Aviva ridiculous car insurance renewal quote

j.a.mcguire

Currently with Aviva.  £432.33 previous year, £677.61 renewal quote.  That's a price hike of 64%.  They want almost £700 for a 7 year old car which sits on my driveway most of the time.  I've been a car insurance holder with them for approximately 3 years, and have held other policies for over 7 years, and this is the reward.

I tried calling them up, which in itself is almost impossible as you can't find a number, and when you do their voice assistant tries its best to disconnect you and direct you to their website.  When I eventually spoke to someone, they're talking in broken-english and they're completely disinterested and just tell me the price is what the price is.

Just wanting a rant as I'm absolutely disgusted at being mugged off by these racketeering companies. Whether it's energy firms or supermarket prices or now insurance companies, I feel like I'm being priced out of the country, 90% of my wages go to line some fat cat's pockets.

Slinky

I used a price comparison tool via the topcashback website, which gave me a much cheaper quote than my renewal, and there's £45 cashback coming my way in a few weeks.  Edit to say it may take a few weeks to come through, but both my OH and I got £40 cashback last year.

https://www.topcashback.co.uk/topcashback-compare-car-insurance/

JosephK

Fairly common level of increase for many companies lately- attributed largely to rocketing cost of repairs. My last renewal went up by similar percentage with a different company to Aviva. Managed to find equivalent cover elsewhere but still up by about a third

dunstonh

Currently with Aviva.  £432.33 previous year, £677.61 renewal quote.  That's a price hike of 64%.

So, not particularly ridiculous then.

 They want almost £700 for a 7 year old car which sits on my driveway most of the time. 

It doesn't matter if your car is 1 year old or 10 years old when you are in an accident and someone is killed or has life-changing injuries. 

I've been a car insurance holder with them for approximately 3 years, and have held other policies for over 7 years, and this is the reward.

Why do you think you need to be rewarded?

I tried calling them up, which in itself is almost impossible as you can't find a number, and when you do their voice assistant tries its best to disconnect you and direct you to their website.  When I eventually spoke to someone, they're talking in broken-english and they're completely disinterested and just tell me the price is what the price is.

You have quoted the price in your first paragraph.  So, they must have told you the price for you to give it to us.

Just wanting a rant as I'm absolutely disgusted at being mugged off by these racketeering companies.

If its racketeering, how do you explain them being loss making in recent years?

Whether it's energy firms or supermarket prices or now insurance companies, I feel like I'm being priced out of the country, 90% of my wages go to line some fat cat's pockets.

Rants are fine but you generally find they don't go down well here.   Most prefer discussion and explanation.

You are doing well if 90% of your wages go to line some fat cat's pockets.  Over half of mine goes in tax before I even start.

daveyjp

Other insurance companies are available.

TELLIT01

Check other companies.  My old insurer wanted over £400 and I got insured for under £200 by shopping around.  All types of insurance have become significantly more expensive over the past couple of years.

Shedman

To offer a counterpoint I have been very pleased with Aviva recently.  

The renewal for my 9 year old Ford Focus Estate went up by around 10% (£245 vs £220) and only 8% on the wife's small car so, given the overall increases that are being bandied around, we were very pleased. But even more surprising was that I replaced my Focus with a brand new £30k+ Hybrid SUV (insurance group 23E compared to 12E for the Focus) a week after renewal and there was no increase in premium at all when I was expecting at least a doubling in price if not more.  

In addition our cycle policy covering our ebikes switched from Barclays to Aviva during last year and I was expecting quite a hike from the very low premium that Barclays charged of just £23 (for any number of bikes we owned up to a value of £1500 each one) and yet the Aviva renewal quote has just come through and its now just over £18 for the year.  

DullGreyGuy

Shedman said:
I replaced my Focus with a brand new £30k+ Hybrid SUV (insurance group 23E compared to 12E for the Focus) a week after renewal and there was no increase in premium at all when I was expecting at least a doubling in price if not more.

I really think that the "insurance group" information should be got rid of... it's a measure of the cost of repairing the car and certain features; it's NOT what insurers use to price policies. 

I looked to replace a group 23 car with either a Mini Cooper S (group 28) or a Mercedes SL (group 50). The Mini would have increased my premiums by about £300 per year, the Mercedes reduced my insurance by circa £200 despite being much higher group, three times the value etc. 

Insurers come up with their own views of cars, in practice a certain type of person likes a certain type of car. Hot hatches are often more expensive to insurer than luxury cars because even if they aren't a teenager anymore many who buy one still drive like they are one. Plus if you hit a pedestrian it doesn't tend to matter too much if it's a Fiesta or a Ferrari the bill for their lifetime of lost earnings etc will be the same. 

Lavendyr

I am insured with Aviva. It is really easy to find their number and get them on the phone. The voice assistant does offer online alternatives but the last few times I have phoned them, I've got through in a reasonable time (sub 15 mins) and have been helped quickly. I have also had good support through the chat function when some details on my insurance needed to be changed. I should also say that separate to the above, I am going through a motor insurance claim with them at the moment and they have been extremely helpful in addressing my queries. 

Insurance prices are going up, but if you are unhappy with the renewal quote, do some shopping around - use MSE's recommended tools for starters - and then phone Aviva and see if they can match. 

BoGoF

Also pleased with my Aviva renewal quote - £336 last year and down to £332 this year. Was dreading my renewal quote based on comparison sites where was coming in at £700ish.