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Original poster

To think that this cannot be justifiable?! Insurance

81 replies

PyongyangKipperbang · 15/08/2023 12:36

I stayed with the same car insurance for three years as the price was about the same as when I did price comparison, had had good service from them and it had some good extras. ,

This year, nothing changed except another years no claims, and they have tripled the price! Its almost £1500! I know that sometimes renewals get loaded as some people are just lazy and dont bother changing, and in fairness I might have done the same if the increase was roughly in line with inflation (although would have checked others just in case) , but that much is just ridiculous surely no one would go for it?!

I am 50, no claims or convictions, same car as last year so no change there, there is literally no reason why it would go up. I wondered if it was my age but I cant see that turning 50 should have that much of an impact and I have done price comparison and that is coming out roughly (well a little more) than last year, so if it is my age no other insurance companies are bothered! Obviously will be changing. But when I called they said that it was "industry standard" increase and were adamant that that was the only price they could quote. Got the impression when I said what prices I had had from comparison websites that they thought I was lying to try and get them to lower their price!

OP posts:
Badleg85 · 15/08/2023 12:38

That ridiculous I regularly change insurers because they piss me off with this. I shouldn't have to use comparison sites, if they want my loyalty and money they should be the ones checking no one can offer me a better deal. My renewal went from £280 to £420 with ensure. Changed to AA and got it for £300

MintJulia · 15/08/2023 13:09

YANBU. I has similar this year.

Last year I paid £265. This year the renewal was £508. I haven't changed car, address, had any convictions or claims. Clean licence, 23 years no claims bonus. I was mystified so phoned Co-op Insurance up to ask why. Pointed out that inflation is 10% not 100%

Then I pointed out that they'd said I didn't have an alarm or immobiliser (I do). And that they'd entered the car value at £1400. (I'd told them £14,000) So I pointed out all their errors, and they renewed my quote to .....£864.

I think they just choose a number from the air, and see if they can get away with it. I went elsewhere and got fully comp on the same terms for £361.

OwlsDance · 15/08/2023 13:21

Yeah, I had insurance with LV, it was 555 last year, went up to 782. Went to comparison sites, got new insurance for 440! I didn't even bother questioning LV, just called up to cancel.

Summerwhereareyou · 15/08/2023 13:46

@MintJulia where did you go...

I've heard insurance quotes see absolutely awful at the moment..

MintJulia · 15/08/2023 13:50

@Summerwhereareyou I went with Aviva in the end.

I think each insurance company has a target market - safer older drivers, or those driving performance cars, or those with lower value cars etc.

Ringing round each year means I can work out which company wants which group that year. One of those tedious annual tasks to avoid being ripped off.

TeenagersAngst · 15/08/2023 13:53

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66466626

TeenagersAngst · 15/08/2023 13:54

This article suggests a 21% increase. My renewal quote was 70% higher but 300% is quite impressive!

Summerwhereareyou · 15/08/2023 13:55

Thanks mint.

I don't know how it works a thread the other day was all over the place, avica too high somewheres else the dropped but did nt for someone else

PriamFarrl · 15/08/2023 13:57

I had the same. I’d been with Direct Line for Home, car and pet insurance. The car renewal was through the roof this year. I went with Aviva.

Original poster
PyongyangKipperbang · 15/08/2023 13:57

I was absolutely gobsmacked when I saw the quote! I just cannot see how on earth they can say its a fair increase, yet that is what they tried to imply!

As it is, got a quote with a decent company at less than I was paying last year so I will be going with that.

OP posts:
Fairyliz · 15/08/2023 13:59

It’s just so bloody irritating, I just don’t understand how it works for the insurance companies. They lose customers they have had for say 10 years with no claims; then have to spend money on advertising, manning phones and setting up new customers.
If they just put the price up say 10% I would have just accepted it.

