CAr Insurance Hike after moving to New Build Home

mleach101

I've recently moved to a new build home and as part of that have updated my car insurance details. I was left gobsmacked when my insurer essentially raised my premium by 65% in response to the change. I appreciate an element of any motor insurance policy relates to the cars location (ie. home address) but to me the hike bears no relation to the risk as I perceive it but what really got me was the unwillingness of the insurer to justify it, either via a breakdown or being able to speak to a supervisor. The only response I got was a vague 'it's because you're closer to the town centre'.

My questions are really this - am I being unreasonable to expect more detail to be able to judge value for money? Is a hike of this level reasonable? Could the fact that my address & postcode aren't fully recognised by the insurer be to blame?

Any thoughts welcome.

paddyandstumpy

I would have said it's mainly to do with the postcode. Its not being recognised and it's rating at sector level.

mleach101

paddyandstumpy wrote: »

I would have said it's mainly to do with the postcode. Its not being recognised and it's rating at sector level.

That's my suspicion too. The area is not directly connected to the main town but is 'as the crow flies' is quite close to a rougher part of town. I've taken the hit short term to maintain cover until I can get more quotes and have raised a complaint with them as well. Hopefully that will get a response that helps my cause.

It's the seemingly arbitrary way that they arrive at the figure due to the lack of justification they provide that I find particularly annoying.

paddyandstumpy

To be honest insurers aren't obliged to disclose their rating factors, I've refused client requests for this in the past.
Don't forget what you're asking for is commercially sensitive.

If the cancellation fees aren't extortionate and you're nonplussed about the years NCB, vote with your feet and cancel. If you've claimed this year you'll be liable for the years premium, bear that in mind.

Also bear in mind most insurers use the same datasets for postcodes, you may find the same problem elsewhere too.

confusedmick

It's not much help but I've had almost the same issue but I've been in my property over 12 months. It didn't go up when I moved in but it has now - it went up from £271 to £571 and that's just the premium.

I called the present insurers and questioned the increase and basically said it was scandalous. The best answer I could get was it goes on postcode. I told them that I'd tried my previous address still in the same (area/sector) postcode and that had come out nearly £100 cheaper. They said they go down below this level to sector level. I replied that if that's the case why don't they go down another level to the units and find that at my very address and at that very particular postcode they'll find no change of details and another year of claim free motoring? Why are they being allowed to pick and choose where they stop being precise (at postcode level) and who they sting for their losses?

And it's pretty much the same across the board - the best I've found is a £465 premium which I'm hazarding a guess is way more than the 18-25% rises that have been talked about in the media.

paddyandstumpy

confusedmick wrote: »

if that's the case why don't they go down another level to the units and find that at my very address and at that very particular postcode they'll find no change of details and another year of claim free motoring? Why are they being allowed to pick and choose where they stop being precise (at postcode level) and who they sting for their losses?

Two comments here:
A lot of insurers nowadays do use address point rating (which looks at individual addresses in postcodes), however for a new build estate as there is no history insurers will have to work off "worst case" to then reduce rates over time once they have had some exposure to track performance.

As to the "why are they allowed..." comment, it's a commercial market, if you don't like how an insurer has rated your risk, vote with your feet and move.

Insurers look at risks on an aggregate level, based on stats and experience. They don't look at "Mr Jones in number 42 for his corsa". They price the risk that is presented (i.e postcode, car, age) and the price is a culmination of many different steps (loads/discounts) based on factors.

mattk_180

If it went up at the time I would have said that it's due to no rating being applied to the new address yet and the fact that if you have not changed your address on the electoral roll you probably would have failed background checks.


The fact they didn't charge anything but now have seems like they didn't have a rating, but now do and as said above, it's been based on worst case scenario until they get a good amount claims data over a certain period to be able to revise their ratings. That, plus the fact lots of insurers have put their premiums up this year.


You can try and fight it all you like but as much as a fob off it seems, if that's their current rates, then that's their current rates. No advisor you speak to is going to be able to drastically change that, in which case, move on to a different company.

csgohan4

life is too short, shop around, their insurance policy their rules, whether you know them all or not.

confusedmick

Right I’ll be more precise. The estate was started in 2009 which is the age of my property however they are just finishing the last 4 or 5 properties. So my address will have history since at least 2009. I moved in September 2015 and before that I’d lived at another property in the same postcode for 10 years which is where I first registered my current car. I updated all the details when I moved and my insurance didn’t go up. I’m on the electoral roll for both places.

I’ve seen paddyandstumpy’s reply elsewhere “if you don't like how an insurer has rated your risk, vote with your feet and move” but even shopping around my best quote for the basic premium is a rise from £271 to £465 which is still a hefty rise for apparently no fault of mine. And if these insurers use the same datasets then there’s hardly much room for ‘voting with my feet’ is there.

I mean just think of all your household bills - mortgage, council tax, gas, electric, water, groceries, travel, etc - how many of them have nearly doubled or more? We haven’t had our taxes go up that much in a single year to pay for failed banks and the likes and why to all of the above - because there’d be absolute uproar. And yet the insurance companies which let’s face it are nothing short of supersized bookmakers are allowed to get away with this. If I win and make a claim it costs me more, if I lose and don’t claim it still costs me more. Not even Ladbrokes charge you more to place a bet if you’ve previously had a win.

rudekid48

Interesting rant but what do you actually want? The combined UK insurance industry has made a profit from car insurance twice (maybe 3 times) since 1990 - so profiteering is hardly the root cause.

Insurers are heavily regulated but are free to set prices based on their own commercial experience & judgement. Your comparison to utility bills doesn't really stand up - owning a car is a lifestyle choice (unlike say water) and insurance is not a commodity purchase like gas/electric where they buy in at x and sell at y.

takman

confusedmick wrote: »

Right I’ll be more precise. The estate was started in 2009 which is the age of my property however they are just finishing the last 4 or 5 properties. So my address will have history since at least 2009. I moved in September 2015 and before that I’d lived at another property in the same postcode for 10 years which is where I first registered my current car. I updated all the details when I moved and my insurance didn’t go up. I’m on the electoral roll for both places.

I’ve seen paddyandstumpy’s reply elsewhere “if you don't like how an insurer has rated your risk, vote with your feet and move” but even shopping around my best quote for the basic premium is a rise from £271 to £465 which is still a hefty rise for apparently no fault of mine. And if these insurers use the same datasets then there’s hardly much room for ‘voting with my feet’ is there.

I mean just think of all your household bills - mortgage, council tax, gas, electric, water, groceries, travel, etc - how many of them have nearly doubled or more? We haven’t had our taxes go up that much in a single year to pay for failed banks and the likes and why to all of the above - because there’d be absolute uproar. And yet the insurance companies which let’s face it are nothing short of supersized bookmakers are allowed to get away with this. If I win and make a claim it costs me more, if I lose and don’t claim it still costs me more. Not even Ladbrokes charge you more to place a bet if you’ve previously had a win.

There is no way you can compare household bills to insurance prices. The simple fact is that you are living in a statistically higher risk property so you have to pay more. If you look at insurance companies finances they don't make as much profit compared to other industries so they seem to get their pricing pretty spot on compared to the amount of claims they pay out.