To think the cost of car insurance is outrageous.

[GothAnneGeddes]

There has been no change in our circumstances but our car insurance has nearly tripled and that's after looking on all the comparison websites and a few of the companies not on comparison websites too.

This just cannot be right.

I know the companies claim that they're having to increase their premiums due the number of uninsured drivers, but surely pricing most people out of even purchasing car insurance is not going to help matters.

When having a car is essential for many people and the cost of public transport is also increasing rapidly, this just seems really unfair and wrong.

It's been pissing me off as well. Insurance went up again this year to £800 - the car is only worth 400. I've got 9 years no claims and have been driving for 20 years. Absolute bunch of arse.

Given that none of the scrapes were our fault (and were settled in our favour) I don't really see why we can be blamed for them. Why did our premium go up an extra £200 when someone reversed into our car when it was parked outside our house for eg?

Not having insurance is illegal and stupid, but it doesn't make the driver any worse at driving than someone who does have insurance.

It will get cheaper eventually but that fact doesn't help young people who need cars in order to work but find the costs of running a car crippling.

it is yeah

14 years ago as a 17 year old who had just passed my test it cost £500 a year

its STILL BLOODY £500 a year and i have never had an accident and just drive a run of the mill car

and now i hear that teens "these days" are paying about £3k to insure their first cars

its disgusting and should be clamped down on

Your premium went up because of statistics TeWihara. On average, a car that's been hit while it was parked last year is more likely to be hit next year than one that wasn't - because on average they're being parked in riskier spots.

insurance companies who don't load for people who've had no fault claims will lose out to those who do.

Like AnyoneButLulu says, it's not just whether you're at fault or not. Statistically, once you've had an accident you're more likely to have another one.

Your insurance contract will say that you're obliged to inform the insurer if you have a damage incident, even if someone else is to blame and even if you don't want to claim for your own damage. The very fact that you've had an incident will indicate to them that you're a higher risk.

its disgusting and should be clamped down on

Are you thinking that insurers are making some huge profit out of teen drivers?

From what I've read, the majority of them would be quite happy to never insure another teenager but for the fact they want a chance of retaining some business from them once they're a lower risk.

Selling my car for a brand new Toyota aygo. Insurance is a third what it was in my 4wd and tax is just £20 a year I am thrilled to bits. Would have picked the car up at the weekend but the garage mucked up.

Downsizing is going to save masses of money Insurance is ridiculous on anything large!!

For young drivers, insurers actually pay out more than they take in premium, so yes, they'd generally rather never insure them.

The greatest rise in premium is actually to do with the market downturns - insurers used to invest the premiums on the stock market and make money on it that way. Now thats just not bringing in the income, so they need to up premiums

I've just re-insured my car and for the fourth year in a row, the cost has gone down! every year I wait for the renewal notice with dread because I keep reading about the massive increases and yet it hasn't happened yet!

OTOH, DC is about to take driving test and will then be faced with not being able to drive for goodness knows how long, since we cannot afford the £2500 our insurers want to have DCs name added to my insurance!

Whilst I do not condone it at all, I can understand why some youngsters decide to take a chance and drive uninsured. The prices quoted to DC to insure their own car are completely ridiculous - almost more than they are earning!

That's interesting CMOT.

Technically we live in a less accident prone area now, it just turns out our neighbour is an idiot, so I suppose they are right to say it is more likely to happen again.

But it just means there is another insurance related thing we can't do anything about (I don't get to vet my neighbours driving skills after all, and we can't magically age any faster) and just have to keep paying out for, regardless of anything we do. It's so frustrating to have bills that keep going up despite your best efforts.

My premium went down after I had a claim. It was a largish claim (with liability admitted by the other party), and I think that it might have been the fact that I didn't claim for personal injury that made the difference.
Of course the fact that I wasnt actually injured seemed to be of little relevence to the legal cover people.

We're lucky to live in a quiet area, so our costs are down.

