Motor insurance costs

[Bullshot]

I've been driving for almost 40 years and have paid varying amounts of car insurance.. It's always been pretty much what I expected to pay.

However I have just received the annual renewal. We have two cars, both have clean licences, loads of NCB, regular jobs etc. But the renewal has gone from £750 up to £998! That seems crazy - nothing has changed. No accidents or claims, same vehicles as last year..

Has anyone noticed this? Any explanations?

I will say though that I have just spent a couple of hours shopping around and can't beat my renewal price so will be sticking with them..

Inflation is a massive factor in this. The cost of a repair after an accident is based on the wages of the workers, the replacement cost of parts, the likely cost of a hire car.
I expect you’ve also not altered your excess value - try increasing that by £50 on each policy.
Also, maybe you’ve fallen into a new age bracket, for either yourself or the vehicle, which might drive the increase.

£750 seems an enormous sum anyway!

Have you got very valuable, high powered cars? Anything that's changed? Moved house? Age?

Check your annual mileage is fairly accurate and not excessively high.

https://www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/content/what-impacts-upon-your-car-insurance/

Inflation of parts and labour.

Waiting lists for repair shops mean longer periods the insurance firms have to pay for car hire whilst your car is off the road.

Gosh that already seems so high, We have 2 cars and pay under £300 each for them (yes I'm aware of risk assessments etc) but at renewal, yes there were large increases - which we mitigated by reviewing the details the insurance company held (eg reducing the mileage in line with the MOT)

That's for two cars, one is also for business use. Mine's certainly not valuable now but DH's is a niceish BMW

Still the % in increase seems very steep

It's just another increase in daily living costs that is pissing me off

Mortgage, utilities and now this.

i guess that's part of it, yes.

My renewal went from £303 last year to £414 this year, but obviously as soon as I rang to cancel they managed to get it down to £330 which I was happy with!

Also business use has always made my insurance cheaper

I have always done that - tried it this time and the reduction was very small

My Audi A1 (brand new lease car) and our 15yo Landrover Freelander cost less than £400/yr together, both with business use.

Have a look at Aviva maybe? They don't do comparison sites. Does seem v high to me!

Just got our renewal notice yesterday and it was going up from £750 to £1,100. No claims last year and have 15 years NCD. Went online and got an alternative quote, with same Ts and Cs, for £700.

Whilst inflation is definitely a factor in rising premiums generally, sometimes insurers are just looking to rebalance their exposures or to claw back money if they've had a loss making year. Most motor insurers don't make massive profits, and they would have had a poor year on their investments in 2022...

I'd definitely recommend the aggregator sites if you're being hit with a big increase - and don't forget to cancel your auto-renewal with the old insurer, or you'll be paying twice!

Just a note to say don't forget if you do change to join quidco cashback site and then renew through that. I got 75 cashback recently for insurance, although it was pet insurance and house insurance, my car insurance was still cheaper with the same company . This referral link gives you an extra boost too.

https://app.quidco.com/raf/1qnW

what is your age? that can play a factor in the renewal price. One year I was voted £900 and if I waited until after my birthday the price came down to £300. I managed to do without the car until my birthday and left it insured with the previous owner - thus saving £600