60% increase in home insurance

gill789gill

I have queried the sudden increase in my insurance premium, given that I have not made a claim nor moved my property to a flood plain or a high crime area - but the company are adamant that the quote is correct.  They refuse to tell me the criteria the underwriters use to calculate premiums, but did refer to Financial Conduct Authority "rules". The only rule I am aware of is that new customers should not get a better deal than existing customers.  Has anyone experienced this problem?

comeandgo

I believe there has been an increase in insurance costs but you are free to leave company and choose another.  Have you tried a quote from a broker or some of the comparison sites?

dunstonh

 They refuse to tell me the criteria the underwriters use to calculate premiums,

You have no right to that information and no insurer would provide it.  However, it is their product and they are free to price it as they see fit.

but did refer to Financial Conduct Authority "rules". The only rule I am aware of is that new customers should not get a better deal than existing customers. 

If you have moved providers every 1-3 years then this could be a good chunk of your increase.     Early year discounting is no longer required.  So, if you shopped around taking advantage of early year discounting, then these have all been removed.  So, last year may have been a year with a discount price and this year is full price.

I have queried the sudden increase in my insurance premium, given that I have not made a claim nor moved my property to a flood plain or a high crime area - but the company are adamant that the quote is correct.

You have told us your situation but insurance is priced on the collective.    2022 was a massive year of claims for home insurers as it was a drought year.   UK insurers expect to be loss making in 2022 with 2023 likely to be similar.   The levels of loss are the worst in over a decade.

So, you have the removal of early year discounting,  the massive increase in claims over 2022 due to drought and inflation that has seen building related materials and builders themselves go up in price much higher than the headline rate of inflation.

It may also be that you no longer fit their target market and are pricing you higher because of that.

huckster

Yes Insurance premiums have gone up quite a lot, due to increase in costs incurred by Insurers in dealing with claims.  e.g., increased labour rates, materials and replacement goods.

You just need to shop around for a better deal.  Insurance companies don't need to justify to policyholders how they have calculated premiums, apart from basic relevant information that is personal to you such as any discounts applied, claims history.

Be careful with comparison sites, as the cheapest quotes tend to be those where there are higher excesses and policy terms which limit the cover.

Insurance underwriters can play with their premium rates, where they suddenly increase the premiums, because they have too many risks Insured in one postcode area.  By increasing the premium by a certain amount, which they know is no longer competitive, they will lose x percentage of policies, as people choose to renew elsewhere.  Insurance underwriters by taking such actions balance out the risk.  No Insurance company wants to be Insuring too many properties in one area, as if there is a sudden bad weather event or local issue, they are then too exposed. 

Weighty1

gill789gill said:

I have queried the sudden increase in my insurance premium, given that I have not made a claim nor moved my property to a flood plain or a high crime area - but the company are adamant that the quote is correct.  They refuse to tell me the criteria the underwriters use to calculate premiums, but did refer to Financial Conduct Authority "rules". The only rule I am aware of is that new customers should not get a better deal than existing customers.  Has anyone experienced this problem?

Why would they tell you how they calculate premiums?  Does Ford tell you how they price their cars or Coca Cola tell you why their cans cost what they do?

I had a 70% increase in my car insurance with Aviva at the last renewal.  I simply shopped around and went elsewhere and that's all you can really do.