Insurance Renewal Time

blue.peter

The FCA might have banned dual pricing, but there can still be a loyalty penalty for renewing insurance policies.

Pretty much every year, I have to waste time hunting out the best available deal on motor insurance (January/February) and household insurance (July/August). It's a pain in the neck, and I hate it. This year, though, it was particularly obvious that it was necessary.

2023 Aviva insurance premium: £232.94

2024 Aviva renewal premium: £302.42 (+30%)

2024 cheapest quote on Money SuperMarket: £219.48 (-6%).

My inclination, though, is not to take the cheapest ('cos I hate the business offering it). I'll probably take the third-cheapest, at £227.38. Still cheaper than last year, which is nice.

BooJewels

It's a game I hate too and my household policy is due in a couple of weeks and I'm a smidge concerned that I haven't even had a reminder from them, so it's one of my jobs for this week.

Last year, my incumbent insurer were very uncompetitive, so I did start shopping around and ended up with a quote that was something like 47% lower - a significant amount - it paid for a week in a very nice holiday cottage.  The irony of it was, it was the same policy with the same insurer and just 'badged' to two different high street names.  When I told the incumbent company, they offered me a token 2%-ish discount, but said they just couldn't go any lower.

I'm also very jealous of your low car insurance amounts - I'm just learning to drive (at least I was, until I broke my leg last month, but I'll be going back to it as soon as the medics say that I can) and I've been getting quotes approaching £3,000 as a new driver - even at my age!

blue.peter

BooJewels said:

I'm also very jealous of your low car insurance amounts - I'm just learning to drive (at least I was, until I broke my leg last month, but I'll be going back to it as soon as the medics say that I can) and I've been getting quotes approaching £3,000 as a new driver - even at my age!

£3,000? Eek! I knew that younger drivers were getting stung for amounts like this, but hadn't realised that mature new drivers were, too. But even I think that mine is cheap, though donkeys' years of NCD must help. I don't have the figures to hand, but think that I used to pay a lot more twenty years or so ago, even ignoring inflation. On the other hand, I'm sure that my motor insurance wasn't anything like £3,000 (or its equivalent when inflation is taken into account) on my first car in 1980.

Insurance pricing is a complete mystery to me.

Sorry to hear about your broken leg. I do hope that it's repaired soon.

blue.peter

Update: I've just bought my new policy. I ended up paying a bit more because I decided to add "At Home" RAC recovery to it. Final cost: £267.15. Still less than renewing the Aviva policy, and with a better recovery service.

Albermarle

At my last car insurance renewal, the price had inevitably gone up . Although I knew premiums were shooting up across the board, I did a comparison site check.
Could only save £20 at most, and my own insurer ( LV=) popped up on the comparison list with a higher price than my own renewal quote.

Insurance pricing really is a mystery !

BooJewels

Thanks for the good wishes @blue.peter - I'm on the mend thanks - but it's an experience I really could have done without.   They've said I can get in the shower now, which is over the bath - but I just couldn't do it this morning - so that's annoyed me and needs a rethink.

Some of the first quotes I had as a new driver were twice that amount and I've dropped quite a bit off it by having my sister - with a good NCD - as a named driver.  My son has driven for a while, but only had his own car for about 3 years, so he added a few quid to it.  Yet, he added me as a learner on his insurance for about £32 - so it's truly a mystery.  They've all suggested that it should drop quite quickly as time passes, if I don't make any claims.  My late husband's premium was about £400.

Another thing that's a mystery is air fares - my sister and I are planning a trip this year and we're looking at current prices yesterday - if you look up a flight, then go back later, it goes up £40.  If you return in incognito mode and enter the same date and flight, it presents you with the original fare.

Albermarle

Another thing that's a mystery is air fares - my sister and I are planning a trip this year and we're looking at current prices yesterday - if you look up a flight, then go back later, it goes up £40.  If you return in incognito mode and enter the same date and flight, it presents you with the original fare.

The suspicion is that the website recognises you as a 'returner' to the site, and therefore more likely to be ready to book. So the price is pushed up as you are in 'booking mode'

It has to be said that all airlines and similar booking sites, vehemently deny that this happens.

I have tested it a few times and I never seen any evidence of it, although it was not a comprehensive survey. 

BooJewels

That's exactly what we assumed @Albermarle - that you've returned to book and will just shrug your shoulders and say "it's gone up, should have booked last time, my bad".  I saw it with my own eyes yesterday.  My sister said she did it a few days ago and returned twice over a couple of days and it went up £40 on 2 occasions.  Seems like an odd approach to me, it would be much more likely to drive me away.

blue.peter

Albermarle said:

The suspicion is that the website recognises you as a 'returner' to the site, and therefore more likely to be ready to book. So the price is pushed up as you are in 'booking mode'

If that's the case, I'd guess that it might be that a cookie tells it that you're a returner. If I'm right, either (a) using a different computer or (b) clearing cookies or maybe (c) using a different browser would solve the problem. I think.

But if the original quote was based on supplying a name and address that can be retained on the seller's computer, I'm probably wrong.

Albermarle

blue.peter said:

Albermarle said:

The suspicion is that the website recognises you as a 'returner' to the site, and therefore more likely to be ready to book. So the price is pushed up as you are in 'booking mode'

If that's the case, I'd guess that it might be that a cookie tells it that you're a returner. If I'm right, either (a) using a different computer or (b) clearing cookies or maybe (c) using a different browser would solve the problem. I think.

But if the original quote was based on supplying a name and address that can be retained on the seller's computer, I'm probably wrong.

As said the airlines deny 100% that they are tracking users in this way.

Some say it is an urban myth and you are just as likely to relog one and see a lower price as a higher one, such is the very short term volatility ,
Who knows ?

BooJewels

On this occasion, it must have been cookies, as my sister went it anonymously in a web browser, as she has the app for the airline and usually books through that - and deliberately didn't do, to just get the latest public prices.  When she went in using an incognito browser, it gave her the first original price she'd seen and stuck with it when she was trying different dates.  For example, they seem to have added her preferred flight time now on a Saturday, where it was a weekday only business flight previously.  So we were curious to see if it made any difference what day of the week we went.  We also wondered if it made any difference how far in advance we booked.