Car insurance costs: Have your say to the OFT

G6JPG

About five points:
1. Companies trade under far too many names: it isn't really possible for the ordinary person to know how many (or rather, how few) companies there are. The underlying company name should be made far more obvious. (E. g. Admiral and Elephant are both really a mean three-letter company beginning with E.)
2. Charges for change/cancellation: these have crept up on us. It used to be worth cancelling, at least if you had more than a month left: you got a per-month discount, less a small handling fee, certainly less than a month's. Now any change costs far more than it costs them.
3. The "no claims bonus" needs sorting: it's pretty dishonest, since a claim puts up your premium regardless of NCB.
4. Accumulating excesses needs sorting.
5. Legal cover - where offered - can be only for help in recovering uninsured losses, and even that can have small print that they'll stop if there's little chance of getting any money; it almost never covers legal representation of you if you're sued/fined/charged/whatever.

I'm sure I'll think of more when I've signed off, but the multiple companies and the NCB are certainly matters worthy of your efforts, I'd say. (Well, they all are, but you have finite time.)

Grumpyswife

I've just done the yearly 'check my renewal premium' exercise, and it just shows how ludicrous it all is.

Answer me this - my husband and I have separate policies and are named drivers on each others. Both were with the same company. We both have guaranteed NCD and my husband made a claim May 2010. It didn't affect our premium last October, but this October it's put it up by £160 between the two of us (taking into account that the insurance has gone up by 27% anyway). a) what's the point of guaranteed NCD then, and b) why did it not affect the premium last year but it does now? A grand total of 66.7% increase in my husbands premium, all for a £760 claim??

They seem to have forgotten all the years they just took our money and paid nothing out? What a rip off.

So I changed insurers and saved about £150.:T

Also, why would it be cheaper to insure a top of the range Ford Focus 1.6 than a Ford Fiesta 1.2? Bonkers!

Comparison sites:

• If you use price comparison sites, do you get the level of cover you asked for?

No - I end up going to the site, adding the things as extras that they haven't included, and find that the quoted premium has doubled!

Renewal quotes

• Have you noticed your existing provider offers a cheaper price to new customers?

A few years ago I got a renewal from my insurer asking for £700 for both our cars (75% NCD etc.). Put it through their own website and got £400 for the same cover, followed by an angry phone call from me to them asking why they thought they could rip me off!

• Have you successfully haggled with your existing provider? Did you check prices elsewhere first?

Yes and yes - always ring them and argue about the price. See above! Done it every year since....

• Has your policy auto renewed at the end of the year? If it did, was it easy to opt out?

Yes, opted out of mine OK by ringing up.

Miscellaneous

• Have you had your car fixed by an insurer's recommended repairer? How good was the work?

Once, very satisfied with the result.

• Would you do/recommend/sacrifice to obtain a lower quotation? Examples could be:
  - Not to drive the car after 7pm, or before 6am.
  - Have a qualified adult next to you at all times.
  - Put a speed limiter, such as up to 50 mph, on your car.
  - Raise your excess.
  - Buy a brand new car to get free Insurance for 12 months.
  - New drivers to take the Pass Plus test.

Would consider raising the excess, but wouldn't go above £250.

snarf5

It has been ruled that it is unfair/unlawful for insurance providers to discriminate (calculate risk) based on gender but they can still discriminate on employment status and job level/industry. Am I really a higher risk driver because I happen to be unlucky enough to work for a company that went bust in a recession? Is, for example, an account executive really a lower risk than an account manager? Should we be judged on something so meaningless?


Cancellation fees for example circumstances change causing premiums to soar 1 month in-
having made no claims and after paying cancellation admin fee you’re still forced to pay for 40% of your premium! A month is only 8.33% of a year. If in this period you’ve made no claims then the insurance company has not been exposed to greater risk than it originally agreed to so why does it have a right to this additional 31.66% of our money? Why is this not calculated pro-rata with a flat fee for admin ? How can this possibly be fair? Similar rates seem to exist across the board




No blame claims- how can being the victim of another drivers error increase my level of risk?


Agree about more visibility about who owns who.



Added extras, my current Insurer added alot on as standard and wouldnt let you complete if you took them off at the beginning of the payment/reg process.



