Hike in car insurance premium

Elika0215

Here's a quick illustration of the situation;

2 female drivers. 23 (referred to as E) and 22 (referred to as N) years old. No convictions, claims (no "no fault" claims either). Both have 1 year more no claims bonus.

In August 2021.

E insured N on her car (as an added driver to the policy) for 30 days costing around £27.

Today

Exactly the same as August except it is a new policy and the policyholder has another years NCB. The premium is now £131.

I crossed checked these quotes with other providers using comparison sites and also the 3rd party temporary insurance providers and they're even more expensive. So, I think that eliminates the possibility that the new insurer (1st Central) is just more expensive than the previous provider.

Also, thanks to the MSE team, I compared the quote that was given for cover starting within days with one starting in 21 days and again, the quote was £131.

One other factor is the insurance premium for E has significantly dropped.

As I've not worked in the sector, can anyone tell me what's likely to have caused this increase? I suspect there's been some formula (or isn't everything an algorithm these days?) tweak that has had an impact on drivers of that age across the board.

Ebe_Scrooge

So E added N as a temporary additional driver, and it cost an additional £27 for 30 days - sounds reasonable.  Policy is now due for renewal, and the annual premium is £131 - sounds very reasonable.  What was it last year?  Has the renewal premium assumed that N is now a "permanent" additional driver? Or do you mean that it's an extra £131 to add N as a named driver for the whole year?  Still not bad if she's under 25, and about on a par with the £27 it cost last year to add her for a month.

Premiums do go up every year due to inflation anyway.

Sandtree

Elika0215 said:

So, I think that eliminates the possibility that the new insurer (1st Central) is just more expensive than the previous provider.

1st Central are not an insurer.

If you look on the Insurance forum you will also find many threads saying they were dirt cheap at inception but exceptionally expensive if any changes were made... they are also much keener on checking documents and changing how long you;ve owned a car by a couple of months results in big premium changes.

Once question to ask is how much of the amount quoted is premium and how much is fees... could be msot the uplift is fees they are saying they and the insurer are charging rather than the premium

Elika0215

Ebe_Scrooge said:

So E added N as a temporary additional driver, and it cost an additional £27 for 30 days - sounds reasonable.  Policy is now due for renewal, and the annual premium is £131 - sounds very reasonable.  What was it last year?  Has the renewal premium assumed that N is now a "permanent" additional driver? Or do you mean that it's an extra £131 to add N as a named driver for the whole year?  Still not bad if she's under 25, and about on a par with the £27 it cost last year to add her for a month.

Premiums do go up every year due to inflation anyway.

Not quite but can see my explanation was a bit of a mess.

What you said but the policy is up for renewal and as it's E's car, it's under her name (and significantly cheaper than last year). The £131 was to add N to the policy for 1 month.

Elika0215

Sandtree said:

Elika0215 said:

So, I think that eliminates the possibility that the new insurer (1st Central) is just more expensive than the previous provider.

1st Central are not an insurer.

If you look on the Insurance forum you will also find many threads saying they were dirt cheap at inception but exceptionally expensive if any changes were made... they are also much keener on checking documents and changing how long you;ve owned a car by a couple of months results in big premium changes.

Once question to ask is how much of the amount quoted is premium and how much is fees... could be msot the uplift is fees they are saying they and the insurer are charging rather than the premium

I thought that too. However, I cross-quoted the changes with other providers from comparethemarket and they're all more expensive than 1st Central.

Sandtree

Elika0215 said:

Sandtree said:

Elika0215 said:

So, I think that eliminates the possibility that the new insurer (1st Central) is just more expensive than the previous provider.

1st Central are not an insurer.

If you look on the Insurance forum you will also find many threads saying they were dirt cheap at inception but exceptionally expensive if any changes were made... they are also much keener on checking documents and changing how long you;ve owned a car by a couple of months results in big premium changes.

Once question to ask is how much of the amount quoted is premium and how much is fees... could be msot the uplift is fees they are saying they and the insurer are charging rather than the premium

I thought that too. However, I cross-quoted the changes with other providers from comparethemarket and they're all more expensive than 1st Central.

How can you cross compare the cost of a policy and then adding a TAD mid term?

Temp insurance has always been much more expensive than adding a TAD to the original policy but it protects the original policy from any claims as an offset. 

Elika0215

Ok. So to correct my post, it wasn't compare the market, it was money supermarket and it was 30 cover for someone else's car.

To avoid any confusion, eveything from the term of insurance to adding the driver was exactly the same in Aug as it is now. The difference is August was £27 for a month to add the driver. Now it's £131 to add the driver.

Is that just one of those things that happens from time to time or is it unusual?

I'm going to dig out the quotes on money supermarket and relay exactly what was quoted.

Thanks

Sandtree

Temp cover for more than a day or two has always been more expensive than putting a temporary additional driver on an existing policy... however if a neighbour wanted to borrow my car I'd want them to take out temp insurance rather than risk my NCD etc by adding them as a TAD to my policy.

By comparing temp cover to the TAD from 1st Central you arent comparing apples and apples. 

They are well known for being expensive for amendments, assuming you are insured with someone else you could always phone your insurers and see how much theyd charge for adding "N" as a TAD on your policy which would on a proportal basis be a fairer test