Penalised for car insurance by being SAHM

[Ginger1982]

So I have my insurance with Admiral. Had a couple of claims in last few years, 2 my fault having minor bumps in car parks, 1 earlier this year definitely not my fault. Renewal quote came in and they wanted over £200 more than last year. I then moved house and became SAHM so no longer needing commuting on policy so made those changes online to my policy and they wanted another £400 taking my quote to over £1k!

So I phoned and after much wrangling told them to cancel the policy at the renewal date in 2 weeks. I then went on a comparison site and got another quote, again from Admiral, for a lot less so set that up to start when previous policy ends.

I've just noticed on the documents however, that I'm now excluded from driving other cars 3rd party when I previously could. This seems to be as a result of effectively giving up my job. It won't affect me driving DH's car as I'm specifically included on his company car policy but I have borrowed my mum's occasionally if mine has been in the garage and now presumably I won't be able to do that unless she makes me a named driver. I'm going to phone them tomorrow to clarify but surely this is unfair. How can I be a greater risk at home than I would be travelling to work?

AIBU?

Same thing happens when you retire. Or if you are unemployed. I could go on. So it isn’t just SAHM that get penalised.

I was with admiral and after my first year of driving they put my quote up £400, I had had no claims but someone on a motorbike drove alongside me speeding and drove into my car when a pedestrian crossed the road, we had a witness, they accepted liability and their insurance covered repairs etc, admiral said it was due to that so I got a quote with LV and that was £500 cheaper, rang admiral to tell them to cancel and she was like 'let's double check all your details are correct Incase we missed something!' Then miraculously they quoted me £500 less! Bastards!

Lol, insurers are a pain!

Anyway, I called them and they said that I could drive other vehicles when my new policy starts in 2 weeks but I can't just now while my old policy runs out. Makes no sense to me seeing as I could on the initial renewal but when I made changes to the initial renewal yesterday they seem to have removed it for 2 weeks 🤔 but couldn't be bothered arguing about it!

Anyway, happy I can ultimately still do it.

I would have said they removed 3rd party cover because of your accidents, not your job. You've had 3 accidents recently, whether your fault or not, of course your premium will go up. You might be able to pay extra to get it, if I was them though I wouldn't let you. Its too risky for them, they don't want to pay out.

I never ever stay with a company for more than a year. I switch every year. Being loyal to insurance companies means nothing now.

Admiral every year with me bump up £200, then discount it after a phone call. They seem to try it on. This year they instantly discounted £268 on phoning (multicar) and insures one for £124. Mad policy but I get a good deal in the end

As an aside, I think it is bad that premiums go up by such a lot if you've had a no fault accident. This year an unoccupied car rolled down a hill and hit my unoccupied car. Losses recovered from other insurance company but my premium still goes up by £200? Totally get it goes up if it's my fault and would expect nothing less but seems unfair when not your fault. But I get it's all about 'risk.'

You've had several crashes and moved house. They've accounted for the crashes in your original renewal. Have you moved to an accident blackspot?

you can get day-by-day insurance if you occassionally want to drive other people's cars.
might work out cheaper that way.

but tbh 3 claims is a lot, maybe taking driving lessons would reduce insurance costs?

Have you declared all 3 of the claims on the new policy?

Hoopaloop not that I'm aware of!

Bluerunningshoes I scraped a parked car in a car park 4 years ago while pulling into a space and unfortunately did the same thing 2 years later. The incident this year involved a parked car's handbrake failing and rolling down a hill into my car. The first two were totally my fault and I was mortified and left notes obviously but having been driving for 18 years I don't think I need more lessons.

Qforcucumber of course!

@Ginger1982 it doesn't necessarily go up it depends on your risk profile to that individual insurer.

I had 2 no fault claims and changed insurers to get a lower premium. I played around using fake details and found even without the claims my insurance with that insurer would be the same*.

However I did notice in my policies small print that 3 claims in a year could have triggered problems.

*You must be really careful if you do this as an insurer can block you from buying insurance from them.

Admiral are truly awful. I was recently left for days without a car (through no fault of my own) pregnant and living in a rural village without transport and they couldn't have cared less! My renewal quote was around £1800 after being with them 8 years!! Got it for less than half that with Direct Line with better cover and extras and lower excesses. I'd cancel within the cooling off period and look elsewhere.

Admiral lied to us, by saying if we had daughter's car on a multi car policy (which we could get a quote on when our big car's insurance expired) then it would be cheaper overall. They took all the details of the car - so they knew what they were insuring, then, when our existing insurance expired, refused to insure her in it.
So we argued the case to retain the lower insurance price of her car as though it was a multi car policy, and reinsured with daughter as named driver on existing poicy of big car for just a few extra £. On listening to the salesy woman's pitch they agreed she had lied to get our business.

Op insurance is risk based, fairness really doesn't come into it and your insurance company doesn't care what your occupation is.