Do renewals always equal cheaper?

HKitten

Our car insurance is coming up for renewal in August.

We started it without any no-claims bonus. Since we've had it for a year, will it definitely go down? My partner thinks it will, I don't want to get my hopes up though. We haven't even had cause to speak to the insurers since we took the policy so out, no changes or incidents.

We're with Adrian Flux because my partner has a very poor history so I don't know what to expect.

BenL

In the majority of cases the renewal premium will be higher than what you can get by shopping around.

When the renewal invitation arrives you will have about 1 month to run through Martins insurance article and go through the comparison sites to see if another insurer will take you on for a lower price.

Your no claims discount can be moved between insurers - it does not have to stay with Adrian Flux

Ben

HKitten

Yeah to be honest comparison sites are no help, part of his awful history is he once had insurance voided. Any time I put that onto a site, they come back with 'sorry, no quotes available'.

Alison_B

My sons insurance is due up next month. His renewal price has doubled from last year with the same insurer.

anniecave

You would expect the premium to go down, because you've now got a years NCB that you didn't have before.

But there are general trends in the insurance industry. At one point I believe premiums were going up by 40% on average mainly because of increased claims, PPI claims, referral fees etc etc.

Also there's that ruling that in the future insurers they can no longer set pricing based on gender. As women's insurance has historically been cheaper than mens (as statistically less is paid out for claims involving women drivers than male drivers) this means in future women will have pay more on average.

It's also down to the individual insurer and their historic claims and pricing policy at your renewal point. If you live in Norfolk and drive a black Fiat Punto and they've generally had lots of claims involving black Fiat Puntos or claims in Norfolk have been more expensive or more numerous than in previous years then you would expect your premium to go up based on their previous claim history.

So anyone's guess really...

Remie

Alison_B wrote: »

My sons insurance is due up next month. His renewal price has doubled from last year with the same insurer.

Same here, why does that happen?

maginot

Remie wrote: »

Same here, why does that happen?

Often, if you have shopped around you get a new customer discount. So although your premium should come down due to an extra years NCD, you lose the discount which often means paying considerable more.

I have never renewed with the same car insurer as the renewal has always been more expensive than the initial premium.

thor

anniecave wrote: »

It's also down to the individual insurer and their historic claims and pricing policy at your renewal point. If you live in Norfolk and drive a black Fiat Punto and they've generally had lots of claims involving black Fiat Puntos or claims in Norfolk have been more expensive or more numerous than in previous years then you would expect your premium to go up based on their previous claim history.

plus you have no way to check if there has been an influx of such claims. Like the Utilities, the insurance industry is a cartel. They don't like REAL competition so there isn't any.

InsideInsurance

In what way is it a cartel? Insurers price based on their own data, they dont cross share data which is why my Motor insurance quotes range from £600 to over £2,000 for what is 99% the same policy.

AngelsMadv

InsideInsurance wrote: »

In what way is it a cartel? Insurers price based on their own data, they dont cross share data which is why my Motor insurance quotes range from £600 to over £2,000 for what is 99% the same policy.

And it also the reason that year upon year, car insurance has cost the industry, not the consumer, and they have made losses not profit. Whilst they make money on other products they sell, car insurance is costing them because of all the ambulance chasers and the like.

PS - My renewal came in at £864 (I currently pay £820) with 5 years Protected NCB (I have 8 points!:eek:) - shopping around the whole lots using Martin's article I have it from Swift Cover for £535 with £40 cashback through Quidco for the next 5 days only. When Iphoned my current insurer (Chaucer direct) to haggle the actually didn't even bother and just cancelled by renewal! :rotfl::T

PPS - try adding another driver. My quote without my wife on it (who actually has only 1 years NCB but has never had an accident or conviction) is twice that figure.