To think that insurance companies are scam artists

Renewals are automatically generated, based on the risk factors that company takes into consideration. You will always get access to the deals by ringing in. This is the same with many different businesses in many different sectors. Even the same if you bought something in the market for example, if you haggle you get a better deal. Obviously to a different magnitude!

Like I said I'm a customer too, I get it. My car insurance last year went up a massive amount and I hadn't even claimed! But it's not as black and white as people like to imply.

The rise in insurance prices in the past couple years is absolutely NOT something companies want to be doing.

To a certain extent I'm sure that's true. On the other hand car insurers absolutely take the piss.

Last year I paid Insurer A about £350. This year Insurer A came up with a renewal quote of over £600 for the same cover. I shopped around and found Insurer B offering pretty much identical cover for £450.

I then called Insurer A to tell them I'm not renewing with them, and mirabile dictu within minutes Insurer A's renewal quote magically went down to £430. I didn't renew with them because, frankly, that's predatory behaviour and they can get fucked. But that kind of behaviour doesn't tend to make me feel that insurance companies are being honest.

Do you live somewhere dodgy? ….I live in a NW market down….with a drive…..I have a 19 plate golf and my insurance was 420 quid….for me and my partner as named drivers

I heard it was due to all the electric cars, which get a ding and then cost mega bucks to repair.

I wonder how true it is...

DS was given a quote of £8000 (well a few pounds over) on a car that cost us £7499 - that I don’t understand.
In general I understand that repair prices/fraudulent claims/car theft and uninsured drivers have all increased meaning companies need to charge more for the same service.

Are you serious? I used to say I sell the only product in the UK where I tell people how to complain about it before they buy it, I tell them when they buy it, I tell them after they bought it, I tell them when they renew it and when they have any other interaction!
insurance is a business, it's not a charity. It's designed to make money. Therefore if the risk is too great, your not getting cover.

I think a friend of mine summed it up when we were motor customer service operators "if you went in one shop and mars bars were £1 but down the road they were 50p...you'd go down the road...you wouldn't go in the first shop and moan...so why are you phoning me to moan"

There's a huge number of factors why that companies premiums have jumped...after 20 years working for what was the country's biggest motor insurer...who now don't do motor insurance...I'll give you some of my favourites....

1. their actuaries are shite....ours put house premiums up 40% one year because they were convinced crime would rise...it fell...we lost £100 million in revenue in my section
2. they are pulling out of motor insurance
3. they personally have had a bad experience of that make and model 're claim numbers and cost
4. it's a high performance/luxury motor and they are target the more average market
5. you've added a young driver...but not on the new policy (had an hour complaint when they realised this and tried to add junior...we didn't insure under 21s)

You've got a better price so all in all

I’ll admit I don’t have the first clue about how premiums are actually calculated. But I still feel 100% sure that insurance companies are doing ok. They’re slippery bastards at the best of times and they’re definitely not going to lose out whatever the financial climate is!

Really! 😱
Licence to print money by the sounds of it.

None of that is remotely true. You clearly don't have the first clue about insurance pricing.

I work for a very well known insurance company. I've worked there over 12 years.

The rise in insurance prices in the past couple years is absolutely NOT something companies want to be doing. There's lots of different factors that cause premiums to change, including, your area, claims in your area, crimes in your area, your own personal risk, have you made a Claim, what's the value of your claim, the cost and impact of fraudulent claims, how the business is doing, are you in a Flood risk area, has there been adverse weather in your area, has your property have subsidence, have you added any items of a particular value (do these items still need specifying) amongst maaannnyy other factors.

I'm also a customer of insurance, I get it. The best thing you can do ahead of a renewal is shop around before accepting any quote. A lot of companies will meet your new quote.

If you're finding a premium which is significantly below yours, there's normally a reason. Check your policy, check the exclusions and endorsements, check the limits, check your excess and make sure it doesn't change depending on the cause of damage. I would also HIGHLY recommend checking customer feedback for the company if it's an unknown company. Trust me, if you're claiming for something that involves your home you will want the best service.

Don't just take out insurance because it's cheaper, make sure it's offering you what you want and need.

Hope that helps.

They made substantial profits in 2020/21/22 as we all drove less and hence less claims, remind me again if premiums dropped???

The figures i ve seen are 106% with 2023/24 returning to more historical profit levels of 94 to 96% but even if we take your 112% figure, how exactly does that justify a doubling/trebling of premiums?

This also has wider societal impacts, not least social care, where carers have to use their own cars, with business use car insurance.

No, as i said, its profiteering.

Yeah so a small uplift not doubling in prices that some have had when they haven’t had accidents. My house insurance doesn’t try and double like cars try and take in.

My house would cost a bloody lot more than my car to replace even half the contents.

Agree. If it's a legal requirement to have insurance, then the state should work with insurance companies to provide a cheap, no frills third party policy.

(Possibly undertaking in return to recruit more police officers so they can actually investigate vehicle crime properly 🙄)

That’s the whole point of insurance though, those of us not claiming are paying for those that are. Also, whilst you may not be an increased risk at renewal, the average repair cost is increasing, so if you make a claim, it’s going to cost the insurer more hence an uplift in premium.

Maybe they should just focus on putting those costs on to those claiming rather then bending over everyone else 🤷🏻‍♀️ there’s adding a few £ then there is adding £100’s to each persons premium.

They might be making money in other sectors but had record losses in car insurance in 2023. The net combined ratio across the motor insurance sector last year was 112%, that means for every £100 premium that comes in, costs and claims amount to £112, so tell us more about these rip off premiums? Maybe you’re the one who needs to use Google?

... because the industry made massive losses last year, and urgently needed to restructure the costs

Most are underwritten by something like the same 3-5 companies so most of the time your just changing the name on the letter head but it’s still the same insurance company at the far end.

The excuse my insurance company used was 'you had a no fault claim and we have to recoup the money from somewhere'. What about the previous 15 years of no claims?!! You didn't give me that money back!

What pisses me off even more - I was with LV who doubled my premium (£900 to £1850) so shopped around and found Allianz (£700) - who are owned by/own LV! Same bloody company. They aren't as flexible as LV as I found when I tried to add a driver for just a month and they will only do it for the duration of the policy but for that saving its worth it.

She car renewal was stupid came in at over a 70% increase no change. No new car or claimed. In fact his got his no claims since he passed his test.

It used to the be the older you got the cheaper the insurance became now it’s just up and up and up every year.

We did shop around and found a cheaper price but still you’d think these companies would want to say keep a reliable non accident kinda customer on their books. As it stands dhs pays out loads a year to never need a penny back but they clearly didn’t want to keep him.

I was quoted over £900 for buildings and contents insurance. I declined.
Car insurance went from £350 to £1020. No claim and protected NCD.

Could be that your risk algorithm has come up poorly for them this year, so they’ve priced to not retain your business. All kinds of pricing factors will influence including surprisingly length of tenure - after 4/5 years, customers are more likely to make a claim.
Always use Price Comparison, take into account tips like how far in advance to get a quote etc, and finally always call your existing provider if in the ball park of the right price for a ‘save the business’ quote.

Premium to pay out ration has returned to long term averages, but companies want more.

Same with forecourt fuel prices, profit margins around 2x what they used to be.
Local independent garages around me often cheaper than the Supermarkets, that was never the case..... firms now just hike prices.

There is not nearly enough regulation in this market. Not quite the same but we are having trouble getting buildings insured at work. There have been too many liabilities (globally not us) apparently and they are not making enough money! They can simply decline to insure us leaving us to close, sell or demolish buildings!

I wonder how realistic it is really to rely on the private sector for essential services.