Car Insurance - Postcode change

Dubgirl1978

Hi all,

I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I have been insured with NFU Mutual for the last two years for my car insurance. I paid a slight premium to be with NFU but felt that it was well worth it for the service that I received.

My policy is due to renew in two weeks time and this also coincides with me moving house.

I rang NFU last week to notify them of the change of address and to find out the change in premium. I was naively expecting the annual premium to go down as I moved from a very expensive area to a not so expensive area (but still decent). Postcode change was from SK10 to M25 (i.e. Cheshire to Manchester) - a total of 30 miles.

Needless to say I was glad I was sitting down when I was told that my insurance premium was going to increase from £614 to £1641 for the year. Obviously I had a few choice words to say to NFU but the long and the short of it is that the best they can offer is the £1641 and I will not be renewing with them.

I am a 38-year old woman, with 21 years driving experience (full license), no points/convictions/claims, etc, 7 years NCD, I own my own home and work for a large bank as an IT manager. I am hardly high risk. My car is a 10 year old Volvo S60 that's worth somewhere between £1500 and £2000.

I am raising a complaint with NFU directly but I'm curious whether this is something that can be referred to the ombudsman. It is absolute madness that a postcode change can result in such a dramatic increase. Any thoughts?

DUTR

Looking here , it seems both areas are in high bands for car insurance.

dacouch

DUTR wrote: »

Looking here , it seems both areas are in high bands for car insurance.

That is a link to the post code rating areas from Aviva for MOTORBIKES from about 15+ years ago.

It's only relevant if you want to find out what the rating area for Aviva on a motorcycle 15 years ago.

rs65

Dubgirl1978 wrote: »

I am raising a complaint with NFU directly but I'm curious whether this is something that can be referred to the ombudsman. It is absolute madness that a postcode change can result in such a dramatic increase. Any thoughts?

My thoughts are that your wasting your time. An insurer is free to charge what they want. If you don't like it, go elsewhere.

System

As a matter of interest, has ANYONE ever had a staggering reduction in premium when changing post code?

On average there should be no net change, because those going up will be balanced by those going down. Anyone believe that ?

forgotmyname

My insurer wont touch Manchester and Oldham postcodes.

rs65

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

As a matter of interest, has ANYONE ever had a staggering reduction in premium when changing post code?

Yes, on home and two cars - moving from city to country.

forgotmyname

Parents moved to a seaside town where nobody goes and its almost half the price, BIL moved to the lakes and actually got a sizeable refund.

anniecave

I moved from postcode B20 to postcode B27 and for my car insurance I received £98 refund off the original premium of £635. So yes premiums do vary. More recently I moved between two different postcodes within B27 (literally walking distance) and received a £49 refund off original premium of £388.

Norman_Castle

NFU Mutual won't even quote for my postcode. Move to an insurer which charges less. NFU view the new postcode as a higher risk and quote accordingly. The ombudsman will not be interested.

Aretnap

Postcode is one of the biggest ratings factors for car insurance. Not sure why you'd expect your premium to reduce on moving to a less upmarket area but broadly speaking the opposite is true - wealthy areas have lower claims rates than poorer areas, and rural areas lower than urban areas.

The insurer's own attitudes make a difference too - each insurer has its own target market and the cheapest company for a leafy village in Cheshire won't necessarily be the most competitive for an urban part of Manchester. I have no idea what NFU's rating structure looks like, but the fact that they're the National Farmer's Union does make me wonder whether they really see Manchester as their core market.

You can make a complaint if you think you've been treated unfairly, and escalate it to the Ombudsman if you're not happy with the response. But if your only ground for complaint is that you think the price for the new location is too high then you are wasting your time - the ombudsman will not tell an insurer what price it should charge. If NFU are being unfair to you personally then you may have a chance - for example if they're treating you as a captive customer and trying to charge you more than they'd charge someone else living in the same postcode. But nothing you've said suggests that they're doing that.

In view of the size of the increase it is worth checking how much you'd get back if you cancel mid-term and consider whether it's worth switching to a new insurer now rather than waiting until renewal.