NFU insurance: any good?

[Matt Bodycombe]

I have been with LV for several years now and get good value and great customer care. I also like sealing with mutuals and not companies owned by hedge funds. I have heard the above has won awards and are supposed to be good. Anyone use them and are they reasonable?

[cheezemonkhai]

Yeah very good.

 

I've been with both previously and they both are very good to the customers.

The cost of cover isn't bad and when you look at what is standard it can be very good.

[FUBAR]

Not used NFU before but have always been told they are a fantastic company and never heard a bad word. Seems to be one of those ones if you ever needed them you'd be so happy you'd stick with them even if they cost more in the future. 

[4wheel]

Used them for a number of years and no complaints. Then they priced themselves out of the market and I was forced to change.Pity,they were local and always pleasant to deal with - not a call centre somewhere unknown.

[littleade]

NFU were top of the latest which report car insurance recommended providers with a score of 80%. LV were 2nd with 76%

[curleybar]

I was keen to give them my custom a couple of years ago, very pleasant & called back promptly..however they were precisely double my current insurer. 

 

Of course, they may have become more competetive recently ?

[7029bob]

Just had a quote from NFU and although it was not the cheapest I'm well impressed with their cover and benefits

 

1   If yours is written off and less than 2 years old new car provided, does away with the need for Gap insurance

 

2   No charge for mid term alterations to policy

 

3   No need to inform them of change to winter steels and tyres

 

4   Ample legal cover included

 

5  Unlimited cover for factory fitted Audio equipment

 

6  Unlimited EU cover

 

and many more

 

Quote was £329 for myself and the wife obviously a protected policy, the other quotes were coming in mainly around £196, the lowest being £161 and the highest a ridiculous £545 but the benefits were nowhere as good as NFU.

What really swung it was the 2 year new car replacement.

Went to a NFU office and dealt face to face everything was explained in detail with no heavy sell.

Just nice to get away from compare sites.

[Jono]

12 years ago I had a claim via a (then) mutual company that used NFU claims handlers, assesors and maybe back-office staff.

 

They were excellent.

Free year-2 GAP insurance looks good to me too.

[seaweasel]

I was with NFU for a while as they came recommended and gave me a decent quote (had trouble insuring an Opel Vectra because it was an 'import'), however I ended up having bother with them. I'd had a gap of a couple of years since I'd had a car in my name, and they said they'd honour my previous NCB, which was about 7 years I think (other insurers refused).

 

This might not reflect their service normally of course (and since it's all local, I guess it could vary). Had a bump in a car park (our fault), wasn't a massive amount to repair the other car but we were told when signing up for the NFU policy that instead of the NCB disappearing when claiming, it would only be reduced next year by one year's worth (essentially sacrificing the extra 1 year bonus with them for that year). This seemed very reasonable so we decided to go with the other owner claiming on our policy. However, when we went to renew at the end of the year, the quote was enormous. Was told that they didn't honour my NCB at the start of the policy, I'd only been given an equivalent discount as a gesture, therefore I had no NCB at all come renewal time. Ended up having to go elsewhere that wasn't quite as expensive.

 

Also, (admittedly I don't have proof this was NFU's fault), a few years later when getting a policy with Admiral, I noticed on the paperwork that the claim amount from the bump was something like £4000. I queried it with Admiral, saying that NFU didn't tell me what the amount processed was (I was told by the owner of the other car it was something like £400 for the repair) but that it didn't sound right. Admiral said that's what they were informed the amount was by NFU and there was no way of checking, however there was no impact on my quote so not to worry about it (basically that it was an at-fault claim, but they didn't really care how much it was for). 

[Sammycarp]

Used them for a number of years and no complaints. Then they priced themselves out of the market and I was forced to change.Pity,they were local and always pleasant to deal with - not a call centre somewhere unknown.

 

Agree - we used them for several years for household insurance (Contents, then later Buildings & Contents), but never had to make a claim so don't know what they would have been like.   Then after about 6 years with them their prices suddenly increased and we had to move.

 

We did get a motor quote too, but they were 8-10 times the price of our current (at the time) provider.

[MickA]

I had caravan and house contents with them a good few years ago, as others have said initial quotes were good but got expensive by a big chunk in the 3rd term with them.

Now have LV for cars and Sainsburys for home cover. Guessing it's about time for a ring around when renewal letters come in Nov, I usually give em around 2-3 years before they up the prices significantly enough to look elsewhere.