Car insurance renewal invitation

Box Brownie

Box Brownie

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I know that this has come up before but this year for me has been eye watering!

Last year I paid £415.51 after they gave me a discretionary discount.

This year's renewal invitation is £767.71 a 84.76% increase :(

Just spoke to them and after a discretionary discount it dropped to £729.32 = a 75.52% increase.

Now, the service agent explained some influencing factors are our ages and that Ford have markedly increased the price of their parts. So, it remains to be seen what other potential insurers can quote.

I don't doubt other of my fellow TPers have seen the same recently..........so which comparison site did you use and which company did you select?

I am currently with LV and IIRC have been with them since 2016.

I have 9+ years NCD and pay the NCD protection fee.
Apart from a glass claim in 2023, I had someone scuff my front bumper in the local shop car park and the scroat didn't have the decency to come into the store and admit it :(
In hindsight I should have gotten it repaired out of my own pocket.......but started a claim because I hoped the shop CCTV would be able to identify the drive-off number plate. So as they 'only' did a paint job (a very good one too) the repair was not costly compared to when parts are needed?
 
boogie man said:
Mine went down about 20% this year! I’m also with LV.
Click to expand...
The algorithms are in a world of their own!

The service agent, when chatting about what he could do, said it is all down to the computer......there are almost no managers to be transferred to (customer requests, "can I speak to the manager" days!)
 
Shop around, I'm looking myself just now as I plan to upgrade my car and prices for the models I check vary enormously.
 
Be prepared for whole lot of time spent getting new quotes, my renewal went up a sizeable amount recently, I called and moaned and told them “no Im not going to renew at the high price” it went down, to less than last year! Even after a no fault claim was settled a couple of months earlier.
Get busy on the quote machine, if you get a good quote via one of the websites still call direct and try for better.
 
gocompare every time for me.
so far though hastings have allways been the cheapest with a decent package
 
Go Compare or Money Saving Expert will save you lots of time, just put in the info once and you’ll get multiple quotes. I always avoid the cheapest ones as they’re usually cheap for a reason.
 
Box Brownie said:
I know that this has come up before but this year for me has been eye watering!

Last year I paid £415.51 after they gave me a discretionary discount.

This year's renewal invitation is £767.71 a 84.76% increase :(

Just spoke to them and after a discretionary discount it dropped to £729.32 = a 75.52% increase.

Now, the service agent explained some influencing factors are our ages and that Ford have markedly increased the price of their parts. So, it remains to be seen what other potential insurers can quote.

I don't doubt other of my fellow TPers have seen the same recently..........so which comparison site did you use and which company did you select?

I am currently with LV and IIRC have been with them since 2016.

I have 9+ years NCD and pay the NCD protection fee.
Apart from a glass claim in 2023, I had someone scuff my front bumper in the local shop car park and the scroat didn't have the decency to come into the store and admit it :(
In hindsight I should have gotten it repaired out of my own pocket.......but started a claim because I hoped the shop CCTV would be able to identify the drive-off number plate. So as they 'only' did a paint job (a very good one too) the repair was not costly compared to when parts are needed?
Click to expand...

almost exactly what happened to me - coming up for 79years old and never claimed - 3 cars, retired, 5,000 mile limit on each - in the end I switched from LV to Hastings - I think that's the only way around this is to switch every year as insurance companies want to attract new business and therefore offer "better" rates to new customers
 
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I'm with LV for the car and they gave me a circa 20% reduced renewal quote compared to last year (same car, same (+ NCD, same address, I'm 68)
The campervan was a different story but complicated so not relevant.
 
Are you with Top Cashback?

I've just renewed mine. I have a MINI Cooper and my insurer Aviva, wanted £217.94. That was actually quite reasonable but there's a little trick.

If you use Top Cashbacks own comparison engine (basically Go Compare and a few others combined) you get £38 back on every new quote that you then purchase. I went with the RAC (again) and their quote was £191.82

Take off the £38 and it's cost me £153.82. Much lower than the price Aviva quoted and also less than the amount I paid to Aviva last year doing the same trick.

I do the same with home insurance too. Worth trying.
 
Steep said:
Shop around, I'm looking myself just now as I plan to upgrade my car and prices for the models I check vary enormously.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the insights.
mj4456 said:
Be prepared for whole lot of time spent getting new quotes, my renewal went up a sizeable amount recently, I called and moaned and told them “no Im not going to renew at the high price” it went down, to less than last year! Even after a no fault claim was settled a couple of months earlier.
Get busy on the quote machine, if you get a good quote via one of the websites still call direct and try for better.
Click to expand...
I don't think I have ever used a comparison site......and that I will a helpful range of offers from companies I know and would trust.
Mr Bump said:
gocompare every time for me.
so far though hastings have allways been the cheapest with a decent package
Click to expand...
Thanks I will have to look there!
boogie man said:
Go Compare or Money Saving Expert will save you lots of time, just put in the info once and you’ll get multiple quotes. I always avoid the cheapest ones as they’re usually cheap for a reason.
Click to expand...
Thanks for reinforcing the recommendation
BillN_33 said:
almost exactly what happened to me - coming up for 78 years old and never claimed - 3 cars, retired, 5,000 mile limit on each - in the end I switched from LV to Hastings - I think that the only way around this is to switch every year as insurance companies want to attract new business and therefore offer "better" rates to new customers
Click to expand...
Re: mileage I went for max 8000 but looking at my usage it is under 4000 but IMO you need to have some headroom because who knows just how far one might drive in any given year to year differences?
 
