At one time it was impossible to arrange car insurance contacts over the phone, however for the ten years prior to the arrival of online car insurance underwriting systems at the turn of the century, arranging car insurance on the phone was for many the de facto method. However buying direct from a car insurance company over the phone limited your choice and often was not suitable for all drivers.
Today, as well as car insurance comparison sites for the confident web user, some individuals still prefer to telephone for motor insurance. People like to talk.
When car insurance call centres were first established many were located in remote areas around the country and insurance companies did not have a local call centre in every town and city. Calling one of these call centres if not local on a local charge rate could work out expensive and this put many people off purchasing motor insurance over the telephone. Prior to this drivers had been accustomed to a face to face purchase over a insurance brokers or insurance company counter, located locally to where they lived.
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car insurance telephone numbers were established to over come this, but the insurance companies running the call centres found that the numbers were being abused by false purchasers, time wasters and lonely people. As the call was free people could stay on the telephone for as long as they wanted and ask as many questions as they liked.
To overcome this and reduce time wasted by call centre staff, set scripts were designed that led the customer through the quotation and sales process. The staffs telephone script was adapted to finish the call if the caller was not suitable or the insurance company were not able to provide cover so for example if it is a stipulation of the cover that the insured to be does not have more than two accidents and the caller reports three, the member of staff can cut the call there and say that they would not be able to help. If the insurance company posed this question to the customer early in the call, this solved the problem!
Modern UK telephone call centres are now cheaper and well established. The technology used is now more efficient and integrated with the insurer’s back office computer systems for cost and time savings. Insurance companies have learnt the lessons of selling direct to the public over the telephone by staffing the telephone lines correctly when television or press campaigns are on.
As the price of call centres and complex phone systems became more affordable, insurance brokers have also invested in their own call centres, in order to provide a more efficient and extended opening time to their new and existing customers.
One such national broker with access to over 100 different car insurance policies is Adrian Flux Insurance, whose call centre offers more choice than the largest online car insurance comparison site. The call centre can be reached for free on 0800 0890182.
Call centres have had their problems, especially those major banks and insurers that moved their main call centres abroad to reduce costs. Fortunately now you have a choice of ringing either a local broker, national broker or insurance company to arrange cover.
Buying car insurance on the telephone can be done from anywhere today with mobile phones. The process is quick and easy and you know that you have the correct cover for your circumstances at the end of the conversation. It is also worth noting that when discussing the premiums for your cover on the phone, it is an accepted practice to negotiate and haggle for a better price than you have found elsewhere. You also have the knowledge that if you need to make a claim, a human will be on the other end of the line!
