to stick with current insurer or change.

DjangoUnchained

just to conclude. I called my current insurer and without much fuss they knocked over £200 off renewal, bringing down to just over £600.   moral is you dont ask you dont get.

chrisw

DjangoUnchained said:

just to conclude. I called my current insurer and without wmuch fuss they knocked over £200 off renewal, bringing down to just over £600.   moral is you dont ask you dont get.

That annoys me more than anything else. Why couldn't they quote that in the first place?

Bigphil1474

Because they aren't your friend? They rely on people being too lazy and just pay the high renewal price, or they don't want your business so quote a really high price. All those people who just blindly auto-renew are just funding their profit. It definitely feels a bit wrong, but I will still stick with my current insurer if they drop the price to an acceptable level after I've phoned them. I have to do that every time with Virgin Media so don't see the car insurer any different. And don't forget, it'll be a computer that decides your initial renewal quote, not somebody sat in an office somewhere. 

DjangoUnchained

Bigphil1474 said:

Because they aren't your friend? They rely on people being too lazy and just pay the high renewal price, or they don't want your business so quote a really high price. All those people who just blindly auto-renew are just funding their profit. It definitely feels a bit wrong, but I will still stick with my current insurer if they drop the price to an acceptable level after I've phoned them. I have to do that every time with Virgin Media so don't see the car insurer any different. And don't forget, it'll be a computer that decides your initial renewal quote, not somebody sat in an office somewhere. 

yes, it seems to be standard business practise these days. It works for them, most people just passively renew. I assume subscribers to Money saving expert are a bit more savvy and proacyive.

Bigphil1474

It does seem to be standard practise, probably because far too many businesses are about profit maximisation and not just making a fair profit. Motor Insurers have had a tough couple of years apparently, but they must believe there are enough people willing to pay the daft prices to offset those that are savvy and go elsewhere. Bit sad really.

forgotmyname

If they drop the quote that much I would ditch them and go with the other insurer.  Doing quotes recently I have noticed a massive
increase in the number of basic policies coming in at the top where I selected windscreen cover and protected no claims etc.

Also the excess is often double the value I put.  Switched this year after being with the one company for many years, the renewal
and comparison prices is a massive gap which happens occasionally.

Quite a bit cheaper this year which is a surprise as many are saying theirs had gone up.

DullGreyGuy

Bigphil1474 said:

It does seem to be standard practise, probably because far too many businesses are about profit maximisation and not just making a fair profit. Motor Insurers have had a tough couple of years apparently, but they must believe there are enough people willing to pay the daft prices to offset those that are savvy and go elsewhere. Bit sad really.

2023 the Motor insurance industry paid out £1.13 for every £1 of premium it received, in 2022 it was £1.11... so can really see what you mean about making excess profits. 

With 140 sellers of motor insurance in the UK there are plenty out there willing to undercut their competitors to keep premiums competitive. 

Bigphil1474

That's really not what I said was it. Admiral Group are the biggest motor insurers in the UK and made £440m pre tax profit in 2023, up from 2022. The motor insurance industry is forecast overall to only pay out 93% of premiums this year as well.

My point stands that too many businesses are about profit maximisation - they set renewal prices artificially high hoping people won't question it. 

DullGreyGuy

Bigphil1474 said:

That's really not what I said was it. Admiral Group are the biggest motor insurers in the UK and made £440m pre tax profit in 2023, up from 2022. The motor insurance industry is forecast overall to only pay out 93% of premiums this year as well.

My point stands that too many businesses are about profit maximisation - they set renewal prices artificially high hoping people won't question it. 

£0.44bn before tax off of £4.81bn revenue so less than 10% profit. Of that £0.44bn profit £0.11bn is investment not revenue and £0.08 is their co-insurance profit share from 2020. Looking purely at profits from this year from revenue and it's not really excessive is it? 

Look at the 2nd largest private motor insurer and it's a very different story. If you remove the £444m they received for selling one of their businesses then DL had £3.9bn of revenue and a £0.17bn loss 

They cannot set "renewal prices" artificially high as the regulations require renewing customers to be charged no more than new business customers and so to spike renewing customers you have to spike new business 

DjangoUnchained

DullGreyGuy said:

Bigphil1474 said:

That's really not what I said was it. Admiral Group are the biggest motor insurers in the UK and made £440m pre tax profit in 2023, up from 2022. The motor insurance industry is forecast overall to only pay out 93% of premiums this year as well.

My point stands that too many businesses are about profit maximisation - they set renewal prices artificially high hoping people won't question it. 

£0.44bn before tax off of £4.81bn revenue so less than 10% profit. Of that £0.44bn profit £0.11bn is investment not revenue and £0.08 is their co-insurance profit share from 2020. Looking purely at profits from this year from revenue and it's not really excessive is it? 

Look at the 2nd largest private motor insurer and it's a very different story. If you remove the £444m they received for selling one of their businesses then DL had £3.9bn of revenue and a £0.17bn loss 

They cannot set "renewal prices" artificially high as the regulations require renewing customers to be charged no more than new business customers and so to spike renewing customers you have to spike new business 

doesnt really explain why my reneal quote was £800+ but with a quick 5 minute chat they were able to slash £200 off it. I thought they were supposed to offer previous customers the same rate as new customers now, without having to ask for it but seems it isnt so.