Renewal due for insurance. 40 yr old male, full NCD and no convictions. Need some business use but apart from that standard comp on FL vrs petrol.

Current Insurer Direct Line quoted £440. If I get quote from them online it is £380! cheapest is Sainsburys (£285). Skoda Insurance comes in at £400.

Worried about poor reviews of Sainburys (apparently Esure in disguise). Anyone any experience? Trying to get balance of value and service should something go wrong...

Renewal due for insurance. 40 yr old male, full NCD and no convictions. Need some business use but apart from that standard comp on FL vrs petrol.

Current Insurer Direct Line quoted £440. If I get quote from them online it is £380! cheapest is Sainsburys (£285). Skoda Insurance comes in at £400.

Worried about poor reviews of Sainburys (apparently Esure in disguise). Anyone any experience? Trying to get balance of value and service should something go wrong...

i'd give chris knott a ring, (phone only, no web quotes) say sainsburys would do it for £285, get a quote reference. They almost promise to beat any quote on insurance providing you have good NCB, have owned the car for a whlie and have a max of 3 points iirc. They couldn't beat mine but that was a bit of a special case

Try Adrian Flux, Sky Insurance and Chris Knott and mention Briskoda when you phone up as you'll get a discount. I would phone Chris Knott last as the tend to price match.

Don't take the headline figure at face value, check the excess and t&cs on the Sainsbury's policy as this sounds too cheap for a VRs. They've probably put a big excess on there which if you adopted with the other insurers would bring your premiums down in line with the Sainsbury's quote, if you're prepared to shell out the extra in the event of an accident its worth asking the others to requote with the same excess..

Also check what the courtesy car cover and legal protection is on the Sainsbury's policy, cheaper policies tend to limit you to 1 or 2 weeks courtesy car cover if they include them at all. Also check the admin fess for chaning the policy if you intend to change your car or add extra drivers etc.. in the next year. (I once got charged £40 for changing the vehicle details on a policy and then got stung again when I added the missus later on in the year.

Chris Knott, Adrian Flux, SKY etc couldn't get near my quote from Admiral. Might also be worth tyring them

I got a good quote from Admiral, then phoned up skoda afterwards, they almost equalled it (after *talking to manager*). Would have gone with them as they seemed the most competent but then tried Tesco's and that was £150 cheaper (this is including low excess and the the extras).

Aviva won the prize for most dodgy call - I phoned them and after listening to all the rubbish finally got to talk to someone and starting telling them my details. Then about 2 minutes in the line goes dead, I hear a ringing, some bloke answers and says hello. I was a bit confused, turns out he was nothing to do with Aviva but had been getting their calls all morning poor guy!

Currently with Esure.

Had experience this year with a small scrape (no fault).

Not wonderful but certainly not the worst ever.

If they remain about the cheapest I will stick with them.

Went with Highway Insurance via Chris Knott in the end. £332 with a £250 excess. Admittedly £50 more expensive than Sainsburys but I couldn't bring myself to insure with a supermarket.