Esure imposing a 48.8% increase on premium

pilotjames_2

I'm 28 days out from my home insurance renewal. Esure tell me that they want to increase my premium by 48.8$ (from £316 to £471) which is quite frankly insulting and shows a level of contempt not seen since....well let's not talk politics.  A phone call to them was met with a "well it looks like the underwriters don't want your business, there are no discounts or better prices!"

Seriously?  Is that the state of Home Insurance premiums in 2023? How on earth can this be justified?  What are your experiences?

SaverRate

You need to look at the 4 comparison sites. Esure isn't the best insurer out there so definitely shop around.

Prices for insurance are on the up this year so its likely it will rise. 

Robin9

Shop around !   Take care to compare like for like

My 4 bed West Midlands £175

Marvel1

pilotjames_2 said:

What are your experiences?

I change company every time.

pilotjames_2

I haggle every year with all companies about all things.  I was just surprised they didn't even try to offer £5 off.  It was the "don't want your business" comment that got me.  In which case, why bother sending me a renewal? I had that once and I laughed a little too loudly at the person on the other end.  Funnynotfunny.

Now doing the rounds with the comparison sites again.

user1977

pilotjames_2 said:

I haggle every year with all companies about all things.  I was just surprised they didn't even try to offer £5 off.  It was the "don't want your business" comment that got me.  In which case, why bother sending me a renewal?

As you'll see from the results of the comparison sites, lots of insurers will quote "go away" prices rather than actually refuse the business.

dunstonh

 Esure tell me that they want to increase my premium by 48.8$ (from £316 to £471) which is quite frankly insulting and shows a level of contempt not seen since....well let's not talk politics.

Do you shop around each/most years?     Whilst car insurance has higher than headline rate inflation due to rising second hand values, shortage parts etc, many people complaining about big rises this year are those that shopped around each year getting early year discounting.  The ban on early year discounting means they are suffering bigger increases.     Although it may also mean you are no longer in their target market and are pricing you on that basis.

 How on earth can this be justified?

Easily.

I haggle every year with all companies about all things.  I was just surprised they didn't even try to offer £5 off.

It either means they dont want you are not currently chasing business at a loss.

It was the "don't want your business" comment that got me.   In which case, why bother sending me a renewal? I had that once and I laughed a little too loudly at the person on the other end.  Funnynotfunny.

When you go to a comparison site and see all the companies that also price at a level that clearly means they dont want you, do you feel the same way?

DullGreyGuy

pilotjames_2 said:

I'm 28 days out from my home insurance renewal. Esure tell me that they want to increase my premium by 48.8$ (from £316 to £471) which is quite frankly insulting and shows a level of contempt not seen since....well let's not talk politics.  A phone call to them was met with a "well it looks like the underwriters don't want your business, there are no discounts or better prices!"

Seriously?  Is that the state of Home Insurance premiums in 2023? How on earth can this be justified?  What are your experiences?

The comment is certainly inappropriate to be giving and is likely to get the person in trouble should it be reported but its not discrimination or insulting so not going to result in material compensation. 

I would argue there are much stronger "not interested" messages out there than a £160 increase... our home insurance is about £400 but have had quotes north of £3,000 from others.

The reality is that call centre staff simply dont know why a price is what it is. In part this is because they have no authority to negotiate the price and so whats the point of them knowing that odd numbered houses now get a 5% loading over even number? Or black front doors are 10% more expensive than white?

EY predicted the average price increase in 2023 for Home insurance was going to be 30% driven by the worst losses in 15 years last year, weather driving up subsidence claims by 69% and inflation increasing claims cost such that they still predict 2023 to be loss making for Home insurers despite the premium increases.

At 48% you are above average but there can be regional considerations plus insurers are still working things out from the FCA ruling on pricing for renewing customers which is likely to create volatility 

Ayr_Rage

Time to get on Topcashback and the like, it always pays to shop around unless you need specialist insurance.

Smithcom

Ayr_Rage said:

Time to get on Topcashback and the like, it always pays to shop around unless you need specialist insurance.

.....or want a decent insurer in the event of a serious claim, or some other issue/problem.

I appreciate that money is tight for many/most at the moment, but it's really important to be with an insurer that can be relied on in the event of a claim.   We all buy insurance for such an event, whilst hoping it will never happen.

For those who think that 'insurers are all the same', this is very much incorrect.

With regards to the OP's steep increase, I suspect that this has been mainly fuelled by the FCA's Pricing Practices reforms, meaning that insurers now have a standardised pricing mechanism, with no flexibility for 'one off' discounts 

SC

Johnsrogerson

Would also highly recommend looking at comparison sites