Car insurance!! Ripping people off!!

[Ariesburn]

Hi,

Just need some advice so I had a car insurance renewal a week ago and it had gone down alot so it was £44 a month but then realised they had my old address down, I moved into this new address last year and know damn well I rang them and changed it, called them up and they realised it was their fuck up on their end so they changed it but now the renewal price has gone from £44 a month to £81!!!!!!!!! Like what the actual fuck? Because of a change of address can these robbing bastards actually do this? Can I fight this and demand I have the same price as quoted because it's not my fault that the address was not changed even though I rang them? Also the new house has its own off road parking and private drive it's a cul de sack so I don't get how it's can go up so much I've also got a 6 year no claims bonus.

I'm fuming!!!! Like literally mad 😡😡

Imagine if they backdated the price increase?! Think of what’s you’ve saved.

My car insurance auto renew was £400, I did a comparison quote and got it for £170 plus breakdown cover.

Car insurance is a bespoke product, what you pay is totally irrelevant to anyone else.

The OP says she has already done the comparison sites

Er... No. That's not how it works. As soon as you'd have told them your new address they would have done a mid term change and put the premium up and still charged you an admin fee as well. The price of £44 was based on your old address, they can't continue to insure you at an address you don't live at.

You've had 6 months or whatever it is since you moved of only paying half of what you should have been paying for the premium. Count yourself lucky, you've had a discount.

My renewal was almost double for the SAME address OP - it’s well documented that insurance premiums have massively increased in the last year or so.

I knew you were going to say Fiesta. Year after year the fiesta was the most stolen car in the uk. They're attractive to thieves, which makes them high risk, which makes them high insurance premium. As you've identified, other makes and models are significantly cheaper to insure. Some insurance companies decline to insure fiestas anymore, or again as you've found out, give you such a high quote that you'll go elsewhere because they don't want the risk.

Unfortunately, it is. Statistically, after a while it becomes your turn if you like.

However there are other factors here. The change of postcode & parking on driveway. This increases the premium because thieves use jamming devices to steal cars and need to be in close proximity to the keys.

The best advice is to go on a comparison site, but I can see OP has rejected that.

I just renewed mine, even the renewal quote was less than the previous year but I used a comparison site and the renewal cost £100 less than the renewal quote, paid £160. Same car, same driver, same address.
I read an email newsletter from a comparison site and premiums have gone down significantly over the past year.

Interestingly, although age, driving history, previous accidents, make and age of car, marital status, black box, postcode etc are the majority of the reasons why a certain premium is charged, even things you wouldn't imagine like what time of day you ask for a quote, whether you're on your phone or a PC can affect the premium. This was true about 8 years ago when my son was on a grad scheme with an insurance company, so I assume it's still the case.

Unfortunately, it is. Statistically, after a while it becomes your turn if you like.

The hike was on average 23%.

Mine went up about that much.

I then shopped around this year as it was put up again. This time I got a reduction.

Oh and there are now no extra discounts for being a new customer with an insurer.

According to MSE it's still the case.

They've worked out when it's best to do renewal quotes and it's about 20 days from renewing the policy. This is regardless of whether it's car or home insurance.

I got my renewal through, was quite an increase, which I queried, but they wouldn’t budge, told them I was thinking of going elsewhere. I did some comparisons on websites and then got an email from my original insurer to say “they could see I’ve been looking around so you a new renewal price the same as last year”. It certainly helps looking elsewhere, I also always take off auto renewal, as that’s a rip off too.

Of course they can do it

An address is one of the risk factors so of course it can make a big difference sometimes

I'm not sure why you think you should be able to get it back to the original price. If they'd done it at the time you'd still be quoted a higher price either way. That's how much it is for where you are now

You could have a look at quotes elsewhere if you want to

I'm really surprised that there are people who don't shop around/have auto renewal

How is it possible with the absolute mountain of personal finance information online and Marin Lewis on prime time TV not to know this?

Oh and there are now no extra discounts for being a new customer with an insurer

I'd heard that too but I got my renewal today £380 pa. I can get it as a new customer with a well jnow company, PNCB for £175: That certainly suggests there's still discounts being given

If you mean you can get it cheaper with a different company then that's completely allowed. What insurers can't do is price their own new business customers any different to an equivalent renewing customer.

Gotta love an insurance company bashing thread with comments from people who don't understand it.

@Kinneddar I wasn't just referring to you. OP is raging that she's being charged according to the risk. Which is what insurance companies do.

@loveawineloveacrisp Apologies I assumed it was all to me

I didn't realise the new customer bonus still stood if you moved companies. Quite honestly I was just so glad of the drop in premium I didn't care what the reason 😂

@Kinneddar the rule is that a company can't charge a lower premium at new business. They're are no new customer bonuses. But if you move companies, it's likely that you'll find someone else with cheaper pricing. That still doesn't mean that it's a new customer bonus.

ALL car insurance has gone up .. it’s normal, whether we like it or not 🤷‍♀️
OP, have you done other quotes on comparison sites? I don’t think you’ve answered this.

FWIW, I moved last year - same town, only a mile away from my old house, higher risk area apparently so premiums all shot up. Nothing I can do. I guess be thankful they didn’t update you at the time you notified them otherwise you’d have been paying higher since then, so you’ve saved on premiums since you’ve moved 😉

@Anonforthis58

OP told us this yesterday at 15:06
I've looked at renewals on go compare, they are coming up as £67 and on but with a black box. I'm not having a black box, I don't get how they can charge me this much I honestly don't.

He comparison site quotes are similar to her current company (due, we can presume, to her new postcode).

This.
Also, since Ford have stopped making Fiestas, they are even more expensive to insure as they get stolen for the parts. DH insurance has doubled on his Fiesta, nothing else has changed and it is over 40 since he last made a claim. DC had a Fiesta which was stolen. It was recovered by police a couple of days later. Bodywork was still perfect but the entire engine had been removed! They said they had seen a definite rise in Fiesta thefts where the reason appeared to be to get the parts.

ETA, my car is insured with same company as DH's car and my insurance has come down over the last several years. My car is not a Fiesta, or a Ford.

Oh I completely missed that! 😳😳 In that case yes, it’s a combination of postcode and usual increases 🤷‍♀️ Really no need to be so angry OP 🤷‍♀️

Postcodes massively affect premiums, as PP have said. We moved 5 miles to the next commuter town a long time ago and our insurance went up by a third overnight, as the new town was within the m25 and lots of premium cars stolen in the area. This was ten years ago, before insurance went even crazier, like it is now.