to be flabbergasted car insurance would go up for this

[5Foot5]

My car insurance is soon due for renewal and they sent me the reminder about this yesterday.

First bone of contention is that, since they have just made some changes to underwriters or something, they have changed the layout of this information. I had at least twelve sheets of closely typed A4, some double sided, which they said I had to check to be sure the details were OK. For goodness sake it is just an ordinary little car I am not running a taxi business or something!

Anyway, as I have had the car about 8 years some of the details were out of date. In particular the estimated value was way too high, it was the value when I first bought it. Also the estimated annual mileage was way out. Mine has always been the second car so very low mileage but I did used to drive to work in it so my estimated mileage was 6000 per year. However, now I walk to work and use my car very infrequently so the estimated mileage is nearer 1000.

I actually though it would be worth telling them this because I thought it might bring down the premiums if they know that I hardly ever use it.

So I rang up to chage these details and after entering them the girl on the phone said she would have to speak to the underwriting department. When she came back on the line she said that by reducing my mileage my premium would actually go up by £100s!! Apparently they think that if your car is taken out so little it is more at risk of an accident.

Anyway I said could she change it back and she did. Strictly speaking I suppose she shouldn't as I had already disclosed the information but Crikey does that seem fair to you!!

I have several years No Claims Bonus and do drive DHs car so I am hardly high risk I wouldn't have thought.

Shop around. You can always get a better deal from a new insurer and no claims is transferable. I find e-sure to be quite good.

Also, it seems weird, but insurance is always based on stats so possibly drivers who drive infrequently do have more accidents.

My Dh (then my bf) called up to put me on his insurace as a named driver and he got a refund (because insurers think that men in serious relationships have fewer accidents). I have never let him live that one down.

Does seem odd, but I guess statistically there must weirdly be a greater risk. Perhaps out-of-practice drivers? Do you really need to have anything more than 3rd Party,fire and theft?

It always winds DH up that if I'm included on his insurance it's cheaper than just him, despite the fact I wrote off a car a couple of years ago...!

or indeed - ditto arcticfox....

It niggled me recently that the fact I have a child under 17 makes the premium go up - not by much, but I went on one of the price comaprison sites and it made a difference when I included him. At first I hadn't ticked the box because it said "under 16" and he is now 16, but the actual insurer form said "16 or under"

I find it hard to believe that having a 16yo in the car is going to make me more likely to have an accident - small children messing about might cause the odd bump, but he's hardly likely to start doing that now!

But, as other say, it's all on the statistics - if more "occasional drivers" have an accident, then the low milage counts against you, same as the children...

We have just been throught this with ds1,who despite reaching 21 and another years no claims bonus had a huge rise in his premiums.
We got a quote from the comparison sites and Aviva and Direct line[who do not quote on comparison sites] and managed to get him a policy for £220 less for fully comp than he was paying for 3rd party.Strangely,the company who he went with quoted £100 more for 3rd party than they did for fully comp,so it pays to shop around.

I got miffed because our insurance went up after another (insured)driver ran into the back of DH! He took full responsibility and his insurance paid up, but OUR premium still went up! I really can't see how that works!

as others have said, shop around!

I got a slighly older car with a smaller engine, thinking it would make the insurance less, guess what it went up by a few pounds and the excess went up by another 250 quid too RIDICULOUS!!!!

I recently got a new car and I put the estimated value in the price checker to get some quotes. I realised I had put the wrong value in should have been £1500 more. The quotes went down in price

Also while we were ordering the new car DP came across an old sierra and as I would be carless for a while (the new car was factory order, old car was my company car and had to go back to the lease company) we pondered getting it for me just in case I needed it, then he would use the engine for a car restoration project.

The quote for this old car valued at about £800 was £650 for third party only. My new car value £25k I insured for £300.

They just assume the more your car is worth the more you will look after it I think.

Wouldn't having an older car increase the risk of a mechanical defect that might cause an accident? Also older cars are probably less likely to be regularly serviced.

CAr insurance - grr!!!

I was insured with a well known female insurers and my premiums were cheaper if I put my husband on with his 3 points for speeding conviction!! tell me how that works?

Am shocked that Amuminscotland was asked about her children, I have never been asked about children only marital status and profession.

I suppose an old car is more likely to be mechanically dodgy and not have the safety features of newer cars. So it might be more likely to cause damage to another vehicle.

my insurance went up slightly when I rang and informed that my name had changed after my divorce. when the girl on the phone said, "so that'll be another x££, alright?" I left them in no doubt about my feeling that it was not alright. Also effectively lost about 15 years worth of no claims bonus because until exH and I separated I was always a named driver, not a policy holder and back then you couldn't build up your own no claims as a named driver (I know you can now but no insurer would give me anything so have the same no claims discount as my DP who has only had a license for three years! (ggrrr)

Wow you were right about shopping around.

I have just been on GoCompare and had lots of quotes less than the one from my current insurers.

I haven't made a change yet until I have done a spreadsheet because some things I have now are extras with different companies and I want to make sure I am comparing like with like. Nevertheless it looks like I should be able to make a decent saving by moving elsewhere.

I was just checking my breakdown cover. I knew I had done this separately but now I have checked i think it expired in January but the bs didn't tell me. I wonder if that is a deliberate thing because they don't want to cover older cars. But do I need it with the mileage I do? Oh the decisions......

When I was looking at quotes for insurance recently I was shocked that after having an accident last year that was not my fault, (other driver went into the back of me when I was stationary) My insurance was going to go up by £££ because the stats are that if you are in ANY kind of accident, you are then more likely to have another one shortly after!!

I have over 10 years of protected no claims too!

Shop around - I found a much better deal with a certain company that prefers women drivers

It's always worth shopping around. Also, check out the cashback sites eg www.quidco.com. Many insurers are offering £50 or more in cashback if you buy a policy after clicking through from quidco (or one of the other similar sites). You can choose a policy using one of the comparison sites, save the quote and then go onto quidco to check if you can get cashback.

I did this a couple of days ago and got £50 cashback as well as saving £32 on my premium

amuminscotland i've had that as well, when i was going over the quote on the phone the guy said "so you're single with no dependants" & i answered umm no have dp & 3dc's & my quote went up by £150.
i questioned it & was told i'd be distracted by my dcs too.