Toyota Car Insurance

[Duffryn]

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone insures their motor with Toyota Car Insurance, and, if so, would welcome any thoughts/experiences?

My insurance renewal has just arrived - my current insurers have really bumped my bill up compared to my previous Avensis, also informing me that Breakdown Assistance is 'essential', for which they want another £37, and have nonchalantly added that to my premium without my requesting it!

Have owned my Prius for just over 1 month, it came with 1 years Toyota Roadside Assistance so obviously I don't require any further cover.....do I?

I have an on-line quote from Toyota which is cheaper than my existing insurer, but can also get even cheaper quotes via Uswitch etc.

Any recommendations anyone?

[FROSTYBALLS]

The latest Which? report on car insurance came up with the Which? Recommended Providers for car insurance based on: 1) being highly rated by Which? members, 2)have an average or above policy score (based on meeting Which? policy standards), 3) have a good customer score, 4) meet Which? minimum standards for inclusion and be regulated by the FSA, and 5) be directly available to the general public.

The Which? Recommended Providers in descending order are:

NFU Mutual (score 83%)

Volvo Car Insurance* (79%)

LV= (76%)

Nationwide Building Society (76%)

Toyota Insurance* (74%)

Mercedes Benz Insurance* (74%)

Volkswagen Insurance* (74%)

Age UK (74%)

Marks & Spencer (70%)

The Co-Operative Insurance (69%)

*Will insure any make of car

[aCactus]

I am currently with Toyota insurance - not the cheapesty when I checked last year but when I phoned them they found a discount for having toyota roadside assitance so I renewed.

[Bibsy]

Also with them - not the cheapest, at first sight, no, but if you look at the small print of other cheaper policies, for me, they all fell short with higher excesses, odd excesses on things I wouldn't expect and are well hidden, admin charges, a premium to pay if you took your car to a main dealer for work, all that kind of malarkey.

So be careful you compare apples with apples with policies. Being cheaper isn't enough on its own (for me) to swing it.

I think the nearest competitor to them at my last renewal started at about £100 cheaper (hurrah) but when you added on the bits you needed to make it the same as the Toyota one is was within about a tenner, so Toyota got the business. And for what it;s worth, it was about £375 for my Gen 2 Prius.

Your mileage may vary.

[Chris Dance]

Went back to Toyota Ins this year. They gave me a competitive quote and I now know if my car is involved in an accident it will go to an approved Toyota Dealer. An aquaintance was involved in an accident his insurer said he had to have it repaired by a repairer of their choice. The repair was not to Toyota standards and he had to take it to Toyota in the end to sort it.

[Duffryn]

£375 sounds pricey. On-line quote from Toyota for me + wife (both retired & 8000 miles p.a.,full NCD, clean licenses etc. etc.) @ £197. Must read small print again, but first glance seems to cover what I want.

[cootuk]

We live in a fairly high risk area and Toyota insurance were about 70% the price of other insurers for the past couple of years - as long as you get a new quote online rather than renewing through their renewal letter.

Now my wife is over 40, Toyota are more in line with the cheapest other insurers.

Not had to claim, touch wood, so can't comment on that side.

[Opifex]

Went back to Toyota Ins this year. They gave me a competitive quote and I now know if my car is involved in an accident it will go to an approved Toyota Dealer. An aquaintance was involved in an accident his insurer said he had to have it repaired by a repairer of their choice. The repair was not to Toyota standards and he had to take it to Toyota in the end to sort it.

Insurers cannot dictate where you get the car repaired though many will try. It's your car and you decide where it is repaired. What you may find is that the policy only provides a replacement car if you go to their recommended repairer but if you go to a Toyota repair centre they will probably provide a car anyway.

When I needed repairs two years ago I insisted on going to a Toyota repair centre. The only hassle was that I had to get two quotes which my local dealers were happy to provide. I had been told that it could take two weeks to get approval but they actually accepted the first quote straight away without waiting for the second one. On the arranged day the loan car was delivered to my house and my car went off. When the car was returned I just paid the policy excess. I was very pleased with the result and had a certificate to say the work was to Toyota standards.

[Hicardo]

I've found Toyota generally expensive...if you have several cars, try Admiral multi car. I find them very cheap. As i insure 4 cars, they need to be!

[Duffryn]

I've found Toyota generally expensive...if you have several cars, try Admiral multi car. I find them very cheap. As i insure 4 cars, they need to be!

Only one car now I'm afraid, wife sold her Corolla privately and I p/ex'd my Avensis for the Prius, which we'll both be insured on.

Funny though, just got another on-line quote from Toyota - it's gone up £33 in just 48hours! Luckily I'd saved the original quote.......

Admiral came up cheapest on Uswitch though.

[FROSTYBALLS]

The one question I have about comparison sites is how impartial they really are - their business is based on receiving a referral fee from the insurance company, utility company, etc you place your business with having used the comparison site, and most are either part of an insurance company or have a substantial proportion owned by an insurance company (eg. confused.com are part of the Admiral Group, comparethemarket.com are part of an insurance broking group (BISL who operate Budget insurance amongst others), etc. Some state that the referral fee comes from the insurance company and not you - but I suggest most insurance companies would hide the referral fee in the insurance quote.

[smuddell]

I have my Auris HSD insured with Toyota, found the price to be close to the cheapest, but was happy to pay a bit more knowing my car would be repaired Toyota approved rather than any old garage!

I would be interested to hear if any members on here have ever had to claim from Toyota Insurance - what was that experience like? It's one thing getting a good price, but if you need to claim you need it to be as hassle-free as possible!

[Aceshigh84]

Admiral May be cheap but God forbid you are ever involved in an accident as their claims management is truly awful, and staffed by people whose sole aim is to write off your car immediately without even understanding the amount of damage.

Not bitter at all! :-)

[Duffryn]

Thanks for your thoughts guys, think I'll go with Toyota Insurance as I hope it'll provide me with piece of mind that in the event of me getting involved in a skirmish then my car would be repaired to Toyota standards. Hopefully.

As Smuddell says earlier - it would still be nice to hear from anybody who's put them to the test though.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Here is the summary page from the last Which? report on car insurance:

http://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/reviews-ns/car-insurance/whichrecommended-providers/

[johalareewi]

Pretty sure there will be threads on the site about Toyota Insurance.

I know there are some in this forum regarding Prius.

You might have to do some searching.

[smuddell]

Ironically I've just had to make a claim on Toyota Insurance today after a woman reversed straight into the rear drivers side door of my NEW Auris HSD!

So far the claim process has been very efficient, but it's early days...

[Aceshigh84]

Really gutted for you :-(

[Duffryn]

Yep, also gutted for you, perhaps a bad omen in my starting this thread!

Hope it all goes smoothly, would be interested in hearing the outcome.

[smuddell]

Thanks guys, I'll keep you posted!

I just hope it's not the curse of having a 13 reg - I'm not superstitious but this is only the second insurance claim I've ever made, and the first was an incident that happened on a Friday 13th, now this one in 2013 in a 13 reg!