More car insurance madness

StewartR

StewartR

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My wife and I have a multi-car insurance policy from Admiral. One car each, both named drivers on each other's cars, both covered for all uses on both cars, everything symmetrical.

We got our renewal notice though but we noticed that there is now a requirement to declare any driver awareness courses, which hadn't been there previously. We both had to do one of these a couple of years ago, me for an alleged level crossing offence and my wife for an alleged speeding offence, so I rang Admiral to notify them.

The outcome? The premium on my car has gone up, and the premium on my wife's car has gone down.

Can anyone explain how that makes any kind of sense whatsoever?
 
Yes, because you both comittted an offence which clearly raised the perceived threat risk to your vehicles.

Sorry...edit...misread.
That one would go up, the other down... Odd indeed.
 
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You could always go the route of direct line who guarantee to undercut any quote ,there's was £200 + more than any other quote from other companies .the one I decided to go with this year also advertise on t.v so you can't blame that .its a bloody minefield and also a disgrace .i think they must pull there figures out of thin air .luckily I have the time to fill in all the nosey online forms ,but god help anyone that is not computer savvy or doesn't have the spare time
 
StewartR said:
Can anyone explain how that makes any kind of sense whatsoever?
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No, doesn't make any sense at all ...

Can't believe they're now asking for the speed awareness course. Seems anything / any excuse to up your premium. But your wife's went down, so WTF ???

I can remember when you had to declare, but was allowed 1 speeding (3 points) and it made no difference to your premium ...

Wonder if "confused.com" would know the answer ???
 
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StewartR said:
My wife and I have a multi-car insurance policy from Admiral. One car each, both named drivers on each other's cars, both covered for all uses on both cars, everything symmetrical.

We got our renewal notice though but we noticed that there is now a requirement to declare any driver awareness courses, which hadn't been there previously. We both had to do one of these a couple of years ago, me for an alleged level crossing offence and my wife for an alleged speeding offence, so I rang Admiral to notify them.

The outcome? The premium on my car has gone up, and the premium on my wife's car has gone down.

Can anyone explain how that makes any kind of sense whatsoever?
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Maybe they consider an alleged contravention of a level crossing to be that much more potentially wreckless than a fairly mundane speeding offence most people get those from time to time, as such probably not that much of a concern to insurance however yours is likely a lot rarer and arguable presents a much greater risk potential

That said I'm actually rather pleased with my car insurance right now as they thanks to my brokers negotiation and done me a solid service of sorting out some a good deal on my new policy, the first time I've had my own policy in getting on for 8 years
 
I used to be with admiral, managed to get them down. Just go on comparison website, get cheapest quote and then phone admiral, ask them to match it. IIRC I phoned to cancel the renewal and they automatically put you through to sales who will try to keep your business.
 
MWHCVT said:
Maybe they consider an alleged contravention of a level crossing to be that much more potentially wreckless than a fairly mundane speeding offence...
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Oh, that's quite possible. But you haven't explained how declaring these two offences caused the premium on my wife's car to go DOWN.
 
StewartR said:
Oh, that's quite possible. But you haven't explained how declaring these two offences caused the premium on my wife's car to go DOWN.
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Exactly!

Admiral have made a booboo there but beware taking them to task, you'll probably end up with both raised!
 
maybe as you said alleged they thought you were being defensive and not admitting your guilt so up it goes :-)
 
There is no logic. It's just an excuse to hike premiums. Tell them to do one and call Direct line.

I've been with them for 13 years and never had a price hike.
 
change insurance companies, it never pays to stay with the same one year in year out. We have both cars insured
with LV

. My previous company banged up my insurance by £100 yet my wifes insurance down by £80. When asked why mine had gone up they said "High risk area" DO WHAT??? from Walsall in West midlands to sleepy bexhill on sea outskirts village? I don't think so They could not give an answer as to why then my wifes insurance had gone down with the same company
 
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Speeding courses now a racket. Originally to ease presure on the courts for minor offences that WOULD have gone to court .Now used by the police to for the smallest of offence that would have received a letter of caution (no recordat all). I am told that most courses are run by retiered police officers.
The increase in courses since 2010 is approching 1million. So either peoples driving is getting worse and the courses are not working OR something else is going on.

spa figs.jpg
 
Yes the police seem to have a fixation about speed, maybe because it is an easy target for them to clock up brownie points
 
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realspeed said:
Yes the police seem to have a fixation about speed, maybe because it is an easy target for them to clock up brownie points
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or because its boring anti social and dangerous?
crazy notion huh.
 