As a consumer I feel that I have no options and noone to complain to when I am treated unfairly. Its financially prohibitive to cancel early and vote with my feet

Molly1

I have insured my mini for £800 but as a matter of interest changed the post code on my comparison quote to my friend's address 10 minutes across town and my quote was halved to £400!!!

lizevans55

Recently been sorting out my dad's car insurance. Last year it went up £200 to £640. This year another £200 increase. Comparison sites were coming up with quotes all higher than the renewal quote,until one came up
with £450. - :j - however this was followed up with a phone call where it became clear that my details as named driver had been used to do the calculation and actually the quote was £1500!:eek: Eventually tried SAGA who he used to be with a few years ago and got it for £640.
All this is based on less than 1000 miles a year in a 1997 Toyota starlet worth about £300. He is 95 though, but is a safe driver, who drives at "normal" speed, not a doddering 20 mph driver. He has never had an accident or made a claim in about 60 years of driving!!!!!

Lee73

I am a 38 year old man with 17 years no claims bonus (even though the insurance companies only ever take 9 years into account), I protect my no claims bonus and have fully comprehensive insurance cover. I drive a 2000 Hyundai Coupe, last year my insurance premium for the year was £248 (not too bad taking in to account my age, my no claims, driving since I was 17 years old and never had a claim etc), my renewal came through this February for £598!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MORE THAN DOUBLE, nothing had changed, no claims made etc, if anything, I had gained yet another years claim free motoring to add to my 16 years no claims. After going through 4 different comparison websites (which I do every year and always go with the cheapest 2 or 3 depending on the policy) I FINALLY managed to get it down to £398, which I am still not happy about I don't care what excuses the insurance companies are using for the HUGE increase in everyone's premiums this year, it is totally unacceptable (especially when we are all in such financial difficulties with the great governments that have been supposedly running our country for the last 15 years or so). The insurance companies are claiming it is because of "Uninsured young drivers", well it is becoming more transparent that PRICE FIXING is going on here... and if they aren't careful, they will be be forcing more than just "young" drivers to be on our roads without any insurance cover and it's time something was done about these huge premiums.

Devonian_Rodders

Although I do not drive, I arrange for Fully comp Insurance dor my Wife.
Having previously been loyal to the insurer, I became aware through this site of many comparison networks.
Before renewings a year or so ago, I tried a comparison site only to find the same Insurer quoting around £100 LESS. Intrigued, I contacted the Insurer for an explanation and was advised the policy was for new business. I then advised i would not renew the existing policy, and was offered the lower priced one, although the new policy was superior.
On renewal earlier this year (no better offers) the premium had increased some 15% despite the expected higher forecast hike.
Instead renewing, the car was replaced and the increase in the po0licy was further £24 annually, which I felt was reasonable.

Have to say IT DOES PAY TO SHOP AROUND AND HAGGLE.

EmmyD

FYI - I am in England rather than NI, but it's shocking how expensive car insurance is irrespective of where you are, how many no claims you have, your age, your postcode, job, etc

Comparison sites:

• Do you think comparison sites, buying direct or brokers are the easiest way to get the best price/cover?
  They each have their pro's and con's and it would be far easier just to have one point of contact. I always use comparisons sites to start with and then haggle direct with the insurers, however over the last year or two, this has not been easy as insurers state their "best" price is online.
  
• If you use price comparison sites, do you get the level of cover you asked for?
  Yes, however I do generally speak directly with insurers due to business use cover I have to have. There are so many different types out there, it becomes confusing and I need to ensure I have the right one. Plus, if something goes wrong, the calls are recorded and I have a backup!
  
• Have you found that prices different if you go direct to the insurer? Was it cheaper or more expensive?
  Generally, I found it cheaper to go to the insurance company, but I do obtain prices from price comparison websites first.

Renewal quotes

• Have you noticed your existing provider offers a cheaper price to new customers?
  Yes. I find this infuriating! :mad:
  
• Have you successfully haggled with your existing provider? Did you check prices elsewhere first?
  This technique worked for me a couple of years ago, but this year and last (my insurance is due in October so I've had two experiences within the last year), this has not worked and they often wanted £100+ more to provide cover. They were willing to match prices online if I gave them the reference number but this put me off insuring with them again so soon as they will still 'win' by this technique.
  
• Has your policy auto renewed at the end of the year? If it did, was it easy to opt out?
  Letters addressed to me have stated they would auto-renew which I think is a con. However, once you eventually get through to the call centre, it is easy to opt out.
  

