[Falmouthboy]

Has anyone heard of Swiftcover Insurance? I have just 'run the numbers' on the various comparison web sites and they come back as far in a way the cheapest quote for both our BMWs (£280 for the 330d!). Part of me says, 'never heard of them' so I will pay the extra to go with a firm that I have heard of, the other part of me says 'insurance is insurance' - they are all crooks so may as well go with the cheapest. Any thoughts?

[kaishang]

Are they the underwriter or are they flogging off someone else's risk?

Seems really cheap; my 330d was about £800.

[rogerxp]

This company advertise heavily, isn't Iggy Pop in the adverts or someone like that, think they've been around for ages but are just being very aggressive in the marketplace more recently (in advertising & rates). I suppose you have to be.

Don't have any experience with them though, sorry.

[briers]

They were cheapest for me but their terms put me off

From memory they are highly unlikely to use approved parts for some repairs, highly unlikely to use a BMW garage amongst other things. Put me off how they cut corners.

Don't forget most insurance companies will try and use cheapest indies or 3rd party parts. Some reviews of swiftcover also suggested lengthy turn around times for fixes or CS problems.

Think they also don't attribute an additional years no claims if you have to get your windscreen repaired, even though your premium doesn't rise. Little things like that.


I went with LV/Frizzels in the end.

[Animalfreeride]

Originally Posted by Falmouthboy

Has anyone heard of Swiftcover Insurance? I have just 'run the numbers' on the various comparison web sites and they come back as far in a way the cheapest quote for both our BMWs (£280 for the 330d!). Part of me says, 'never heard of them' so I will pay the extra to go with a firm that I have heard of, the other part of me says 'insurance is insurance' - they are all crooks so may as well go with the cheapest. Any thoughts?

I can confirm that they are a legitimate company & are part of the Axa group. I know this as i'm insured with them! Likewise they proved to be by far the cheapest. That being said I don't know whether I'll use them again when my renewal is due as I've heard that they don't use BMW accident shops following claims & also do not always use genuine BMW parts for repairs. To be honest I haven't done any serious research but when the renewal is imminent I will look more carefully into this. I'm sure you would agree that cheapest isnt always the best.

[Falmouthboy]

Hmmmm, thanks.

I think I will give them a miss then. The cars are currently with More Than and Zurich. The trouble with insurance is that until you need to claim you never really know how good they are. Not being able to use an approved bodyshop alone is enough for me to 'walk away'.

[swanseahammer]

I had the misfortune of being insured with Swiftcover when I had an accident 5 years ago. I had a Honda then - even though there was a Honda bodyshop near where I live they made me go to a Ford accident repair centre 35 miles away. I was not impressed, especially as the repair centre was really inefficient and they ended up finishing some repairs while I was waiting even though they phoned me to say the car was ready for collection. If I had insisted on using the garage of my chossing, I would have had to pay double my excess.

Ever since then, even though they come up cheapest, I avoid them. You get what you pay for (within reason).

[CraigUK]

I used to be with SwiftCover but switched to Aviva this year as they were alot cheaper for me. May be worth giving them a try.

[AlwynMike]

Originally Posted by CraigUK

I used to be with SwiftCover but switched to Aviva this year as they were alot cheaper for me. May be worth giving them a try.

Me too!!!

For additional money off, join Quidco for cashback (eventually) - with 5 cars I pay insurance for, this adds up!!

[Jeff123]

Originally Posted by CraigUK

I used to be with SwiftCover but switched to Aviva this year as they were alot cheaper for me. May be worth giving them a try.

Same here - £420 vs £352. Aviva did not appear on the comparison websites.

[Kerr]

I'm with Swift cover but have not had to have any dealings with them as yet.

Again I went with them due to cost but the policy started on a previous car.

Doing the online quotes they come up with £425 for my 335i coupe.

I thought you had a legal right to decide where you want your car repaired?

You could use the insurers recommended repair centre and get all the benefits, but if you really wanted a company of you choice to do it you might have to do without a courtesy car etc.

On the otherhand, has anybody ever got a positive word to say about any insurance company?

I was with Adrian Flux for years due to driving modified cars. I eventually moved to a family saloon car and they were still able to beat any quote, therefore, I remained with them.

