selling me insurance

mariaalice

The house insurance was up recently, anyway a few financial instructions that I deal with phoned me with a quote I don't mine that at all if the quote is good they will get my business.

In the end I went with an on line quote because it was the cheapest and I was comparing like with like.

This is my question If you are selling insurance to someone you must be aware of what the lowest quote someone in my situation could get so why would I go for a more expensive quote?, the only conclusion I came to is, who every is training the sellers must think no one has heard of the internet or that they cant use it themselves why don't the sellers find the cheapest quote and coming in under that to get business.

I had one guy tell me if I took the insurance that day he would go to his boss if see if he could get another bit off the quote. I could not believe anyone was still trying to use that as a sales tactic in 2014:D

jameshayes

A lot of people are not frugal and count the value of the time as higher than the value of the savings, for example, if you waste 3 hours of your life comparing insurance quotes to save 50 euro, is it worth it?

In my opinion it is, but a lot of people would not be bothered and just renew, or qualify the quote they have received against another to be sure they're not getting ripped...

Chiorino

On line isn't always cheapest but often is (I regularly do way better through a broker). At the same time, not every policy is identical so while at a glance one policy seems dearer than another, it might offer more in terms of cover and benefits.

As for the guy saying he'd ask his boss, it's not as common anymore but does happen as they can have a bottom line price they can quote, below which they would have to get approval.

Of course if you are sure you are getting the best policy for the best price, go for it.

mariaalice

Chiorino wrote: »

On line isn't always cheapest but often is (I regularly do way better through a broker). At the same time, not every policy is identical so while at a glance one policy seems dearer than another, it might offer more in terms of cover and benefits.

As for the guy saying he'd ask his boss, it's not as common anymore but does happen as they can have a bottom line price they can quote, below which they would have to get approval.

Of course if you are sure you are getting the best policy for the best price, go for it.

I didn't got to a broker so maybe I could have got it cheaper but it was a good quote and very convenient, paid on line by laser and downloaded the policy from an email they sent me.

peteb2

mariaalice wrote: »

This is my question If you are selling insurance to someone you must be aware of what the lowest quote someone in my situation could get so why would I go for a more expensive quote?, the only conclusion I came to is, who every is training the sellers must think no one has heard of the internet or that they cant use it themselves why don't the sellers find the cheapest quote and coming in under that to get business.

Why would they know what the cheapest quote you could get is? If you are talking about banks ringing you, banks tend to be tied agents to one insurance company. Even brokers won't go searching online to see what 123.ie quote. Why would they? They don't have access to direct insurance channels like that. And they are only cheaper because the insurer is not paying the broker commission.

A lot of people prefer a broker as they check other insurers, compare policy covers and give advice in the event of a claim etc. Others don't. And then probably end up on forums asking for advice. :;)

BuffyBot

As said above, why on earth would you think they know other companies figures?

Unless the operator introduced themselves as Mystic Meg when they called, I think you were expecting a bit much.

And yes, managers/supervisors may have discretion to discount that the phone agent would not have.

mariaalice

peteb2 wrote: »

Why would they know what the cheapest quote you could get is? If you are talking about banks ringing you, banks tend to be tied agents to one insurance company. Even brokers won't go searching online to see what 123.ie quote. Why would they? They don't have access to direct insurance channels like that. And they are only cheaper because the insurer is not paying the broker commission.

A lot of people prefer a broker as they check other insurers, compare policy covers and give advice in the event of a claim etc. Others don't. And then probably end up on forums asking for advice. :;)

I have no objections to going to a broker if they are cheaper like for like and I would need them to explain why I might need there help if I was making a clam, I know banks and building society are often tied agents but as long as it was cheaper like for like I would go with them. I did have one guy try and say it was not like for like the polices I was looking using that as a sales tactic.

