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Barclays Car Insurance Website (Barclays.co.uk): Once onto their car insurance page, the actual link to obtain a quote is one of many links on the side of the page. The rest of the page is taken up with information about their insurance and the offers they have on. From beginning to end everything is in blue, the writing in a dark blue and any links or boxes in light blue, they also have their logo at the top of every page.

After opening the new window to obtain a quote the first things they asked me for was my personal information, vehicle registration and my driving history. They also asked me for my occupation and I found this part a bit of a problem, as my occupation wasn't listed and this meant that I couldn't continue, therefore I had to choose a different, yet similar, occupation to be able to continue.

The website then searched for an insurer and gave me a quote from Provident Insurance, they offered me the choice of paying in one lump sum, or to pay in 11 monthly instalments.

One thing that did confuse me was their excess, there's a £100 compulsory excess, and they offered me a choice of paying between £0-£500 voluntary excess. However when the site told me my final quote it wasn't until I expanded a help box that I discovered that drivers between 17-20 years will have to pay £300 excess on top of the existing compulsory and voluntary excess in the event of an accident. This meant that the lowest excess I could pay would be £400. I would also have to pay an extra £3.75 a month to receive breakdown cover.

My final quote from Barclays was £1368.05 payable as one lump sum, or they offered me to pay in 11 monthly instalments of £117.32 which would make my total insurance cost add up to £1495.22.


Barclays Car Insurance Phone: When I first phoned I heard the usual recorded message explaining all the information laws and such like, this went on a bit and even the recorded voice sounded bored. I wasn't put on hold but put straight through to a person, though not the most customer friendly person.

They didn't explain much to me and rushed through the quote. When I asked them to repeat something they sounded annoyed with me and when I asked if they could explain something they really didn't sound happy. I asked them what exactly I would be covered for and they told me so quickly and in such a stern manner that not only did I not catch half of what was said but I was almost too afraid to ask again. Throughout the whole phone call I felt like I was in the way somehow and that they were trying to get me off the phone. They didn't mention anything about excess payments or offer to fully explain any of the details to me.

My final quote over the phone was £1368.50 which was the same as their website, I wasn't told what the monthly payments were, though I'm assuming they'd be the same as the website at 11 instalments of £117.32 making a total of £1495.22 ... I was going to ask about monthly instalments but by this point I was just glad to get off the phone.