Insurer cutting renewal price substantially - are there any regulations?

DullGreyGuy

nadsat said:

Well, there is regulation is there not that they must quote last year's price in the renewal so surely this is going to spur more calls and defections if they hike the price above what the price really is. 

On the actual pricing itself there are regulations that they cannot quote higher than what they'd offer a new customer buying via the same channel for the identical product etc. Similarly on the renewal notice they must show last years price for ease of comparison. 

If it will cause more people to go elsewhere or not will depend on what their competitors are doing. Our Home insurance went up 20% this year but was still £1,000 cheaper than the next nearest quote. 

nadsat

DullGreyGuy said:

nadsat said:

Well, there is regulation is there not that they must quote last year's price in the renewal so surely this is going to spur more calls and defections if they hike the price above what the price really is. 

On the actual pricing itself there are regulations that they cannot quote higher than what they'd offer a new customer buying via the same channel for the identical product etc.  

That's a very good point I'd forgotten but for insurance it's almost impossible to prove given the variables. I'm pretty sure if I were a new customer I would have been offered a lower price than the initial renewal but have no way to prove this.

DullGreyGuy

nadsat said:

DullGreyGuy said:

nadsat said:

Well, there is regulation is there not that they must quote last year's price in the renewal so surely this is going to spur more calls and defections if they hike the price above what the price really is. 

On the actual pricing itself there are regulations that they cannot quote higher than what they'd offer a new customer buying via the same channel for the identical product etc.  

That's a very good point I'd forgotten but for insurance it's almost impossible to prove given the variables. I'm pretty sure if I were a new customer I would have been offered a lower price than the initial renewal but have no way to prove this.

As long as they still sell the same product via the same channel you bought it then there is a very easy way to prove it... get a quote. 

You'll find on here there are many posts of people doing exactly that and finding their new business quote is higher than their renewal quote. Obviously it's also policed by the regulator with insurers having to provide data on the prices being quoted to new and renewing customers.