Car insurance - Unbelievable

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 95743
  • Start date Start date
D

Deleted member 95743

Guest
Last year my premium was £168 with the AA. I have just received my renewal notice and it is now £250. That is an increase of 48%. How the hell can they justify that.
 
They all try it on. I bet if you get a quote from elsewhere, it will be closer to last year's.

I was with LV for about three years, then they hiked it by seventy percent over the previous year.

I did a quick search and got a better deal for for fifty percent less than the original . . .
 
It no longer pays to be loyal, they are all out to screw you over.

Just move on to the next insurer in the knowledge that next year, they too will try to screw you.
 
My renewal came in at 38% increase, moved elsewhere and went under last years premium, didn’t bother asking if my insurer had a better deal, big hike=do one.
 
Mine has gone up this last few years but not drastically so, the odd £10 or £12. It's increased by about £30-£40 over 4 years, I forget the exact figures.

I'm with RAC, I get a 'free' minimum level of breakdown cover too. It's still under £300 for me and the wife. Once it goes through £300, I'll be shopping around.
 
My one went up, look online and they were all a lot higher call the company and asked if they could do any better before I look elsewhere and they reduce it to an amount I was happy with.

So worth calling them to see if they offer any reductions.
 
yup gocompare every year for me
oddly hastings are pretty much cheapest every time

what i have found though is to use quidco and do a new quote which you accept even if it is for your current insurer
gets you £25-£50 for essentially renewing
 
Last edited:
sep9001 said:
My one went up, look online and they were all a lot higher call the company and asked if they could do any better before I look elsewhere and they reduce it to an amount I was happy with.

So worth calling them to see if they offer any reductions.
Click to expand...
If they can’t offer me their best price in the first place, they can shove it up their arse.

When I came from from SA, I insured with direct line. Every year it went up a small amount. I just paid up thinking it was a normal annual increase. Then after about 4 years they tried to triple my price even though I had never made a claim. It was only then that I discovered comparison sites and found I could insure my car much cheaper. direct line lost two cars and my home contents insurance that day and as they’re not on comparison sites, I’ve never bothered getting another quote from them.

It really does make me wonder which school of business these people went to. Everybody knows It’s much cheaper to keep an existing customer than to find a new one.
 
Last edited:
So I went onto Compare the Market and the quotes ranged from £170 to £1343.

The £170 quote was from “yoga”, never heard of them.
 
ecoleman said:
It no longer pays to be loyal, they are all out to screw you over.
Click to expand...

ecoleman said:
It really does make me wonder which school of business these people went to. Everybody knows It’s much cheaper to keep an existing customer than to find a new one.
Click to expand...
Actually the government recently changed the law to make it illegal to reward loyalty. That wasn't their intention but they legislated that existing customers must be offered the same price as new. So literally, loyalty discounts are illegal.

BTW parts inflation hit 20% a year or so ago and AFAIK has been climbing ever since. Let's see how long it is until somebody mentions the B-word.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Actually the government recently changed the law to make it illegal to reward loyalty.
Click to expand...
I think that is the opposite of what has happened: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-r...-loyalty-penalty-home-motor-insurance-markets

It appears that the new rules encourage companies to keep prices low, in order to retain their existing customers, This means they'll no longer charge existing customers more to pay for discounts to new customers, The net effect should be that renewal rates drop and I'd say this is a good thing.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Actually the government recently changed the law to make it illegal to reward loyalty. That wasn't their intention but they legislated that existing customers must be offered the same price as new. So literally, loyalty discounts are illegal.

BTW parts inflation hit 20% a year or so ago and AFAIK has been climbing ever since. Let's see how long it is until somebody mentions the B-word.
Click to expand...

I didn't say anything about loyalty discounts and I think you may have the legislation the wrong way around.

The legislation is to prevent the insurers from charging existing customers more than a new customer.
www.abi.org.uk

Important rule changes to the pricing of home and motor insurance – what it could mean for you | ABI

From 1 January 2022, new pricing rules introduced by the industry’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will come into force. The changes will mean that when existing home and private motor insurance customers renew their insurance policy, the price charged by the insurance...
www.abi.org.uk www.abi.org.uk

Although I don't think too many insurance companies are taking any notice of the legislation.
 
Last edited:
AndrewFlannigan said:
I think that is the opposite of what has happened: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-r...-loyalty-penalty-home-motor-insurance-markets

It appears that the new rules encourage companies to keep prices low, in order to retain their existing customers, This means they'll no longer charge existing customers more to pay for discounts to new customers, The net effect should be that renewal rates drop and I'd say this is a good thing.
Click to expand...
Nope.

