Fabien and his Team are great, we have a RHD car insured through them no issues and great service.
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I was recommended an AXA agent in Limoux. They were great, and the visit took about 30 minutes. We had the insurance on the UK registered car within a week, with a cover note until then. As for matriculation, the AXA rep suggested a garage in Limoux that took care of everything for us (apart from the control technique) and charged us I think 120 euro. It did take a while for it to come through, but it was very painless for us ! AXA changed the insurance for us very quickly once we had our French plates.
Our insurance was with Pacifica and for the same cover Fabien recently quoted €150 less per annum…so obviously we stayed with Pacifica 
My quote from Fabien was €300 more than the AXA quote. Fabien was quick to respond to my request and would have got the business if the price had been similar.
never that simple… a more detailed analysis of the quotes might just reveal why the difference… did you ask @fabien to explain the difference or were you just after the cheapest (but not always best) you could get?
I did a comparison of the quotes and both were very similar - the excess on the AXA quote were lower.
Indeed… with every quote for British expats I have to make assumptions (which I disclose) and sometimes the competition makes different assumptions (as quotes are based on declarative statements only). Most of the time (like 99% of the time) all price discrepancy is because of different assumptions. I must concede that I’m usually conservative on my assumptions to avoid unpleasant surprises but at the end of the day the final premium (once we have the supporting documentation in hand - mostly the carte grise and proof of NCD or French relevé d’information) is always the same as it’s always amended (to the upside or the downside depending on the assumptions made). In the case of Peter his model didn’t exist in France so I went for an equivalent one and same logic for the insurance history. These 2 things alone can double the premium (or divide it by 2). Shopping around makes sense when you’ve been insured in France for 3 years or more but when you’re arriving you’re just adding more friction and potentially making false statements without even knowing it (as some agents don’t hesitate to tweak the statements because they are committing the client’s statements not their’s). All that to say that I’m a broker (working with AXA as well) and in my analysis that wasn’t 300€ cheaper (given my assumptions when I made the quote) so it’s certain that different assumptions were made (not saying they were false though).
Finally I’d like to add that I usually have 2 or 3 clients per year (not much) which come back to me after going with an agent which made “different statements or assumptions” for their policy (understand they made statements which helped them offer a cheaper premium) and after an audit, their file were caught as being a “false statement” which was therefore terminated by the head company. Story ending up at almost twice the initially quoted premium… Sure it’s rare (as audits or big claims are rare luckily) but that happens and I see that “often” (from my perspective) so I never play the “I’m the cheapest” game neither do I play the “I say what the client wants to hear” game, especially not in the expat industry where the rules of converting the insurance history aren’t written in stone and it’s very easy for an insurance company to terminate a policy… termination then written in stone (and influencing premiums) for the next 5 years
Only way to compare apples with apples is to have the final carte grise and a French discount (CRM) for more than 3 years in France… every other scenario is up to interpretation and should be dealt with with extreme care to avoid potentially catastrophic outcomes.
Thanks for reading all this, and as always, stay safe 
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Oh and one more thing I forgot to say… I don’t do commercial offers and sometimes agent have offers which may explain the difference but only on year 1
For full disclosure, I don’t do commercial offers simply because we ask companies for the cheapest possible premium all year long instead of inflating the premium to get “discounts” on certain months of the year… I’m here for the long term not for “one shot” deals or commercial tactics I see as dodgy (although popular I must reckon).
From my perspective, the insurance business should be old fashioned as we’re talking about insuring your precious belongings not some fancy new app you’re using with in app purchases But that’s just my opinion of course
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Years ago I had holiday insurance with a UK supermarket,I didn’t make a claim but the following year it went up dramatically. I phoned to find out why ,but they couldn’t tell me and actually agreed with me when I said I would look elsewhere
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Very important, with AXA the quote for the first year is never for 12 months. Instead it is the premium from the start dare to the next renewal date (which is often the 1st of a month or the 1st if January) and there is often 1 or 2 months difference (potentially much more if the renewal is January the 1st) the first because of that logic (which is almost AXA specific)… another potential explanation. Full disclosure here => I’ve been in business for 5 years and can count on my hands the number of time when I was presenting with an offer I could not beat so this is definitely possible but most of the time the price difference is because of a different statement (but maybe mine was incorrect both ways are possible).
Never forget that all agents and brokers are sales agent (including me) and most of the time their main goal is to get another customer not to make sure your statements or assumptions are correct and all will go to the option which will increase their chances of getting the business.
Am I different? Yes and no. Yes I need to make money (and we try to be as transparent as possible with our fees) but also no because we’re a small team and if I were to win all the leads I get I simply couldn’t handle it so we only make a deal when the situation is perfectly clear and we know exactly what we’re insuring whilst ideally providing some general advice in the meantime (which is not as shiny as it sounds we simply try to explain how the French market or rules are to avoid potentially unpleasant surprises further down the road).
There is business for everyone and that’s also why we never chase for new business (quite the opposite as instead of sending “reminders” to pursue old leads we send “closing your file” emails to say we’ll close it for now and won’t send further emails unless they get back in touch of course).
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I was insured through a broker (before Fabien) for car insurance and was «tempted» by my bank to insure with them as they would be «cheaper». Well, they were but only for the first premium. When renewal time came, the premium was considerably hiked up. @fabien commented about comparing apples with apples and this was the case in point here. The Bank initially insured us for an incomplete year - to the end of that year in fact but the renewal was then for a complete 12 months so it appeared cheaper - but the reality was - it wasn’t cheaper at all! We then went back to our original broker (who then unfortunately died) and, as they say, people buy from people. His replacement was nothing like as good or efficient which prompted us to consult fabien. Any concerns about pricing have been fully explained to our satisfaction. Policy terms and conditions are often different between insurers and not always obvious to the punter except by fine examination of the small print so beware. Insurance isn’t cheap but can work out to be very expensive when you make a claim and the insurer withdraws the policy because of a mistaken understanding or a fault in the uberrima fides element of the proposal.
edit: My post crossed Fabien’s making the same point about timing…
Thank you Fabien for your response. My insurance is 7 days short of 12 months. I hope not to fall foul of any of the possibilities you have detailed as my declarations were clear and honest. We will see.
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Your statements were most definitely clear & honest, I’m just never 100% certain that agents are 100% clear & honest with the statements they make you confirm (sign) that’s all But I like to be proven wrong that means the insurance industry is being more honest and trustworthy so I would see each situation as a win (from my perspective)
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HI Tess,
Give my Insurance agent a ring on 0545371433 & his name is Thibault Roche & his agency is Allianz.
Explain to him that your car is registering with ANTS & he should be able to insure you.
If you want any further help then contact me 0753246471
w.cooper16@gmail.com
@William_Cooper is it really a good idea to publish your telephone number and email address on an open public forum?
and did you read the thread about email hacks -
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Very scary, basic internet security advises to never put your address, full name, email or phone number on line. Too many ways to be used.
@cat is it possible to blank out those details in the post by @William_Cooper to preserve his security as he has not responded to/may not have seen my post?
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Hi Draham,
If I didn’t do that then how does somebody contact me ?
Easy… you’ve already provided the information about the Insurance Agent and if someone wants more info from you «privately» they can DM you and you can respond accordingly so it’s not in the open forum. They DM you by clicking on your nic «William Cooper» (by the side of your avatar) or your avatar and selecting 
Besides all of that, the OP seems content with the information provided about Fabien - the in-house insurance expert
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ok point taken.