Insurance for a VW up - price query

Brie

So my renewal quote just came through the post and I'm being quoted an increase of £50 from £171 to £221.  2015 VW up, Hastings

Meanwhile my OH has had his renewal come through from a different company and it's dropping from £296 to £242.  2016 Volvo XC60 SE, Tesco

So near enough the same price for 2 cars of similar age but one humongous expensive monster vehicle and the other a tiddly hamster run cheap toy car.

Why?  And why if I try to get a quote from Tesco do they come up with basically the same price for the VW?

Brie

fyi - I had hoped that I could find something that said Tesco would do a multi car offer but can't see anything.

daveyjp

Increase is due to the risk of a claim, drop is due to the risk of a claim.  Nothing more to it,

Shop around.

Sandtree

Brie said:

So near enough the same price for 2 cars of similar age but one humongous expensive monster vehicle and the other a tiddly hamster run cheap toy car.

Why? 

Because toy cars are owned by teenagers that have a nasty habit of crashing their cars full of mates resulting in large claims. 

Insurance works on statistics and as a result the type of typical owner influences prices significantly. We considered two cars when we were buying last time…


Mini, 2l, £20k
Mercedes, 4.5l, £85k

Mini was about 20% more expensive to insure. If I were to add my learner driver wife then on the mini it added another £150 to the premiums, £5 to the merc. 

The cheapest cars to insure are the ones teenagers won’t ever go near 

SaverRate

Go on a comparison site and go with the best deal (not necessarily the cheapest!). Alternatively contact Hastings and see if they can do anything with the renewal price? 

Brie

Why would there be a difference in claim prospects when both of us are in our 60s and there's no learner drivers anywhere near the cars?  Or is it that the boy racers are more likely to steal my toy car rather than the OH's tank?

Car_54

Brie said:

Why would there be a difference in claim prospects when both of us are in our 60s and there's no learner drivers anywhere near the cars?  Or is it that the boy racers are more likely to steal my toy car rather than the OH's tank?

insurers look at a whole range of factors, of which the car model is just one. As Sandtree has explained, your car may be higher rated than the Volvo simply because the latter features in fewer claims.

Also, bear in mind that the big risk for insurers is third-party claims, particularly personal injury. That far outweighs the risks of damage to your own cars. Your 'toy' car is no less likely to cause TP damage than the 'tank'

KimJongUn88

If you drive into a pedestrian, you’ll still do similar damage that your insurer will have to pay out for.

fatbelly

I run the same car as you (effectively). You should be able to beat that quote.

Try the comparison sites. Also try

https://www.quidco.com/compare/car-insurance/
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/category/car-insurance/

Sandtree

Brie said:

Why would there be a difference in claim prospects when both of us are in our 60s and there's no learner drivers anywhere near the cars?  Or is it that the boy racers are more likely to steal my toy car rather than the OH's tank?

Just because you are both in your 60s doesnt mean one isnt going through a midlife crisis and wanting to relive their childhood racing days with a want to be hot hatch and the other is an old f@rt 

I am sure there are some people who have a BMW that are good considerate drivers but because 99% of them arent the remaining 1% pay higher premiums too. 

jimjames

Brie said:

So near enough the same price for 2 cars of similar age but one humongous expensive monster vehicle and the other a tiddly hamster run cheap toy car.

Why?  And why if I try to get a quote from Tesco do they come up with basically the same price for the VW?

At a certain point the policy is priced on the driver not the car. Virtually the same price for me for a Porsche 911 or a diesel Golf.