Car insurance

[Reemul]

I’ve decided to just stick with existing. As significant as the jump is, I can appreciate all the sources of increased costs for insurers, and the fact the introductory ‘golden handshake’ deals have effectively been made illegal (since existing customers would have to be offered the same deal) suggests to me that I’ll struggle to find anything much cheaper. I might be completely wrong but so be it.

What it means is that each insurer needs to offer the same terms to new customers as they would exsisting ones, that does not mean other insurers are not more competitive so you should look around. It's just no insurer will offer you a a better deal because you are new but because they are overall more competitive.

 

[road2ruin]

Just got my premium through for next year, £1,074 which is up from £561 last year, that's a whopping 91% increase despite no claims and 9 years NCB. Safely say I won't be renewing.

 

[Reemul]

Just got my premium through for next year, £1,074 which is up from £561 last year, that's a whopping 91% increase despite no claims and 9 years NCB. Safely say I won't be renewing.

Let us know what you do actually get and with who and if you manage to get it less than last year. be interesting to know.

 

[road2ruin]

Let us know what you do actually get and with who and if you manage to get it less than last year. be interesting to know.

I went on Money Supermarket and Tesco were the cheapest at £580.00. Went off to the Tesco website to see if I they did a reduction forClubcard holders which they do so ended up with a new premium of £520.00!

 

[D-S]

I went on Money Supermarket and Tesco were the cheapest at £580.00. Went off to the Tesco website to see if I they did a reduction forClubcard holders which they do so ended up with a new premium of £520.00!

More evidence that a lot of these hikes are virtually a scam, preying on the elderly, vulnerable and credulous.

 

[Reemul]

More evidence that a lot of these hikes are virtually a scam, preying on the elderly, vulnerable and credulous.

It's not really, it's the system. I work for a massive Broker. we have a panel of insurers we use. As an example I have a current client who's car provider has withdrawn from the market, their premium was £800. When I approached all my providers the cheapest alternative quote I could get was £1,100. So I ring them up explain the situation and say I will send my recommendation however I also recommend she looks elsewhere to see if she can source a cheaper quote elsewhere. I just can't get her a cheaper quote, it's not like I don't want to. All insurers documentation quite clearly has to state you may be able to get a more competitive quote with another provider.

People of any age have to be prepared to approach other brokers or look somewhere else and this is the same for everything we purchase, it's not that I am ripping her off it's like we have to offer a renewal term if we have it. I am not allowed to call them and just say, sorry too expensive not bothering, we know it's too expensive you know. What we won't do is offer a more expensive quote if we have a cheaper quote.

People don't understand we do not have access to most providers out there let alone all of them. It's like if something is really expensive in Sainsbury's you will need to try Asda, Tesco or a.n.other

It does mean the elderly are at a disadvantage or anyone else not willing to look about but that is an issue with the free market. What's even more annoying is we can get a quote from an insurer and somone else goes to them direct and gets a 30% + discount and think we should just be able to match that but the insurers won't give those deals to us.

On a motor policy we earn between 7.5% and 12% commission on the premium before tax normally yet they cause the most aggro and have the most claims. I actually work in a Private clients department covering high net worth clients mostly and I hate motor insurance. A £300 premium is net £270 earnings of 7.5% that's like £20, that does not cover wages needed to work the policy and add a claim in and it's loss leading. Hence the need for a fee which looks like a rip off when you turn a £300 premium in a £330 premium.

The direct market earn the money but you do the work and hope they answer the phone when you need to make a claim.

If you are buying insurance direct always check the market yourself at renewal, you must always do that because as a broker if you are with me I will always do that for you. Of course if you are with an insurer directly they won't do that for you. NFU only checkls NFU rates, if you are with LV they aint checking AXA or Admiral or any of the others. You need to act like your own broker if you wish to save money.

Additionally I will add if people did not drive like morons and more likely to follow all the rules of the roads there would be way less claims and premiums would be much lower but there are so many poor drivers it's a neverending claims carousel, add poorly equipped security, keyless entry and massive number of car thefts which is not helping.

 

[D-S]

I take the points of your difficulty working in the current market and the restrictions you face.

However there are many elderly and vulnerable people who, through perceived loyalty or inability to search efficiently, end up renewing at the vastly hiked renewal offer (see post 42) and continue to do so until they are effectively ripped off year after year (folk who are least able to afford it), I am sure we all know of many elderly relatives who have been subjected to this ‘tactic’ - I certainly do.

Just as bad is when you challenge your existing insurer who has vastly hiked your renewal quote and miraculously they suddenly are able to match competitive offers significantly below what they have quoted you, so why quote this price in the first place unless it is a cynical profit grab on the off chance that someone might notice?

