Insurance Shambles

tonyhamm

Whats happening now are that the screws are being put on by the big insurance names. A lot of discount insurers (niche market etc..) cannot get decent financing terms because of the banking crisis and have disappeared.

The other factor is, normally, most insurance companies operate at a LOSS - thats right - A LOSS - in terms of the actual insurance business to around -3 percent - the insurance companies actually run the business as a way to get hold of your money at very low interest rates/free and invest it over a range of higher rate assets.

With supra-low general interest rates from the BOE this is no longer possible and asset values have ramped up from 2008 and are high and so returns are low. So they have to raise prices due to this factor alone. This is just part of the inflation the BOE is manufacturing.

The final factor is the rise of claims - some are well known scams run by immigrants, enabling them to drive on UK roads without insurance - (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361329/Migrant-car-insurance-scam-exposed-Police-admit-running-joke.html)
Another one is which has nearly happened to me - twice - is braking suddenly as your driving along so you run into the back of them - automatically your fault and the car will have many in it claiming various injuries etc.. netting them thousands each.

I think the main factor is likely the removal of small players in the market - this has removed a hell of a lot of competition - the other factors are not alone responsible for such stonking increases in insurance IMO.

I am waiting for competition from small players to come back before I buy insurance.

mikey72

tonyhamm wrote: »

Whats happening now are that the screws are being put on by the big insurance names. A lot of discount insurers (niche market etc..) cannot get decent financing terms because of the banking crisis and have disappeared.

The other factor is, normally, most insurance companies operate at a LOSS - thats right - A LOSS - in terms of the actual insurance business to around -3 percent - the insurance companies actually run the business as a way to get hold of your money at very low interest rates/free and invest it over a range of higher rate assets.

With supra-low general interest rates from the BOE this is no longer possible and asset values have ramped up from 2008 and are high and so returns are low. So they have to raise prices due to this factor alone. This is just part of the inflation the BOE is manufacturing.

The final factor is the rise of claims - some are well known scams run by immigrants, enabling them to drive on UK roads without insurance - (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361329/Migrant-car-insurance-scam-exposed-Police-admit-running-joke.html)
Another one is which has nearly happened to me - twice - is braking suddenly as your driving along so you run into the back of them - automatically your fault and the car will have many in it claiming various injuries etc.. netting them thousands each.

I think the main factor is likely the removal of small players in the market - this has removed a hell of a lot of competition - the other factors are not alone responsible for such stonking increases in insurance IMO.

I am waiting for competition from small players to come back before I buy insurance.

Ah well, if it's in the Daily Mail..........

pitkin2020

LOL that post had some good info then you linked to the daily mail...............

atrixblue.-MFR-.

ofcourse its ture its in the daily mail everything you read in the papers has to be true doesnt it. and because the papers said they exist i suppose UFO's should touch down and say hello.

jimmysayshey

To all those that have said try unconventional cars, or cars with bigger engines.... Well the price seems to go up. I tried a 3 Series, a Passat and Zafira's etc.

The fella that I spoke to told me there's really no pattern as to which car would be cheaper to insure. He goes they go via the risk factor in the area, so say for example in my area if there were 4 claims by drivers of Zafira's, then the premium to insure a Zafira would go up. It's kinda crazy, it's hard to predict how much a car is going to cost to insure. It makes it hard if your on the market to buy a car, cos if I find a car I like the look of on Autotrader, phone up an insurer to get a rough estimate of how much its going to cost to insure, go out and see the car, decide to buy it the next day, the premium might have gone up by a few hundred quid!

scheming_gypsy

if a UFO touched down the it'd be identified and no longer be a UFO

Lum

jimmysayshey wrote: »

To all those that have said try unconventional cars, or cars with bigger engines.... Well the price seems to go up. I tried a 3 Series, a Passat and Zafira's etc.

Those aren't really unconventional cars, also a 3 series in East London. o_O

Try something like a Volvo 940, Nissan Cherry or Saab 9000 to pick some randoms out of a hat. Also anything Korean if you want to go a bit newer.

pitkin2020

Lum wrote: »

Those aren't really unconventional cars, also a 3 series in East London. o_O

Try something like a Volvo 940, Nissan Cherry or Saab 9000 to pick some randoms out of a hat. Also anything Korean if you want to go a bit newer.

Agreed.
You need to move away from the main manufacturers and there most popular cars. The cars you are looking at are used as fleet cars a lot of the time so that won't help either. Zafiras will be driven by mums who can't park!!! LOL

You need to think out of the box. Look at the cars your grandad would consider a good a buy right now.

slyracoon

jimmysayshey wrote: »

I've literally tried everything, even talked it over with my dad and had him as main driver and it still was around £2000.

Don't even consider that. Its called fronting and is illegal.

jimmysayshey

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Agreed.
You need to move away from the main manufacturers and there most popular cars. The cars you are looking at are used as fleet cars a lot of the time so that won't help either. Zafiras will be driven by mums who can't park!!! LOL

You need to think out of the box. Look at the cars your grandad would consider a good a buy right now.

Yeah but realistically I don't see myself driving a morris minor. I'm probably more likely to crash it!

slyracoon wrote: »

Don't even consider that. Its called fronting and is illegal.

I know, if I was the main driver. But I talked it over with my dad and I was going to only drive 3 or so days out of the week and he was going to be the main driver, so it's ok