Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Insurance - 50% increase?!!

42 replies

LongDarkTeatime · 26/05/2023 15:15

Just got our home and contents insurance renewal.
Nearly soar my tea out when I read it - it’s increased 50 f*ing percent since last year.
We have never made a claim, no changes to circumstances, no crime wave (small area, we’d have heard about burglaries).
Did a search and most quotes were significantly higher than last year, but not as bad as 50%
Dreading car insurance renewal now.
What has happened? I’m mean … 50% 😲

OP posts:
Original poster
LongDarkTeatime · 26/05/2023 15:16

*nearly spat out my tea

OP posts:
Backtoreality1 · 26/05/2023 15:16

Time to compare the meerkat methinks!!

HollyBollyBooBoo · 26/05/2023 15:17

Yeah my car insurance was double from the same provider. Ultimately I paid £20 more than last year when I shopped around. Are they just trying it on?

parietal · 26/05/2023 15:19

go on the comparison sites.

I got a renewal quote of £1K on my car which went down to £500 when I switched and that wasn't even the cheapest switch.

I hate having to do the switches every year because it is a load of time and paperwork but it really does save money.

DelurkingAJ · 26/05/2023 15:21

I work in insurance. I’m sure you’ll do better if you shop around but a year ago inflation was priced in at c3%. Which means insurance companies (who’ve then had to pay claims out with inflation on them) have had a torrid year. So you’ve got an uplift for last year’s inflation which wasn’t in last year’s premium plus an uplift for the inflation that now is expected this coming year. Which equals OUCH!

DitherDother · 26/05/2023 15:21

I have a combined house and car policy that went up a lot, but I couldn't find it cheaper on comparison sites.

maddening · 26/05/2023 15:24

Put it through a price comparison- we can get it for much less than the renewal quote on there I have found.

Original poster
LongDarkTeatime · 26/05/2023 15:24

Tried a comparison site (will definitely be switching).
Best equivalent policy still 25% more than last year’s ‘I can’t be bothered to swap’ price.
That suggests all prices have gone up by 20%+
Why?

OP posts:
heyitsthistle · 26/05/2023 15:26

Find a comparison price online. Call up your provider and complain - often they'll match what you find.

It's such a shitty thing to have to do but it works (at least for my car insurance). Good luck!

red78hot · 26/05/2023 15:28

Don't buy the cheaper insurance first, have the screen ready to pay and then call your current provider, tell them you want to cancel due to price, they usually try and match it 😉

crochetmylifeaway · 26/05/2023 15:29

Mine was the same. I compared and managed to get it at "only" a 25% increase. It's ridiculous.

ditalini · 26/05/2023 15:33

I'd been with my home insurance company for 20 years 😮(pure laziness on my part, no claims in the last 10 years), and when they upped the premium by 20% this year that was enough to get me off my arse and onto the comparison sites.

I'm now paying about the same, but I have accidental damage, cover for far more items outside the home, legal cover, the works.

I could have halved my premium if I'd gone for the bog standard level of coverage that I'd had from my old company (More Than - taking advantage of existing customer for... oh, at least 20 years).

Original poster
LongDarkTeatime · 26/05/2023 15:35

heyitsthistle · 26/05/2023 15:26

Find a comparison price online. Call up your provider and complain - often they'll match what you find.

It's such a shitty thing to have to do but it works (at least for my car insurance). Good luck!

Partner just finished doing that.
Their last and final offer was moving from 50% to 35% increase.
Better but still …
@DelurkingAJ thank you for the explanation, it does help a bit. I’m NHS, working above my pay grade and unpaid overtime as they won’t up-grade job and can’t recruit to these pay-diminished roles. So hearing how corporations can just say ‘pay more to cover the costs’ makes sense but does hurt when we’ve got less and less chance of affording it.

OP posts:
briansgardenshed · 26/05/2023 15:38

It's been difficult and expensive to get car components, building materials have been hard to get hold of and have risen significantly in price, labour costs are higher in most sectors - so everything they've had to pay out on has cost more.
And Covid cost them dearly.
I also think people are claiming more, switching more, complaining more - and that increases admin costs. So I'm not surprised at all.
(My house insurance went up in May by about 30%. Couldn't get cheaper)

Coronationstation · 26/05/2023 15:48

my car insurance renewal was like that this year too. no changes to circumstances, no claims, and it went up by nearly 50%. It's fairly low to start with and shopping around I brought it down a bit but it was still a considerable increase.

