Quinn Direct or Hibernian?

zilog_jones

So far I've got two sane quotes for car insurance - €1,836 with Quinn Direct and €2,368 with Hibernian. Everyone else I've tried (Axa, 123.ie, insure.ie, Britton, some others) have been over €2,500. All are quotes for TPFT.

If I go with Hibernian I can do the Provisional Ignition course for €70 once I've applied for a full license test, which will knock 23% off my premium, i.e. €540 off (and I'll get a refund if I've already paid the higher premium for the year). And then when I get my full license I can do the other Ignition course and hopefully save even more. It also includes windscreen cover and some sort of discount for having no penalty points. And they have an office in town to make things easier.

If I go with Quinn it will be cheap from the start, but I get none of the above and I've only heard bad things about them - from being tight-arses when it comes to actually claiming anything, to people hating working for them (well the place in Cavan anyway).

So who should I go with? Any recommendations?

Car's a '98 Fiesta 1.3 (yes, the crappy pushrod) 5dr, and i'm 21yo student on a 1st provisional I got in July.

ninty9er

Go with Hibernian, See if a broker can get you a cheaper quote than that

Keith C

Check out:
What is the claims x/s on a prov licence & when you get your full (it may drop with a full licence)
also if theft of radio/personal effects from car is covered (dont think Quinn cover this)
Is breakdown assist covered in either quote?
When you get full licence, is driving of other cars free or do you have to pay for it?

I know people who went with Quinn for the sake of saving a few hundred but when they enquired about the above, none of it was included in the price. Its worth paying that little bit extra for peace of mind & extra cover

zilog_jones

Hibernian cover for personal belongings worth up to €150 - Quinn don't. They both cover roughly the same for radios - €650 or 5% of the value of the car (whichever is lowest) for Hibernian and €635/5% for Quinn.

The Hibernian website says the claim excess can be reduced to €125 for full license holders for a 2% premium increase. Normally it's €300. Dunno what Quinn's is at all - their website and policy PDF says nothing about it, which isn't very good

Also just found this: http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews-all-85556.html
Doesn't give me much hope in them. The only good reviews I've read so far are from a person who hasn't even driven yet, and someone receiving a claim from someone with Quinn who crashed into his car...

Car Mad

id go with hibernian stay with them a couple of years and there quotes are unbeatable.great cover aswell.i hear quinn direct only offer basic cover and sometimes dont pay up

Wishbone Ash

(Apologies - off topic)

zilog_jones wrote:

once I've applied for a full license test,

You should have applied for the test before now - I'm sure you are aware that there are long waiting lists.

qazz

I'm with hibernian. They were the cheapest for me. No windscreen cover, but driving other cars for free and without callig them to transfer your policy. I drive my wife's car as well so it's perfect for me.

Her car is insured with Quinn. No driving other cars. We've got a cash back for stolen alloys.

I heard AXA is ok as well.

drdre

go with hibernian, donot get trapped by other insurance companies.im with hibernian for years and i have had no problems.

clarkwgriswold

I'd go with Hibernian. Had to make that exact same decision a few years ago between Quinn and Hibernian.
Quinn might be marginally cheaper but the cover isn't as good. The ignition test is easy to get through. A waste of a day really.
Hibernian however increase their premiums if you get penalty points so you'll have to keep your nose clean. I only got nabbed speeding last week so I guess I'll lose my no points discount.

ciasto

qazz wrote:

I'm with hibernian. They were the cheapest for me. No windscreen cover, but driving other cars for free and without callig them to transfer your policy. I drive my wife's car as well so it's perfect for me.

Her car is insured with Quinn. No driving other cars. We've got a cash back for stolen alloys.

I heard AXA is ok as well.

Every quinn policy has driving of other cars as long as you have a full licence.

I'm with quinn 2 years now and I hate them, everytime you alter your policy they charge you €50, and they will do anything not to payout. I am forced to be with them cause nobody wants to insure my car.

Also they will not do any temporary transfer on any car you own, and the ones they will do have to be insured so you might as well drive it on the 3rd party extension.

They will not transfer you policy to any car that is over 20 years old, I had a car that was 19 yeard old and they then said 19 or 20. That makes no sense.