It's an annual battle, same as Virgin broadband!

The prices are high mainly due to the number of people who scam the insurance companies, and we end up paying for that.

My wife is with Privilege, and her renewal is low, even though she hasn't been driving as long.

A few years ago, a woman in a Jag bumped her left side, the woman was entering a dual A road on a slip road.
MY wife drove to a nearby shopping centre not wanting to stop in the middle of the road, with the Jag following, The woman got out and started screaming and shouting, demanding to see her licence, and telling her she shouldn't be on the road. My son phoned me (he was in the car) and I could hear the woman over the phone, so I told them not to argue, just make sure they had plenty of photos, and make sure the woman had my wife's registration and to come home. Reported it to the insurance company and the police the next day, I told the insurance we wouldn't make a claim, as they would write it off and she wanted to keep it.

We heard nothing more, then six months later had a letter from the insurance company saying they had received a claim, not for damages to the car, but a huge amount for injuries!!

I asked them how could any one have been injured, my wife and son felt nothing, just heard a scraping noise, and I had pulled the dents out so they were hardly visible. We sent them all the details again with photos of both cars. In the end they said they would just have to pay it to avoid a court case. This was on a phone call, my wife was listening, and she asked why not take it to court, they are cheating. They replied that then we would have to go to court. We both said that was no problem (my wife worked in an attorneys office while she was doing her law degree, and I had 7 years as a police reservist and 3 more full time in the city police, so both of us had been in courts a good few times) so they replied they were going to defend the claim, and as you can guess, that stopped it short.
After that, she gets very good rates.

Long story, but this is what the insurance companies are faced with all the time, I'm told by someone who assesses claims that false claims form a high percentage of their payouts.
 
boogie man said:
Mine went down about 20% this year! I’m also with LV.
Click to expand...

lindsay said:
I'm with LV for the car and they gave me a circa 20% reduced renewal quote compared to last year (same car, same (+ NCD, same address, I'm 68)
The campervan was a different story but complicated so not relevant.
Click to expand...
Hmmm!
So both of you got a discount but mine leapt up :(
 
Sangoma said:
It's an annual battle, same as Virgin broadband!

The prices are high mainly due to the number of people who scam the insurance companies, and we end up paying for that.

My wife is with Privilege, and her renewal is low, even though she hasn't been driving as long.

A few years ago, a woman in a Jag bumped her left side, the woman was entering a dual A road on a slip road.
MY wife drove to a nearby shopping centre not wanting to stop in the middle of the road, with the Jag following, The woman got out and started screaming and shouting, demanding to see her licence, and telling her she shouldn't be on the road. My son phoned me (he was in the car) and I could hear the woman over the phone, so I told them not to argue, just make sure they had plenty of photos, and make sure the woman had my wife's registration and to come home. Reported it to the insurance company and the police the next day, I told the insurance we wouldn't make a claim, as they would write it off and she wanted to keep it.

We heard nothing more, then six months later had a letter from the insurance company saying they had received a claim, not for damages to the car, but a huge amount for injuries!!

I asked them how could any one have been injured, my wife and son felt nothing, just heard a scraping noise, and I had pulled the dents out so they were hardly visible. We sent them all the details again with photos of both cars. In the end they said they would just have to pay it to avoid a court case. This was on a phone call, my wife was listening, and she asked why not take it to court, they are cheating. They replied that then we would have to go to court. We both said that was no problem (my wife worked in an attorneys office while she was doing her law degree, and I had 7 years as a police reservist and 3 more full time in the city police, so both of us had been in courts a good few times) so they replied they were going to defend the claim, and as you can guess, that stopped it short.
After that, she gets very good rates.

Long story, but this is what the insurance companies are faced with all the time, I'm told by someone who assesses claims that false claims form a high percentage of their payouts.
Click to expand...
Interestingly, the service agent I was talking to said something along the lines of.....
'we analyse year to year the numbers of claims involving car models e.g. it in one year there 20 percent of that model in accidents and the next year 40 percent, that will influence the rates too.......'

I will have to see what a comparison site shows on a like for like (based on all the same criteria to what I have currently).
I have some time in hand as not due to renew until 24th August.
 
