Car Insurance difference in 23 months

keefer23

Hi, 
I am a early retired 64 year old driver with no endorsements ever since I had a full license. 9 years no claims discount on a good policy in 2021 with Hastings Direct they called it a Premium Policy which included windscreen cover with a small excess, legal protection, replacement car, RAC roadside recovery
and a few other extras. All in all a good cover for £259.
As my wife was disabled we obtained a Motorbility vehicle so cancelled the policy when we sold the second car. This month we had to give up the Motability vehicle due to her sad passing.

So have started to purchase a cheapish runabout and enquired on the telephone with Hastings Direct to start another policy with the same level of cover and the No Claims Discount as I am within 2 years of insurance renewal. However now Hastings Direct have quoted me £682 for the same level of cover.
When I asked them to explain the huge increase in premium they stated a few obvious things like the next cars is worth a little more and the cost of repairs being more expensive since the Covid pandemic but not justifying such a excess of 160% increase.

I stated that they expect us to be open and honest with our statements when answering their questions to obtain a quote which of course I am but I am not seeing that openness from Hastings Direct when it comes to explaining the increase. The customer service representative said that he would raise a case with the seniors regarding this.

Naturally I did a little research about car insurance increases in 2023 and some explanations from financial experts but these were quoting figure of 50 - 70% increases but not over 160%.
Are the insurance companies all taking liberties with us?

Flugelhorn

Have you tried one of the comparison sites? can often get a better deal with other companies. I am same age as you and got cover for less than £300. 
Newish driver in the family was with Hastings last year, £485 - this year over £700 but we got it below £500 with a bit of hunting 

DullGreyGuy

Why are you quoting on the phone? 

Insurers have differential pricing and typically charge more for quotes done over the phone than those done on their website or via an aggregator. They may also change what default options are used for excess, LE cover etc and so on the phone it tends to be low excess and all optional extras included whereas via an aggregator it will tend to be all optional extras excluded and a high excess. 

keefer23

DullGreyGuy said:

Why are you quoting on the phone? 

Insurers have differential pricing and typically charge more for quotes done over the phone than those done on their website or via an aggregator. They may also change what default options are used for excess, LE cover etc and so on the phone it tends to be low excess and all optional extras included whereas via an aggregator it will tend to be all optional extras excluded and a high excess. 

My first option because I am not a fan of this type of data miners wasps nest, but I guess if I get my armor on before beforehand I can give it a shot.

grimm6

My motor insurance has gone up 62% this month. All the insurance have hiked their prices considerably.  No idea why they have all done trhat

DullGreyGuy

grimm6 said:
All the insurance have hiked their prices considerably.  No idea why they have all done trhat

Firstly, remember that insurers look over a number of years not just the last X months... claims costs have gone up driven by a number of factors:

• Second hand values have increased meaning things that would have been a £5,000 total loss a couple of years ago is now a £5,500 repair bill
• Parts have been hard to source meaning repairs have taken longer either resulting in higher hire car charges or writing off repairable vehicles to cap overall claim costs
• Labour costs have gone up

More generally

• Insurers own operational costs have gone up with salaries, utilities etc
• The Motor insurance industry as a whole has made underwriting loss (ie they payout more in claims and operational costs than the premiums they receive) and is anticipated to make another underwriting loss this year

sheramber

keefer23 said:

Hi, 
I am a early retired 64 year old driver with no endorsements ever since I had a full license. 9 years no claims discount on a good policy in 2021 with Hastings Direct they called it a Premium Policy which included windscreen cover with a small excess, legal protection, replacement car, RAC roadside recovery
and a few other extras. All in all a good cover for £259.
As my wife was disabled we obtained a Motorbility vehicle so cancelled the policy when we sold the second car. This month we had to give up the Motability vehicle due to her sad passing.

So have started to purchase a cheapish runabout and enquired on the telephone with Hastings Direct to start another policy with the same level of cover and the No Claims Discount as I am within 2 years of insurance renewal. However now Hastings Direct have quoted me £682 for the same level of cover.
When I asked them to explain the huge increase in premium they stated a few obvious things like the next cars is worth a little more and the cost of repairs being more expensive since the Covid pandemic but not justifying such a excess of 160% increase.

I stated that they expect us to be open and honest with our statements when answering their questions to obtain a quote which of course I am but I am not seeing that openness from Hastings Direct when it comes to explaining the increase. The customer service representative said that he would raise a case with the seniors regarding this.

Naturally I did a little research about car insurance increases in 2023 and some explanations from financial experts but these were quoting figure of 50 - 70% increases but not over 160%.
Are the insurance companies all taking liberties with us?

Is that increase over 1 year?

You are comparing over 2 years increases.

keefer23

sheramber said:

keefer23 said:

Hi, 
I am a early retired 64 year old driver with no endorsements ever since I had a full license. 9 years no claims discount on a good policy in 2021 with Hastings Direct they called it a Premium Policy which included windscreen cover with a small excess, legal protection, replacement car, RAC roadside recovery
and a few other extras. All in all a good cover for £259.
As my wife was disabled we obtained a Motorbility vehicle so cancelled the policy when we sold the second car. This month we had to give up the Motability vehicle due to her sad passing.

So have started to purchase a cheapish runabout and enquired on the telephone with Hastings Direct to start another policy with the same level of cover and the No Claims Discount as I am within 2 years of insurance renewal. However now Hastings Direct have quoted me £682 for the same level of cover.
When I asked them to explain the huge increase in premium they stated a few obvious things like the next cars is worth a little more and the cost of repairs being more expensive since the Covid pandemic but not justifying such a excess of 160% increase.

I stated that they expect us to be open and honest with our statements when answering their questions to obtain a quote which of course I am but I am not seeing that openness from Hastings Direct when it comes to explaining the increase. The customer service representative said that he would raise a case with the seniors regarding this.

Naturally I did a little research about car insurance increases in 2023 and some explanations from financial experts but these were quoting figure of 50 - 70% increases but not over 160%.
Are the insurance companies all taking liberties with us?

Is that increase over 1 year?

You are comparing over 2 years increases.

This is over 23 months so just under two years.