When I renewed my insurance in January it went up about £10 for the year. I wonder if all prices are escalated due to cost of living crisis.
I havent a clue. There doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. They have a reputation for taking the pi55 out of their existing customers, in the hope that they will renew anyway, and cant be bothered to shop around. Before retiring I used to work away from home, and left all the stuff regarding the house to my wife. Our household insurance was with Nationwide. They kept increasing the premium. In the end we were paying £70 per month. On retiring I shopped around, and got the same cover for £136 per year. My wife has had an account with Nationwide most of her adult life. When we cancelled, they were apologetic, and offered to drop the price. I was obviously having none of it. I wouldnt deal with them out of principle.
I quoted the 3 figures above.
I paid £196 this year. The renewal quote is £289. The cheapest quote from LV on Go Compare is £362.
The renewal price may be a pi55 take, maybe the majority of existing customers renew anyway. Perhaps the intention is to drop the price to those that cancel in order to salvage some of them. Although in my view this is not a good way to do business, and likely to alienate customers. The price they are offering to new customers is also unexplainable. It is substantially higher than the renewal price, and lots of their competitors. I can only assume that they are not looking for new customers with my profile.
I had a look on Confused.com this morning to see if there was any difference. Surprisingly the RAC were £244 on this site, and £272 on the other. I am leaning towards the RAC at £244. I would rather not deal with LV.
Admiral just bumped up our multi-car insurance from £500 to £700, despite another year of no claims and the cars being one-year older. Unfortunately, they are still the cheapest.
When asked why the premium went up by 40% when we expected it to be level or go down a bit, they said it could be because people with similar characteristics in the area have made some claims recently. I get that my driving history, mileage, gender, age and city I live in are really important, but this seems a bit off - it's a bit like the police doing a stop and search based upon some biased thinking.
Postcodes can be vital in this sort of thing. As can increased computer data.
I remember a time when premiums were set using (to use a random postcode) TW. Then TW7. Then TW7 5. Now some even rate you on TW7 5Q. Each time the effects on premium are massive, as better or worse areas are no longer counted.
As an example, a whole County insisted on their Postcode changing some years back. Because the Vale of Glamorgan has both a very affluent area and a very poor one.
Multi-car insurance has significant problems in relation to no claims discount. Having said that, car insurance has gone up a lot in the last year or so.
I just thought it would be a little more straightforward. I understand that people with a poor driving record will get their premiums increased. Thats logical, if you are persistently getting caught for driving offences, you should pay more than someone who doesnt. If you live in an area where large numbers of cars are vandalised, or stolen, then you will pay more than those that live in areas where they arent. If you make regular claims, you lose your no claims bonus, and will definitely pay more than those that dont claim. If you park your car in the street, then it is more at risk, than if you dont. There are 17 houses/bungalows in my street. It is a cul-de-sac, so there arent loads of people walking down my street that are going elsewhere. I am not aware of any cars that have been stolen, or damaged during the 22 years that I have lived here.
My premium has gone up 50% from last year to this. I havent committed any driving offences in the last 20 years. I have made one claim in the last 30 years, and that was for a windscreen, 17 years ago. This damage was caused by a stone on the motorway, and not necessarily my fault. I live in a decent area, and park the car on my drive. I would be surprised if the stats on stolen/damaged cars in my area have increased, or changed in the last 30 years. I had a company car leading up to my retirement. So I should have an eight year no claims bonus, they are actually giving me seven years, I havent quibbled over this as it only makes a difference of 1%. The value of my car will have decreased. My no claims bonus has increased slightly. I am only doing around 1,000 miles per year.
I therefore cant see anything that has happened in the last 12 months that would warrant a 50% increase in my premium.
Car insurance has gone up, on average, by 20% this year. In part, this has been because of a return to normality-car insurance went down substantially during the pandemic.
This is not true, at least in my case it wasnt. Mine wasnt reduced substantially, and I did a similar mileage during lockdown.
You need to know what your motor insurer regards as "your area"-it could be anywhere from the first 3 to the first 5 letters/numbers of your postcode, which will have a major impact.
My point is that the area you live in is unlikely to change dramatically over a period of 1 year.
Any insurer will tell you that 30 years largely claim free may just mean you are now due
Perhaps they should work the no claims bonus backwards. Maximum when you start. Reducing it each year you dont claim.
Finally, you mention lots of factors. But you do not mention one very important one-age. It's not just the increased risk associated with age. The retired are driving far more than during the pandemic, and consequently the risk has risen substantially.
