[Misc] Car Insurance cost

[RandyWanger]

Is anyone calling for a public auto insurance policy or is that too communist for little britain?

 

[marcos3263]

my car insurance went up from £320 a year to £580 with Churchill. I called to negotiate and after checking the details were correct on their system the new quote was........£615.

so I told him to f*** off.

went on all comparison websites and am now with Tesco for £480 which felt like a win but obviously isn't. have got a £20 halfords voucher to spend though.........

 

[Biscuit]

My house insurance renewal came through today, £500 more - no reason, no claims made. Suppose I’ll have to look around, I’ll add it to the list of a million things I gotta do, thanks insurance ****s.

I had the same from AVIVA. Called them and expected the usual dance followed by a discount but no.. they said they had offered absolutely the best price they could. Ended up having to change my excess from £250 to £500 to make it affordable - joke.

 

[Adders1]

We have our car, daughters car, our house B&C, daughters house B&C and premium went up 52%. Phone them up, immediately got about £100 off for loyalty discount and eventually saved almost £400 but still a bit higher but accepted that was due to two motor claims I had made, first was my fault but the second was a stupid women in a car park, luckily I was putting stuff in the boot so I caught her but even if its not your fault your risk still goes up with the premium

Tip - if they ask the value of the car estimate high as if you go lower it increases the premium - lady told me on the phone

Name and shame. Disgusting that someone has to go through that process to get the right decision - our firm won’t tolerate this type of profiteering

Because you get more write offs more often and that affects the risk - i.e. what the insurer thinks they will pay out. Higher claims experience always equals higher premium.

You can have a line of code go wrong in a car now and it won't work. Back in the day it pretty much had to be totalled and even then that could have been the other chap's fault

Very interesting point on the code - previous observations suggest that a poster would be well advised to be cautious to take GB on in a debate on NSC generally speaking
However I would have thought that a defective software issue would be prime for a class action under warranty

- Insurers always say ‘claims experience’ but they are usually reinsured by someone else so it’s really code for saying ‘we dropped our pants last 3 years, but now it’s time to wear a prophylactic’

 

[Guinness Boy]

Name and shame. Disgusting that someone has to go through that process to get the right decision - our firm won’t tolerate this type of profiteering


Very interesting point on the code - previous observations suggest that a poster would be well advised to be cautious to take GB on in a debate on NSC generally speaking
However I would have thought that a defective software issue would be prime for a class action under warranty

- Insurers always say ‘claims experience’ but they are usually reinsured by someone else so it’s really code for saying ‘we dropped our pants last 3 years, but now it’s time to wear a prophylactic’

If the issue is across the board - all EVs of a certain make manufactured between x and y then of course, you're correct. But I'm talking about individual issues with electronics, hardware and software configuration. Anecdotally, a mate of mine just had a 17 plate Hyundai written off because it wouldn't start. No one could work out why. I don't think that's the case for them all. And, professionally (disclosure, I work in the insurance software and consulting space), the Claims Director of a leading UK aggregator told me of exactly this point over a pint a couple of years ago.

The reinsurance point again is a good one but we both know it depends on both the treaty and the underwriter's propensity to put claim experience into a rating model. MGA's with underwriting authority will price in more risk IMO.

 

[Adders1]

If the issue is across the board - all EVs of a certain make manufactured between x and y then of course, you're correct. But I'm talking about individual issues with electronics, hardware and software configuration. Anecdotally, a mate of mine just had a 17 plate Hyundai written off because it wouldn't start. No one could work out why. I don't think that's the case for them all. And, professionally (disclosure, I work in the insurance software and consulting space), the Claims Director of a leading UK aggregator told me of exactly this point over a pint a couple of years ago.

The reinsurance point again is a good one but we both know it depends on both the treaty and the underwriter's propensity to put claim experience into a rating model. MGA's with underwriting authority will price in more risk IMO.

I knew I shouldn’t engage you - rookie error , all points bang on as usual GB

Great stuff.

 

[BLOCK F]

Mixed results.
Good deal on my wife’s car with me as named driver, but not so good on my car with her as a named driver. House insurance substantially up on previous year despite haggling.
No claims made by us at all.

 

[Gazwag]

Name and shame. Disgusting that someone has to go through that process to get the right decision - our firm won’t tolerate this type of profiteering

Admiral

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Got two cars and buildings/contents insurance with Admiral - just had renewal notice through to say it's going up £450!

 

[seagull77]

the insurance business has got to be the biggest scam going

 

[Let's Have A Winner!]

Ours went from £550 last year to £775 for two cars plus home insurance for no apparent reason...usually I contact them and they match the previous year but this time I only got it down to £675 so tried to call their bluff and cancelled. They accepted the cancellation and didn't follow up. I shopped around and couldn't find anything much better, so ended up crawling back and paying the £675!

