To think that this cannot be justifiable?! Insurance

[PyongyangKipperbang]

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!

I had a 60% rise, DH just got his at 75%. No changes at all. Absolute nonsense and as we never take the hire car (no need) I object to my premium being hugely inflated because repairs are taking longer for those who do take the hire car option.

I know someone that runs a car repair business and specialises in accident repairs.

It is true that the cost of parts has risen massively and also staff are wanting increases to counter their own costs of living, so in a "normal" business sense it is fair that these garages want to pass on the cost increases to the insurers.

The problem is the insurers don't work that way. The garage has to agree the labour rate increases with the insurer and I can assure you those have not gone up in line with inflation.

And how long do you think it takes for the insurer to pay the garage for the work they've done? 90 bloody days!

Bearing in mind, some repairs on expensive cars (that aren't written off) can cost in excess of £20,000. The garage has had to pay for the parts and will often only be given a 30 day credit period, plus they've had to pay their staff too, then they have to sit around waiting for another 2 months before they get paid.

It is no wonder that some car repair places are closing down at the moment.

The insurers are money grabbing bastards unfortunately, capitalising on an excuse to increase their prices (and profits) more, just like the energy firms did.

It essentially means they've had a bad year paying out claims and they're trying to recoup their profits. No reflection on you, just their bottom line and they'll be doing it to everyone.

Get on a comparison site and switch providers.

Apparently they arent allowed to charge current customers higher prices than the ones for new ones.

So I heard they generally offer insurance via a few different names.

So each year ones of their businesses they'll pump up the prices for everyone and in this way can charge their old loyal customers higher prices. And obviously new customers wont choose them. But via their other names can still attract new customers.

Just do a search on a comparison website and switch. Just make sure you check it's a reputable company.

Making me think I got quite a good deal - was a bit shocked yesterday that renewal has gone from £171 to £332 - but I can’t find a lower price, that said. Yours was outrageous though.

Eek, due to renew car insurance in September.

However, just renewed House insurance, and that went up 50%. No claims or changes, apart from child is officially now an adult. Did question it on the phone and got a slight reduction. Also paying upfront to save monthly interest charges.

I took out a multiple policy a few years ago, it seemed to make sense so I have two cars and the house insurance linked up. My renewal is 1st September and it just came through for £1500 versus £900 last year. The cars don’t seem too bad, it seems to be the house that has increased. No claims made.

Had the same very recently. They said it was because of other claims. I hadn't made a single one!

Set up a Quidco account
Shop via that and use it to go to confused and go compare
Input all your details (tedious for year 1) and get the quote and you'll get Quidco cashback if you take out the policy
Then following years just go via Quidco again, the comparison sites have the details and it's loads quicker

Yeah its not due until 10 September.

So each year ones of their businesses they'll pump up the prices for everyone and in this way can charge their old loyal customers higher prices. And obviously new customers wont choose them. But via their other names can still attract new customers.

Hmm, that's very interesting - makes perfect mathematical sense, as long as you leave any trace of morals and fairness locked safely away.

So might that be the explanation for some (even most) of the random unknown companies that always come up as the cheapest on comparison sites - the ones with amateurish names like 'Cheap Cover 4 U' - are they just the big, well-known companies with a different brand name?

I mean, you need immense reserves to become an insurance company, don't you - it's not like Bob from down the road getting fed up of the prices at the local cafes and so getting his own second-hand snack trailer from eBay to pitch up outside the park and undercut the others, is it?!

Admiral doubled mine after it had been stable for years. Shopping around I’ve paid less than last year

I know of a case where the insurance renewal came in the post. Call it 260 compared to 160 last year.

Old car, 15 yrs NCD and very safe postcode.

Customer rang up insurance company to ask if they could do it any cheaper at all. This was bearing in mind that over the quote was always slightly lowered by phoning up.

They quoted £600.

I don't get that scenario at all.

It's just numbers it seems like!

The quote I got was more than double last years. About £900. I went to Aviva zero for about £450 in the end. Last year was £350. Very annoying.

@CakAndMoreCake
Mine was Admiral too (see post at 15:38). I haven’t shopped around yet because it is a multi policy so it is a bit more time consuming.

