NatWest Car & Home Insurance (Reviews)

Most banks and building societies create a separate identity (or two!) when they want to move into insurance services. NatWest has decided to stick with their own brand name as they delve into this market though all roads still seem to lead to Rome as usual ... Limiting the scope is something we like to see with Natwest only offering four insurance types - motor, home, travel and life - thus improving the chances of the customer service experience being a success and thus furthering their hold. They don't seem to have fallen into the trap of brokering everything just to make a few extra bucks on the side.

The discounts are standard but the obvious benefits are having a much stronger brand name behind you. You can get up to 65% no claims discount with that increasing to 70% for those over 50. No claims bonus protection is available which we like to see but do remember that such protection is only relevant to the motor insurer you are with at the time. If you switch insurance companies you may find that they will drop your no claims bonus years down to the last time you made a claim. No claims discount protection does not erase the fact you had an accident should you want to switch insurers so make sure you are aware of this when comparing quotes. Of course, smaller claims such as windscreen repair etc. do not generally count as a full claim. Policyholders with NatWest can also get discounted breakdown cover from Green Flag attached to their policy.

Home insurance from NatWest currently comes with as much as a third off at times whether you take buildings insurance, contents insurance or a combination of both. You can get money off if you are a new customer as well as if you are an existing customer, plus a further discount for buying online. Some insurers, especially those used when you get a mortgage, have charges for cancelling your policy early and trying to switch, luckily Natwest, like many others, will pay ?25 toward these costs to limit the penalties you might incur when moving to their cover. These discounts and offers don't result in any less cover either with new for old, accidental damage, increased cover at Christmas time and a 24 hour household emergency helpline coming as standard.

As you would expect from a mortgage provider, Nat west offer Life insurance. They have a specialist policy for those over 50 and you can attach critical illness cover to you life insurance to protect you as well as an optional income protection policy should you be out of work for any length of time. As part of a worldwide financial organisation, Natwest offering travel insurance seems only logical. Short or long stay, one journey or annual cover, pleasure or work you can get comprehensive travel insurance that includes help in locating lost luggage, help in finding local doctors, guidance on customs, currency, visa requirements and inoculations all with an additional discount if you have already taken out home or car insurance with them.

More recently they have added student insurance which has become an increasingly popular option for the larger insurers to now offer as the number of expensive goods and electronics carried around by the average student increases year on year. Nat-West has gone through some changes in it's time since the merger of the National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank (National Westminster -> Nat West -> NatWest) and now as part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group they have much experience to draw on for this financial market so don't expect the usual short falls associated with insuring services offered as almost a side line business by other financial institutions. †

03/10/2008 NatWest offers a 10% discount for buying home insurance online, which combined with their 15% discount for new customers, seems like an attractive deal. They put their Key Facts up front, unlike a lot of companies, so that impressed me too. Their quotation form is surprisingly short - much shorter than other companies. Unfortunately though, NatWest's quote for their standard cover wasn't at all competitive - I've had at least two cheaper quotes elsewhere. I assume that their quotes included the discounts, but that wasn't made clear.

03/06/2008 The online quotes system was down which was a bit of a pain. Reluctantly I filled in the inquiry form instead. It said that someone would get back to you in a few days and it did actually take a couple of days for someone to call me back...a bit pointless because I'd already bought from someone else whose online quote system was working. Couldn't actually see the policy details anywhere on the site either and not sure if you only get these when you actually take out the policy or if I should have asked more questions over the phone. Also received many emails afterwards reminding me of the details of the quote and was not really sure how you are supposed to stop these.