is it just us or has car insurance prices rised dramatically?

bdtbl

im currently in the process of renewing the insurance on my wifes car [a 2005 ford focus diesel] which is hardly a bugatti veyron, my wife has 5 years no claims, has never been in trouble etc, with me on the policy aswell [35yo with no claims etc]
last year our renewal price was £400 after searching all the comparison sites the cheapest is about £650,
has everybody elses prices gone up or is it just ours?

dogbot

everyone, see the press and the hundreds of other posts on the topic on this forum.

- years of claims inflation has driven years of underwriting losses in the market
- continued claims inflation continues to hamper things
- low investment returns
- new capital requirements
- general rise in running costs

dunstonh

Higher risk areas have gone up but lower risk areas are not suffering as much. Higher risk doesnt have to mean HIGH risk but higher than say rural/village locations.

FantomX

It's not just you, I got my renewal today from Priviledge and it was up by about 200 quid from last year. However, they still came out cheaper on the comparison sites and Aviva etc. So I gave them a call and they put me through to the loyalty dept. I was going to ask them to take my mate off the insurance as named driver but the premium went UP again by 100 quid so they advised me to keep him on as named driver????? Anyway, the lady asked me to check last years and this years MOT certificates and asked me the mileage done between the two which was less than 6000 miles so she changed estimated mileage from 10,000 to 6000 a year.

She also noted that I had breakdown cover so asked what my journeys were and I advised Social Domestic and Pleasure plus to my place of work and back which in reality means a few trips to tescos and an 9 mile round trip to work 5 days a week. So she advised that I take off the breakdown cover.

Also, as I told her that my journeys were SDP and to and from work she also changed the policy to reflect that because it did include "Business" too???

After all that she managed to get the premium down to £460 so a saving of approx £200 from the original qoute. Fully Comp with Courtesy Car (not included on price comparison sites and Aviva) and £150 excess with added £250 voluntary excess plus the Legal cover too. 90 days of europe driving was also included something that Aviva and others wanted extra cash for.

So it does pay to call them and let someone talk you through your current requirements...I expected a hard sell but that was not the case.

My Car related details: 55 Plate Mondeo ST220, 10 years+ no claims, no convictions, car kept on the drive and 37 year old male in the Worcester area.

Paid using my BA Amex card so get some Air Miles out of it too...just sent off the difference to Amex so no interest payment hammering

chaotic_j

I'm finding that the quotes I'm getting from the online comparison sites are greatly increased too.. this is because (after some research) I live in a very high risk area.

Premiums have gone up here because of vandalism and more importantly "crash-for-cash" insurance scams.

So your not the only one!

dgtazzman

Somebody more knowledgeable about car insurance than me said that prices have gone up by 20% on average over the last year as an indication of how bad it is. Criminal if you ask me, no sympathy whatsoever for those people with no insurance and tax, may they burn (and loose their cars).