To be shocked that my insurance premium has TREBLED?

[AmyStake]

I took out my car insurance policy this time last year. I drive a 2005 Ford Ka. I was living in a different city, my insurance premium was £500.

Just got my renewal quote for this year. £1200!!! All I have done is change address. That is it. No accidents, no change in circumstances, nothing. My car is in a private car park in a quiet part of Manchester.

So I phoned the insurance company to say what the hell is this? They check my post code, details etc and tell me they had the wrong postcode in for me and my insurance premium would actually be £1500. I got pretty pissed off and spoke to the loyalty team who did a really shit job, I asked the guy to justify the large increase in price. His answers were "you changed address" and "insurance prices have gone up". Dick. I asked him to clarify how moving address put my insurance policy up £1000 and he wouldn't expand, just kept repeating prices have gone up and I changed address.

I'm really fucked off and shocked.. to be honest now this is the final straw. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my car. Its only worth about £2k anyway! I just can't afford £130 a month. That is ridiculous.

Have you looked else wheare? Look on Martin Lewis money saving website for the best way to save money on your insurace.

I was quit shocked when I got my reniewal through this year as it was well over £100 more then last. But I shopped around got a price much the same as last year, then rang my insurace company who took of £75 with one phone call as I had better qoutes else where. Doesn't take much time to do and was well worth it.

Go on a price comparison website and find a cheaper quote. These insurance companies are at it.

Mine sent a letter telling me about the gret new quote they could offer me for renewal. The same company would give me insurance for nearly £400 less online. I phoned to explain this and suddenly, yes, they could offer me that cheap price.

Bunch of con merchants.

Just been doing CompareTheMeerkat.com. Even on 3rd Party Fire and Theft I'm still looking at £1000+. I'm not paying that. This is unbelievable. If I didn't have my car I would save a lot of money but.. I'd be without my car. :S

Nope, just checked GoCompare and I'm still looking at £1500 and thats if I put a ridiculous deposit down. Looks like bye bye car :(.

Ive heard that its better to ring round yourself than go to comparison sites. You ring a company up and say you've been quoted x amount, they will try to beat that. Then you ring someone else up etc etc etc. Yes some will say they cant beat it, but a lot will want your custom so will give a better quote.

TBH I cant be arsed with ringing round and round and round, but that is what Ive been told is the best way to get it down.

A lot of the time insurance companies will give you a renewal quote and hope that you CBA shopping around and will just pay.

Having said that insurance HAS gone up. Part of it because of this new ruling where they are not allowed to take your gender into consideration as its sexist so they have hiked up female prices to be in line with male prices. Also partly cos their costs have gone up as has everything else.

Ive seen and heard many people saying about the rising price of insurance

I sorted out my insurance this morning for a new car. And it has nearly trebled aswell.

Also bear in mind the EU has passed something which means that women drivers insurance have been brought into line with mens, whereas before we were looked at differently, hence lareg increases aswell.

Everyone's insurance premiums for everything is going up significantly over the next couple of years. There is one simple rason for this, a new EU wide insurance regulation called Solvency II that will be coming soon. Solvency II means that insurors need to show that they have a certain amount of cash on hand to deal with projected liabilities. Put simply, insurance companies need to show they have enough cash in hand to pay for possible claims. At the moment most of them don't, so they need to build up their cash reserves very quickly. The easiest and fastest way to do this is increased premiums for everyone.

Solvency II is about tighter regulation and transparency in the insurance industry. Now we just need them to fix up banking.

OP, I live in Manchester too and my car insurance has also trebled. It went up from £550 to £1700. I finally found a company (DIamond) who would insure me for £890. Absolute rip off. None of my circumstances had changed except that I have another year's no claim discount although this clearly makes no bloody difference!

It is absolutely terrible but try arranging insurance for a teenager when they are learning to drive!! This is what happens to insurance when people use "no win no fee" sharks to try to extort money from people to get compensation. Fully support people claiming money for genuine injury but here is now so much fantasy associated with many of these case plus the accident management companies "arranging car hire and dragging their feet over repairs to increase the amount of money claimed." in the end honest people simply have to pay more to cover it all.

