100% inflation - approximately.

SilasMarner

O.A.P. here with no points convictions, accidents, really handsome  etc. Direct line increases my premium from £320 to £595. (Mazda 6 ). On appeal reduces it by £100:00 trotting out the usual garbage. Casting around the MSE comparator tells me I can switch for a premium. £350 -£400.  But why throw away the business? Just usuary. Thanks for reading. 

Ayr_Rage

Try Topcashbackcompare, they seem to some very competitive deals along with £45 cashback if you buy a policy through them.

Loyalty to any insurer is bonkers, hope you haven't renewed with DL at £495 rather than saving a further £100 to £150.

DE_612183

insurance has gone up for everyone somewhere around 25%. I guess the insurer looks at risk factors which maybe outside of your control - perhaps more than normal Mazda drivers have had accidents, perhaps your age has tripped into another bracket etc

Keep_pedalling

Last year DL increased my premium by 40%, I ended up switching to RAC and have just had a renew email from the RAC with a hike for my ID3 from £440 to £1071. Will be visiting the comparison sites after tea.

Hoenir

Insurers decide the specific risks / market that wish to underwrite. All will have their own claims history to base their costings on. 

Aretnap

SilasMarner said:

But why throw away the business? Just usuary.

How can it simultaneously be throwing away business, and usuary? Extorting money out of you only works if you actually pay.

Perhaps you no longer fit their target market - either because you have changed it their target market has changed - so they are no longer as pricing as competitively for you as they once were. Their loss. Glad you were able to find a better price elsewhere.

SilasMarner

Ayr_Rage said:

Try Topcashbackcompare, they seem to some very competitive deals along with £45 cashback if you buy a policy through them.

Loyalty to any insurer is bonkers, hope you haven't renewed with DL at £495 rather than saving a further £100 to £150.

Thanks for your useful reply. No I haven't renewed. I'll give that a go. 

DE_612183 said:

insurance has gone up for everyone somewhere around 25%. I guess the insurer looks at risk factors which maybe outside of your control - perhaps more than normal Mazda drivers have had accidents, perhaps your age has tripped into another bracket etc

Yes - I wonder if they have algorithms which lean towards a septuagenarian being not I.T. literate and therefore might just (auto)renew because it's difficult/too much trouble to change. 

Smithcom

Ayr_Rage said:

Try Topcashbackcompare, they seem to some very competitive deals along with £45 cashback if you buy a policy through them.

Loyalty to any insurer is bonkers, hope you haven't renewed with DL at £495 rather than saving a further £100 to £150.

Depends what you mean by 'loyalty'.  Remaining with the same insurer because you believe in their financial strength, service and policy coverage, is not bonkers.

In an age where poor service is commonplace, I find it pretty amazing how many posts talk solely about cash back and free meerkats, without even mentioning who the insurer is and what their track record looks like.

I appreciate that many people are stretched financially, however, 'cheap car' insurance may be a false economy in the event of a claim.

SC

DullGreyGuy

SilasMarner said:

O.A.P. here with no points convictions, accidents, really handsome  etc. Direct line increases my premium from £320 to £595. (Mazda 6 ). On appeal reduces it by £100:00 trotting out the usual garbage. Casting around the MSE comparator tells me I can switch for a premium. £350 -£400.  But why throw away the business? Just usuary. Thanks for reading. 

Direct Line last year paid out £125.60 for every £100 of premium they received for car insurance... the Motor industry as a whole made an underwriting loss last year but Direct Line's was particularly terrible. Given the industry has been increasing premiums on average circa 25% it's no surprise that DL may have had to make bigger changes given they performed worse than the industry average. 

Insurers will struggle greatly explaining to the regulator why they continue to write loss making business and how they can assure that all claims payments will be made. You can occasionally make a strategic decision to gain market share via a special project but need to show a strategy to return to profitable underwriting and that you have the capital to take the hit. 

Try going to Tesco/Asda etc and asking to buy your groceries at half the price on the shelf and tell them they are throwing business away when they refuse. 

Keep_pedalling

I don’t know if it has anything to do with me reaching the grand old age of 70 last month, but my renewal price for my ID3 from the RAC was £1071 which is a 150% increase on last year’s price. I moved to the RAC because DL had added 4O% to the previous year’s premium.

The cheapest I’ve found so far is Sterling at £500 less, still over £200 more than I paid last year.