It is fundamentally an unpleasant business tactic where the elderly, loyal, vulnerable and credulous are effectively subsidising the rest.

 

[Reemul]

I take the points of your difficulty working in the current market and the restrictions you face.

However there are many elderly and vulnerable people who, through perceived loyalty or inability to search efficiently, end up renewing at the vastly hiked renewal offer (see post 42) and continue to do so until they are effectively ripped off year after year (folk who are least able to afford it), I am sure we all know of many elderly relatives who have been subjected to this ‘tactic’ - I certainly do.

Just as bad is when you challenge your existing insurer who has vastly hiked your renewal quote and miraculously they suddenly are able to match competitive offers significantly below what they have quoted you, so why quote this price in the first place unless it is a cynical profit grab on the off chance that someone might notice?

It is fundamentally an unpleasant business tactic where the elderly, loyal, vulnerable and credulous are effectively subsidising the rest.

Unfortunatley you all want a free market. The elderly get screwed by everyone with everything and we as the human race let it happen. We don't look after, cherish and appreciate our elderly enough, well some obviously do but many don't. It's as long as I am ok jack attitude by many.

Even better you all want to use Money Supermarket or Go Compare cause it lets you have cheaper premiums even though for some it is not that easy to use. You want cheap so brokers are too expensive, like a lot of things bought online most dont' want to pay extra for what an experienced ermployee can bring.

It does annoy me when insurers drop premiums massively from original offer, as a broker we don't like that and anyone on our panel that practices that regularly will be called to justify it and they can't but again we do weed them out as part of our role. But you want your free market and choice so that means you as well as the elderly have to do it for themselves, that is the shopping society we as whole have chosen and continue to chose. Everyone at some point has warned of teh risk of having to do it yourself to save costs, some people will not manage it and lose out.

To add we have the rich who think they and only they should get massive benefits and reductions and no fees even though they have more money than they need but doi not give a damn about granny smith who is on a pension and lives alone and needs her car for shopping as she cannot do online.

You know I had a client complain last week because his premium had gone up £20 on a £1,000 and he wanted the fee removed and he needed it dealt with today as he was flying to Madagascar at the weekend for a month. the fee is £50. People ring up and complain that their travel policy cost £400 and they are spending £75,000 on a luxury cruise for 3 months and they are being ripped off.

I think it is easy to blame companies but really it's us to blame as a whole.

 

[road2ruin]

It's not really, it's the system. I work for a massive Broker. we have a panel of insurers we use. As an example I have a current client who's car provider has withdrawn from the market, their premium was £800. When I approached all my providers the cheapest alternative quote I could get was £1,100. So I ring them up explain the situation and say I will send my recommendation however I also recommend she looks elsewhere to see if she can source a cheaper quote elsewhere. I just can't get her a cheaper quote, it's not like I don't want to. All insurers documentation quite clearly has to state you may be able to get a more competitive quote with another provider.

People of any age have to be prepared to approach other brokers or look somewhere else and this is the same for everything we purchase, it's not that I am ripping her off it's like we have to offer a renewal term if we have it. I am not allowed to call them and just say, sorry too expensive not bothering, we know it's too expensive you know. What we won't do is offer a more expensive quote if we have a cheaper quote.

People don't understand we do not have access to most providers out there let alone all of them. It's like if something is really expensive in Sainsbury's you will need to try Asda, Tesco or a.n.other

It does mean the elderly are at a disadvantage or anyone else not willing to look about but that is an issue with the free market. What's even more annoying is we can get a quote from an insurer and somone else goes to them direct and gets a 30% + discount and think we should just be able to match that but the insurers won't give those deals to us.

On a motor policy we earn between 7.5% and 12% commission on the premium before tax normally yet they cause the most aggro and have the most claims. I actually work in a Private clients department covering high net worth clients mostly and I hate motor insurance. A £300 premium is net £270 earnings of 7.5% that's like £20, that does not cover wages needed to work the policy and add a claim in and it's loss leading. Hence the need for a fee which looks like a rip off when you turn a £300 premium in a £330 premium.

The direct market earn the money but you do the work and hope they answer the phone when you need to make a claim.

If you are buying insurance direct always check the market yourself at renewal, you must always do that because as a broker if you are with me I will always do that for you. Of course if you are with an insurer directly they won't do that for you. NFU only checkls NFU rates, if you are with LV they aint checking AXA or Admiral or any of the others. You need to act like your own broker if you wish to save money.

