Astronomical car insurance for 19 year old!

dacouch

Raskazz me thinks your an ERS bod then...

Quote

I didn't think any insurers made much money from motor insurance anyway. I thought it was a loss leader for the big composites to attract other business. The only exception I can think of is Direct Line, and look at the pickle they're in now.

dacouch

I agree with you Quote, when I worked for a direct company for a few months (It was a nightmare) al they were concerned about was getting to "Critical Mass" where the economies of scale kicked in. Motor Insurance is so competitive they can hardly be making any money especially with the loss leading new customer discounts.

The chickens are about to come home to roost with the market starting to harden with the credit crunch and recession. Like you said it will be interesting to see what happens with Direct Line and Churchill, I'm guessing the biggest shareholder eg the Government will sell them on. Only problem is there can't be many companies at the moment with money to spare to buy companies of that size.

JonBoy_SCFC

dacouch wrote: »

A lot less claims than you would get from young drivers especially young male drivers and the claims they have would be many many many times less expensive.

The older driver market is highly competitive so the margins are very very small as the vast majority of Insurers target this part of the market as its low risk

thanks but i specifically pointed out that if you can set your prices to reflect the risk, then the fact that young drivers have more claims isn't a disadvantage anymore because you've collected higher premiums to account for them? if you don't have very good underwriters then i can see why you might stay away

your point about margins is exactly my point - surely higher margins are available in the young driver market because there's less competition, hence why i think it's a more attractive market to aim for

JonBoy_SCFC

dacouch wrote: »

I agree with you Quote, when I worked for a direct company for a few months (It was a nightmare) al they were concerned about was getting to "Critical Mass" where the economies of scale kicked in. Motor Insurance is so competitive they can hardly be making any money especially with the loss leading new customer discounts.

The chickens are about to come home to roost with the market starting to harden with the credit crunch and recession. Like you said it will be interesting to see what happens with Direct Line and Churchill, I'm guessing the biggest shareholder eg the Government will sell them on. Only problem is there can't be many companies at the moment with money to spare to buy companies of that size.

not everyone in the industry agrees with you;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7920936.stm

dacouch

Whats your point with the link?

JonBoy_SCFC

ive set up my hotmail account to get google news feeds on the term "car insurance" and so i was reading that link today.

it says that a motor insurer is doing well during the recession and making lots of money out of car insurance (because more people shop around) - just showing it to you as an example that i thought went against some earlier posts of yours

JonBoy_SCFC

dacouch wrote: »

Whats your point with the link?

apologies i should have quoted "Quote". mistake on my part

dacouch

But that quotes their figures for 2008, the recession did not really start to hit until early this year.

In addition it shows that their profit margin actually shrunk last year.

Admiral as will most companies be looking forward to the next 18 months as when the market hardens the prices go up and their profit margins will go up. Companies will start to charge more realistic prices for the cover

anniecave

mark_dumpleton (OP) - some suggestions for you to get back on topic..

(apologies if they've been suggested before, but I didn't see them)

Have you used some of the comparison websites?
Like comparethemarket or confused - there's a list somewhere on this website

I would add a named driver who has lots more experience than you - I add on my Dad - he only drives my car occasionally but it reduces my premium by about £60

Have you looked around at the excess you are paying? It's worth playing with the figures on a quote on a website. Sometimes adding on £50 of voluntary excess can reduce the premium by almost £50, then try £100 extra, etc.

Also check if your cheapest insurer offers cashback via the cashback websites like quidco?

Oh and insurance prices do up on average... sorry ... too many drivers on the roads or something!