But if I had a choice it would be hibernian, I am afraid to have any sort of accident with quinn, even their advertisement say that they got rid off all the unneccesary nonsense. If you look at their policy they have the most basic cover, legaly possible and thats why they are the cheapest for young drivers.

eamon1

clarkwgriswold wrote:

I'd go with Hibernian. Had to make that exact same decision a few years ago between Quinn and Hibernian.
Quinn might be marginally cheaper but the cover isn't as good. The ignition test is easy to get through. A waste of a day really.
Hibernian however increase their premiums if you get penalty points so you'll have to keep your nose clean. I only got nabbed speeding last week so I guess I'll lose my no points discount.

The provisional ignition last for just one hour. The full day ignition is for drivers who have passed their test. I did my full day ignition and learned alot about advanced driving.Then I went ahead and did my advanced driving test and i get 30% discount for the rest of my life.
I got my lessons and info from www.drivingtestinstructor.com
It's great not to have to go through the same hastle ever year now.:)

irlirishkev

Hibernian give you free roadside assistance aswell, so you don't need to spend money on the AA etc..

I was with quinn a few years back. Had a prang in my car. Rang them to inform them about it, in case it got taken further by the other driver, but insisted I wasn't making a claim. They said no problem, my policy wouldn't be affected. Next time my premium came around, it had doubled. The fukks.

I've been with Hibernian for a couple of years now, and find them to be great.

drdre

hibernian is great, got a renewal today for 1200 thats over 500 euro cheaper than last year and its fully comp.:D

dubstub

I went with Quinn as they were the only ones who'd give me a sane quote on Fully Comp, class 3 business insurance on a big engine as I've no NCB (open drive policies up until now)
Their policy is certainly not the best out of them - I've a €635 excess and no windscreen cover or third party protection while driving other people's vehicles.
The policy cost €2,187. I've a mate who works in a broker's and the best he could get me with Axa, Hiberian or Eagle Star was about the 4 grand mark.

drdre

dubstub wrote:

I went with Quinn as they were the only ones who'd give me a sane quote on Fully Comp, class 3 business insurance on a big engine as I've no NCB (open drive policies up until now)
Their policy is certainly not the best out of them - I've a €635 excess and no windscreen cover or third party protection while driving other people's vehicles.
The policy cost €2,187. I've a mate who works in a broker's and the best he could get me with Axa, Hiberian or Eagle Star was about the 4 grand mark.

what does class 3 business mean?

Savman

drdre wrote:

what does class 3 business mean?

iirc it goes something like: Class 1 (Private Use), Class 2 (Agricultural) and Class 3 (Commercial) or something to that effect.

Maybe someone else can explain it better cos I can't remember the exact wording offhand but its in the QD policy docs somewhere, basically it means if you use your vehicle to carry commercial goods for business use and you only have a private motor policy you are technically driving uninsured.

There's also a special Class for taxis and "use of vehicle for hire and reward".

smash

here's what's just happend to me with quinn..... 7 years as a named driver on a policy before so I got my insurance for 1130. now this year for the renewal it went up to 1650 because I'm now on a 1 year NCD policy so the 7 years named before that don't count..... so I'm back to 1 years experience, robbing b*stards!

drdre

steve06 wrote:

here's what's just happend to me with quinn..... 7 years as a named driver on a policy before so I got my insurance for 1130. now this year for the renewal it went up to 1650 because I'm now on a 1 year NCD policy so the 7 years named before that don't count..... so I'm back to 1 years experience, robbing b*stards!

how did that happen, have you contacted quinn,just get the no claims bonus certificate and go elsewhere.

Savman

steve06 wrote:

here's what's just happend to me with quinn..... 7 years as a named driver on a policy before so I got my insurance for 1130. now this year for the renewal it went up to 1650 because I'm now on a 1 year NCD policy so the 7 years named before that don't count..... so I'm back to 1 years experience, robbing b*stards!

I don't see how that makes them robbing b*stards. 7 years as named driver on someone elses policy? afaik insurance companies don't have to offer any discount for named driving experience although most do (including QD oddly enough).

I just dont know about all the Quinn bashing, there are many insurance companies you can change at any time. Quinn offer cheap insurance, people still have the choice to go with them...

smash

Savman wrote:

I don't see how that makes them robbing b*stards. 7 years as named driver on someone elses policy? afaik insurance companies don't have to offer any discount for named driving experience although most do (including QD oddly enough).

I just dont know about all the Quinn bashing, there are many insurance companies you can change at any time. Quinn offer cheap insurance, people still have the choice to go with them...

how can you not see that they're robbing me there.... I ws with them last year and started my own policy after 7 years named. Now on the renewal they've just completely dissregarded my previous 7 years experience and put up my insurance by €520 because I now in their eyes only have 1year NCD, not 8years in total...