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Harriers9 said:
Are you with Top Cashback?

I've just renewed mine. I have a MINI Cooper and my insurer Aviva, wanted £217.94. That was actually quite reasonable but there's a little trick.

If you use Top Cashbacks own comparison engine (basically Go Compare and a few others combined) you get £38 back on every new quote that you then purchase. I went with the RAC (again) and their quote was £191.82

Take off the £38 and it's cost me £153.82. Much lower than the price Aviva quoted and also less than the amount I paid to Aviva last year doing the same trick.

I do the same with home insurance too. Worth trying.
Click to expand...

I'm another one that uses Topcashback Compare for my car insurance...... My quote with Aviva was £156.25 with £38 cashback so it ended up costing £118.25 fully comp on my Volvo C30....

Definitely worth trying!!!!
 
The interesting thing with comparison sites is you’ll often find the same company that already insures you among the quotes, but they’re offering a lower rate for exactly the same cover that you already have. It can be quite a useful bargaining tool… you can then call them and point out the price difference and sometimes they’ll even match their own online quote. :ROFLMAO:

I shouldn’t laugh really, it just goes to show that they’re artificially inflating the premiums to people that just let the policy auto renew and don’t bother to shop around.
 
boogie man said:
The interesting thing with comparison sites is you’ll often find the same company that already insures you among the quotes, but they’re offering a lower rate for exactly the same cover that you already have. It can be quite a useful bargaining tool… you can then call them and point out the price difference and sometimes they’ll even match their own online quote. :ROFLMAO:

I shouldn’t laugh really, it just goes to show that they’re artificially inflating the premiums to people that just let the policy auto renew and don’t bother to shop around.
Click to expand...
Yes, it will be interesting to see what comes up especially as LV are one of the inclusions on both Go compare & Top cashback Compare.

I have both open on tabs and will have to see what comes up!
 
I worked for a while in calculating risk prices for car insurance - they are very complicated. Factors that will create a sudden rise include
  1. Parts inflation (it's been crazy - both because of lack of access to single market and global inflation)
  2. Covid - believe it or not this is still a factor. Hire firms added a deep cleaning fee to cars and AFAIK it's never been removed
  3. A very technical thing they did on how you calculate how much to pay if somebody of working age is permanently injured (Ogden tables if you're interested)
  4. Increase in prices of other vehicles on the road - most of your premium is actually 3rd party risk not 1st party. And yes, before somebody says it, if you hit an EV it's going to cost more even if you're driving a 17 year old Picasso
  5. Any sudden spikes in claims affecting similar vehicles. Or the place you live. Or people with your occupation. Or people reading the same newspapers you do (yes, really)
  6. Your age - there are significant birthdays where the risk worsens - the classic is 75 but there are others.
  7. How desperate you are to insure - is this your 37th quote and you have hours to go to renew?
But then this all gets put into another complex engine to work out street prices which can include significant negative modifiers to balance the book.

So yeah, insurance prices are essentially random. Shop around. What works today for somebody you know may not work for you (or even them) tomorrow.
 
I got a wee handy tip from a customer service agent recently, decide what annual mileage cover need, say 8000 miles per annum-everybody adds a bit on to be on the safe side-then make your annual mileage on the quote 7999 miles, this can drop into lower price band and save money,
 
mj4456 said:
I got a wee handy tip from a customer service agent recently, decide what annual mileage cover need, say 8000 miles per annum-everybody adds a bit on to be on the safe side-then make your annual mileage on the quote 7999 miles, this can drop into lower price band and save money,
Click to expand...
That I will have consider in getting the comparison quotes.
 
I drive a Range Rover and some of the quotes I've had over the last couple of years have been really stupid money topping £2,000.00

I used the comparison sites and now buy my insurance with Tesco Bank. This year it went down by over £120.00 to only £438.00 - that's fully comp., key cover, PA, legal, breakdown and courtesy car - the works. No one else comes close . . .
 
My insurance has dropped significantly since I retired and switched to just "Social and domestic" as I no longer commute and also lowered my annual mileage on quotes to below 3000 per annum........ my average mileage over the last 3 years has been just 1800....
 
Mrs Nod specifically asked if SD&P was cheaper than SDP&C (social, domestic, pleasure and commuting) when she was insuring her bike. No difference. BUT, that's here in Exeter rather than the SE or other larger conurbation.
 
Nod said:
Mrs Nod specifically asked if SD&P was cheaper than SDP&C (social, domestic, pleasure and commuting) when she was insuring her bike. No difference. BUT, that's here in Exeter rather than the SE or other larger conurbation.
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That's..... unusual. What did she say her profession was?
 
Yoga teacher.
 
I did some more looking today. My current insurer is Saga, I asked them to quote me to upgrade my existing insurance (for the new car) and they came back with £360 for the remainder of the year, or £440 for a full year.