My quotes were based on driving 1,000 miles per year, before, during, and after the pandemic, and as I said previously there was no reduction in premiums during the pandemic. Since retiring, I have used trains more than ever before
1 amusing fact relating to insurance for the retired. When a House insurer asks if you are at home all day, retired people say yes, believing that that will reduce the premium. Whereas it actually increases it. Insured people tend to think of burglaries-whereas insurers think of the damage we can cause while in the house.
Since retiring I have saved £700 per year on my household insurance.
I think that if it was all based on a magic formula, postcodes, or anything else, surely all insurance companies would be quoting the same price. Yet the prices I have been quoted range from £186 to £4,464.
There isn't a magic formula. It varies from insurer to insurer. Using part of a Postcode on an old address of mine, and the different postcodes used:-
Some use CO13-an area of about 10,000 people, including Frinton, Kirby Cross, Kirby-le-Soken and Gt Holland.
Some use CO13 0-which is part of Kirby Cross and Great Holland. About 2,000 people.
Some use CO13 0J. Part of Great Holland. About 200 people.
As it happens, I believe all CO13 postcodes are similarly rated. But that is not true for areas with major social disparity within the postcodes. Using my example from before, the Vale of Glamorgan has massive variations within it.
Then some Insurers are actively looking to increase or decrease exposure to different classes of risk.
There was a time when you could rely on an experienced insurance broker to sort this out. As opposed to price "comparison" websites.
There isn't a magic formula. It varies from insurer to insurer. Using part of a Postcode on an old address of mine, and the different postcodes used:-
Some use CO13-an area of about 10,000 people, including Frinton, Kirby Cross, Kirby-le-Soken and Gt Holland.
Some use CO13 0-which is part of Kirby Cross and Great Holland. About 2,000 people.
Some use CO13 0J. Part of Great Holland. About 200 people.
As it happens, I believe all CO13 postcodes are similarly rated. But that is not true for areas with major social disparity within the postcodes. Using my example from before, the Vale of Glamorgan has massive variations within it.
I understand that. I know the Vale of Glamorgan. I am sure that the people that live in the Vale of Glamorgan understand that their insurance premiums are affected by the variations. My point is that these variations have existed for years, and are unlikely to have changed over the last 12 months. These variations dont exist where I live.
Then some Insurers are actively looking to increase or decrease exposure to different classes of risk.
I understand. My details havent changed in any adverse way, other than I am one year older. I live at the same address, the car is worth less, no driving convictions, and more no claims. When I first found LV on one of the comparison sites, they were keen to get my business, as they were one of the cheaper quotes.
There was a time when you could rely on an experienced insurance broker to sort this out. As opposed to price "comparison" websites.
Whatever the ins and outs of the insurance business, I could pay less than last year if I wished, by buying the policy from another company. This is irrespective of being old, pandemics, price increases, retirement, and whatever class of risk I am.
Mine is due for renewal again next month. It will be interesting to see what the RAC do this year. I had a look on GoCompare, and the cheapest quote last year is exactly the same price this year.
I took out the £22.50 per month RAC service plan on top. It includes 2 services and 2 MOTs. I have just been for the first MOT. It went fine. They didnt find any extra work that was needed for the car to pass. Not even any tyres with a day and a halfs wear in them. They said it would take an hour, and it did. The cost was apparently £44.
I could have had a service at the same time, but I couldnt be arsed to wait all day. They do a call out for the service anyway. So I will get an RAC mobile mechanic out to do it on my drive. Much easier than waiting around most of the day, or getting someone to follow you there, take you home, and take you back later.
The price of a full service at home is £236. At one of their approved garages it is £210. So I might have to pay a little extra.
The deal is you pay £22.50 per month, for 24 months. You get one full, and one interim service. As well as two MOTs.
I think that using a Merc dealer would usually cost at least a grand.
Mine is due for renewal again next month. It will be interesting to see what the RAC do this year. I had a look on GoCompare, and the cheapest quote last year is exactly the same price this year.
I took out the £22.50 per month RAC service plan on top. It includes 2 services and 2 MOTs. I have just been for the first MOT. It went fine. They didnt find any extra work that was needed for the car to pass. Not even any tyres with a day and a halfs wear in them. They said it would take an hour, and it did. The cost was apparently £44.
I could have had a service at the same time, but I couldnt be arsed to wait all day. They do a call out for the service anyway. So I will get an RAC mobile mechanic out to do it on my drive. Much easier than waiting around most of the day, or getting someone to follow you there, take you home, and take you back later.
The price of a full service at home is £236. At one of their approved garages it is £210. So I might have to pay a little extra.
The deal is you pay £22.50 per month, for 24 months. You get one full, and one interim service. As well as two MOTs.
I think that using a Merc dealer would usually cost at least a grand.