That was the intention. But the law said "the same". So renewal (which was historically more expensive) must be charged the same as new business.

Of course what happened was all prices went up. I.e. instead of decreasing renewal to meet new business, they increased new business to meet renewal.

Anybody with an abacus could have predicted this. But the government made things worse while pretending they were making them better.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Nope.

That was the intention. But the law said "the same". So renewal (which was historically more expensive) must be charged the same as new business.

Of course what happened was all prices went up. I.e. instead of decreasing renewal to meet new business, they increased new business to meet renewal.

Anybody with an abacus could have predicted this. But the government made things worse while pretending they were making them better.
Click to expand...
I don't think that prices have increased because of this.

This year my son (22) saved £300 on last years premium (different insurer), my wife's insurance dropped £25 (different insurer) and mine stayed the same (same insurer).
 
As I noted elsewhere, mine is going from £360 to £480 (Esure) this year.
I compared the meerkats ( as I do every year )and got if for £280. (AXA)
(Its a pocket rocket, with no accidents or motoring convictions for many many years)

I also hate the fact that you have to opt out out of auto renew, in this case I had to phone what appeared to be another planet,
as I struggled to make my self heard or understood.
 
Last edited:
Mine tends to go up every year and every year I power up the pc and find another insurer for about the same as last year, sometimes cheaper sometimes just a few £ more but so far I've never had to pay the exorbitant renewal increase.

This could be because my cars are getting older and are worth less, it could be because the insurance companies try it on hoping that people will just pay the increase. Who know?
 
Last edited:
We've uses the same broker for many years and our premiums generally seem to be the same or less each year. Even with the broker's fees, the deal appears to work in our favour.
 
Currently I'm with Saga on a three year fixed price, which worked out as a very good deal for me. Normally to price fix the premium is ridiculously high. However when they offered me a quote which was only £30 higher than that current best price I could find fixed for 3 years I grabbed it. Subsequently I received a letter from them advising there had been a computer glitch which meant my premium was lower than it should have been but "generously" they would honour the deal !!

I would add you also need to be wary of the price comparison sites as well when reading the headline price quoted - often it's not like for like with your needs. When I last checked I was getting quotes that were £200 cheaper - looking at the terms this was with a £750 excess
 
taxboy said:
I would add you also need to be wary of the price comparison sites as well when reading the headline price quoted - often it's not like for like with your needs. When I last checked I was getting quotes that were £200 cheaper - looking at the terms this was with a £750 excess
Click to expand...

You have to always look at the terms but personally I'd probably take the high excess as if you claim you'll possibly / probably end up paying more in increased insurance costs than the cost of a repair.

Years back some happy soul slashed my Porsche Boxster roof so I thought I'd ring the insurance company and check how much my insurance would go up if I claimed and sure enough when they gave me the figures I found I'd end up paying more in increased cost for insurance than the £800 repair would cost me, so I just paid for the repair. Later I had more vandal damage (possibly to another car) so I thought I'd check with the insurance company and when I did I got a shock, what they said was even if I didn't claim they were going to up my premium as I'd made them aware of the damage.

Be careful :D
 
Odd how this thread comes up the day I get my renewal email, last year I was paying £391 for a 2 car multi car cover the renewal this year is £640. I don't think you can do multi car comparisons but individually I can cover both cars for £471 using the comparison sites with known insurers . Come Tuesday morning I shall be on the phone.
 
taxboy said:
I would add you also need to be wary of the price comparison sites as well when reading the headline price quoted - often it's not like for like with your needs. When I last checked I was getting quotes that were £200 cheaper - looking at the terms this was with a £750 excess
Click to expand...
Of course, I always look for a catch, but this one is even better, excess £250, voluntary £100 dropped it another £20, plus a free courtesy car.
I'm happy with the choice I made.
 
So after spending half an hour on the phone to the AA, they reduced the renewal quote from £250 to £218. I still refused to accept new quote so they further reduced it to £169. I told them to stick it as I had already purchased a new policy elsewhere for £168.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
Glad you have time to waste in a pointless exercise
Click to expand...
I really don’t understand your comment. I had to phone the AA to cancel the renewal, I didn’t have any alternative as their website wouldn’t let me cancel the renewal online. Twenty minutes of the phone call was spent being told by an automaton about their privacy policy, or being told that I was in a priority queue and had been moved forward one step.

When I finally did get to speak to a human I said that I wanted to cancel the renewal and I kept reiterating that. It was the AA representative that was very reluctant to let me cancel the renewal and kept making offers, all of which I rejected.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zx9
L320Rio said:
I really don’t understand your comment. I had to phone the AA to cancel the renewal, I didn’t have any alternative as their website wouldn’t let me cancel the renewal online. Twenty minutes of the phone call was spent being told by an automaton about their privacy policy, or being told that I was in a priority queue and had been moved forward one step.