Sorry rant over. The government is allegedly looking in to this otherwise people won't be able to afford to insure themselves. How the hell youngsters manage unless they have rich parents I don't know.

It was very well documented this year, the car insurance is going through the roof due to all compensation claims and/or fraudulent claims that shot up last year. I am absolutely dreading getting my renewal quote for my two cars in june. I have 9 years no claims and keep the cars in the locked garage in a "good" postcode, but it is still going to be increased.

my sons went from £660 to £2600 with no justification - same address etc etc but shopped around and got it to £700 - it was never £2600 when he was a learner on a provisional licence

my own has just stayed the same

think they are 'screwing' younger drivers

used to work in car ins, change of address can bump up premiums , so so many no win no fee claims are putting at least £50 on each premium and loads of fraudulent claims for whiplash etc are putting more money on. The new law about men paying more has not even come in to play yet. Third party fire and theft is now hardly ever cheaper than fully comp. try putting another driver on policy as long as they are experienced and over 25 that sometime helps. use every comparison site and ones that are not on like direct line and swift cover. my ins this year was up £85 and i have very low milage, 18yrs no claims and garaged overnight. good luck

NEVER EVER RENEW TILL YOU HAVE SHOPPED AROUND .
YOUR EXISTING COMPANY WANTS TO KEEP YOU SO TELL THEM WHAT GOOD QUOTES YOU HAVE AND THEY MAY MATCH THEM, NO LIES THOUGH AS THEY CAN CHECK QUOTES.

Postcode makes a huge difference. Mine use to be:

Rural Derbyshire - £200/year
4 miles down the road very last house on very edge of Sheffield,but Sheffield postcode despite being in the middle of nowhere - £800/year.
Same car, same driver, 1 yr more no claims!

I can see the private car park being an issue too, as I looked into this option once in Sheffield too and premium quoted was very high.

If you/your DP/any close relations have ever worked in the public sector or civil service, then have a look at insurance by LV through the Civil Service Motoring Association Mine halved.

It does go the other way - we moved from an East Midlands city to a rural South West village and our premiums dropped significantly. Our rent, however, is another story

Midoriway, insurance companies in the UK have had to hold capital to prove they can meet their liabilities for a long time under solvency I and the twin peaks regime. I really can't see Solvency II having a massive effect on premiums.

Car insurance has gone up a lot because insurance fraud is on the increase, the cost of materials has gone up and claims for injuries have gone up a lot with no win no fee lawyers becoming more common here. Insurance companies make bugger all profits on car insurance, you have to blame all those people inflating their claims to blame for the price increases.

It sounds like I've been really lucky this year. My renewal quote was lower than previous years insurance cost (multicar), and I checked around and could not beat it or get anywhere near it. Just for my car alone it was going to be £300-£500 more than the multicar renewal for 2 cars.

Dread to think what next year's will be like though.

My son used Elephant Insurance and saved loads, not sure how much though!

My premium more than doubled this year. Got it down to £50 less than the last years premium with LV through Go Compare (which I swore I'd never use because of the annoying adverts!! Needs must and all that ) - so it's worth a try.

i had something similar

I drive a wreck of a 4x4 (i use it to pull DD horse box before I'm jumped on). It is a 14 year old ford explorer worth about £800

Last year my insurance was about £350. This year, the same firm told me it would be £1400 and they would take the payment using last years details unless i told them not too!

I haven't moved or had any accidents.

That company cleary lost my custom and we found someone who could give me insurance for a similar price to last year.

trixymalixy- the problem with solvency I is that it doesn't really work, hence the need for solvency II. The capital requirement that already exists is blithely ignored by insurance firms, because the regulators have no proper teeth. Solvency II tightens up the regulatory requirements, meaning now insurance firms actually have to have the capital that were always meant to have, but never really did.

Disclaimer- I do not work in insurance, but DH sells Solvency II solutions to board rooms, so depressingly I know more about Solvency II than any intellectually lazy wifey should.

They asked me if I wanted to renew it and I said no! I've checked online and even third party fire and theft is £1000 a year, still double more than I was paying last year for comprehensive.

I'm hearing though if I keep my car in the car park uninsured I have to have a SORN now?