As you will no doubt be aware, there are a number of insurance companies - and comparison websites - that choose to use the offer of free gifts to make customers sign up with them. However, the problem is that you can often be so obsessed with wanting the free gift, and collecting all of them if this is an option, that you don't stop to think about the fact that you might actually be spending more money on the item in the first place. Would you ever be swayed in your decision by free gifts that are being offered, or perhaps do you feel that this has been the case for you in the past? We have just renewed our insurance and have got a better deal by quite a lot of money by changing the company that we are using, so it is definitely more than worth doing so, or at least checking to see whether you could get a better price elsewhere.
I'm not swayed by free gifts from insurance companies or banks. One local bank gives away a toaster for opening an account that requires a large daily balance. I'm not about to open a bank account that requires a $1,500 daily balance just to get a $20 toaster. There are free banks online with no minimum balance.
I was convinced one to open a bank account by a cute girl on the street, I was feeling wonderful, I just got out of college it was my first year, it was sunny outside and I was feeling just awesome and a cute girl stops me on the street and asks me with a beautiful smile if I want to open an account at their stuff. While I was hessitant at first, she explained that it has a lot of benefits and I was sucked in. I don't know if it was the best thing to do as I never used that bank account to this day and I hope there are no monthly fees or anything like that. If there are, well sucks for them, they never notified me, never gave a card, nothing.
I'd go with an insurance company that's offering me a free gift on certain conditions, these are; 1) the free gift has to be something of great value to me, cheap things are a no no, 2) the free gift has to be independent of the contract between myself and the insurers, I don't want them taking back what they gave me because of a term in our contract. For me, insurance is a little low on my priority list, I mean, once I drive well, why do I need insurance? all I would buy insurance for is for the person that may hit me because they can't drive well...I've been driving for longer than the world's age and I haven't caused any trouble on the road, so no matter how little I pay, why am I still paying? :-/
I'm curious to know what kind of gifts you're talking about. I've had the same insurance since I started driving, and have taken advantage of a safe driving discount and my premium goes down each year as I get older, but those are really the only discounts I have. I've never been offered a "gift" by another insurance company. Unless I know my premium will be much cheaper with the same coverage, not much would really sway me!
No, free gifts don't lure me to buy from insurance companies. I choose my insurance company based on the best value for my money. Gifts have no affect on me. The costs of those gifts are passed on to the consumers one way or another.