A couple of years ago a guy gave me a minor bump up the rear at traffic lights. Damage was a cracked bumper and a little bit of trim.

Adrian Flux kept asking me if I wanted to claim for personal injuries which I kept refusing to do as I was fine.

Days later and still to this day I get phone call from personal accident claims services about this crash as Adrian Flux passed/sold my details on to these companies, then they have the cheek to put up premiums and blame the personal injury culture.

The guy from the accident claims specialst actually told me just to lie and say I was injured and he would do the rest.

I can't honestly see much in my Swift cover policy that is not in any of the others.

Hopefully I will never have to find out if they are any good or not.

[magic77]

For last 4 years I;ve gone with A-plan who are a broker and they have beaten any quotes I have got. Now with Aviva ona deal thats cheaper than if I went to aviva direct.

Give your local place a call and mention you got refered by BMW Club and it seems to help a little bit as well.

[ALF_E90]

I have used Swiftcover on and off for many years, I like it being web based for things like changing car details, when I had 3 cars but 2 insurance policies in the family it was a godsend.

They have always been cheap for me, often with competitive renewals as well (very unusual!). Different companies tend to want different sorts of risk so who is cheap for one person of a certain age living in a certain part of the UK may not be cheap for someone else.

I did find when I had the 156GTA that Swiftcover were utterly inflexible when it comes to any kind of mod or indeed anything else on their script - it was always "no cover". I fitted Alfa's own torsen LSD and some non-standard (but standard ride height and springs) shocks and that was more than they could cover.

[Em135eye]

They were the cheapest by a long way on our 335d but I wanted the extras of BMW cover so went for that.

I'd happily use them though.

Have you got the 330d yet FB?

[urfankhaliq]

All this talk about swiftcover being not very good and not using BMW parts etc....isnt it kind of irrelevant unless your claiming off your own policy?

In other words if you have an accident and its not your fault, then your going to be claiming off the other persons insurance which would mean that you would get what they pay for etc, in which case it doesnt matter what swift cover allow or not?

[Falmouthboy]

Originally Posted by urfankhaliq

All this talk about swiftcover being not very good and not using BMW parts etc....isnt it kind of irrelevant unless your claiming off your own policy?

In other words if you have an accident and its not your fault, then your going to be claiming off the other persons insurance which would mean that you would get what they pay for etc, in which case it doesnt matter what swift cover allow or not?

If it is not your fault and you claim off someone else, then you can insist on a BMW workshop, OEM parts etc as you should not be put at a disadvantage. What they pay for relates to repairs to their own car, not yours. However, what is important is that you have legal protection cover to ensure that you have a lawyer working on your behalf ensuring this happens.

[urfankhaliq]

Originally Posted by Falmouthboy

If it is not your fault and you claim off someone else, then you can insist on a BMW workshop, OEM parts etc as you should not be put at a disadvantage. What they pay for relates to repairs to their own car, not yours. However, what is important is that you have legal protection cover to ensure that you have a lawyer working on your behalf ensuring this happens.

So basically as long as you have legal cover. With swiftcover your ok as long as the accident isn't your fault.

[Falmouthboy]

Originally Posted by urfankhaliq

So basically as long as you have legal cover. With swiftcover your ok as long as the accident isn't your fault.

Yes and no. Provided the other person is insured, stops (or at least you get their details) and it isn't a 'their word against mine' 'knock for knock' settlement between insurers you are ok.

In other words, just becuse it isn't your 'fault' isn't to say that you won't need to rely on your insurance to fix your car.

Hence the "and you claim off someone else" in my post.

[urfankhaliq]

yeh thats what i mean, in which case its not a problem being with swiftcover. I wouldnt worry about using them personally because if it ever came to claiming off my own policy I just wouldnt anyway as its not worth me losing my NCB (the 2 years that I have) lol

[Scud]

Try nowell and richards, had my last 3 cars with them and they are cheapest by a long way for the 320d

[cdb]

only thing i noticed with them was you need to check their "assumptions"

Once I adjusted their assumed value / cover required and mileage to what I required they came out the same as everyone else, but off the bat are way cheaper than most for standard cover

[m1bjr]

Originally Posted by Falmouthboy

Not being able to use an approved bodyshop alone is enough for me to 'walk away'.

You can use whatever body shop you wish, with any insurer.

It is your legal right.