The other thing is, of course, I dont have to find a lump, twice.
I found my age was used as price hike. I was blocked from getting cheaper quote. Comparison sites for less cover were the same price. If you don't renew now the price can go up.... Mm!
I paid the RAC £244 last year. The cheapest was £210. That came with a few dodgy conditions. That quote is exactly the same this year. There are no quotes from the RAC showing up on Confused.com. I can get it from Hastings for £259, which wouldnt be the end of the world. I will wait for the renewal quote from the RAC, and choose between them and Hastings. The renewal is due on 19th June. I will continue with the service plan whatever happens.
I paid the RAC £244 last year. The cheapest was £210. That came with a few dodgy conditions. That quote is exactly the same this year. There are no quotes from the RAC showing up on Confused.com. I can get it from Hastings for £259, which wouldnt be the end of the world. I will wait for the renewal quote from the RAC, and choose between them and Hastings. The renewal is due on 19th June. I will continue with the service plan whatever happens.
Thats actually quite amazing, i would be tempted to snap that up today.
What I found happened when I was on the cusp of getting mine renewed, the insurance companies seemed to use a sliding scale or prices depending on what day I chose my renewal to start from.
For example ( i dont have the exact figures but what I post beneath is the general Idea)
If I wanted my insurance to start tomorrow, £575 2 days later £565 3 days later £540 4 days later £500 2 weeks later $365
and so on.
I found there seemed to be a sweet spot of about 3-4 weeks where it was the lowest you could go.
I ended up paying a little too much as I had bought a car at the auctions and I couldnt drive it off the forecourt unless I could produce insurance certificate, and the auction house would charge me £15 a day for leaving it there, so I just snap got insurance to move on with my life.
I also had a chat with my daughter, who worked for Hastings direct and she explained the reasoning behind the sliding scale of prices when renewal was due.
"Someone who leaves their insurance to the last minute are typically unorganised and more likely to have an accident driving in an unorganised fashion"
Which I think is some kinda b0ll0cks made up on the fly to justify greed.
I paid the RAC £244 last year. The cheapest was £210. That came with a few dodgy conditions. That quote is exactly the same this year. There are no quotes from the RAC showing up on Confused.com. I can get it from Hastings for £259, which wouldnt be the end of the world. I will wait for the renewal quote from the RAC, and choose between them and Hastings. The renewal is due on 19th June. I will continue with the service plan whatever happens.
Thats actually quite amazing, i would be tempted to snap that up today.
What I found happened when I was on the cusp of getting mine renewed, the insurance companies seemed to use a sliding scale or prices depending on what day I chose my renewal to start from.
For example ( i dont have the exact figures but what I post beneath is the general Idea)
If I wanted my insurance to start tomorrow, £575 2 days later £565 3 days later £540 4 days later £500 2 weeks later $365
and so on.
I found there seemed to be a sweet spot of about 3-4 weeks where it was the lowest you could go.
I ended up paying a little too much as I had bought a car at the auctions and I couldnt drive it off the forecourt unless I could produce insurance certificate, and the auction house would charge me £15 a day for leaving it there, so I just snap got insurance to move on with my life.
I also had a chat with my daughter, who worked for Hastings direct and she explained the reasoning behind the sliding scale of prices when renewal was due.
"Someone who leaves their insurance to the last minute are typically unorganised and more likely to have an accident driving in an unorganised fashion"
Which I think is some kinda b0ll0cks made up on the fly to justify greed.
You are probably right. The obvious thing that follows is that if for example you renewed one month early, then you increase the price by around 8.5%, as you effectively lose one months cover. I currently have 3 quotes that are around, or cheaper than the RAC. Followed by Hastings Essential at £259, and Hastings Direct at £266. I would be happy with either of these. As soon as the RAC quote me for the renewal, I will decide. Then renew from the due date. If I dont hear from the RAC soon, I will get in touch with them.
Comments
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/new-year-delivers-fairer-home-motor-insurance-renewals#:~:text=From 1 January insurers will,they were a new customer.
I paid £196 this year.
The renewal quote is £289.
The cheapest quote from LV on Go Compare is £362.
I wonder if all prices are escalated due to cost of living crisis.
There doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.
They have a reputation for taking the pi55 out of their existing customers, in the hope that they will renew anyway, and cant be bothered to shop around.
Before retiring I used to work away from home, and left all the stuff regarding the house to my wife.
Our household insurance was with Nationwide.
They kept increasing the premium.
In the end we were paying £70 per month.
On retiring I shopped around, and got the same cover for £136 per year.
My wife has had an account with Nationwide most of her adult life.
When we cancelled, they were apologetic, and offered to drop the price.
I was obviously having none of it.
