car insurance is a rip off!

adarajames

I've followed all the steps on the car insurance page but still can't get it below £540 even tho I've more than 20+ years clean licence, 7 years NCB, no points etc and am 39!! What the hell to do next and how the hell to get prices as low as quoted here?!

Its not surprising so many poeple now fail to get insurance, my vehicle is only valueed at around £300 and the average insurance quote I'm getting is £600!!!

Short of moving home, what else can I do?!

dunstonh

I've followed all the steps on the car insurance page but still can't get it below £540 even tho I've more than 20+ years clean licence, 7 years NCB, no points etc and am 39!! What the hell to do next and how the hell to get prices as low as quoted here?!

Move to a lower risk area or take a lower risk job.

Its not surprising so many poeple now fail to get insurance, my vehicle is only valueed at around £300 and the average insurance quote I'm getting is £600!!!

The value of your car is also possibly a reason for increased cost as well. It suggests an older vehicle and possibly less maintenance and more dangerous.

However, do you think the value of the vehicle really matters in a claim? lets say you hit a £50,000 car killing one of the occupants and injuring another resulting in a £5 million payout. The £300 value of your car or even the £50,000 value of the other are irrelevant to the real cost of the claim.

Quentin

Adding a mature female with a clean licence and no recent history of claims/losses as a named driver (even if she will never drive it) should bring the premium down.

lisyloo

What the hell to do next and how the hell to get prices as low as quoted here?!

If you've followed all the tips then chances areyou have already found the most competitive market price.
One major factor that you haven't mentioned is postcode. What can you do? Move? Well that's not really going to practical to move just to get a better quote.

my vehicle is only valueed at around £300 and the average insurance quote I'm getting is £600!!!

This comes up a lot and it's a misconecption.
You are not paying just to cover your car although that's part of it.
You are paying to compensate a 3rd party potentially for 24/7 care for the rest of their life if you put them in hospital. That might cost a few million pounds.
It's extreme, but insurers do have to cater for that as it does occassionally happen (the case I often quote was Gary Hart who derailed a train and it is alledged to cost £50 million).
So your cover is for damage to 3rd parties too. That could be a Ferarri, a house, or most expensive someone's heath.

Short of moving home, what else can I do?!

Nothing, apart from as you say move to a lower risk area which isn't at all practical.
I'm afraid you have found the market price for the cover.

The only other option I can think of (which I usually get shouted down for even suggesting) is to change your mode of transport.
For example some people will be considering switching to moped/scooter/motorbikes, although of course many poeple need a car for at least part of their motoring.

I have successfully managed without my own car for 3 years, although I do have access to one (my husbands) which obviously helps a great deal.

adarajames

Thanks for the replies

Have already added my Mum and it makes about £25 quid difference, but that's included in the £550-600ish quotes.

I understand I have to be covered for incidents involving more expensive vehicles/people etc, but it just seems so extreme! Am sure the companies are raking in huge profits at our expense!!

And would love to change my mode of transport, but unfortunetly I'm disabled and need the car or would be stuck at home unable to go anywhere at all.

For the same reason I can't change my occupation, I cannot currently work, and unless am miraculously healed (almost as likely as cheap car insruance!!) then I am unable to work. DLA is supposed to cover the additional costs of disability, but it barely covers fuel costs now, let alone maintaining a car and insuring it! And having recently moved to a property without stairs so I can go out, and paying off the costs involved in that, I am not able to move either!

Bas^*d companies that just look to their profits!

starrystarry

Calm down dear.

stugib

adarajames wrote: »

Bas^*d companies that just look to their profits!

Funny that.

lisyloo

but it just seems so extreme!

I'm sympathetic to your siutation but £600 does not seem extreme to me considering you have millions of pounds worth of cover.
I am sympathetic and understand your options are very limited, but the fact is cars can do a lot of damage. Damage to peple is the most expensive over a lifetime as I'm sure you understand.

Could you consider a mobility scooter?
I realise that's wouldn't be suitable for all weather's/distance's but it might cover the short journeys and open up other options for occasional long journeys e.g. taxis if it's occasional.

manowar

adarajames wrote: »

Thanks for the replies

Have already added my Mum and it makes about £25 quid difference, but that's included in the £550-600ish quotes.

I understand I have to be covered for incidents involving more expensive vehicles/people etc, but it just seems so extreme! Am sure the companies are raking in huge profits at our expense!!

And would love to change my mode of transport, but unfortunetly I'm disabled and need the car or would be stuck at home unable to go anywhere at all.

For the same reason I can't change my occupation, I cannot currently work, and unless am miraculously healed (almost as likely as cheap car insruance!!) then I am unable to work. DLA is supposed to cover the additional costs of disability, but it barely covers fuel costs now, let alone maintaining a car and insuring it! And having recently moved to a property without stairs so I can go out, and paying off the costs involved in that, I am not able to move either!

Bas^*d companies that just look to their profits!

Actually, they look to the accidents they have to pay out on due to bad drivers, drunk drivers, joy riders etc. I was the victim of a drunk driver, who caused an almost fatal crash. My car was written off and me and my family were all seriously injured, which of course resulted in a substantial payout in legal fees, compensation and the cost of our car that the drunk totally wrote off. The drunk also caused me and my family to be embroiled in legal hell for many years.

You may be interested to know that my insurance is just over £200 a year, that was during the legal process and the same after the settlement. It doesn't always follow that those involved in serious accidents, not of their own making, get their premiums increased.

Your car is very old, you are disabled in some way, you are more of a risk out there on the roads, to me, to others and to yourself. That's why they increased your premium. The risk is evaluated against the person, their car and their circumstances. Its not personal.

adarajames

as an almost 40 year old woman with a totally clean licence and record, and a disability that has no effect on my driving ability, I'd say I'm less of a risk than most not more! Or are you implying that having a disability means I drive worse than someone wtihout and the insurers also think that?!

dunstonh

Am sure the companies are raking in huge profits at our expense!!

I bet they wish that was the case. it isnt though.

I cannot currently work

are you showing your occupation as unemployed? If so, that may explain some of the price. Unemployed are higher risk.

as an almost 40 year old woman with a totally clean licence and record, and a disability that has no effect on my driving ability, I'd say I'm less of a risk than most not more!

You are just one of many almost 40 year old women with a currently clean licence and record and not all will be the same as you. It is averaged over the group.