Mine is admiral too, but seem to be getting the same price on comparison sites too 😢

I just renewed. I’ve been with Direct Line for years and my renewal quote was nearly double last years, I phoned them to query it and said I’ve found a quote elsewhere for roughly what I paid last year with you and the call handler said she couldn’t match it because ‘we have a higher level of service’…I said not £400 worth and took the cheaper quote (with Flow, they are part of LV I think and get good reviews, they were the second cheapest but the other company got poor ratings for claim handling)

I can believe it’s partly down to the cost of parts though - my car has recently been returned to me after 5 months waiting for a part due to an electric fault (luckily under warranty!)

Mine was Admiral too (see post at 15:38). I haven’t shopped around yet because it is a multi policy so it is a bit more time consuming.

I've always suspected that, despite the sales patter, the multi policies are chiefly designed to make it better for them - and harder/more confusing or time-consuming to compare or leave - and not for your convenience or money saving at all.

My last car insurance company did this. They said if I didn't want to continue with them to cancel via online.

I couldn't cancel via online because their crap!

I found a cheaper one (they were all 10% higher but like you say inflation)

I rang to cancel.

They wouldn't cancel and kept asking me loads of questions about my renewal quotes elsewhere. I to,d them I'd already renewed and just wanted to cancel for next year before the first of next month so it was in time.

It was relentless. My mum had just died and I didn't want the hassle.

In the end I told them if they cared what my renewals were they should have done a proper assessment of the costs and not just assumed they could increase and I'd stay with them and if they could offer me at a level that I've renewed at elsewhere they should have tripled the cost!

The woman still wouldn't cancel unless I gave them my renewal price elsewhere and kept going on about how I had a cooling off period and I could cancel the other policy.

In the end I told them I refused to answer, was recording this message, deleting the direct debit and if they continued to ask me personal questions and didn't cancel I would be reporting them to the ombudsman.

And hung up!

This year I got a quote with the current one that was inline with inflation and only found 1 more cheaper (by £5) so wasn't worth the hassle of changing!

I had this a few years ago with my home insurance. I phoned them up and they knocked a lot off; I said "please don't do this again because I WILL phone and I WILL leave if you offer me an unreasonable price again".

Who knows if they put a note on my account but the following year the premium was reasonable, maybe an extra £50 for the year. So it is worth calling.

I did notice it went up by quite a lot again this year (in June) - whereas the car insurance went down (Feb) but my car is quite old now. Our other car renewal is due in September so we'll see what happens with that one.

https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/news/tough-2023-predicted-for-motor-insurance-market-as-high-cor-forecast/1444822.article

This gives some rationale to the massive price hikes. A Core Operating Ratio (COR) of more than 100% means they're losing money. 106% = £1.06 spent for every £1 premium paid.

It's not just the vehicle costs that have to be taken into account...there are injury and credit hire costs which cause the costs to sky rocket too.

If you're in a position to be able to pay annually, when you take out the policy and they say "We have a helpful auto-renew feature, to avoid you running the risk of not being insured when the policy expires", make sure you tell them to remove this and not to store your card details.

We all know what they're like and how contemptuous they are of loyal customers, so no point in putting the power in their hands to do it again by default next year - make them at least work to keep your custom, and not just assume that it's theirs by rights.

I've had this with car breakdown cover. Whichever one we're with every time it's due to renew it goes up at least double. I always ring, one year I managed to get family cover for £18 a month with an extra 3 months free because I have no problems swapping. It's wrong that they all take advantage of people who either don't have time or even know how to check that they're getting a good deal.

This gives some rationale to the massive price hikes. A Core Operating Ratio (COR) of more than 100% means they're losing money. 106% = £1.06 spent for every £1 premium paid.

I've heard these claims before. If this is the case, why do they bother staying in the market at all? And why the discrepancy between different companies? Why are the unknown ones so desperate to grab your custom from another company if your being with them will lose them money?

I'd understand it a lot more if they treated your first year as a loss-leader and then tried to keep you loyal for the next 40 years with reasonable small annual increases until they got to a sustainable level; but we all know that, for whatever reason, they prefer to kill the golden goose and drive you away after the first year, then spend loads of money in advertising and admin in getting new customers for their one single year with them.

It's wrong that they all take advantage of people who either don't have time or even know how to check that they're getting a good deal.

I rather suspect that a lot of insurance companies' models have it firmly baked in to their calculations that they fully expect to massively exploit elderly, disabled and other vulnerable people. It's disgusting.