+50% renwal price with no claims

molotovdog

Glad it's not just me thinking current prices are insane. I'm nearly 40, no convictions, no points, maximum NCB, no speed awareness courses, one claim from four years ago with no other parties involved (a deer running out on me).

Next year my father is giving up driving, so i'm going to be "taxi" for him and my mother, so i've been trying to find something "sensible" that i still like, i was going to console myself with "well, at least insurance will be cheap"

WRONG!!!

I currently have a 2021 Abarth 595 comp, it's the fastest version, category 36E, 0 voluntary excess, in November i paid £290. In the past i've owned various "high performance" cars and have never paid more than £400 ish.

None of my details have changed, same house, same job etc... etc... in fact the only thing that's changed is one more year of NCB, but i'm already maxed out on it as i'm well over the 9 year max or whatever it is.

I thought a Focus is a pretty safe bet, my parents can get in and out easily, boot space for the mobility scooter, category 14E etc... etc... so i did a quote, and to say i was shocked was an understatement, for a car that's a few years old and decent spec, i got £589!!!

Even when i changed it to the lowest spec model from 2003 and upped my voluntary excess to £600 the cheapest i could fine anywhere was still £349! I even checked with my friend, who drives a focus of a similar age and spec and they are currently paying £200, which i think they took out some point last year. 

It's insane, i'm genuinely fearful of what mine will be in November, as i still have one more year of the lease on the Abarth (also, no, the fact it's a lease doesn't change things, i accidentally got a quote as if i owned the car back in November and it was only £4 more than the quote as a lease).

tifo

My insurance has never been less than around £600. And i'm over 50 now with 27 years NCD, maxed at 9 years. I've just changed my car half way through the policy (6 months) and they asked for another £200. It was £596 for the year till end of November. I'm always told it's my postcode. And there's other factors not mentioned.

My kids (early to mid 20s) pay between £3,000 and £4,000 on average for the last 4 years. Lowest was £2,400 which went up to £3,000, the other one is now £3,600. This will go up next year due to recent points.

DullGreyGuy

molotovdog said:

I currently have a 2021 Abarth 595 comp, it's the fastest version, category 36E, 0 voluntary excess, in November i paid £290. In the past i've owned various "high performance" cars and have never paid more than £400 ish.

None of my details have changed, same house, same job etc... etc... in fact the only thing that's changed is one more year of NCB, but i'm already maxed out on it as i'm well over the 9 year max or whatever it is.

I thought a Focus is a pretty safe bet, my parents can get in and out easily, boot space for the mobility scooter, category 14E etc... etc... so i did a quote, and to say i was shocked was an understatement, for a car that's a few years old and decent spec, i got £589!!!

Even when i changed it to the lowest spec model from 2003 and upped my voluntary excess to £600 the cheapest i could fine anywhere was still £349! I even checked with my friend, who drives a focus of a similar age and spec and they are currently paying £200, which i think they took out some point last year. 

It's insane, i'm genuinely fearful of what mine will be in November, as i still have one more year of the lease on the Abarth (also, no, the fact it's a lease doesn't change things, i accidentally got a quote as if i owned the car back in November and it was only £4 more than the quote as a lease).

Ignore Thatchams Categories, they are based on safety, security and repair costs. Insurers care about the types of people that own certain cars and how they drive them. More than half of the cost of all claims is third party losses and if you hit a pedestrian at 50 miles an hour it really doesn't matter if you have a Fiat 500, Focus or Ferrari.

At one point I was considering getting a fun car (Mini Cooper S) or blowing the budget (Mercedes SL500), both brand new so a notably different price point and very different performance (and Thatchams category). The SL was a third cheaper to insure than the Mini. Adding a learner driver wife to both added £10 a year to the SL (a 4.8L biturbo charged engine not a normal learner car) but for the Mini it added another 25%

molotovdog

Ah ok, well that explains the categories not making as much of a difference as i thought they should then. It's still crazy to me that i'm getting quotes of around £500 for base model family cars (i've tried many others than just the Focus) when i've had far faster/expensive/typically driven by irresponsible "boy racer" type cars in the past and it's always been below £450 even though i was younger/less NCB etc...

I've come to the realisation that i'm likely going to have to go the route of paying monthly, even though you end up paying more, the only slight upside is that the difference between getting something like a base model 13yr old focus and a two year old, top spec, "performance" car is less than £100, so i'll just have to accept the insane prices, but won't have to use them as a reason to not get a certain car.

LeafGreen

Worth giving current insurer a call top see if they can do anything.  I'm with Direct Line and do this pretty much every year, invariably they reduce my renewal.  I have been with them for quite a while though with no claims etc so I guess that gets taken into account.  I also call armed with best exactly comparable quote from elsewhere - last time they beat that by more than I was expecting!  Although my premium is only around £200 so not talking huge amounts (at least it was in December - by the sounds of it I might be in for a big jump at next renewal) 

DullGreyGuy

molotovdog said:

Ah ok, well that explains the categories not making as much of a difference as i thought they should then. It's still crazy to me that i'm getting quotes of around £500 for base model family cars (i've tried many others than just the Focus) when i've had far faster/expensive/typically driven by irresponsible "boy racer" type cars in the past and it's always been below £450 even though i was younger/less NCB etc...

I've come to the realisation that i'm likely going to have to go the route of paying monthly, even though you end up paying more, the only slight upside is that the difference between getting something like a base model 13yr old focus and a two year old, top spec, "performance" car is less than £100, so i'll just have to accept the insane prices, but won't have to use them as a reason to not get a certain car.

UK average insurance premium is around £500 and the vast majority of people have 5+ years no claims discount (it makes you average not special contrary to popular belief). In exchange for that they agree to payout whatever liability you create, as noted on the previous page even a single injured party can lead to a claim in excess of £10m and accidents like the Selby train crash was estimated to be in excess of £50m for the insurer of Defender that caused it.

I think there are valid questions as if commercial insurance is the best mechanism for providing protection to third parties, if third parties should be entitled to life long private care or loss of earnings in the event of major injury or if the state should provide these anyway. Likewise is uncapped necessary? Though looking at the US where minmium insurance requirements can be $15,000 of cover or less you'll find many victims uncompensated when the at fault party decides to become bankrupt to avoid the debt (in the UK injury compensation debt is excluded from bankruptcy but in most of the US its only if you were drink driving or it was intentional (not just reckless) that its excluded)