Savman

steve06 wrote:

how can you not see that they're robbing me there.... I ws with them last year and started my own policy after 7 years named. Now on the renewal they've just completely dissregarded my previous 7 years experience and put up my insurance by €520 because I now in their eyes only have 1year NCD, not 8years in total...

I thought it was generally accepted that the only thing that matters with insurance companies is NCB on your own policy. It's like they do little more than acknowledge the named driving thing, I'm not saying it's fair but that's they way they look at it.

In any case, 7 years seems like a very long time to be driving on someone else's policy. I've seen posts on this board from folks who drove commercials for their employers as a named driver only to find out that when they went for their own policies the Insurance companies didn't care about the commercial driving and they went back to 0yr NCB.

Again, I'm not saying it's fair but that it's a wider problem than just Quinn...

dubstub

Savman wrote:

iirc it goes something like: Class 1 (Private Use), Class 2 (Agricultural) and Class 3 (Commercial) or something to that effect.

Maybe someone else can explain it better cos I can't remember the exact wording offhand but its in the QD policy docs somewhere, basically it means if you use your vehicle to carry commercial goods for business use and you only have a private motor policy you are technically driving uninsured.

There's also a special Class for taxis and "use of vehicle for hire and reward".

Yeah, close enough. The classes are listed below (except for hire and reward):

Social only: Using your car for social, domestic and pleasure purposes. This does not cover use between home and work.

Social and Commuting: Using your car for social, domestic and pleasure purposes and use by the policyholder or any other driver covered by the policy for travel between home and permanent place of business. This does not cover any form of business use, including journeys to different places of work.

Business class 1: Using your car for social, domestic and pleasure purposes and use by the policyholder or any other driver covered by the policy for travel between home and permanent place of business. Plus use by the policyholder only in connection with his or her business or profession. This does not cover use for selling or commercial travelling, or use by any other driver for business purposes.

Business class 2: Social domestic and pleasure purposes and use by the policyholder or any other driver covered by the policy for travel between home and permanent place of business. Plus use by the policyholder and named drivers in connection with their business. This does not cover use for selling or commercial travel.

Business class 3: Social, domestic, and pleasure purposes and use by the policyholder or any other driver covered by the policy for travel between home and permanent place of business. Plus use by the policyholder in connection with his or her business or profession and also by other drivers covered by the policy on the business of the policyholder and on the business of the employer of the policyholder, which includes use for selling or commercial travelling.

zilog_jones

Hadn't read this since I last posted on the 22nd, but I got the car on Monday and just went with Hibernian. And after reading this I think I made the right choice.

Of course, like the spa I am, I forgot to take my license with me when getting the insurance, but they still gave me temporary cover for 30 days. I went back later that day with my license though, and I should be getting a proper disc in the post. It's nice to be able to deal with real people - AFAIK Quinn don't have an office in Limerick, if anywhere outside Dublin and Cavan (or wherever they are based).

The Muppet

I,m with Quinn and I have changed car in the past without being charged fifty euro as stated above, They now offer an option for windscreen cover and claims protection. I have never had to ,make a claim but any dealings i have had with them have been painless.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the tests and conditions for Hibernian to matchs Quinns quote, well not for TPFT anyway as the op is unlikely to be the claimant.

smash

Savman wrote:

I thought it was generally accepted that the only thing that matters with insurance companies is NCB on your own policy. It's like they do little more than acknowledge the named driving thing, I'm not saying it's fair but that's they way they look at it.

In any case, 7 years seems like a very long time to be driving on someone else's policy. I've seen posts on this board from folks who drove commercials for their employers as a named driver only to find out that when they went for their own policies the Insurance companies didn't care about the commercial driving and they went back to 0yr NCB.

Again, I'm not saying it's fair but that it's a wider problem than just Quinn...

well go and get a quote online with them, say you have 5years+ named and then get another quote with exact same info except 1 year NCB. it's a lot higher...

I was on my mothers policy since I was 17 because she had an open family policy that anyone over 17 with a provisional license was automatically insured. It was a special deal when she got it and then it was withdrawn from them market but they had to renew it yearly till she cancelled or changed the policy. This was always cheaper than having me and my brother on the policy. Then when I moved out I got the car and my mother kept the policy because it was a good cheap option, So I never got my own policy till last year.