Mr Bump said:
or because its boring anti social and dangerous?
crazy notion huh.
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Not sure how speeding could be classed as boring but all of the above can be said about driving too slow, in fact driving too slow can be even more dangerous, yet people are seldom fined or pulled up for doing so.
 
nilagin said:
Not sure how speeding could be classed as boring but all of the above can be said about driving too slow, in fact driving too slow can be even more dangerous, yet people are seldom fined or pulled up for doing so.
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Perhaps because there are no actual laws, no lower limit, specifically prohibiting it.
Maximum speed limits, however, are covered.
Everyone who exceeds them does so voluntarily, and the resulting financial implications are simply donations.
 
nilagin said:
Not sure how speeding could be classed as boring but all of the above can be said about driving too slow, in fact driving too slow can be even more dangerous, yet people are seldom fined or pulled up for doing so.
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i was always told the speed limit in an area was the maximum permitted speed NOT THE MINIMUM.
i generally sit at just under in 30 and 40 zones and on faster roads drive to the conditions.
 
There isn't a minimum speed limit on motorways and the vast majority of other roads but they do exist - some tunnels, for example, have a minimum speed, though I haven't heard of anyone being prosecuted for driving too slowly in on a road with a minimum speed limit.

Dave
 
nilagin said:
Not sure how speeding could be classed as boring but all of the above can be said about driving too slow, in fact driving too slow can be even more dangerous, yet people are seldom fined or pulled up for doing so.
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Quite. A moron doing about 50km/h on Austrian motorway (130 limit) and two further slow nutcases tailgating each other nearly ended up in a big crash right before my eyes. That's the danger of slow drivers.
Mr Bump said:
or because its boring anti social and dangerous?
crazy notion huh.
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because that is another made up bureaucratic socialist policy, nothing more. Explain me how 30mph is safe and 31mph is anti social and dangerous.
 
So, some people almost ended up in a big accident...but didn't. Scary.

And 31mph isn't much riskier than 30mph, but in a 30mph area, 30mph is legal...31mph isn't.

Hmmm, is it that difficult to comprehend?
 
Insurance makes no sense price wise generally.

Admiral multi-car policy renewal came through, no changes no claims, no convictions etc etc. £60/year more expensive. Do a quick quote on another company site and get a quote cheaper than what we paid last year. Phoned Admiral... "yes no problem we can match that".

WELL WHY WASN'T IT THAT MUCH TO START WITH??!?!?!

It's a scam. I remember the days when you used to look forward to renewal time with being a year older and having 1 more NCB and seeing how much it'd gone down.
 
neil_g said:
I remember the days when you used to look forward to renewal time with being a year older and having 1 more NCB and seeing how much it'd gone down.
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Eeee those were the days [emoji3]

Now you wait for it to come through and you get exited if the bloody thing hasn't increased [emoji3]
 
I believe once you have done a speed awareness course you are statistically less likely to drive over the speed limit again for quite a while, hence the premium reduction.
Jumping a level crossing would I guess be seen as much more serious, hence the increase in premium.
Looks to me like someone has actually applied some common sense.
Matt
 
nilagin said:
Not sure how speeding could be classed as boring but all of the above can be said about driving too slow, in fact driving too slow can be even more dangerous, yet people are seldom fined or pulled up for doing so.
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Class 1 vehicles, which are one of the classes of vehicle which are allowed to use the motorways must be capable of achieving at least 25 mph, but as said there is no minimum speed limit.

Slow moving farm vehicles and other vehicles holding up traffic by driving on normal roads at speeds that can be shown to be unreasonable can be prosecuted for 'Driving without reasonable consideration for other road users'. Clearly, attempting to prosecute slow motorway driving using this legislation would require an objective assessment of 'reasonable'.
 
neil_g said:
Insurance makes no sense price wise generally.

Admiral multi-car policy renewal came through, no changes no claims, no convictions etc etc. £60/year more expensive. Do a quick quote on another company site and get a quote cheaper than what we paid last year. Phoned Admiral... "yes no problem we can match that".

WELL WHY WASN'T IT THAT MUCH TO START WITH??!?!?!

It's a scam. I remember the days when you used to look forward to renewal time with being a year older and having 1 more NCB and seeing how much it'd gone down.
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Also always ring. There's now a premium on renewing on the website i.e. most people do so we'll load that one, sorry, won't give you the best possible price.
My insurance is very cheap, nearly always they try to double it on renewal. It's easy to shop around.
 
I had been with Elephant (who are Admiral) for 8 years with my 1996 fiesta and my insurance had been pretty steady and always the cheapest i could find for what i wanted, last year i had to get a new(old) car as it finally was beyond repair, car now from 2005 and when my renewal came in in December is was £210 MORE than for the fiesta, i was expecting more but not that much more. They were desperate to keep me (well kept saying they didnt want to lose me after 8 years) but they said it was just not possible to match the lowest quote i was able to get, which was Hastings Direct, and cos it was a new policy, I was able to use topcash back and, once i get that cash back, will have made it the same as i was paying for the feista all those years. I miss my fiesta!!! I asked them why the huge difference and they couldn't explain why they couldnt match hastings and why they initially quoted such a crazy amount (that i hadnt paid in living memory, probably since i was a pretty new driver - now been driving nearly 20 years, ack)
 
i think it depends on how much is how much?
my insurance also has remained pretty steady for the last 3 years with hastings directa also.
8 year old citroen 1.4 petrol costs £278 fully comp, protected full no claims with all legal extras etc.
dual named drivers.
 
