on her policy by doing a search there and they only list reputable companies. You can also post on the forums and ask if their insurance expert Peter Gerrard has heard of them ;) If something seems too good to be true then it probably it too good to be true ;)

[speedy king]

£250 3rd party F&T on my mum's insurance on a Peugeot 306 2.0i XSI.... :p :

Money supermarket have been rather rubbish for me lately, £3,000 quotes, seem to search less companies than they used to :s

[Daniel]

3k to insure a 306 XSi? Are you sure you've entered everything in correctly. That seems a tad high even for an 18 year old :crazy:

I put my details in (changed it to the fact that I'm 18) and it came up with a quote for 448 from performancedirect.co.uk. That's assuming I am 18 have 2 years driving experience and have 2 years ncb. Unless your area has a reputation for people firebombing cars there's no reason why you should be getting quotes for 3k. If I'd put myself as being on someone elses policy it could have been cheaper. Just put myself as having a licence for a year and having 1 years ncb and it was 550.

I think I've discovered your problem. I put in some false details for a mother and then added an 18 year old male as a second driver and came up with a 3 grand premium ;) Time to insure the car in your name it seems ;)

[Daniel]

Forgot to also mention to check the excess on the policy. Quite often there is a nice juicy low premium but the insurance companies take you from behind when you have an accident. Check what your excess for an at fault accident is and compare it to the excesses other companies charge.

[Daniel]

Oh and finally. Find out who they are underwritten by, you're legally allowed to ask them this. Is it a large underwriter like the Lloyds Group? If so then that's good. Or are they underwritten by some company that trades out of the Cayman Islands? This is not so good because when you go to claim they might not be there. Very much a buyer beware situation with companies you've never heard of.

[Mark]

That's assuming I am 18 have 2 years driving experience and have 2 years ncb.

Pretty difficult to get 2 years NCB and experience at 18.

[Daniel]

Pretty difficult to get 2 years NCB and experience at 18.
:p It was late :p

[Brown, Jon Brow]

£3000 pounds for a 2.0litre isn't surprising. My 1.2 was going to be around £1,500 on my own policy, so I went on my mums, but it was still £800 :\

[nicemms]

That £250 sounds a bit good to be true. Try somewhere like confused.com or swift. I've heard that swift cover can be cheap for young drivers.

I'm lookin to drive next year so I'll be looking for a group 1 1.0 car I think.

[Loobylou]

I'm paying £350 for a 2lt Cavalier SRi, with 7 years no claims.

BUT I protect my no claims, which bumps it up a fair bit (about £100) & insist on having my excesses as low as possible. That way I pay an extra £5-£10 per month but only have to loose out on £120 on a claim, whereas it would be £250 on a claim & cheaper on a pcm basis.

[Caroline]

Did you do a search through www.moneysupermarket.com (http://www.moneysupermarket.com)

Caroline saved 200 quid on her policy by doing a search there and they only list reputable companies. You can also post on the forums and ask if their insurance expert Peter Gerrard has heard of them ;) If something seems too good to be true then it probably it too good to be true ;)

Sounds like an ad on TV doesn't it? :D Seriously, I couldn't believe how much Direct Line were trying to sting me for (plus I have another policy and home insurance through them!!). From now on I will always check and see if there is a policy which offers good cover at a good price.

[Daniel]

From www.MoneySupermarket.com (http://www.MoneySupermarket.com) ? :p :

I don't work for moneysupermarket.com by the way :p :

[GridGirl]

I've always found direct line to be the cheapest for me. :s When I was looking at quotes for my current car, using places like money supermarket that get multiple quotes I ended up gettng loads of quotes that were over £2000. Maybe its just me but I've found the quote using those type of websites vary between my lowest quote and most expensive quote by about £1500.

[Daniel]

All that moneysupermarket does it go to other websites and populate their forms and return the value that they send back. Some insurers will inevitably go "That person has a Fiesta ST! Lets quote them crappy so they don't go with us! We don't want the risk" Sometimes it might be innaccurate compared to standard searches on the insurance company's website because sometimes there can be exclusive deals you can only get through MS. For instance if Caroline wants to insure her car through M+S it forces her to take out Roadside cover which she already gets for free. If she goes through MS.com and it gives her a quote for insurance without roadside cover so it is the cheapest way for her to get insurance :) Also don't put your real phone number in there because someone from Birmingham could call you :mark: Used to be me who did the calling :p :

GG. As a woman who drives a high insurance group car (Caroline's is group 17 or 19 or something) Directline will just keep increasing your renewal quote till it gets a lot higher then the quotes from the others :mark:

Directline are a bunch of dishonest morons with their misleading advertising campaign at present. They harp on about how sites like moneysupermarket gocompare and confused make money out of comparing insurance for consumers. Big frigging deal! They're not charities and in the end the consumer saves money and isn't that the point? Wow I feel so appalled that these sites make money that I'm going to insure my car with someone who charges me more than what I'd have got if I'd gone with a comparison site. That will show them! :rolleyes:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/06/11/cmdirect11.xml

[Loobylou]

Watch Direct Lines' small print. ;)

I used to be with them, years ago now, & on my renewal something was missing, I called to check & they'd decided that they would remove from all their policies the 'any car, on a 3rd party basis, with the owners consent' cover.