It just semed a bit old fashioned in the age of the interned.

mel.b

I recently did an online quote for a well known broker for home insurance. Within 5 min of me doing it online, they called me to go through the quote in detail. The quote over the phone was 70euro dearer than the initial online quote(which is just an indication), however they said they were doing deals with one company at the moment and were able to take 35euro off that which made it 35euro cheaper than my renewal quote. I wasn't prepared to commit at that moment, but the hard sell was put on me, 'we can only give you this price today' 'can't say what it will be if you call back' etc and then when I was still hesitating 'I can contact the insurance company directly and see if they will knock a bit more off it'. I could tell the guy was really pissed off with me and really was pushing me. I explained that I still had almost a month before my policy was due for renewal and wanted to pay for it all in one go rather than monthly and was told I could pay a deposit and pay the remainder within 30 days which is what I ended up doing. However it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they were so pushy...reminds me of turkish carpet salesmen I encountered. I really wish I'd just hung up and I'm half tempted to cancel the policy during the the cooling off period except the admin fee will probably wipe out any savings I would have made anyway.

mariaalice

BuffyBot wrote: »

As said above, why on earth would you think they know other companies figures?

Unless the operator introduced themselves as Mystic Meg when they called, I think you were expecting a bit much.

And yes, managers/supervisors may have discretion to discount that the phone agent would not have.

I am not saying they can have an exact quote but they should be looking around at 123 or 222 to sniff out roughly the bottom line, why do the on line brokers advertise so heavily at peak times?.

I would be far more responsive to a brisk customer focused profession phone call that went something like...I know you can get great on line quotes so come back to me with a figure and I will try and beat it, thatS honest and straight forward instead of using sales training from the 1960s. That could just be me though.

mariaalice

mel.b wrote: »

I recently did an online quote for a well known broker for home insurance. Within 5 min of me doing it online, they called me to go through the quote in detail. The quote over the phone was 70euro dearer than the initial online quote(which is just an indication), however they said they were doing deals with one company at the moment and were able to take 35euro off that which made it 35euro cheaper than my renewal quote. I wasn't prepared to commit at that moment, but the hard sell was put on me, 'we can only give you this price today' 'can't say what it will be if you call back' etc and then when I was still hesitating 'I can contact the insurance company directly and see if they will knock a bit more off it'. I could tell the guy was really pissed off with me and really was pushing me. I explained that I still had almost a month before my policy was due for renewal and wanted to pay for it all in one go rather than monthly and was told I could pay a deposit and pay the remainder within 30 days which is what I ended up doing. However it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they were so pushy...reminds me of turkish carpet salesmen I encountered. I really wish I'd just hung up and I'm half tempted to cancel the policy during the the cooling off period except the admin fee will probably wipe out any savings I would have made anyway.

Sounds bad, the online broker never called me it was all on line I have other insurances with them so maybe they know better with me I don't know.

on_my_oe

I did a price comparison for our car insurance and decided to give the incumbent the opportunity to meet or better the competition... The guy actually told me that I should just stay with with them and pay the extra €170 out of loyalty.

oldyouth

Never buy insurance online unless you are comfortable with all the terms and conditions of the product. There are bargains out there but the devil is in the detail . Boards is full of posts from people who claim that insurers are chancers, when the truth is that the purchaser didn't know what they were doing

mariaalice

oldyouth wrote: »

Never buy insurance online unless you are comfortable with all the terms and conditions of the product. There are bargains out there but the devil is in the detail . Boards is full of posts from people who claim that insurers are chancers, when the truth is that the purchaser didn't know what they were doing

I don't think they are chancers I have lots of insurances I am like that, I have so far always had good experiences with insurance except for the VHI which I got sorted in the end. My main point was about how some of the polices are sold plus I felt sorry for some of he sellers they are obviously young and and probably on near to minimum wages.

oldyouth

mariaalice wrote: »

I don't think they are chancers I have lots of insurances I am like that, I have so far always had good experiences with insurance except for the VHI which I got sorted in the end. My main point was about how some of the polices are sold plus I felt sorry for some of he sellers they are obviously young and and probably on near to minimum wages.

But you inferred that the person you are dealing with would be aware of every other insurer's premium and that's not the case. Even if they did know there was someone cheaper out there, you might not have found them yourself and end up taking the policy.

It's no different to any other type of shopping.