 

[Horses Arse]

Theft is an increasing issue - mainly high end Range Rovers etc which are stolen to order and shipped to east Europe. But that extra claims costs impacts all customers. A friend of mine struggled to get cover for his Range Rover and a condition of insurance is either gates across his drive, a bollard on the drive or one of those steering wheel disc locks to be used whenever the car left unattended. Not a problem for my Kia...

Mad isn't it - all those improvements in security from when you could rock a ford cortina from side to side and pop the locks (or use any ford key) and tech savy thieves can bypass it all. So we return to steering wheel locks - seeing more and more of these now.

 

[beorhthelm]

My direct line car policy went up £250 so called them. Had a moan, knocked off hire car…( I have a company car as well) dropped the mileage to 10k per year ( all footie travel is in the CC) knocked off Green flag ( bank account covers that)
Guess what ?? It saved £300 so was £50 cheaper than last year….result

noticed this too, lots of add ons creeping into car insurance, essentially up selling by default.

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

I use an online company, One Call Insurance. I pay approx £30 a month for fully comp on a 2018 C-HR and earlier this year they contacted prior to renewal and said if I stayed with them, they would guarantee no increase for 3 years. I was and am still a little sceptical on this 'Agreement' but 6 months in ( The Policy renews every month) there have been no increases. My excesses total £550 but I'm happy with that.

 

[Horses Arse]

If the issue is across the board - all EVs of a certain make manufactured between x and y then of course, you're correct. But I'm talking about individual issues with electronics, hardware and software configuration. Anecdotally, a mate of mine just had a 17 plate Hyundai written off because it wouldn't start. No one could work out why. I don't think that's the case for them all. And, professionally (disclosure, I work in the insurance software and consulting space), the Claims Director of a leading UK aggregator told me of exactly this point over a pint a couple of years ago.

The reinsurance point again is a good one but we both know it depends on both the treaty and the underwriter's propensity to put claim experience into a rating model. MGA's with underwriting authority will price in more risk IMO.

So are we in a place right now where IC engine owners are subsidising the cost risk to insurers of EVs due to write offs? If so I'd imagine EV premiums are going to start to rise the reflect the higher cost risk to insurers to those vehicles. They won't want that happening now though with the push to EVs

An owener of a BMW i3 (a few years ago now) told me that he was warned about driving through ouddles of a certain depth as it could short out the electrics and write the vehiccle off

 

[Colonel Mustard]

My car insurance renewal with Churchill was quoted about 40% higher so I told them to stuff it. Looked on GoCompare and found a similar offer for actually a bit less than I paid last year.

 

[Horses Arse]

I use an online company, One Call Insurance. I pay approx £30 a month for fully comp on a 2018 C-HR and earlier this year they contacted prior to renewal and said if I stayed with them, they would guarantee no increase for 3 years. I was and am still a little sceptical on this 'Agreement' but 6 months in ( The Policy renews every month) there have been no increases. My excesses total £550 but I'm happy with that.

Sounds good - I'll take a look at that, thanks

 

[Guinness Boy]

So are we in a place right now where IC engine owners are subsidising the cost risk to insurers of EVs due to write offs? If so I'd imagine EV premiums are going to start to rise the reflect the higher cost risk to insurers to those vehicles. They won't want that happening now though with the push to EVs

An owener of a BMW i3 (a few years ago now) told me that he was warned about driving through ouddles of a certain depth as it could short out the electrics and write the vehiccle off

Not completely. The price will be made up of a huge number of factors. What it's used for, mileage, limits on various things you can claim for, postcode of where it's kept, NCD, all sorts. But the industry pricing certainly follows trends. Every insurer is competing for greater market share because, as a compulsory product, insurers cannot grow the market themselves as is being attempted in other sectors, which was seeing a price race to the bottom but the economy has changed. The average 43% increase is across all carriers and reflects a lot of what I said and others have; more and different claims including software and EV, the high end theft racket in Range Rovers mentioned and the cost and delay of a reduced supply chain for parts and people to fit them.

Fixed costs count too - so if the insurer is paying their staff more due to inflation and interest rate increases that comes into the premium. So does any broker costs, reinsurance costs (who have the same staffing pressure). And, if there are more claims then claims assessors will be charging more. You also have claim management companies actively encouraging claims.

Finally, and very importantly there are fraud costs. Again, in a bad economic climate fraud tends to increase. Fraud detection is improving but that takes technology and learning - which, again, costs money. People think insurance fraud is a victimless crime and insurers can afford it. It's not - you're paying for it.

 

[Horses Arse]

Sounds good - I'll take a look at that, thanks

Whilst it did sound good there's no cost reduction. Clearly this is where the market is now. I've had the same with my company's PI, thought after 8 years of no claims it would be really low but no.

 

[Berty23]

It can’t be long until you can buy insurance for you me insurance premium going up. Natural next step.

My home insurance went up from about 200 to 300. Got to renew in next couple of weeks.