Car insurance 'greedflation?

Curmudgeon101

So like a bad penny, time to renew the car insurance rolls around. My beloved and myself are in our early 60s, 10 years NCB, 10,000 miles pa, we run one very boring car. Last year we paid £225. The quote this year was £666 (Iron Maiden?), this represents an increase of around 200%. This means one of three things either my wife and I have suddenly become wildly more dangerous drivers; or the cost of settling claims has rocketed; or the insurance industry is taking advantage of high inflation rates. Considering the latter let's say inflation has been at 10% then we might have expected a premium of £250 not £666. As things stand we left our existing insurer and the best we could do with another provider was £416, an increase of only 85%.
What's the deal here? Is the insurance industry having a laugh?

carly

I'm in a very similar position.  Last year paid £480.  2 fuddy duddys driving , no commuting , 30+ years since a claim.  This year they asked for £1340.  Took me all day shopping around to get a quote of £895.  I'm not happy  as we need the car for family duties.  They have us consumers over a barrel.

mgfvvc

Curmudgeon101 said:

This means one of three things either my wife and I have suddenly become wildly more dangerous drivers; or the cost of settling claims has rocketed; or the insurance industry is taking advantage of high inflation rates.

Mainly, it's the second option. Costs of settling claims have rocketed.

sevenhills

Every retailer has competitors that compete on price, or has something changed?

There are various comparison sites, use them and Google.

victor2

Curmudgeon101 said:

So like a bad penny, time to renew the car insurance rolls around. My beloved and myself are in our early 60s, 10 years NCB, 10,000 miles pa, we run one very boring car. Last year we paid £225. The quote this year was £666 (Iron Maiden?), this represents an increase of around 200%. This means one of three things either my wife and I have suddenly become wildly more dangerous drivers; or the cost of settling claims has rocketed; or the insurance industry is taking advantage of high inflation rates. Considering the latter let's say inflation has been at 10% then we might have expected a premium of £250 not £666. As things stand we left our existing insurer and the best we could do with another provider was £416, an increase of only 85%.
What's the deal here? Is the insurance industry having a laugh?

Shop around, but premiums are generally going up way above inflation. I'm only looking at about a 40% increase after doing that. Interestingly, two major companies refused to even quote, and it's just for someone in their 60's driving a pretty average hatchback 5,000 miles a year.

MeteredOut

mgfvvc said:

Curmudgeon101 said:

This means one of three things either my wife and I have suddenly become wildly more dangerous drivers; or the cost of settling claims has rocketed; or the insurance industry is taking advantage of high inflation rates.

Mainly, it's the second option. Costs of settling claims have rocketed.

This. I've heard (anecdotally) that a higher percentage of cars are now being written off due to the repair/parts costs, where they might have previously been repaired.

Hoenir

mgfvvc said:

Curmudgeon101 said:

This means one of three things either my wife and I have suddenly become wildly more dangerous drivers; or the cost of settling claims has rocketed; or the insurance industry is taking advantage of high inflation rates.

Mainly, it's the second option. Costs of settling claims have rocketed.

Standard of driving has deteroriated markedly.  Many have never read the Highway Code. 

Aretnap

Inflation is the average increase in prices across a range of foods and services. By definition some prices will have increased by more than the headline rate of inflation, other pruces will have increased by less than inflation, or even fallen.

Car insurance is one of the things which has increased most, for reasons which are well documented. Mostly to do with supply chain issues pushing up the prices of used cars by week above inflation, and also parts shortages meaning that cars take longer to repair, meaning higher hire car costs and a higher chance of then being written off.

 The crash in the bins market has also meant a fall in investment returns which are an important secondary source of revenue for insurers - most years the investment returns subside your premiums, the last year or two not so much.

mark_cycling00

If you genuinely believed this then you would have bought shares in the insurance industry and be laughing as your wealth increased rapidly.

Aviva pays 7% dividend. You going to do it? 
(This is not investment advice)
They can raise prices as much as they like afterall.

I bought a wad of BP shares before the Ukraine invasion and it's paid a lot of my energy bills ever since, but none of my friends who moan about profiteering energy companies did the same. 

I don't get it

Ayr_Rage

Not all of us here are suffering as bad as the OP, my insurance has only increased by 12.1% and that is staying with the same insurer, something I rarely do as I find getting some money back from TCB usually undercuts the renewal premium once that cashback is received.

TCB has worked faultlessly for the last 10 years.

Last year £150.45 (actual cost was £45 less with cashback)

Renewal with Yoga £168.70

Best price with TCB £216.47 (eligible for £45 cashback)

65 year old male driving a 3 year old Toyota Aygo.

Stubod

..be interesting to know what cars are involved? Seems that certain EV's and Range Rovers are being hit hardest??