OneFrenchEgg · 26/05/2023 15:56

Mine was up to 680 from 480 - I called and they couldn't reduce it. Did a search and changed at £490 elsewhere.

Theraffarian · 26/05/2023 16:08

was discussing this with one of our insurance bods at work today , he said expected average increase for house ins to be 30% this year, based on a few reasons including the increase in materials , goods , labour etc for claims and also the newish guidelines that insurance are no longer supposed to offer better deals for new customers , so a lot of the cheaper rates to hook peop,e in are no longer possible

BarbaraofSeville · 26/05/2023 16:08

briansgardenshed · 26/05/2023 15:38

It's been difficult and expensive to get car components, building materials have been hard to get hold of and have risen significantly in price, labour costs are higher in most sectors - so everything they've had to pay out on has cost more.
And Covid cost them dearly.
I also think people are claiming more, switching more, complaining more - and that increases admin costs. So I'm not surprised at all.
(My house insurance went up in May by about 30%. Couldn't get cheaper)

This. The delays with car components means that insurance companies have had to pay for several week's worth of car hire for people who's car is off the road, which will further bump up the claim.

There was also a rule change last year which meant that new and existing customer prices had to be the same, which I'm sure they'll use as a reason to bump up premiums.

Georgieporgie29 · 26/05/2023 16:13

Dh just currently sorting his car insurance. Up from £450 a year to £720 with his current provider. Cheapest on a comparison site is £710. No change in circumstances, it’s crazy how much it has gone up.

ShanghaiDiva · 26/05/2023 16:16

My renewal was 30% more, no claims. Found a comparable product from another leading insurer and asked my current provider to match it. They would not so I switched. They then sent me a survey asking why I cancelled…

LaraMargot · 26/05/2023 16:18

Tesco home insurance actually went down.
Hastings car wanted 37% increase, went elsewhere with price comparison website.

Plasticplantpot · 26/05/2023 16:24

It’s all a scam. Got new quotes for house and car and saved £50-100 on each with equivalent or better cover. Tesco car insurance was good and we got breakdown cover (RAC) included. I did tell Admiral that their competitors were offering better deals, having been a customer for a few years, but they didn’t seem to care. Such an odd way to run things and I thought they weren’t supposed to penalize you for being a long-standing customer now!

PainAuChocowhat · 26/05/2023 16:25

Our renewal, 2 weeks ago, was 64% higher than last year (£515 > £845). No change apart from the extra years no claims. I got a whole host of other quotes including the usual price comparison sites, and they were all in the same ballpark as the renewal premium - I think one might have been a tenner cheaper which just wasn’t worth the hassle of changing, perhaps we were just ‘lucky’ last year

SELondonLurker · 26/05/2023 16:25

Hi OP - we’re in the same boat. We have to go with the big home insurers due to some quirky household features, not really an issue though.

Last years premiums £650, this years £900!!!! No claims etc. We do have the highest level of cover with all the bells and whistles though.

I rang up another major provider to get a second quote (standard compare the market sites don’t really work for our house), and it came out about £850ish for their most basic package. No legal cover, extra items added on etc. They said no chance they could match the £900 from my original provider and sounded like I was getting a good deal. They told me the major price increase was driven by the Buildings Insurance and the rising cost of labour and materials.

Begrudgingly paid up and now just waiting for the car insurance renewal quote to knock me out …!

Original poster
LongDarkTeatime · 26/05/2023 16:27

Some scary increases! These types of insurance are a should have or a legal requirement (car insurance).

Thank you for the explanations on rising costs for the companies.

To manage stretched resources public servants, NHS, teachers etc have all be told they have to manage on more years of real terms pay reductions (obvs MPs still vote in their pay increase). So was wondering… have the senior staff/CEOs pay and dividends of these companies been frozen/ dropped to help with the materials & cost increases?

OP posts: