Changed car, insurance doubled+!!! Why, please?

EssexExile

ampersand wrote: »

From my angle, thought my low value, unremarkable, old reliable[until last month] should cost MORE to insure, me thinking more extensive and/or increasingly frequent, repair costs would be higher.

What does the cost of frequent repairs on an older car have to do with insurance?

ampersand

Quotes all in, sauf Aviva, site rptdly not connecting, and Zurich:
'Unable to provide a quote
Unfortunately, due to the details you have provided, we are unable to provide you with a quote.' Several tries, same result.
#
So, Saga. Next - SORN and tax refund on y'day's Ford.
Connectivity notspot here, which doesn't help.

Deneb

Maybe something about you and Minervas that Saga don't like?


I have my everyday car insured with Saga - very good quote much cheaper than any others that I got this year. Tried them for another car I own and they were over twice as expensive as my existing insurer. It's a dark art, obviously.

DarkShadow

Get a Japanese car, low insurance groups = low premiums.
Your increase is due to age of car, new car = $$$

pappa_golf

DarkShadow wrote: »

Get a Japanese car, low insurance groups = low premiums.
Your increase is due to age of car, new car = $$$[/QUOTE]

what !! the OP has moved to america! , that explains things

rugbyleaguesmate

Don't agree that a newer car necessarily means insurance goes up. Had Citroën C5 roughly 6k in value,4 years old, changed to BMW 535 brand new, insurance was cheaper on BMW.

As earlier poster has advised I think it's the algorithms........certain insurance companies prefer certain drivers matched to certain cars. Confused.com has always worked for me!

Also the value of the car isn't that significant, it's the risk of the claim size is what you may hit which is important isn't it?

angrycrow

Other factor is older ford estates tend to be favoured by tradesmen so only one or two occupants to claim injury and low accident frequency. Merivas are often used as sprog busses so lots on the road, higher frequency of accidents and they tend to have four or five occupants so higher claim costs for injury.

Gloomendoom

For the last few years Saga have bombarded me with invitations to get insurance quotes from them promising low, low prices for people like me, but when I do, they say they can't give me quote.

When I asked why, they said it was because my wife was too young!

ampersand

Good grief! to much of above. Entertaining reading, nonetheless, for which- merci millefois.
#
'It's a dark art, obviously' - agreed Deneb.

& signing out.

Johnmcl7

Insurance companies obviously have to try and assess the risk and they've got a lot of information on crashes and payouts they've made to base that information on so it may not make sense on the face of it. It's certainly a lot more complex than just cc anyway plus these days the capacity of an engine is getting increasingly less relevant with the large amount of turbocharged diesel engines and small turbocharged petrol engines where there are 1.4's chucking out 180bhp which is more power than my 2.5l engine.

I had a sporty estate from one brand and I changed to another brand, both cars were very similar - same size, same level of spec even exactly the same engine power (although the new one was a bigger 2.5l vs the older one's 2.0 turbo) but the new one was 50% cheaper. I assume that's down to the fact the older car one had a more desirable badge as a sporty car and the newer one doesn't really at all. My Mum is also annoyed to find my big 2.5 estate which is worth more than her 1.6 hatch and currently has the same drivers on it is cheaper to insure.

Similarly at one point I was toying with getting an MX-5 alongside my current car after I sold my motorbikes, the MX-5 was slower and worth less than my estate and the insurance quote on its own was pretty cheap. Any time I tried to get to get an insurance quote for both though the cost was much higher as I assume they judge the risk of the MX-5 higher when it's a second car as people are likely to go out and cane it at the weekend than if it's their only car.

Different insurance companies can vary considerably as well, I bought a car badged as a TDI sport with a 150bhp diesel engine which was at the time the fastest in the range. I had to change insurers as my existing insurer classified the new one as a sports car and wouldn't quote me as I didn't have enough no claims to get insurance from them for a sports car. I had no issues getting a reasonable price from another insurer.

When choosing a car it is worth doing some dummy quotes first as often insurance is unpredictable and when you're paying rock bottom for your insurance, there is a chance you can end up paying quite a bit more.

John