Bell put insurance up by 50%; clean license, no claims

DocQuincy

Talk about a loyalty tax…

I've been with Bell for many years. I have a clean license, drive a sensible car and have never claimed. Lived in the same house for nearly 20 years and it's fairly low crime. I passed my test in the late 90s and got insurance in my own name a few years after and have no claims since then — so I have long maxed out the discount.

I usually can't be bothered with shopping around. Each year it goes up and I put in a call with a price from a competitor and they match it (or close enough to not warrant going elswhere) so I don't have to give all my details again.

This year it went up £300 to £460! That's by far the biggest increase I've seen. I rang them up and they're adament it's their best price. I'll definitely shop around now and go elsewhere.

I got him to double-check there were no claims on my record and it was fully clean.

I just wondered if there was any reason for this. I'd heard car insurance went down a bit last year and up a bit again this year but 50%+? I did change my address temporarily for six months last year. I also got a lease car last year (Mazda 3, not a high insurance group) but they actually refunded me some money on the newer car. And the address change just cost me a small admin fee.

flaneurs_lobster

Don't sweat the loyalty thing, your current insurer will take not a blind bit of notice if you've been with them for 20 years or none. They just plug your details into their quote engine and tell you what it says.

Put your details into the usual comparison sites and see what they come up with.

No point speculating about reasons for the increase, we could all have a guess but doesn't help.

jayencee

my car insurance renewal quote went up by a third and when I queried it was told it could be due to increased claims in my area. Shopped around, found similar terms for last years price which I informed my current insurer about. Lo and behold a revised price was magically offered …

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6652435/bell-put-insurance-up-by-50-clean-license-no-claims

Reports in the press are normally looking backwards based on quotes from the likes of this website's parent (MoneySupermarket) or are forward predictions from consultancies. They talk about the average and it's not universal that everyone's is going up or down.

Pricing is ultimately driven by statistical analysis based on the insurers experience and their forward looking forecasts of what's going to happen to their expenses (claims and operations). If they have suddenly had a load of high value claims from Mazda 3 owners its likely that others with the same vehicle will face higher insurance prices, same if someone in your area, in your age group, profession etc. Often it's not one single thing but the compound effect of various attributes edging up.

"Loyalty Tax" is illegal for motor (and Home) so in principle others buying the same policy via the same channel as a new customer should be charged the same or more.

Shop around, not every insurer has the same experience, they also dont have the same strategic priorities and so you may find others are willing to quote you less for a similar policy, some may offer you a lower premium for a more basic policy or you may find everyone else is much more expensive and Bell are offering you a good price (probably means they were previously undercharging)

jazzy

My motor insurance also went up 50% for this year. I thought that motor insurance had come down in price for this year? I shopped around the comparison sites and I did get a quote similar to last years policy.

luci

I switch insurance between the OH and myself each year to keep both NCDs since we became a one car household.

Renewal is in 3 weeks time. My renewal quote was up by £6, which I though was pretty good. However, a new quote for the OH is 20% less than my quote. To date, there has only ever been around a £10 difference between us.

The decrease in premiums that Martin speaks about has been true for us this year, but not when he has mentioned the same in the past.