A single speeding offence rarely affects insurance premiums, so long as it was nothing too excessive. I had to declare 3 points for speeding to my insurers a number of years back and the premium still dropped the following years. I assume a single speeding convictions has very little weighting compared to another year of no claims.
Where as the failing to stop at a level crossing I guess they weight much higher as an indicator for much more reckless driving style and in the insurers eyes makes you more of a risk.

I can't see anything odd in your renewal.
 
MatBin said:
I believe once you have done a speed awareness course you are statistically less likely to drive over the speed limit again for quite a while, hence the premium reduction.
Jumping a level crossing would I guess be seen as much more serious, hence the increase in premium.
Looks to me like someone has actually applied some common sense.
Matt
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That makes sense. It explains the outcome and that's what I was after.
 
Mr Bump said:
i think it depends on how much is how much?
my insurance also has remained pretty steady for the last 3 years with hastings directa also.
8 year old citroen 1.4 petrol costs £278 fully comp, protected full no claims with all legal extras etc.
dual named drivers.
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my 1996 fiesta had been £180-£220 for a good 8 years or so, and then they quoted me £420 for the 2005 polo - fully comp, protected no claims, low excess, just me. The cheapest they would go was £305, but with a higher excess than i wanted to pay. Hastings was £290 ish, with lower excess and cashback of £75 so even without the cash back still a lower quote with no haggling. I had really wanted to get a PT cruiser but the tax and insurance were so much more. i miss my little feista (altho i do like having adequate heating now!) i did send it off to be a banger racing car though so it lived on a bit longer (presumably!)

@MatBin that makes sense, remind me to do neither!!
 
Hastings Direct have been brilliant for me i have to say.
They just seem to genuinly want business.
 
Loyalty and driving record doesn't come into the cash cow flow these days ,yes I know we get a ncd but why should the premiums go spiralling ever upwards year on year I have a clean licence ,40 plus years accident free driving and it still increases year on year
 
the black fox said:
Loyalty and driving record doesn't come into the cash cow flow these days ,yes I know we get a ncd but why should the premiums go spiralling ever upwards year on year I have a clean licence ,40 plus years accident free driving and it still increases year on year
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i allways assume everything goes up each year as so do peoples wages and inflation.
also cars cost much more to repair and make nowadays as so many people drive expensive cars than they would have done years ago.
 
@Mr Bump re: cars costing more to repair - Yeah, thats why i was pained to get rid of the fiesta that my friend has been keeping on the road for me, which without him would have been on the scrap heap long ago. The polo might be pushing 12 years old even though I've not even had it a year, but even being this 'modern' (power steering! air conditioning!) I am dreading the first major thing to wrong with it (besides the crap we've already dealt with from dodgy dealer) as its not as simple any more. i wanted to buy another older (but slightly newer than 1996) feista but people kept beating me to them!
 
neil_g said:
I remember the days when you used to look forward to renewal time with being a year older and having 1 more NCB and seeing how much it'd gone down.
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I've never encountered those days. When I passed my test it never went down after a year, they always find ways to raise premiums. People said when you get to 21 it will go down, it didn't. Then they said 25, it didn't, then it was 30. The only time my insurance has really gone down is by buying a car that was a lower group or deemed to be less of a risk.
 
Mine dropped significantly when I changed last time. From a 1600 Xsara Picasso to a 3 litre Jaguar XF. Can only think that I went from a distracted school run bus to something usually driven more carefully.
In the past, I found that it hovered around the £200 mark for many years despite fairly continual upgrades in terms of power, age and consequently value.
Having been unable to add a 3rd bike to my current multi-bike policy, I had to start a new policy from scratch - no NCB but taking into account my age and experience of riding similar machinery, the 1st year premium is £200.
 
nilagin said:
I've never encountered those days. When I passed my test it never went down after a year, they always find ways to raise premiums. People said when you get to 21 it will go down, it didn't. Then they said 25, it didn't, then it was 30. The only time my insurance has really gone down is by buying a car that was a lower group or deemed to be less of a risk.
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I nearly died of excitement when I got my age 21 renewal. Premium dropped like a stone.
 
neil_g said:
I nearly died of excitement when I got my age 21 renewal. Premium dropped like a stone.
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My biggest drop in insurance occurred was a couple of years ago when I was 52, I saved over £300 by changing from a 6yr old 155PS Mondeo ST TDCi to a 1yr old 250PS Focus ST, figure that one out.
 
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