When I finally did get to speak to a human I said that I wanted to cancel the renewal and I kept reiterating that. It was the AA representative that was very reluctant to let me cancel the renewal and kept making offers, all of which I rejected.
Click to expand...

If you had already renewed, then why did you go through all that haggling? Total waste of time IMHO.
 
Having just renewed (today) my car ins, I was pulling my hair out ....
And I really don't have any to spare.
It went up £20 while I was trying to pay, I couldn't work out why I couldn't fill in my card details ,
so I went back to the quote and lo and behold, it had gone up 20 quid. :headbang:

Its still 40 quid cheaper than last year, and £180 cheaper than my existing insurance quote.
Once paid I tried to set up an account, there was no mention of the policy in my "account"
Live chat was useless, so I ended up speaking to someone on a different planet.
language and clarity difficulties suggesting this.

It seems that I had an account with them years ago, and they were "confused" by the 2 different sign in's :rolleyes:

I got there in the end, 15 mins later and I'd save £180 so all good in the end.
 
L320Rio said:
I really don’t understand your comment. I had to phone the AA to cancel the renewal, I didn’t have any alternative as their website wouldn’t let me cancel the renewal online. Twenty minutes of the phone call was spent being told by an automaton about their privacy policy, or being told that I was in a priority queue and had been moved forward one step.

When I finally did get to speak to a human I said that I wanted to cancel the renewal and I kept reiterating that. It was the AA representative that was very reluctant to let me cancel the renewal and kept making offers, all of which I rejected.
Click to expand...
Different insurer but I had basically the same discussion, I told them that I wanted to cancel and they insisted on re quoting, I told them again that it was still too much and they still would not cancel until they had re quoted again.
If customer loyalty is so important to them why do they take the proverbial at renewal time!?
 
Mine went up about £60 with Churchill to about £250, I did all the comparison sites etc, but once I added all the bits I needed they where all about the same price! having siad that my wife has just renewed with Churchill and managed to get them down to well below what she had paid last year and saved about £90 after haggling on the phone with them. She is at home and has the time to do this. I don't, so I will get her to do mine next year ! I'm not fan of using insurance companies I've never heard of, the price is ok until you have to make a claim and then any excuse not to pay out. My son's car insurance is due in June so we will see how he gets on, he's with Aviva, the quote for me was about £100 dearer than I'm paying, but it was the cheapest he could find when he took his out. I will never understand how they work the quotes out.
 
hamster100 said:
Mine went up about £60 with Churchill to about £250, I did all the comparison sites etc, but once I added all the bits I needed they where all about the same price! having siad that my wife has just renewed with Churchill and managed to get them down to well below what she had paid last year and saved about £90 after haggling on the phone with them. She is at home and has the time to do this. I don't, so I will get her to do mine next year ! I'm not fan of using insurance companies I've never heard of, the price is ok until you have to make a claim and then any excuse not to pay out. My son's car insurance is due in June so we will see how he gets on, he's with Aviva, the quote for me was about £100 dearer than I'm paying, but it was the cheapest he could find when he took his out. I will never understand how they work the quotes out.
Click to expand...

I subscribe to the Which? magazine and each time they feature insurance companies they have LV and NFU at the top of the list for home/car insurance.. pretty well permanently. So.. I thought I'd give NFU a call re my home insurance. My renewal with Direct Line was £320. NFU ? £820 :eek: Btw. Re your son's upcoming insurance, Aviva come seventh with Which? with a score of 70%. LV 78% NFU 77% Last is Halifax at 60% That's May this year from a list of fourteen.

So, re that Direct Line renewal 2022/23 the premium increased by 33%.(outrageous) . I haven't made a home insurance claim for 35 years and that was damage caused by a burst water pipe connected to a bedroom radiator. It was just for the carpet/wallpaper.I called them and they knocked off £40. It really annoys me. So,those who have it about them to give them a call get a good reduction the rest are ripped off. ..especially the elderly .

I think you're right to be wary of insurance companies you haven't heard of but having said that here's a tale. During the 2013/14 damaging winter storms..there were several over a couple of weeks, December into January, I had to call my car insurance company ..Churchill..about something, I can't recall what it was, and I told the young man that a heavy ridge tile on the roof had been carried by a very hight gust of wind ..sounded like a train roar ..to almost the other end when it crashed down onto my wife's car parked infront of the garage on the driveway..I did so because the T&Cs state that I must inform them of any driver on my policy who has had an accident or a claim re motor insurance and, of course, my wife is a named driver on my insurance. She was insured with a different company. The young man went to speak with his supervisor. Result ? I had to pay £50 there and then. I called the Customer Care line..a misnomer if ever there was one...and I complained that my wife's claim didn't involve risk associated with driving and the obnoxious women said, in an uncaring tone, 'a claim's, a claim". I was so angry I told her I'd have been better not disclosing it to which she replied. "A lot don't" . My insurance had six months to run and I complied with their conditions by informing them but didn't expect that I would have to pay £50 there and then. If I'd refused the insurance would have been declared invalid. It was the last bussiness I did with them.