Checking with the two main comparison sites the best quote I get is £250 for a full year and from Saga...£316

Insurers absolutely do try to rip you off, reyling on inertia to keep you buying from them.
 
Steep said:
I did some more looking today. My current insurer is Saga, I asked them to quote me to upgrade my existing insurance (for the new car) and they came back with £360 for the remainder of the year, or £440 for a full year.

Checking with the two main comparison sites the best quote I get is £250 for a full year and from Saga...£316

Insurers absolutely do try to rip you off, reyling on inertia to keep you buying from them.
Click to expand...
Interesting, especially as the service agents are limited in what reduction/discount they can do.

Having said that the 'mantra' on the renewal ...
"We have checked your renewal against what a new customer would pay ...."
Plus, (possibly a legal obligation?) "you may find that you can get cheaper insurance elsewhere..."
 
Box Brownie said:
Interesting, especially as the service agents are limited in what reduction/discount they can do.

Having said that the 'mantra' on the renewal ...
"We have checked your renewal against what a new customer would pay ...."
Plus, (possibly a legal obligation?) "you may find that you can get cheaper insurance elsewhere..."
Click to expand...
My guy only said that if I had the reg number (which I don't yet) it might affect the price.
 
15% decrease in premium here, but assume this is because I'm in Wales and insurance companies have said the default 20mph thing has cut down on an awful lot of accidents to an extent that it's making cover cheaper
 
Nod said:
Yoga teacher.
Click to expand...
Yeah - I feared that would be the answer :) There are some professions rated so harshly that it doesn't matter if people say they are going to commute or not. Lots of yoga teachers really need class 2 business (and many of them will not be entirely honest about that) so the insurer possibly loads for that.

Martin Lewis has a good article on how reframing your occupation to something that's also true can save money. E.g. office worker instead of data entry clerk
 
Steep said:
I did some more looking today. My current insurer is Saga, I asked them to quote me to upgrade my existing insurance (for the new car) and they came back with £360 for the remainder of the year, or £440 for a full year.

Checking with the two main comparison sites the best quote I get is £250 for a full year and from Saga...£316

Insurers absolutely do try to rip you off, reyling on inertia to keep you buying from them.
Click to expand...

Further to this, just went onto DirectLine and their quote is £498, this is despite their quote on the compare site being £271, exact same details.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Yeah - I feared that would be the answer :) There are some professions rated so harshly that it doesn't matter if people say they are going to commute or not. Lots of yoga teachers really need class 2 business (and many of them will not be entirely honest about that) so the insurer possibly loads for that.

Martin Lewis has a good article on how reframing your occupation to something that's also true can save money. E.g. office worker instead of data entry clerk
Click to expand...


Mrs Nod has her own studio so commutes to a fixed address rather than all over the place. We were very surprised as to how cheap the insurance was as a new rider with no NCB and even more so when there was no charge to up her mileage when she realised that she would be exceeding the 1,000 miles she originally went for!
 
It doesn’t matter who I go with, all that matters is not to go with who I was previously with. £500 through X, I’ll be quoted £300 from Y. X will be be willing to go to £450, best they can do, and then act surprised when I chose to cancel the renewal. Realistically, buying name brand insurance is, well, buying insurance, they all have the exact same “how to say no” rule book as the next. The industry wouldn’t survive without it. Just take your time, amd make phone calls. Internet quotes will give you the worst quotes guaranteed, 9 times out of ten
 
Had my quote through for the Alfa yesterday, £233 compared to £280 last year. I think that is the second or third year it has gone down.
 
Mine (Tesla) jumped up last year (not helped by 3pts being added) but came down this year by some 40% - in part due to going for no windscreen cover. They are all the same, inflate renewal prices so I just move out of principle.
 
Insurance bought today, Saga and Direct line can stick their £400 plus quotes, I got £257 from Admiral. This is still double what I've been paying for my old car but the new one is much more car.
 
Mr Bump said:
gocompare every time for me.
so far though hastings have allways been the cheapest with a decent package
Click to expand...
Hastings has never come out well with Which? reviews. I subscribe to Which? and have noticed that over the years.

https://www.which.co.uk/money/insur...ings-direct-car-insurance-review-aMQd53b7IwK2

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Update


I have looked on gocompare and the list of offers is a bit mind boggling!!!

However, LV were high akin to what my renewal invitation is.

Of the other big brands I recognise Saga stood was just £15 more than I paid for this current due to expire year.

The only prime differences that stood out to me on the 'details'

SAGA £5000 personal accident cover compared to £10,000 LV
SAGA max 90 days overseas cover compared to LV @ 180 days

There were some other ones but the above were the most marked!

I have my Travel Insurance with SAGA and maybe they will offer a discount on the quoted figure based on taking out the Car Insurance???
 
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