I wouldnt deal with them out of principle.
I quoted the 3 figures above.
I paid £196 this year.
The renewal quote is £289.
The cheapest quote from LV on Go Compare is £362.
The renewal price may be a pi55 take, maybe the majority of existing customers renew anyway.
Perhaps the intention is to drop the price to those that cancel in order to salvage some of them.
Although in my view this is not a good way to do business, and likely to alienate customers.
The price they are offering to new customers is also unexplainable.
It is substantially higher than the renewal price, and lots of their competitors.
I can only assume that they are not looking for new customers with my profile.
I had a look on Confused.com this morning to see if there was any difference.
Surprisingly the RAC were £244 on this site, and £272 on the other.
I am leaning towards the RAC at £244.
I would rather not deal with LV.
I think that if it was all based on a magic formula, postcodes, or anything else, surely all insurance companies would be quoting the same price.
Yet the prices I have been quoted range from £186 to £4,464.
Some use CO13-an area of about 10,000 people, including Frinton, Kirby Cross, Kirby-le-Soken and Gt Holland.
Some use CO13 0-which is part of Kirby Cross and Great Holland. About 2,000 people.
Some use CO13 0J. Part of Great Holland. About 200 people.
As it happens, I believe all CO13 postcodes are similarly rated. But that is not true for areas with major social disparity within the postcodes. Using my example from before, the Vale of Glamorgan has massive variations within it.
Then some Insurers are actively looking to increase or decrease exposure to different classes of risk.
There was a time when you could rely on an experienced insurance broker to sort this out. As opposed to price "comparison" websites.
This is irrespective of being old, pandemics, price increases, retirement, and whatever class of risk I am.
It will be interesting to see what the RAC do this year.
I had a look on GoCompare, and the cheapest quote last year is exactly the same price this year.
I took out the £22.50 per month RAC service plan on top.
It includes 2 services and 2 MOTs.
I have just been for the first MOT.
It went fine.
They didnt find any extra work that was needed for the car to pass.
Not even any tyres with a day and a halfs wear in them.
They said it would take an hour, and it did.
The cost was apparently £44.
I could have had a service at the same time, but I couldnt be arsed to wait all day.
They do a call out for the service anyway.
So I will get an RAC mobile mechanic out to do it on my drive.
Much easier than waiting around most of the day, or getting someone to follow you there, take you home, and take you back later.
The price of a full service at home is £236.
At one of their approved garages it is £210.
So I might have to pay a little extra.
The deal is you pay £22.50 per month, for 24 months.
You get one full, and one interim service.
As well as two MOTs.
I think that using a Merc dealer would usually cost at least a grand.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/27945301/car-insurance-firms-ripping-drivers-off/
I was blocked from getting cheaper quote.
Comparison sites for less cover were the same price.
If you don't renew now the price can go up.... Mm!
Me feel a conspiracy, where's toot toot. ?
The cheapest was £210.
That came with a few dodgy conditions.
That quote is exactly the same this year.
There are no quotes from the RAC showing up on Confused.com.
I can get it from Hastings for £259, which wouldnt be the end of the world.
I will wait for the renewal quote from the RAC, and choose between them and Hastings.
The renewal is due on 19th June.
I will continue with the service plan whatever happens.
What I found happened when I was on the cusp of getting mine renewed, the insurance companies seemed to use a sliding scale or prices depending on what day I chose my renewal to start from.
For example
( i dont have the exact figures but what I post beneath is the general Idea)
If I wanted my insurance to start tomorrow, £575
2 days later £565
3 days later £540
4 days later £500
2 weeks later $365
and so on.
I found there seemed to be a sweet spot of about 3-4 weeks where it was the lowest you could go.
I ended up paying a little too much as I had bought a car at the auctions and I couldnt drive it off the forecourt unless I could produce insurance certificate, and the auction house would charge me £15 a day for leaving it there, so I just snap got insurance to move on with my life.
I also had a chat with my daughter, who worked for Hastings direct and she explained the reasoning behind the sliding scale of prices when renewal was due.
"Someone who leaves their insurance to the last minute are typically unorganised and more likely to have an accident driving in an unorganised fashion"
Which I think is some kinda b0ll0cks made up on the fly to justify greed.
The obvious thing that follows is that if for example you renewed one month early, then you increase the price by around 8.5%, as you effectively lose one months cover.
I currently have 3 quotes that are around, or cheaper than the RAC.
Followed by Hastings Essential at £259, and Hastings Direct at £266.
I would be happy with either of these.
As soon as the RAC quote me for the renewal, I will decide.
Then renew from the due date.
If I dont hear from the RAC soon, I will get in touch with them.