Mysterious Car Insurance Premium Hike

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

i keep reading on here about renewals going through the roof so was beginning to wonder how disasterous my renewal was going to be...

It came through last week and had gone up.... wait for it.... £14!! Naturally i did the annual "insurance dance" of "surely thats not your best price" etc etc and ended up paying nearly 10% less than last year.

meh... nobody I know has had these huge hikes.. (late 20s - early 30s with no / no fault only claims)... is it particular types of people only or areas of the country?

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain wrote: »

i keep reading on here about renewals going through the roof so was beginning to wonder how disasterous my renewal was going to be...

It came through last week and had gone up.... wait for it.... £14!! Naturally i did the annual "insurance dance" of "surely thats not your best price" etc etc and ended up paying nearly 10% less than last year.

meh... nobody I know has had these huge hikes.. (late 20s - early 30s with no / no fault only claims)... is it particular types of people only or areas of the country?

The problem is that most of the complaints are from people who had policies with discounts that had run out. For example if you have a 50% first year discount it's common sense that the second years premium will be doubled but this is when people starting name calling. Insurance costs are generally on the rise, however anyone claiming that their insurance went up 24% without any change of personal circumstances or loss of discount I would take with a huge pinch of salt.

mikey72

No bias above then?
Just move insurance each year, oddly enough I have paid about the same for insurance, if not less, year on year, for cars and house. Then I usually get £40 to £50 cashback on that.
Renewals with the same company are expensive, new quotes with the same company are cheaper, so either they always lose money on me, or some people on here are exaggerating the losses insurance companies have to cover, and are encouraging overpayment of premiums.
They haven't all gone out of business yet, so I guess they're still making profit somewhere.
The companies I won't use are ones that offer to beat my existing quote, or if my existing company suddenly offers to match the quote that I just got online from them, (usually a lot cheaper than the renewal).
If they can afford to insure me for a low price, I want it first, not after they have been caught out trying to overcharge me for a product they will sell cheaper if they need to.
The other company who have offered the cheaper price will get my business because they deserve it for offering the right price in the first place.

In the end insurance companies are a business, they’re only there to make as much profit as they can.
They aren’t my best friends, so I'm out to pay them as little as possible, but still keep them viable for next year.

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love

mikey72 wrote: »

No bias above then?
Just move insurance each year, oddly enough I have paid about the same for insurance, if not less, year on year, for cars and house. Then I usually get £40 to £50 cashback on that.
Renewals with the same company are expensive, new quotes with the same company are cheaper, so either they always lose money on me, or some people on here are exaggerating the losses insurance companies have to cover, and are encouraging overpayment of premiums.
They haven't all gone out of business yet, so I guess they're still making profit somewhere.
The companies I won't use are ones that offer to beat my existing quote, or if my existing company suddenly offers to match the quote that I just got online from them, (usually a lot cheaper than the renewal).
If they can afford to insure me for a low price, I want it first, not after they have been caught out trying to overcharge me for a product they will sell cheaper if they need to.
The other company who have offered the cheaper price will get my business because they deserve it for offering the right price in the first place.

In the end insurance companies are a business, they’re only there to make as much profit as they can.
They aren’t my best friends, so I'm out to pay them as little as possible, but still keep them viable for next year.

Yes, but this virtuous company offering you the correct price have exactly the same business practice as the other companies who you think are con men and will have sent out higher cost renewels to their existing customers.

redpete

Mr_K wrote: »

Ah, it appears I touched some raw nerves here !

Or maybe you were writing rubbish.

dunstonh

They haven't all gone out of business yet, so I guess they're still making profit somewhere.

Something like 90% of insurance companies that were trading 15 years ago are no longer open for new business.

The UK is recognised as the least profitable Western economy for insurance. The only real benefit of a UK insurance base is solvency requirements (if you dont have much legacy business with liabilities) or as a cash cow on a run down book, or a leaner company with no legacy issues and systems.

You had Pru trying to sell up and move East. Aviva are now under threat of being broken up and sold off in different directions. AXA have just sold off the bulk of their UK business (but keeping in wealth management). They are big brands who are financially strong but want ,or are potentially being forced, to exit the UK or scale down to focus on niche areas.

During the growth years, insurance premiums were at an all time low (in real terms). You cannot expect that to be maintained across the board in bad times.

Whilst some companies are still "buying" market share and offering unsustainable discounts, you may as well take advantage of it. However, you cannot criticise those companies that do not wish to trade at a loss or act as a charity.

mikey72

dunstonh wrote: »

Something like 90% of insurance companies that were trading 15 years ago are no longer open for new business.

The UK is recognised as the least profitable Western economy for insurance. The only real benefit of a UK insurance base is solvency requirements (if you dont have much legacy business with liabilities) or as a cash cow on a run down book, or a leaner company with no legacy issues and systems.

You had Pru trying to sell up and move East. Aviva are now under threat of being broken up and sold off in different directions. AXA have just sold off the bulk of their UK business (but keeping in wealth management). They are big brands who are financially strong but want ,or are potentially being forced, to exit the UK or scale down to focus on niche areas.

During the growth years, insurance premiums were at an all time low (in real terms). You cannot expect that to be maintained across the board in bad times.

Whilst some companies are still "buying" market share and offering unsustainable discounts, you may as well take advantage of it. However, you cannot criticise those companies that do not wish to trade at a loss or act as a charity.

I don't criticise them. I choose to use cost effective ones.

"In the end insurance companies are a business, they’re only there to make as much profit as they can.
They aren’t my best friends, so I'm out to pay them as little as possible, but still keep them viable for next year."

They can always reduce commission to IFA's and brokers on products sold through them if they really need to save money, or just choose to sell directly and pay none.

kBoothy

allot of insurers have goals, to raise new business by reducing their new business premiums and reclaiming it by charging high mts's mid term amendments. One insurer I use increase rates at renewals allot but if you run it through the system again for a new quote the same insurer will come up cheaper than its own renewal premium. i suppose there thinking maybe they may loose clients in doing so but one in every 10 may stay becouse its to much work to move to another insurer. I would suggest changing but be warned they will charge you a cancellation fee, unless the risk no longer becomes acceptable to them.

dunstonh

They can always reduce commission to IFA's and brokers on products sold through them if they really need to save money, or just choose to sell directly and pay none.

For many companies, IFAs are the cheaest distribution channel. Even cheaper than doing it direct. However, IFAs do not provide car insurance.

pauline_arnold

Tesco did a home deliveryto my neighbours, in doing so they knocked down my newly built garden wall by trying to turn on my driveway .They admitted liability ,the claim was settled and tesco paid up minus my £50.00 excess .My new renewal has now arrived and has gone up £90.00.i enquired to my insurance company but have been told its because i have had aclaim i find this very unfair as i did not ask them to demolish my wall .Ihave been told by the claims dept that Tescos solicitors have not accepted liability as yet .ive tried with other companys e.g Churchill ins to insure with them but have been told i cannot until te claim has been settled my ins brokers are Castle cover .Davies managed systems dealt with the claim and tescos insurance is Mitsui Sumitomoins group i am really cross as im the excess out of pocket and the increase in my new premium what can i do about it