DuvetCoverNightmare · 15/08/2023 13:59

I’m actually paying more for my insurance this year than last year. Only change is that I have another years no claims.
I tried all the comparison sites and the ONLY quote that was cheaper than I was currently paying meant I had to enter driving data on an app.
Utterly ridiculous

Motomum23 · 15/08/2023 14:01

Insurance seems to have jumped massively this year. Last year I paid £400 fully comp on my 9 seater (which is a good price). Same company this years wants £1500 3rd party... obviously I shopped around and found a probably crap company for £300 fully comp... but as long as I'm legally covered I dont care if it's a crap company. Been driving 20 years without having to make a claim. Dreading when my Ds turns 17 next year

ActDottie · 15/08/2023 14:02

I’m surprised it wasn’t an error on their part!

Ours went up a lot this year (inflation I think) but only from £350ish to £480 (I then negotiated it down to £422!). I’d definitely leave the insurer that increase is mad!

ntmdino · 15/08/2023 14:05

PyongyangKipperbang · 15/08/2023 13:57

I was absolutely gobsmacked when I saw the quote! I just cannot see how on earth they can say its a fair increase, yet that is what they tried to imply!

As it is, got a quote with a decent company at less than I was paying last year so I will be going with that.

It is a logical increase, if and only if they also told you the actual reasons behind it.

Basically, they don't expect you to pay that much for your insurance; for whatever reason (usually demographic), they don't want you as a customer any more. However, they can't just cancel or refuse your business, because there are legal implications to that and they'd open themselves up to a lawsuit. So....obscene price increases solve that problem.

Summerwhereareyou · 15/08/2023 14:11

I also dont understand why they want to loose good customers

Swimbius · 15/08/2023 14:15

I've had a similar increase - renewal is over £1300. I've got 13 years of no claims, no convictions etc . A quick look on renewal sites and the very cheapest is still 700 and it's some one star rated company I've never heard of. Next cheapest is still over £1000

Summerwhereareyou · 15/08/2023 14:16

I take it people are looking the month beofe it's expiring and not leaving it till the last min?

PearTreeBoat · 15/08/2023 14:23

It's due to how insurance works.

The high street insurance companies have underwriters who are in effect setting the insurance prices for the companies.

Insurance is all about risk, they are not saying all of a sudden they think you are much more likely to have an accident than you were last year. In simple terms the underwriters will look at what claims the insurance company had to payout for and therefore determine the risk (or likelihood) of claims within those categories again.

For example if the insurance company had had a lot of claims from females, 48-52, driving a similar class car to you and living within the same rough geographical area then the risk/likelihood of other females 48-52 in the same area with similar cars making a claim is higher.

Obviously each insurance company is risk assessed based on their own claims hence the disparity in the quotes from different companies.

floribunda18 · 15/08/2023 14:43

I changed insurers using one of the comparison sites with exactly the same car insurance cover and got it for less than I was already paying before the renewal proposal increase.

And that was because Direct Line put the premium up about 35%. 10% I wouldn't have batted an eyelid at, given inflation. I thought 35% was taking the piss and didn't deserve even a phone call to them to get a better offer.

However with Home insurance I ended up sticking with them. They put it up 29% this year. I shopped around and once I ticked all the extras we had included in the policy, including worldwide travel insurance, it was actually still cheaper.

I would recommend before switching looking at Trustpilot to see how the company deals with claims. I stuck with DL for a while as they didn't put the price up and they were very good when I did have a claim.

KatieB55 · 15/08/2023 15:00

The renewal prices are ridiculous. Ours has gone to £400 from £270. 19 years NCD, low risk drivers. Insurance company said there is a shortage of car parts so repairs are taking longer, courtesy cars needed for longer and price of parts/labour has increased.

AffIt · 15/08/2023 15:11

I am weirdly fascinated by insurance underwriting, which seems (from the outside looking in) like alchemy.

(Obviously I know it's not and probably underpinned by very precise modelling and so on, but still...)

But anyway, yes, the renewal from my previous insurers was almost double last year's, so I did some comparison and found better cover for £200 less than I paid in 2022-23.

Baffling.

GasPanic · 15/08/2023 15:16

Went with Aviva in June. £240 last year, £255 this. Thought that was quite good.

Maybe it came in before the big inflation increases.

Bluevelvetsofa · 15/08/2023 15:16

The trouble with comparison sites is that they show the cheapest, but that’s not necessarily offering the cover you want. You can add on, but that bumps up the price. We had cover for the car fixed for three years. I’m dreading next year when the three years is up.