2012 https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2012/sep/14/insurance-companies-defraud-us

2018 ..what's changed ? Nothing. https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/7624...vestigated-over-fears-they-rip-off-customers/
 
you have to constantly change company in my experience, my insurance have been under £200 for as long as i can remember but i have changed companies so many times
 
fujilover said:
you have to constantly change company in my experience, my insurance have been under £200 for as long as i can remember but i have changed companies so many times
Click to expand...
My insurance was £199 every year for the last decade, then dropped to £172 last year, without changing provider in all that time.

I'm expecting it to go up this year because inflation.
 
Last years was £302.92, renewal just arrived £433.83!!! :mad:

Off to see some meerkats ...
 
Tigger.ufo said:
Last years was £302.92, renewal just arrived £433.83!!! :mad:

Off to see some meerkats ...
Click to expand...
Worse than mine, £360 > £480.
Always worth looking at the Meerkats I got mine 40 quid cheaper than last year (y)
 
Brendan Mulachy said:
insurance companies are thieves, pure and simple
Click to expand...
One company, Aviva regularly send me quote reminders, via email, although I'd checked the no contact box,
each quote more expensive than the last.
And I can't find an unsubscribe link either :(
Its now upto £517. As above I paid a little over £300, elsewhere.
I'm pretty sure they make these up as they go along.
 
I was with Aviva until 3-4 years ago and go with a broker that is linked with various owners Clubs.

I own a car that is from a defunct (bankrupt) brand - the disappearance of which makes the car buying landscape look bleak - so when I get a chipped windscreen and the national glass company say they don't have any spares the value of Aviva's customer service diminished in one fell swoop. I spent best part of 14 months chasing down a replacement screen and when the time came for MOT I put Aviva on the spot, they couldn't really care less if the car was off the road as long as I paid my premiums...

Aviva's quotes have since been less than the broker but I cannot trust them on my car if anything else happens to it.

(after 14 months of frustration I just happened to come across a glazer in Leeds, who were extremely helpful, and told me the correct parts number for the windscreen and suddenly the windscreen company discovered they had 6 at their local depot!!!).


In spite of my rants as long as they keep paying a generous dividend twice a year I can't complain too much
 
Last edited:
I’m with LV for car insurance. Had a prang back in January and made a claim. It was sorted out quickly and reasonably painlessly by them and I can’t complain.

Then my renewal came a couple of weeks ago. Even though I have protected NCD, my policy has gone up from £320 to £480. What is the point of the protection then?
 
boogie man said:
I’m with LV for car insurance. Had a prang back in January and made a claim. It was sorted out quickly and reasonably painlessly by them and I can’t complain.

Then my renewal came a couple of weeks ago. Even though I have protected NCD, my policy has gone up from £320 to £480. What is the point of the protection then?
Click to expand...
Agreed its a rip off, its supposed to be insuring your insurance, but there is always a disclaimer that it may still go up :(
time to hit the comparision sites.
 
boogie man said:
I’m with LV for car insurance. Had a prang back in January and made a claim. It was sorted out quickly and reasonably painlessly by them and I can’t complain.

Then my renewal came a couple of weeks ago. Even though I have protected NCD, my policy has gone up from £320 to £480. What is the point of the protection then?
Click to expand...
Recently, my wife was manoeuvring round a car at a petrol station and didn't see a post on her nearside and made its acquaintance causing a dent in the rear nearside door panel and the sill under it. A local panel beater, who I knew was a top man on panel beating, said he didn't do jobs like that anymore, just small stuff but estimated the cost at £800 minimum and suggested we go through the insurance ..so.. we also have NCP and full NCD and it will be interesting to see how much the premium increases. Fortunately, it hadn't long been renewed so we have 10 months on the current rate. My guess is that we'll need to look round at renewal.

They'll say that a motorist pays a level of premium arrived at by assessing the information given to them...ie Age, no accidents/claims within 5 years..no penalty points on a licence and ..obviously, never been disqualified, type of area where the car will 'reside' etc. So when you have an accident, it doesn't seem to matter if it's your fault or not, you become a higher risk so the premium increases but imo....disproportionately.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top