car insurance daylight robbery !!!

tforf

i have a 52 plate vauxhall astra 1.6 sxi . last year had 10 years no claims disccount cost 358 pounds tpf&t . got renewal this time same circumstances plus extra years no claims great renewal quote ( so axa say ) 855 pounds !!!!! .why isnt something being done about these companies its daylight robbery .by law we have to have insurance , petrol prices are ridiculous . someone needs to investigate these insurance companies . looked round for quotes all the same . anyone know why they have been allowed to change insurance group system ? mine was insurance group 4 now its gone to 11 !!!! been shopping round prices ranging from 600 to 1500 pounds . thought bankers and mp`s where bad enough for ripping us off these companies are just as bad .

adamc260

tforf wrote: »

i have a 52 plate vauxhall astra 1.6 sxi . last year had 10 years no claims disccount cost 358 pounds tpf&t . got renewal this time same circumstances plus extra years no claims great renewal quote ( so axa say ) 855 pounds !!!!! .why isnt something being done about these companies its daylight robbery .by law we have to have insurance , petrol prices are ridiculous . someone needs to investigate these insurance companies . looked round for quotes all the same . anyone know why they have been allowed to change insurance group system ? mine was insurance group 4 now its gone to 11 !!!! been shopping round prices ranging from 600 to 1500 pounds . thought bankers and mp`s where bad enough for ripping us off these companies are just as bad .

The groups changed from 1-20 to 1-50 to make it 'fairer' as too many cars were being put in the same groups when they shouldnt of been.

Yes, Insurance is going up but the main thing to blame is... people are generally quite poor drivers in the UK, they claim for A LOT of things and we have slipped into a 'where theres blame theres a claim' culture so PI claims are shooting through the roof, not to mention companies springing up every single day charging silly rates per day for hire cars. You also need to consider that fraudulent claims are on the rise as are uninsured drivers etc.. All adds up and you, the honest motorist... pays the price!

mikey72

adamc260 wrote: »

The groups changed from 1-20 to 1-50 to make it 'fairer' as too many cars were being put in the same groups when they shouldnt of been.

Yes, Insurance is going up but the main thing to blame is... people are generally quite poor drivers in the UK, they claim for A LOT of things and we have slipped into a 'where theres blame theres a claim' culture so PI claims are shooting through the roof, not to mention companies springing up every single day charging silly rates per day for hire cars. You also need to consider that fraudulent claims are on the rise as are uninsured drivers etc.. All adds up and you, the honest motorist... pays the price!

Nothing to do with the insurance companies making record profits, and bonus payments, at all then?

bouncydog1

Insurance companies underwrite their business by class of risk, and whilst they may have made "record profits", the motor books are generally not that profitable, hence the increase in rates.

Whilst there may be a bit of cross-subsidising this cannot go on indefinately. As you are well aware insurers have been hit heavily with the cost of astronomical third party claims - £14m recently publicised in one case - so as a result their reinsurance costs have gone up.

We can go on and on, but there is no single answer - look how other costs have risen progressively over the years, but for some reason individuals expect insurance to continue to reduce. The only way reductions will happen is if cost of claims continuously reduces, which will mean total re-education of the driving public and an about turn from the general attitude of many of the public to fraudulent claims.

lisyloo

Nothing to do with the insurance companies making record profits, and bonus payments, at all then?

There is a much more balanced picture which you are not in the habit of presenting Mikey

Yes, insurers want better profits after 14 (or is it 15?) years of making losses.
Motor insurance is not that profitable although the companies may have made record pofits.
Fraud, snow, higher personal injury claims, high claims management company costs have all driven prices up.

Insurance companies are profit making businesses.
They won't do work (just like any of us) without there being a profit in it for them.

I don't know about bonuses, but I don't see why ordinary staff who've worked hard all year shouldn't get bonuses (fat cats and telephone number salaries excluded).
Most people that get bonuses are ordinary working folk like me and you. Do you get a bonus yourself? (I do sometimes but only if the company hits targets and it's a very small % of my salary).

mikey72

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

Insurance companies underwrite their business by class of risk, and whilst they may have made "record profits", the motor books are generally not that profitable, hence the increase in rates.

Whilst there may be a bit of cross-subsidising this cannot go on indefinately. As you are well aware insurers have been hit heavily with the cost of astronomical third party claims - £14m recently publicised in one case - so as a result their reinsurance costs have gone up.

We can go on and on, but there is no single answer - look how other costs have risen progressively over the years, but for some reason individuals expect insurance to continue to reduce. The only way reductions will happen is if cost of claims continuously reduces, which will mean total re-education of the driving public and an about turn from the general attitude of many of the public to fraudulent claims.

I agree if you choose one small part of a company’s activities, underwriting, the investment profit is lower than it was at the industries peak, but it is now still very profitable.
But as with any business, they still make enough profits to continue to trade.
Quite good record profits in fact for motor insurance. We've been here before, you can find all the threads I've quoted them in if you search.
They insurers make money on reinsurance now.
(The reinsurers make good profits too)
The insurers make money by selling customer details on to claim management companies.
They make money by encouraging, or at times duping, customers to use credit hire companies, by the way of commission.
They make money by selling products such as legal expenses cover, and breakdown cover.

The best way to reduce premiums would be to impose a punitive fine for any insurer selling customer details to claim management companies after an accident, and removing all commission to insurers, returning accident management in-house.
That would see a massive drop in injury claims.

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

There is a much more balanced picture which you are not in the habit of presenting Mikey

Yes, insurers want better profits after 14 (or is it 15?) years of making losses.
Motor insurance is not that profitable although the companies may have made record pofits.
Fraud, snow, higher personal injury claims, high claims management company costs have all driven prices up.

Insurance companies are profit making businesses.
They won't do work (just like any of us) without there being a profit in it for them.

I don't know about bonuses, but I don't see why ordinary staff who've worked hard all year shouldn't get bonuses (fat cats and telephone number salaries excluded).
Most people that get bonuses are ordinary working folk like me and you. Do you get a bonus yourself? (I do sometimes but only if the company hits targets and it's a very small % of my salary).

Pity you don't work for Admiral. You should consider a job with them.

lisyloo

Pity you don't work for Admiral. You should consider a job with them.

I don't understand the Admiral reference????

Why should I consider a job in insurance ??
My views are simply more balanced than yours which appear to be extremely biased.

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

My views are simply more balanced than yours which appear to be extremely biased.

That's exactly what I was thinking, (but obviously the other way round).

edit - No not really, I can't tell a lie, I think you're just as biased as me, (but the other way round was true though).

lisyloo

That's exactly what I was thinking, (but obviously the other way round).

Well I am not denying insurers are in it to make profits and I have said before that I don't deny that are some parts of the industry that are bad and that sometimes they don't always behave honourably, so I do try to look at the whole picture.
For exmaple some companies don't send renewal letters so they don't lose business and other companies cynically lose cancellations letters. That's why I always advise people to send letter recorded delivery, get names, dates, times on telephone calls etc.

So I do think I have posted about bad behaviour from insurers.

I don't think I have ever seen you post anything positive, only on one side of the argument.

A second point is that you want to take action, whereas I have no intentions in that direction and no "axe to grind" over anything or any bad experience.

mikey72

You have your (biased) opinion.
I'm sure the op and myself won't be sharing it.
I'll post up how the action's doing.