Car insurance increase

Mark_b

As of last week my Temporary job came to a end so I am unemployed.I am now desperately trying to find some sort of work.I phoned my insurance company to renew my car insurance and they increased the premium by £15 pm as I am unemployed and also removed my entitlement to drive other cars not belonging to me.This is important as I sometimes have to use my Daughters car to help with the school run.Why is being unemployed increase the risk as I have suffered another drop in income so I use the car even less meaning less miles = less risk.Furious is a understatement

dunstonh

Why is being unemployed increase the risk as I have suffered another drop in income so I use the car even less meaning less miles = less risk.Furious is a understatement

Why are you furious?  It's not something to get worked up about.

Unemployed people are more likely to create losses.  That isn't to say you will be but as a collective, that is the case.  Insurnace is priced on statistics and you are now higher risk in the eyes of the insurer.

daveyjp

If you drive your Daughter's car regularly get your name on her policy as a named driver. I'd only used DOC in an emergency.

chrisw

daveyjp said:

If you drive your Daughter's car regularly get your name on her policy as a named driver. I'd only used DOC in an emergency.

This. You might even find it decreases her premium, my son's insurance dropped quite a bit when he added me.

Hebrews12

dunstonh said:

Why is being unemployed increase the risk as I have suffered another drop in income so I use the car even less meaning less miles = less risk.Furious is a understatement

Why are you furious?  It's not something to get worked up about.

I'm sorry.  The guy lost his job and his policy went up £15 a month.  How unhelpful and uncompassionate this reply is.  If you've got a helpful answer, then please give some advice but have a bit of empathy for goodness sake.

dunstonh

 If you've got a helpful answer, then please give some advice but have a bit of empathy for goodness sake.

Where is your helpful reply?  

At least I explained why it was.  All I see from you is an attempt to create an argument.  How very unhelpful and judgemental of you.

Hebrews12

dunstonh said:

 If you've got a helpful answer, then please give some advice but have a bit of empathy for goodness sake.

Where is your helpful reply?  

At least I explained why it was.  All I see from you is an attempt to create an argument.  How very unhelpful and judgemental of you.

If I could have direct messaged you, I would have done to ask you to be more considerate.  I'm just asking you to be more thoughtful.  The guy is probably struggling enough as it is without being told to not get worked up.

Aretnap

Mark_b said:

Why is being unemployed increase the risk as I have suffered another drop in income so I use the car even less meaning less miles = less risk.

The suggestion isn't so much that you personally have become more likely to have an accident. It's that unemployed people generally are more likely to make claims than people who work as, whatever your last job was.

Employment is a a fairly big factor in insurance premiums, and not just because of risk associated with the job itself. To give just one example, think about whether as an insurer you'd rather insure a lot of footballers or a lot of vicars and why. The difference isn't because driving to a football ground is inherently more dangerous than driving to church, but for some reason footballers still seem to crash their cars more often and more spectacularly than vicars. 

Same for other jobs or lack of them - and unfortunately "unemployed" tends to rank quite high in terms of premiums. We can speculate on the reasons, but in general a lot of the things that insurers price on (job, postcode, even type of car to an extent) have a strong correlation to social class. 

So in any event when you change job your premium is recalculated, same as if you changed address, or changed car, or changed any other details. If you think that the price your old insurer wants is outrageous you could always try other insurers, and cancel if you can find cheaper cover, though you'll have to factor in any cancellation fees on your old policy.

Sorry, not a great thing to happen when you're already having a bad time, but unfortunately it's the way of the world. 

IvanOpinion

Hebrews12 said:

dunstonh said:

 If you've got a helpful answer, then please give some advice but have a bit of empathy for goodness sake.

Where is your helpful reply?  

At least I explained why it was.  All I see from you is an attempt to create an argument.  How very unhelpful and judgemental of you.

If I could have direct messaged you, I would have done to ask you to be more considerate.  I'm just asking you to be more thoughtful.  The guy is probably struggling enough as it is without being told to not get worked up.

Dunston very kindly and correctly covered the reality, if you want to cover the empathy then feel free to do so, but at the minute you have done neither.

Dunston is right that there is no sense in getting wound up about it - it is annoying, it is irritating and it may even seem unfair but it is reality (and any implication that it is worth getting worked up over does nobody any favours).  I am more surprised that the complaint didn't go along the line of, not only did they add £15pm to the premium but they charged the OP £25 admin fee to do so.

I think daveyjp is correct by looking to see how the daughters insurance is affected by adding the OPs name to it - hopefully they will save much more than the £15 that they have had to pay.

PS: Good luck with the hunt for a new job and hopefully when you get sorted you will get a reduction in premium.

Tokmon

Hebrews12 said:

dunstonh said:

 If you've got a helpful answer, then please give some advice but have a bit of empathy for goodness sake.

Where is your helpful reply?  

At least I explained why it was.  All I see from you is an attempt to create an argument.  How very unhelpful and judgemental of you.

If I could have direct messaged you, I would have done to ask you to be more considerate.  I'm just asking you to be more thoughtful.  The guy is probably struggling enough as it is without being told to not get worked up.

One good thing about this forum is that people give their straight to point opinion and don't beat around the bush. I think it's good to have a place where you can get honest opinions from people of how they truly see it. 

csgohan4

Hebrews12 said:

dunstonh said:

 If you've got a helpful answer, then please give some advice but have a bit of empathy for goodness sake.

Where is your helpful reply?  

At least I explained why it was.  All I see from you is an attempt to create an argument.  How very unhelpful and judgemental of you.

If I could have direct messaged you, I would have done to ask you to be more considerate.  I'm just asking you to be more thoughtful.  The guy is probably struggling enough as it is without being told to not get worked up.

Sympathy doesn't pay the bills or reduce the premium, that is the bottom line. This is a money saving website and the OP got an answer, albeit not the one they were hoping for. It was to the point and factual. 

Perhaps mumsnet is more suitable for you, if your looking for treehugging and rose tinted glasses and being told everything will be fine, including the premiums.