RAC Car Insurance-have I got ripped off?

alric

RAC insured my audi 2.0 last november, instalments were £31.
I changed to a slower Ford 1.6 in February, and the instalments went up to £33, plus £25 amendment fee.
I had 6years no claims bonus, but had a slight car park accident in march. RAC said my NCB would reduce to 3years
In August I changed back to the Audi,instalments were  £37,plus £25 for amendment.

SO..
1. Should my insurance have gone up when i changed to the Ford?
2. If my NCB changed from 6 years to 3years, would my insurance  cost stay the same until the renewal date?
3. When I changed back to the Audi, should the premium be the same as it was before?

I just got the autorenewal details. Does this sound normal considering the partial loss of NCB?Renewal price Monthly payment £85.90 Total price £1030.81 Last year's total price £436.13

I'll be exploring my options before I renew!

born_again

Insurance prices have been increasing all year, just check all the posts about it in this section.

Slower car does not = lower premiums

alric

The Audi is group 27
The Ford was Group 10

Aretnap

alric said:

The Audi is group 27
The Ford was Group 10

Insurance groups have very little to do with actual insurance prices. It's very common for a higher insurance group car to be cheaper to insure than a lower group one. 

Car_54

1. Premiums have been rocketing, so no surprise.

2. Yes, but you changed cars so it’s academic.

3.  See 1.

Mildly_Miffed

Insurance groups are based upon the cost to repair after a basket of typical collisions.
https://www.thatcham.org/what-we-do/insurance-group-rating/

They don't take account of how likely each car is to be crashed/stolen. That's down to each insurer to decide. They do that using statistics from actual claims.

The insurers might also have found that people who change cars during a year are more likely to claim than people who stick with the same car for the entire year.

DullGreyGuy

alric said:

1. Should my insurance have gone up when i changed to the Ford?
2. If my NCB changed from 6 years to 3years, would my insurance  cost stay the same until the renewal date?
3. When I changed back to the Audi, should the premium be the same as it was before?

I just got the autorenewal details. Does this sound normal considering the partial loss of NCB?Renewal price Monthly payment £85.90 Total price £1030.81 Last year's total price £436.13

I'll be exploring my options before I renew!

1. It would have been priced on Feb 2023 prices whereas your last vehicle was on Nov 2022 prices. Car insurance has gone up nearly 50% in the year so increases would be expected

2. NCD is normally only updated at renewal, so yes it will go down to 3 years but normally that wouldnt take effect until you renew unless in Feb they cancelled the old policy rather than just switched the vehicle on cover. Its not clear they have reduced it early but NCD isnt an industry standard thing, you need to read your policy book to see how yours operates.

3. This is the same as 1 above, but now on Aug 2023 pricing. 

alric

Thanks to the MSE insurance dhecker,I got insurance for £600, I shouldve called up RAC to see what theyd counteroffer but forgot

sevenhills

Mildly_Miffed said:

The insurers might also have found that people who change cars during a year are more likely to claim than people who stick with the same car for the entire year.

That is exactly what they have found. I am sure you can imagine what happens when drivers move from a car that is 1847cm wide to a car that is 1851cm wide.

ElefantEd

sevenhills said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

The insurers might also have found that people who change cars during a year are more likely to claim than people who stick with the same car for the entire year.

That is exactly what they have found. I am sure you can imagine what happens when drivers move from a car that is 1847cm wide to a car that is 1851cm wide.

Nothing, I would imagine. Most people leave more than 2 inches clearance anyway.