I queried that as Luffield & I have always driven each others cars from time to time & was told that I could still drive his car, but only in an emergency. I asked them to clarify what constituted an emergency & was told that they couldn't tell me. The upshot being that I could class a given situation as an emergency, have an accident & they could decide that it wasn't an emergency so I wasn't covered - leaving me open to prosecution for driving without insurance. :rolleyes:

The polite young woman told me that they would never do this, but still couldn't tell me what they would classify as an emergency. I cancelled on the spot.

[Daniel]

Looby. I hope you're not trying to represent Directline in a way that could make them appear dishonest ;) I'd hate for someone else to agree with me that Directline are dishonest :p :

[GridGirl]

I've never had a problem with Direct Line. They've always been OK when I've claimed before.

Your right about the increase in the renewal premium Daniel. They increased it by over £200. :s When theres nothing to stop you cancelling your policy and taking out a new one you'd be daft to accept their renewal quotes.

[Dave B]

The best way of using the comparison sites is to note their prices then approach the insurers directly and tell them the lowest price you've been quoted.

Never book direct through the screenscrapers, they'll make their middle-man margin out of you.

Direct Line have a very poor reputation for customer service, but I wouldn't know because they've always been hopelessly uncompetitive so I've never used them.

Not as dear as the "quote me miserable" people, mind...

[speedy king]

I've found both Norwich Union and Direct Line very expensive

[Mark]

Direct Line have always been some £150ish above what everyone else is quoting for me.

This time I went through confused.com to look at the prices, didn't buy directly from them of course, I'm not that decisive :p

[Iain]

Time to insure the car in your name it seems ;)

Best way to do it. :up: I didn't have stacks of cash when I bought my first car, but insured it myself and had NCB and cheaper insurance a lot quicker, then by the time I was 22/23 I could afford to insure a 2.0L car no problem. :)

[306 Cosworth]

Speedy thanks very much for this website, I did a quote for the 1.4 Corsa and it came to just over £1100 on third party fire & theft, which is over £150 cheaper than anyone else! :D Get my car tomorrow Woooo!

[306 Cosworth]

Speedy thanks very much for this website, I did a quote for the 1.4 Corsa and it came to just over £1100 on third party fire & theft, which is over £150 cheaper than anyone else! :D Get my car tomorrow Woooo! :D :D

[GridGirl]

£1100 for third party fire and theft, jesus thats daylight robbery! Do you live in a dodgy area or something? My brother never paid that much fully comp on a 1.4 Saxo when he was 17 and had just passed his test.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

£1100 for third party fire and theft, jesus thats daylight robbery! Do you live in a dodgy area or something? My brother never paid that much fully comp on a 1.4 Saxo when he was 17 and had just passed his test.

Thats similar to what I could get in my area. But I'm just a named driver on my car so we got it far cheaper.

I have got some quotes though, were it is cheaper to insure it on fully comp instead of 3rd party :confused:

[GridGirl]

He did Pass Plus straight away before getting insurance. I think he used to be insured to Zurich and then went to Elephant. I think it might be an idea for you two lads to try it Pass Plus as I woudn't be prepared to pay that much money to to only be a named driver or only going third party. It would be far cheaper to just use public transport than owning your own cars. :p

[306 Cosworth]

I'm not doing pass plus as I don't have the money or time lol I just want to drive, I don't car about Insurance now(Prices that is ;) ) !!

[Daniel]

Happy birthday :)

[GridGirl]

Fair enough if you dont want to do it. You probably dont have the money becuase your the one that is shelling out over a grand on what I would consider to be rubbish insurance. :p Pass Plus could probably save you quite a bit of money over the next few years. Its only 6 hours of your life, if it was me I would seriously consider the idea of doing.

http://www.passplus.org.uk/insurers.asp

[306 Cosworth]

Well the 1.4 Corsa sold before I got to see it but I now have another Corsa a 1.0 12V S Reg :D Only done 70K with one owner from new! Picking it up on Tuesday, and done an insurance quote and it was only £1062!

[306 Cosworth]

Well the 1.4 Corsa sold before I got to see it but I now have another Corsa a 1.0 12V S Reg :D Only done 70K with one owner from new! Picking it up on Tuesday, and done an insurance quote and it was only £1062!

thanks Daniel :up:

[nicemms]

I want a 1.0 corsa when I can drive mainly because they are in the lowest insurance group. I'll take pass plus after my test to save money.

[306 Cosworth]

Decided to go with ecarinsurance.co.uk for my car insurance as no one else could beat it, I had ridculous quotes of like £1900 for a 1.0 Corsa! Even had one at £2500 :eek: Can't wait to get my car on Tuesday :D

[306 Cosworth]

Decided to go with ecarinsurance.co.uk for my car insurance as no one else could beat it, I had ridculous quotes of like £1900 for a 1.0 Corsa! Even had one at £2500 :eek: Can't wait to get my car on Tuesday! :D

[nicemms]

Decided to go with ecarinsurance.co.uk for my car insurance as no one else could beat it, I had ridculous quotes of like £1900 for a 1.0 Corsa! Even had one at £2500 :eek: Can't wait to get my car on Tuesday! :D
Now thats just stupid. Bet you can't wait for your car!

[306 Cosworth]

Yea tell me about it, could've insured something even nice for that much money lol Nope can't wait, just over 24 hours :D