Swinton Insurance

About Swinton Insurance Company

In the late 1950s, more people were buying cars than ever before - but finding car insurance wasn't all that easy. That began to change when Swinton opened its first branch in Salford and started a new way to buy insurance.

The company grew rapidly through the 1960s as more customers recommended Swinton to their friends and colleagues. That gave them the confidence to be the first insurance broker to advertise on TV - which led to even greater success.

In the early 1990s, Swinton became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Alliance (now Royal & Sun Alliance). Increasing use of technology meant that they were trading electronically with all major car insurers by the middle of the decade. Swinton also opened their first national Telesales and Service Centre in Manchester and introduced a freephone quotation line to link all branches to the call centre.

In May 2001, Swinton was bought by La Mutuelle Du Mans Assurance (MMA), a French insurer. This led to Swinton becoming even stronger, with a new corporate identity, new uniforms for all advisers and a new customer-friendly environment in all branches. In May 2002, Swinton bought Colonnade Insurance Brokers retail business and instantly had branches across 90% of the UK. The acquisition of the Budget retail branch network in August 2006 added a further 90 branches nationwide and meant that they had acquired a total of 250 brokers in the past five years alone.