Added extras

• Have you found that optional extras such as Legal expenses, Breakdown cover, Key cover or handbag cover are automatically included when you didn't want them or had the cover already?
  Not to my knowledge. However, I have found out items which I believed to be included as standard no longer were. eg: Cover for passengers, courtesy car if an accident is my fault or my car is stolen. I suspect a lot of people don't know this is the case and believe they are covered for these items.
  
• Have you ever purchased polices with these extras without knowing full details about them?
  Not knowingly

Miscellaneous

• How much have you been charged to cancel a policy early? Do you think the fees are fair?
  N/A - but I was informed to alter a policy would cost £35!:eek: In my opinion, if the banks can't charge more than £12 for admin fees, why should any other company?
  
• Have you had your car fixed by an insurer's recommended repairer? How good was the work?
  6 years no claims - N/A for me! However, my colleague did this for an accident earlier this year which was the 3rd party's fault. They painted the bumper a different colour to the rest of the car!
  
• Would you do/recommend/sacrifice to obtain a lower quotation? Examples could be:
  - Not to drive the car after 7pm, or before 6am. No. This is not do-able for my shifts etc
  - Have a qualified adult next to you at all times. Not a viable option - especially for work
  - Put a speed limiter, such as up to 50 mph, on your car. I suspect I would ok this, however I have known of instances where the police have pulled people over for going too slow on the motorway, so I think the limiter should be at least 60mph
  - Raise your excess.I have previously done this but have found my policy to be cheaper with a £250 excess rather than £500. Go figure!
  - Buy a brand new car to get free Insurance for 12 months. The cost would just be built into the price of the car and render it more expensive than it already is. Not convinced about this one...
  - New drivers to take the Pass Plus test.Did this. Didn't make much difference.

As a final note, I have 6 years no claims, drive a 2.5 year old 1.6 petrol Focus, do 9000 miles annum (including 1000 business use) and I am 25. My insurance cost £500. The price of insurance has rocketed and I believe if it wasn't so extortionate in the first place, more people would bother to insure their cars and bring the premiums down for everyone. Also, the fines for not having insurance is less than the price of insurance. If the fine was £5,000 (for example) and the courts had the power to instruct bailiffs to recoup the monies from the individuals house, this might have an impact.

My friend calls insurance "Legalised Extortion". He couldn't be more right!

EmmyD

Lee73 wrote: »

I am a 38 year old man with 17 years no claims bonus (even though the insurance companies only ever take 9 years into account), I protect my no claims bonus and have fully comprehensive insurance cover. I drive a 2000 Hyundai Coupe, last year my insurance premium for the year was £248 (not too bad taking in to account my age, my no claims, driving since I was 17 years old and never had a claim etc), my renewal came through this February for £598!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MORE THAN DOUBLE, nothing had changed, no claims made etc, if anything, I had gained yet another years claim free motoring to add to my 16 years no claims. After going through 4 different comparison websites (which I do every year and always go with the cheapest 2 or 3 depending on the policy) I FINALLY managed to get it down to £398, which I am still not happy about I don't care what excuses the insurance companies are using for the HUGE increase in everyone's premiums this year, it is totally unacceptable (especially when we are all in such financial difficulties with the great governments that have been supposedly running our country for the last 15 years or so). The insurance companies are claiming it is because of "Uninsured young drivers", well it is becoming more transparent that PRICE FIXING is going on here... and if they aren't careful, they will be be forcing more than just "young" drivers to be on our roads without any insurance cover and it's time something was done about these huge premiums.

I thought the £60 increase I had to pay was bad enough with no changes circumstances, other than an additional 1 years' no claims.

Price fixing perfectly describes what shocking tactics are going on!:T

PJA-W

Hi recently involved in accident when another driver drove into the back of my car whilst in a queue on the motorway. I was at a standstill and she was probably driving at 20-25 mph. Slight damage to my back bumper, none to her car. Contacted my insurance company - well tried to as they now use an intermediary (i thought the broker was the intermediary)!. Was hassled for my credit card details for a hire car while my car was being repaired, even though I wasn't sure i would need one, and immediately afterwards received an unsolicited t call from a solicitors, saying they would be dealing with any claim for personal injury. Then the repairs! Costed at £500! Unbelievable - It seems that if the garage is tied into the insurance claim, they charge the earth for the repair. Intend complaining to my insurance company who I have stayed with for 25 years (basically because my previous experience of having to claim has been handled so efficiently and courteously) and will be looking around for a more personal service when I next renew.