Being a reliable driver gets you punished

kempiejon

Many of us can reduce fees by shopping around at renewal and of course bank a cash back.

I heard getting a black box insurance policy can help you reduce premiums by basing the cost on your actual driving, and NOT assumptions about factors such as your age.
Not suitable for people with something to hide as your driving is monitored. Not suitable for those with Dunning–Kruger syndrome, not suitable for those who drive long antisocial hours.

Dannydee333

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080272#Comment_82080272

If you have an accident, yes, you should obviously pay more, as is (I believe) the case. That doesn't mean you should still be paying higher in your sixties if it happens in your twenties. Ideally you would be bumped back up to a higher premium, and then you start to earn your reduction as the years go on.

Similar to how it works in general, for a couple of years or more - I think I had 4 years in a row where it had come down to about £350, then out of the blue it was just bumped back up to like 800 quid out of nowhere.

Genuinely scandalous.

Currently, my last year insurance was £600. This year the lowest I'm looking at is just over £700 (so far). So it's not the mighty jump I've seen before, with a different (not as good) car. From a consumer perspective it just doesn't make sense to see a jump up when you have literally done nothing wrong.

I don't accept the risk profile thing. I have been driving for 10 years and had zero accidents or claims. I'm only 41. To say "part of your premium is because you in a risk category" is BS to me, because it SHOULD be based on your history, NOT on a projection that "you might crash because other people have crashed so we need to charge you extra for that thing that might never happen".

Dannydee333

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080388#Comment_82080388

It's not even that long. This is probably the fault of apps like ThickTok for ruining attention spans.

flaneurs_lobster

"….NOT on a projection that "you might crash because other people have crashed so we need to charge you extra for that thing that might never happen".

We're getting there, that's a pretty good description of exactly how car insurance works.

If nobody ever crashed, there would be no need for insurance.

If everybody crashed, there would be no economical insurance business.

Because some people crash, and the risk of any one driver in the cohort crashing can be quantified, there is a functioning insurance market.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080795#Comment_82080795

The risk profile thing is probably the lesser of two evils.

At present, your risk is based on factors such as post code, type of car, parking provision, mileage profile, some personal characteristics, all processed on an aggregated basis to create a risk profile that results in your premium quote at around £700.

If the risk profile thing was done away with, it might be possible for the insurance market to assess your personal data in a far more critical and detailed manner that avoids the need to box you into aggregated risk profiles and facilitates a very personalised premium to be provided. It might even be that, all other things being equal, this highly personalised premium would mean you pay £600 instead of £700. However, to get to this highly personalised premium is not arrived at with all other things being equal as there is a significant cost to be covered by the full risk analysis so, instead of the highly personalised premium being at £600, it actually lands at £1k. Seems that the aggregated profile and the £700 is a better outcome.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080836#Comment_82080836

Yes, this.

We are seeing what happens when a product (car insurance) becomes commodified and mass-market.

The comparison sites and the underlying insurance products are designed to satisfy 95% (my guess) of the market. They are able to do this because the delivery channel and the pricing is highly automated and frictionless.

Makes the market highly competitive and therefore well-priced.

What it doesn't do is cater for the 5% (again, my guess) of outliers who are either very good or very bad risks.

They can buy from other, more specialised brokers/insurers but the resultant cost (for "better" drivers) is unlikely to be less than that quoted by the meercats.

HHarry

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080795#Comment_82080795

It’s great that you haven’t had an accident in 10 years, but that can’t be the only factor considered when offering a price.

You have a new car, that you may be unfamiliar with - that could increase the risk. The new car may not be “as good” but is it easier to steal? Are the parts more expensive? Are parts easily available?

There are so many factors and the insurance companies have all the data. Simply saying ‘I’m a safe driver’ is ridiculous.

forgotmyname

Being safer does not appear to make much difference. Accident free myself but my younger sister has had several accidents
for some strange reason adding her to my policy would decrease my premium. I had to try it on several comparison websites
to make sure it was not just the one and it was cheaper on all of them. (29 months younger)

Not cheap enough to actually add her though because I would need to keep tabs on her accidents to declare and she
would want to borrow my car knowing she was fully insured on it.

Insurance is a mystery, mine goes up and then drops for 2 or 3 years and then increases again. This year was the increase
so hopefully it will drop again next year although all these cheap chinese imports may push that up if they do not start
supplying spares.

Brie

Frankly having moved from Ontario to the UK 30+ years back I'm still grateful for the low motor premiums available here. I remember we had VW Golf that cost us about $7k a year to insure. The car was worth $8k. I currently have a VW up worth about £8k. Insurance is under £400. Even when we were both considered new drivers due to just getting UK licences the insurance was a minimal expense. I expect the difference is due to the possibility of being sued if one causes a serious accident in Ontario as opposed to here.

diveunderthebonnet

As the price of cars seems to increase every year is the price of insuring them not going to rise as well.

Regarding getting a black box fitted ,as i am over 75 it would make sense as older drivers tend to drive a bit more cautiously BUT several times i have had to brake sharply when some one has pulled out of a side road/junction and wondered if the hard braking would show up on the black box read out as some one who drives on the edge/breaking hard etc.