Insurance groups - RFL

Bonking_Mad

I have a Nissan Primera 2005 (P12) 1.8 SX hatchback, I'm looking to change for a Vectra similar engine size, anyone know what insurance group a Vectra 1.8 comes under?

AdrianC

Insurance groups don't tell the full story of what the premium will be. Go play with a meerkat.

Aretnap

Depends on the year and model. But as above, insurance group is not a good guide to the premium you can expect to pay. For that you need a price comparison site.

forgotmyname

As post number 2. The actual group doesnt dictate the price.

When they brought the 20 group insurance system in i could insure cars in group 16 or 18 cheaper than a group 13 car which had a smaller engine and was slower.

It depends on the amount of claims/risk for that car also.

The group 13 car was an XR3i. Lots of claims. I was using my local Swinton back then
and the guy said every single XR3 and RS Turbo owner had made at least one claim.

Bonking_Mad

Forgotmyname, very informative post, cheers

Aretnap

Insurance group takes into account various things - how expensive the car is to start off with, how much spare parts/repairs tend to cost, how secure it is against theft, and how powerful it is.

It leaves out one rather crucial detail which insurers care quite a lot about - how often the people who drive it actually claim. So they tend to look at their own experience of claims, rather than just the insurance group. Hence a small car in a low group which is popular with people who tend to drive like prats (think Vaxhaull Corsa, beloved of boy racers) may be more expensive to insure than a larger car in a higher group which is popular with people who tend to drive more sedately (think Volvos, or any car stereotypically driven by pensioners).

stephmx5

I dont know why they bother with insurance groups to be honest! Mine and my partner's renewals seem to prove that:

My car - 12 plate Peugeot 208 insurance group 11
His car - 12 plate Audi TT S-Line insurance group 30(!)

Who do you think got the cheapest renewal? We are the same age, live in the same house, been driving for same length, have the same no claims discount and do the same mileage.

Yep, the Audi TT is cheaper!?! Not by huge amounts granted, but you would expect the group 30 to be quite a bit MORE than the 11, no?! Pointless giving them groups...

forgotmyname

A 208 is probably the type of car that gets parked by ear. You keep moving until you hear the bumper creaking or cracking.

InsideInsurance

stephmx5 wrote: »

I dont know why they bother with insurance groups to be honest! Mine and my partner's renewals seem to prove that:

My car - 12 plate Peugeot 208 insurance group 11
His car - 12 plate Audi TT S-Line insurance group 30(!)

Who do you think got the cheapest renewal? We are the same age, live in the same house, been driving for same length, have the same no claims discount and do the same mileage.

Yep, the Audi TT is cheaper!?! Not by huge amounts granted, but you would expect the group 30 to be quite a bit MORE than the 11, no?! Pointless giving them groups...

They bother with them as it tells the insurer roughly how much repairs will cost to it and what safety/security rating is like. Without this being provided by a third party insurers would need to spend a lot of time analysing each car manufactures slight tweeks each year and every single derivative to decide if any of these affect the basics of repair costs.

There is a second factor as already pointed out however, what sort of drivers typically have these/ how do thieves view them etc? This cannot be independently tested and so comes down to insurers own experiences

stephmx5

Thanks for the analysis of my parking skills based on my choice of car, the fact I've had no claims since passing clearly means nothing!

So ok if we're going to stereotype, I'm no car expert but surely there would be a higher repair bill for the Audi after he's used his decent acceleration to drive fast, take a few risks and then crash, than the bill to fix my Peugeot when I've definitely parked it into a wall?

I get what you're saying InsideInsurance (thanks for the helpful reply btw) I just find it bizarre how they've quoted us so little for a supposedly expensive car!

InsideInsurance

stephmx5 wrote: »

So ok if we're going to stereotype, I'm no car expert but surely there would be a higher repair bill for the Audi after he's used his decent acceleration to drive fast, take a few risks and then crash, than the bill to fix my Peugeot when I've definitely parked it into a wall?

I get what you're saying InsideInsurance (thanks for the helpful reply btw) I just find it bizarre how they've quoted us so little for a supposedly expensive car!

I have a group 50 car, dont have full NCD, do have a claim and was shocked how low my insurance is. Even more shocking was adding my just qualified wife to the insurance would only add about £50 with some insurers, actually reduce it with others (thankfully most decline when adding her and several added £5,000 more premium)

Just because a car can accelerate fast doesnt mean either that most of its drivers do accelerate fast nor does it mean that their average driver cannot handle that. A Mercedes CLS 500 can certainly out accelerate a Ford Fiesta ST and repairs are much more expensive but despite that the number of Fiesta STs you see pratting about are much higher than the CLS500s

Insurers work on averages, in an ideal world an insurers book would be big enough and diverse enough that you can analyse any single attribute in isolation and get a true picture. Reality is that probably 90% of CLS500s are owned by middle age, middle income types where as STs are owned by much younger boy racer types. When you analyse the accident rates of both of these and TP claims from both this is therefore coloured by the ownership.

Plus, not matter the price of repairing a car for anything below a supercar the cost of personal injuries from third parties is likely to be much higher than any own vehicle repair costs.