To think that insurance companies are scam artists

If anyone's got police or ex police in their family or inlaws go with police mutual. None of this bollocks going on with those.

Mine went up 35%. No accidents, full no claims. I tried shopping around but couldn't save much. I asked if it was because of the Range Rovers, etc, being stolen in my local borough and they said no. It's because repair costs are going up. I haven't even had any repairs! Robbing bastards.

It's got very little to do with the value of the car. The claims that really cost insurers big money (£millions) are bodily injury claims - e.g. where someone ends up needing care for the rest of their life.

Young men are statistically most likely to get into accidents and most likely to cause the bodily injury claims that cost the insurers so much. Hence why their premiums may bear little relationship to the cost of the car being insured. You are not really insuring against damage to the car, but against being in an accident that causes life changing injuries to someone - whether that be a friend who is a passenger or an innocent third party.

Your old insurer doesn't fancy writing people like you any more. Your new insurer does. You've got a decent price. Everyone's happy.

It's because your specific insurer doesn't want to continue to write your specific risk. That's why when you go on a comparison site, you get quotes from say £500 to £5000.
Underwriters change what they want to write over time.

Statistically the 17-24 age group (particularly male) are much more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than a middle aged woman. That's just facts. This is a pretty old document but it makes for sobering reading. Young drivers (at the time of the report) made up 7% of drivers and accounted for 30% of fatalities or serious injuries.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80782ded915d74e33fa9b6/young-car-drivers-2013-data.pdf

Because, statistically, the combination of your DS and the specific car are multiple times more likely to do so.

It is as simple as that.

As I’ve just said above - so could I or you so why isn’t everyone’s in the thousands?

It's because if your DS has a momentary lapse of concentration when giving his mate a lift home one night his car insurer could end up paying twenty million quid in personal injury claims. You can give somebody a catastrophic brain injury just as easily in a cheap car as an expensive one.

X posted. Yes anyone could cause that sort of injury, but nineteen year olds do it much more often, and they're much more likely to be giving lifts to other very expensive nineteen year olds.

But so could I or you and mine isn’t in the thousands.
In fact I would argue I would cause more damage in my much larger much more powerful car should I have a lapse of concentration.
Also I think as an experienced driver that is more likely due to complacency.

@thefireplace you're right, they don't. But they do impose some very strict and clear regulations around how insurers can price their products, and what constitutes fair value to customers.

What did you manage to get it for in the end, OP?

Insurance doesn't just cover the cost of the car, more importantly it also covers your legal liability for damage caused to others property and injury and death caused to others. This is the legally required part of motor insurance and the payout is unlimited.

Your DS could easily cause life changing injuries to multiple people with his car. If it was his fault then his insurer will be liable to pay medical costs, long term care costs, loss of earnings, adaptations to someone's home etc etc. It can run into millions of pounds.

Or he might just hit a car worth a lot more than his. Or damage a building.

Or do all of the above at once.

That's something most people don't consider.

It will be something to do with your risk level. Mine actually went down when it renewed this month.

Has there been a lot of thefts or uninsured motorists in your area?

UK financial services are amongst the most heavily regulated in the world. I've been in the business for over 30 years. So many small brokers are shutting up shop because compliance with the FCA rules is so complex and burdensome for a small outfit.

A lot of the premium rises are because of liability claims. That teenage son you're complaining about ridiculous insurance premiums for? It's not paying out for his £4k Corsa they're pricing for. It's the 3 mates he leaves in a vegetative state that will get millions of pounds in a personal injury claim.

Say "not my kid" all you like, then Google "teenage driver car accident killed" and see how many cars full of teenagers are killed and seriously injured by young, inexperienced drivers.

The premiums of the many pay for the claims of the few and some of those claims are eye-watering.

That underwriter doesn't want you, you have fallen out of their criteria, but someone else will. Go on to a comparable site and put in your details

Hence that saying "there's nothing so expensive as cheap insurance".

