Endsleigh Car Insurance Review
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Endsleigh insurance come a long way from its original roots as an insurance intermediary company aimed only at students.
Even so, it still specialises in the student fraternity and remains the approved insurer of the National Union of Students. Nowadays, however, it boasts 500,000 customers across products for car, home, travel and landlord insurance. This review will focus on Endsleigh's car insurance policies. To see if Endsleigh could save you money, compare car insurance deals now. WHEN DID YOU LAST SWITCH YOUR CAR INSURANCE PROVIDER? Compare and save over £200 
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The best car insurance for student drivers?
You don’t have to be a student or a young driver to insure through Endsleigh car insurance, but they do claim to specialise in providing car insurance for young drivers, particularly students. Endsleigh says on its site: “Let us do the searching for you. We search a panel of top UK insurance providers to get you the cheapest quote.” That means they are acting as a broker, and be aware that this search will not include anything like the whole market. In fact, there’s no link on the Endsleigh site to tell you who they do work with. So we asked them and refused to tell us, telling us that this was “not something the business discloses.” Bit strange, we think. But they did tell us they work with “around 20 providers”, “depending on circumstances.” The benefits Like all insurers, Endsleigh car insurance has its own supposedly unique benefits. They are: * UK customer call centres. * 10% saving on servicing and 20% off MOT costs. * Replacement car included as standard on comp policies if you have an accident. * 24-hour windscreen and glass cover on comp policies. Types of Endlseigh policy Beyond the choice between Third Party and Comprehensive policies, Endsleigh offers both a number of optional extras, and specialist policies. COMPARE CAR INSURANCE POLICIES Compare and save over £200 |
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Specialist policies
These cover Company car insurance and short-term car insurance, but it’s for young people and student insurance that Endsleigh is really known for. They offer Student car insurance, young driver and International student car insurance. Student car insurance As Endsleigh says, it was founded by NUS students and “students are at the heart of everything we do.” They’ve moved on somewhat since then and students aren’t at the heart of everything they do, but if you’re in full-time education, then they are certainly worth checking out. We would, of course, still suggest looking at the market as a whole for the best price and policy. Student policies offer: A courtesy car with comprehensive policies as well as windscreen and glass replacement, again with comprehensive policies. There’s also the usual raft of optional extras available, all of which will obviously add to your premium. These include: breakdown cover; legal expenses; protection for your excess; lost or damaged key cover and personal accident cover. So, if you’re a student, why choose Endsleigh? Is there an overwhelming reason? Not really, we don’t think. The reason Endsleigh gives is that they’re recommended by the NUS and they’ve been in the student insurance business for almost 50 years. But we’re not sure how either of those things really means they’ll offer students the best deals. The bottom line is: shop around. Note that discounts are offered to students studying at certain universities. |
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Young driver insurance
Again, Endsleigh makes great play of the fact that it’s been insuring younger people for years. And their selling point for young drivers is very much around price. They make it clear that young drivers often struggle to get affordable car insurance – that’s putting it mildly. And that they can “offer reliable cover with an inexpensive price tag”. So, certainly worth a go, if you’re a young (under 25) driver. But do keep in mind that Endsleigh searches a restricted selection of insurance providers, so if you do go direct to them, it’s wise to also do some comparisons. Young driver cover also offers special discounts to those students studying at specific universities, as does student car insurance. This only applies, however, if you buy a policy direct from Endsleigh. Up to 90-days cover in Europe is included as well, but third-party cover for 90-days in Europe has to be given on policies by default under EU rules. You start to earn a no-claims discount even if you are a learner. International student car insurance This is truly a specialist area. And the Endlseigh package has a big advantage – it accepts EU no-claims bonuses. All the other optional extras are also available, but the no-claims acceptance is a biggie for bringing your price down. |
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What do customers think?
Like most insurance companies, Endsleigh has plenty of testimonials on its site. But the official complaints data is really the best way to check out how a company performs. Between July 2016 and Jan 2017, Endsleigh received 3,039 complaints and closed, or resolved 3,029. Of these 72% were sorted within three days and 28% within eight weeks. Just under half were upheld. We like …. We certainly rate the specialisations Endsleigh offers, especially for younger drivers, but would always advise that any motorist, whatever their age, shops around beyond just one source. If you're a young driver, it's always best to run a comparison to find the best deal. Watch out for … The much higher cost of paying your premium monthly. Endsleigh was one of the worst offenders in this regard, Auto Express found, charging the equivalent of a 19.2% interest rate. That’s as much as many credit cards. Customers paying for car insurance in monthly instalments are effectively taking out a loan for the cost of the cover and paying it back over 12 months. That means they incur interest and generally pay a higher total bill. We advise finding other ways to pay, such as a lump sum, or on a zero interest-rate card. |
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