Additionally I will add if people did not drive like morons and more likely to follow all the rules of the roads there would be way less claims and premiums would be much lower but there are so many poor drivers it's a neverending claims carousel, add poorly equipped security, keyless entry and massive number of car thefts which is not helping.

To be fair to the broker I use his first comment was “I was wondering how long it’d take you to call me”. I’ve used him for 5 years or so and he’s always been able to beat or at least get close enough to matching a renewal quote from anywhere else. He said he was embarrassed by the quote but it was the best his panel would give him and EV’s are causing no end of issues. He’s lot a load of business for existing EV owners this year due to the bigger insurance companies pulling any new business on EV quotes.

 

[D-S]

To be fair to the broker I use his first comment was “I was wondering how long it’d take you to call me”. I’ve used him for 5 years or so and he’s always been able to beat or at least get close enough to matching a renewal quote from anywhere else. He said he was embarrassed by the quote but it was the best his panel would give him and EV’s are causing no end of issues. He’s lot a load of business for existing EV owners this year due to the bigger insurance companies pulling any new business on EV quotes.

Sorry to be obtuse, but why use a broker (whose job is, I presume, to find you the best deal) who can only quote you, due to his restricted panel, a renewal price 91% higher than last year?
Then you have to do his job (to find you the best deal) and in fact do a far, far better job, getting half the broker’s quote, very quickly.
I’m not having a go at the people who work in the broken system just that it appears to be set up to catch people out.
I would happily give all my insurance dealings (cars, travel, home, health etc.) to someone, even for a small fee, but only if they can do a better, more efficient job than me at every renewal.

 

[GreiginFife]

Other than for niche insurance needs, I don’t understand the Brokers place in modern, digital society.

Brokers were great at doing the searching for you when it wasn’t an easy task to do but in the internet age of multiple comparison sites and direct online access to company websites I don’t understand how Brokers provide any value.

That’s not a pop at those in the industry by any means, but we’ve evolved technologically and the internet has killed off many bygone jobs and products. For day to dat insurance, I’m amazed Brokers aren’t one of them.

 

[road2ruin]

The original reason for using a broker was I had high powered, modified cars that the standard high street retailer wouldn’t touch so I went with someone who could access a more niche set of companies who specialised in modded cars, grey imports etc. He always got me a good deal so when I got the EV I kept with him and his prices were on a par with what I could get from elsewhere. It’s only been this year that he’s been completely unable to get anything done so have done the legwork myself.

 

[PNWokingham]

Market seems 20% up y-o-y for me same as i heard in the news. £232 to £276 - compare the market cheapest was the same but LV who i was with were £320 here. Phoned and got £262 with LV - didn't think it was worth trying various others

 

[Bunkermagnet]

As usual, we want it cheap as chips and want it yesterday with gold braid on it.
I feel very sorry for Reemul in what are difficult times with the battle the internet gives. My wife works in the motor insurance industry, dealing with complaints, and it is blatantly obvious people see mtor insurance as a) a rip off and b) a way to make money, and thats the public not the employees.
I don't understand why we as a society see any insurance as a way to improve something, or get a financial reward.
Lets be honest, we as a society with our selfish ways have driven the blame game forward to a point companies are always trying to protect themselves from us, the litigation chasing, blame someone public.

 

[stefanovic]

Insured with Saga, I had my renewal letter today.
Small vehicle, only driver, 10 years plus no claims - up from £275 last year to £525 this year.
Am going to have a word with Age UK before I compare the market.
Any other suggestions please.

 

[PJ87]

Funny someone at works went down (only person I know) and she was claiming that everyone she knows has stayed same and that I was making it up that insurance is on the rise ...

Someone else at work had his renewal . £3750 .. up from £1800

 

[stefanovic]

The only comfort is that as an OAP aged 73 someone else is earning for me.
So I sort of get it for free.
I've been driving now for 56 years without any claims other than vandalism like a brick through the screen and never had my insurance double like this.

I'll let you know the cheapest I can find with a comparable excess.

 

[ColchesterFC]

Funny someone at works went down (only person I know) and she was claiming that everyone she knows has stayed same and that I was making it up that insurance is on the rise ...

Someone else at work had his renewal . £3750 .. up from £1800

Mine went down from £183.21 last year to £157.01 this year with Tesco Bank. Didn't even have to haggle, they simply sent me out a renewal reminder with the new, lower price.

 

[Surreyboy]

Insurance gone from £300 to £600, rang up and they won't budge. Tried comparison sites and cheapest is £520.

No claims and circumstances have not changed, very very strange.

 

[KenL]

Just got my renewal in from esure. 80% increase.
Will be shopping around as I do every year.
Got the lies about this being the same as any new customer.