Going with the lowest premium and assuming all cover is the same is a mistake. It's always worth looking at the claims payout data and the claims handling satisfaction info.

I work for a home insurer. Sometimes we are staggeringly more expensive than other companies. But we consistently pay out on 95-97% of our claims and our average payout is over £20k. Most home insurers average payout is £10k.

In terms of 'why has my premium gone up if I've not claimed' - insurance is about pooling and sharing risk with others. Your premiums aren't going into a pot and ringfenced for your use - that's a savings account. Your premiums are in the pot to help pay everyone's claims. So if there are more claims being made overall, and / or the claims are more expensive to settle, than your premium will go up.

Car parts are more expensive. Labour costs more because mechanics etc have had pay rises. Everything that your insurer will have to pay for in the event of a claim now costs more than last year, or the year before. I have also heard about the electric car thing mentioned by a pp. A minor ding on an EV can necessitate the replacing of the battery because it may have done damage that can't be seen but could result in an explosion down the line. So those claims are hugely expensive and as more and more cars on the road are EV, the cost of insuring any car will go up, because a) you could hit an EV, and b) the shared pot.

The UK isn't special, why can our friends in Europe insure their car for a 1/3rd of what i have pay?

Why is dentistry in Germany (hardly a cheap economy) cheaper than in the UK? and when you look at Spain and Portugal, the differences are even greater.

We are mugs thats why.

Yes, the renewal prices are auto-generated. But so is the "special deal" price, isn't it? The bloke I spoke to on the phone simply tapped the numbers into the computer and it came up with a new number. It's not like there was a bunch of brokers and actuaries sat round a table negotiating that new price specifically for me. It's all algorithm.

There was, presumably, enough profit at the £430 price for them to be comfortable offering it. So the £600 price was simply them being thieving rob-dogs, as my old nan used to say.

Your comparison to market traders is disingenuous. If you go to a market you know you're going to get dodgy behaviour. But an insurance company is supposed to be offering a professional service that I am legally required to have. And they still try to rip me off to a contemptible degree.

I'd have a lot more sympathy with insurance company's claims regarding increased costs if they didn't perpetrate such blatantly shady behaviour at every opportunity.

FCA does not set premiums or control prices, are you really sure you work in the industry?

@thefireplace yeah I do actually. It's literally my job. And there is absolutely pricing regulation around insurance. I take it you've heard of the FCA?

But a random like you on MN does..... lol!

None of what i said is wrong though is it?

Compulsory product, no pricing regulation...

4 or 5 large players running the industry....

Licence to print money.

Labour have already said (pre election) they will launch an inquiry into out of control car insurance costs, especially needed as we now have the lowest car and personal injury claims on record.

It’s why we end up with more and more uninsured drivers which ironically insurance companies then go well that’s exactly why we have to put it up. Pushing more people to play fast and loose. Need a car to work but your insurance has doubled now your fucked. Do you risk it and hope.. or don’t quit your job wait can’t do that UC wont pay… can’t walk an hour to work down the side of an A road with no path and no busses run to that area. Wait to get fired I guess.

People not all but some genuinely need cars.
if people can’t say get to warehouses which don’t pay great all the time and are often in bum fuck knowhere when it comes to public transport. Nobody is getting anything. Not Tesco or Amazon or any other company you like to shop with. So what’s the solution…

When your at home careers cannot afford insurance for the terrible pay they get then what? When nurses and midwifes can’t get in for their night shift because ding ding public transport either isn’t running at those times or the area isn’t safe to walk though then what.

The Law states you need insurance then there should be some type of policy that anyone and everyone can afford.

Agree.

m we pay all of this money - a young girl reversed into me - and I made my first ever claim in nay 12 years of driving, the damage is repairable and they want to write- off my car. They don’t even want to pay a tow company so that I can get a quote.

What am I paying for! We give them thousands of pounds and they raise it when they want but they don’t help when you need them.

I am dreading next years fee!