Car insurance postcode change - price hike

liamcal93
liamcal93 Posts: 7 Forumite
in Insurance & life assurance
So, my car insurance renewal is coming up, and it's coinciding with a house move.

I currently live with my parents in Leeds, LS26 postcode, and my girlfriend and I are about to complete on our house in Huddersfield, HD3 postcode.

On all the comparison sites, changing only the address can take my insurance premium from £400 up to £700. Why would that possibly happen? Considering that my new postcode is apparently less risky?

So frustrating, any ideas what I can do?!

Comments

  • paddyandstumpy
    paddyandstumpy Posts: 1,486 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Whilst you may consider it less risky apparently insurers don't share your view.

    Aside from following the MSE guide to reducing the cost of your insurance there is little you can do.
  • liamcal93
    liamcal93 Posts: 7 Forumite
    I'm only going off the websites that have the postcode risk ratings relating to car insurance, it wasn't just me guessing.

    Just seems a ridiculous jump to me?
  • AstroTurtle
    AstroTurtle Posts: 290 Forumite
    liamcal93 wrote: »
    I'm only going off the websites that have the postcode risk ratings relating to car insurance, it wasn't just me guessing.

    Just seems a ridiculous jump to me?


    The following crime statistics for the postcode area LS26 (Leeds) are based on official police recorded crime reports.
    • Vehicle/car crime 24% worse than average
    • Burglary 9% better than average


    The following crime statistics for the postcode area HD3 (Huddersfield) are based on official police recorded crime reports
    • Vehicle/car crime - 49% worse than average
    • Burglary - 25% worse than average

    It appears theft risk alone is higher but one thing you cannot check for is how other people from those postcodes drive. It could be that drivers with the postcode and area have higher claims ratio's than LS.
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  • Nasqueron
    Nasqueron Posts: 8,775 Forumite
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    bartont123 wrote: »
    I tried this app recently which was quite interesting, it shows you how insurers rate you... crime stats, what age is best for insurers etc - check it out

    Flagged as spam as this "app" appears to be linked to a firm of the same name offering insurance
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    AstroTurtle wrote: »
    The following crime statistics for the postcode area LS26 (Leeds) are based on official police recorded crime reports.
    • Vehicle/car crime 24% worse than average
    • Burglary 9% better than average


    The following crime statistics for the postcode area HD3 (Huddersfield) are based on official police recorded crime reports
    • Vehicle/car crime - 49% worse than average
    • Burglary - 25% worse than average

    It appears theft risk alone is higher but one thing you cannot check for is how other people from those postcodes drive. It could be that drivers with the postcode and area have higher claims ratio's than LS.


    It's utterly ridiculous that more stats are not kept. Using incode only for area analysis is useless. There are usually really good and really bad areas in such partial postcodes.


    Keeping it to Incode + 1 (digit of Outcode) would be much better.


    But it's what is kept these days. This is often the reason websites think I am in West Yorkshire when I am in North Yorkshire (Yes I have an LS postcode).
  • liamcal93
    liamcal93 Posts: 7 Forumite
    I agree, knowing the area somewhat, the street we are moving onto is in a quieter and nicer/more modern area, but it is lumped by postcode with other shall I say "not so nice" estates which I imagine most of the crime comes from.

    I understand they have to assess the risk somehow, but a 80% price hike based on 2 fairly comparable areas is just silly! On the sites that have postcode by risk ratings as apparently used by car insurance companies, the LS postcode is an F, and the HD postcode is an E?!
  • trailingspouse
    trailingspouse Posts: 4,035 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    It works the other way, too. We moved from a quiet cul-de-sac in the middle of nowhere that happened to have an Oldham postcode, to a main road on the outskirts of a small town that happens to have a Bradford postcode. Our car insurance went down.
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  • rudekid48
    rudekid48 Posts: 2,382 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    liamcal93 wrote: »
    I agree, knowing the area somewhat, the street we are moving onto is in a quieter and nicer/more modern area, but it is lumped by postcode with other shall I say "not so nice" estates which I imagine most of the crime comes from.

    I understand they have to assess the risk somehow, but a 80% price hike based on 2 fairly comparable areas is just silly! On the sites that have postcode by risk ratings as apparently used by car insurance companies, the LS postcode is an F, and the HD postcode is an E?!

    Those websites are a waste of space. No insurers use them, they all rate based on their own experience.
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  • societys_child
    societys_child Posts: 7,110 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    liamcal93 wrote: »
    . . . the street we are moving onto is in a quieter and nicer/more modern area, but it is lumped by postcode with other shall I say "not so nice" estates which I imagine most of the crime comes from.
    Ah, maybe that's the problem, the "not so nice" estates target the "quieter and nicer/more modern areas" . . making them higher risk? That's how it tends to work.
  • Aretnap
    Aretnap Posts: 5,203 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    liamcal93 wrote: »
    I'm only going off the websites that have the postcode risk ratings relating to car insurance, it wasn't just me guessing.
    There are no websites which have "the postcode risk ratings relating to car insurance" - these are specific to each insured and are not publicly disclose. There are a few dubious webaites which CLAIM to have this data, as a way of attracting clicks and boosting their Google page rankings, but the list they all use is IIRC Aviva's ratings for MOTORBIKE insuramce from 1990-something. It has absolutely nothing to do with midern car insurance prices.

    As Queen Victoria put it, don't believe everything you read on the Internet.
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