Huge increase in car insurance

[Stopthatknocking]

I've just had my renewal quote. My premium is going up from around £320 to £515!

I've had no claims, but did get 3 points for speeding, but this increase was before they even knew about the points.
Once I informed them of the points it went to £525, which I think is a fair increase.

So I stated to shop around. The next cheapest quote was almost £700 and many were over £1000.

Is this due to cost of living, or something else?

Been happening for ages. Its a knock on of increase in parts prices, delays in getting parts requiring longer car hire for courtesy vehicle and an overall cost in claims - which I agree someone with no claims shouldn't have to pay for, but thats how insurance works!

For context, I had a minor accident in March (my fault) that required my car to have the bonnet straightened and resprayed, and new bumper. It took three months for a new bumper to arrive at the bodyshop, all the while I had a courtesy car. Any other time, it would have been a week at most!

Wow, thats a long time to wait! I've not paid this level of insurance since I was young.
I think i'm a low risk category, mid 50s, lived in the same, safe area for 10 years. I do park on the road at night, but that hasn't changed since we moved here.

We had the same. Car and home insurance both went up with no change in circumstances. It's inflation driven. Everything is more expensive.

Yes, ours has massively increased. I have two teens as named drivers on the runaround and that went from c. 600 to 900...tried shopping around and the cheapest quote I could get from anyone else on the same basis, was £2200 😱. Our (10yr old) family car has doubled, even with no accidents or points...I bit our insurer's hand off in the end, having initially laughed at the renewal quote and said they were having a laugh 🫣

Horrible :/ Someone knocked our car and ran away and I won’t claim it off insurance, because I’m due renewal in October and expecting price increase anyway:( I will be looking for a quote in a month and we will see how much they want from me this time.

If you don't have their insurance details you can claim from the Motor Insurer's Bureau rather than your own insurance. It wont affect your policy as it's a non fault claim.

As it happens there's a story on this on the BBC News site:

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

I had no idea, thank you so much ❤️

The great car insurance con: Premiums soar to record high as prices hiked 50% in a year

Car insurance premiums have rocketed by almost 50 per cent over the past year, with millennials and older drivers hit hardest.
Exclusive data from the analyst Consumer Intelligence, which looks at quotes from Confused.com, Go Compare, Compare the Market and MoneySuperMarket, reveals that average premiums rose by 48 per cent

(then wants me to sign up to read more and I cba)

but I think it said one chap over the age of 50's premium rose 98%.

They're blaming COL, inflation, courtesy car costs going up 30%, the cost of respraying going through the roof and so on.

Basically, this is the new normal.

https://www.independent.co.uk/money/why-has-car-insurance-risen-so-much-b2391334.html

Supposedly there is also something about car insurers now can’t charge renewals higher than they would for new customers so there is reduced benefit of shipping around vs previously. I have been suspended that our recent renewal quotes have all been lower than I could find vs shopping around which never used to be the case.

If you do claim from the fund you still have to tell your insurance about the accident though.

England has traditionally has such cheap insurance.
In comparison were we now live in Central Europe, you looking at around €130-150 a month for just third party car insurance on say a 10 year old Corsa. So more like £1200 per year to insure an old small
car. Newer cars costs way more and
often it’s cheaper to lease as the lease includes insurance.

i wouldn’t be surprised if England car insurance goes up easily to these kind of prices soon

Renewed mine with Tesco about a week ago, was only £20 more than last year. £245 annual premium fully comp protected ncb, £100 vol xs on a family estate car. Have you had a quote from them, they've been very cheap for me.

I just tried them, on your advice. It was the most expensive yet, £1170!

I had 2 claims in 2020, 1 accident and 1 windscreen, but that was already taken into account in ast years premuin of £320, so I'm really not sure if that is the issue or just, as others have said, the cost of insurance is rocketing all round.
I think I'll be sticking with my renewal quote of £525, now I've look around I'm pleased it seems so low! :)

@Hohofortherobbers I’ve also just had my renewal from Tesco - actually £20 cheaper than last year.

they're obviously just looking to break even, 20 quid up from me and down from you!!

I shopped around and changed mine. Tesco was the best offer with the same add ons as admiral but £200 cheaper.

Mine was only £18 higher than last year but that was a surprise as it's gone down slightly every year until now!

Am in mid fifties, no claims, low mileage and mine went up from £250 to £350. In that time someone hit me, I reported it but didn't claim, and it went up again to nearly £400!!

And I also shopped around and that was the cheapest I could get.

Yup we were horrified. Managed to get it down a bit but it was a huge leap for our multi car household,

My renewal quote was up 52% from last year. I was expecting a jump, as I had a bump last year which was my fault. For context, it was the first time I’d claimed in 10 years and I’m 59, so not exactly high risk.

So I went on a comparison site and ended up with cover even cheaper than I paid last year. I did speak to the old insurer and ask what they could do. They (magically) were able to reduce the premium by over £100, but that still left it £100 higher than the new one.

Shop around. But make sure you’re comparing like with like. Know what is important to you (do you need a hire car car if yours is off the road, for example? Some policies include that automatically, on others it’s an extra)

Just to say - I paid £410 last year, renewal quote was £627, and I’ve ended up paying £401 with the new company. Although the excess is £50 more.

Also worth noting that if you have a good amount of no claims, different companies give different amount of discount for that. I have the maximum. With Churchill that meant 26% discount, with Flow who I am now with, it’s 64%.

Or maybe that should be - if you are still building up NCD, shop around each year, because a different company might give you more credit for the extra year than the one you first thought of.

I have shopped around, that's the infuriating thing. I have 9 years protected no claims discount. I've been driving for over 30 years, so I'm experienced at making sure I'm checking like for like, looking at optional extras etc. I looked at uswithch, moneysupermarket and tesco. All £600-£1200!

So I'm sticking with rhe renewal quote of about £525. It's just so much more than last years of about £320

we are with MoreThan who aren’t renewing car insurance at all - the company they have arranged to take over their customers offered us a quote of £150 more than last year but without any of the extras we normally have. Shopped around and gone with Churchill for better coverage at just £15 more than last year.

what you get offered depends a lot on the day you do the quote - I think 21 days ahead of renewal is best (may have been 24 - can’t remember). Silly but definitely true.