We've a 2.0 litre diesel people carrier and for OH and I the premium was under £300.

We've also got a small car which our boys (one with a full licence, one with a provisional) drive and we managed to insure that for us and them, fully comprehensive, for only £1000.

Well some scumbag broke into my car recently and cost £1800 of damage, even though he didn't even take anything or the car. He did 3 cars within about 10 mins apparently. There were witnesses. Nothing will happen to him though. I have paid the excess and my premiums will go up. Will his benefits get docked? - of course not. Will he get punished in any meaningful way? No. Will he do it again? Of course.

And none of that is the fault of the insurance company

My almost 18 year old ds1 has just insured a car with a 1.1 engine that cost £495 to buy and the insurance is £4650

But he gets free breakdown cover! Woo hoo

well we have 2 cars insured for £160 - for the year

That's for both by the way, not each

We have 2 classic cars (which DP does drive as everyday cars!) and the insurance is £100 a car - so worth doing as both are tax exempt as well.

That just about means we can afford the insurance on my (normal) car, which is as high as it was when I first started driving, but I am under 25 so we take the hit now and hope the situation will improve. Last year my renewal quote doubled - I shopped around and got it back to a similar level though.

For younger drivers, it's worth looking at cars that aren't your typical young driver cars, and I don't even mean boy racer cars like saxos, even little micras etc can be expensive because they are becoming the only cars boy racers can afford as insurance goes up. My friend was playing around on comparison sites the other day and found that it was cheaper to insure an old-ish 2litre diesel something-or-another than a 1 litre micra as a 17 year old! crazy hey, but it might be worth looking at.

Borninastorm - That is absolutely disgusting. Disgusting. They might as well raise the age to learn to drive, rather then fixing so that only rich young people can drive.

I think the reason for our premiums being so high is the area we live in: big city, higher then average number of people with a loose grasp on the concept of private property. .

I'd like to get my own car (only passed my test last year), but we're holding off purchasing a car until I really, really need one because it would probably cost double what we're paying already, and then if you can't pay it in one go, you get charged a wacking APR.

My almost 18 year old ds1 has just insured a car with a 1.1 engine that cost £495 to buy and the insurance is £4650

But he gets free breakdown cover! Woo hoo

thats disgraceful borninastorm

if thats not blatant profiteering i don't know what is!! esp as when i was 17 i was only paying £500 a year (and it was only 14 year ago so not that long ago really)

We are under 25, have had a few minor scrapes (as above) and pay around >1k a year to insure a 15yo corsa. Because we can't afford to pay it in one >go the interest on the monthly payments makes it 1.5k!

Sorry to ressurect an old thread, but I just noticed this and should like to reply to TeWihara.

If you don't want to pay the year's insurance in one go, one thing you can do is:

1. Get a credit card which allows at least a year interest free credit (e.g. M&S which allows 18 months);

1. Pay the whole year's insurance from that;

1. Set up a standing order from your bank to the credit card of 1/12 the total amount to extend over the year;

1. Cut the card in half and throw it away.

1. Go to 1.

On a different matter, these whiplash claims completely piss me off. I have been hit twice by these in recent years. In the first one, the allaeged victim's car was stationary throughout the incident. In the second, the person was driving uninsured and the "medical expert"'s report was dated subsequently to the duration after the incident for which the whiplash was being claimed.

My friend forgot to send off her renewal consent form recently, so the insurance company cancelled it. Their quotes have gone from around £400 per annum to about £900 because they have 'had previously had their car insurance cancelled'. Sure, I can understand why companies would charge more to people with a history of not paying their direct debits, but I can't see how its fair for one mistake to raise the cost quite so much.

I got 3 points for 'jumping' a red light, I would have argued it but didn't want to get lumped with a further 3 points and a massive fine so I didn't. My insurance went up by £200 per year, and will remain high for as long as the points are there. I would have actually saved money had I argued the original offence. Meh. (I saw the light turn to red as I passed, so technically I went through on amber).