Insurance is a JOKE

[del320]

Here's something you don't see very often!

Following an internal review, we have identified an error with your renewal premium, which resulted in you being offered a higher price than intended.
We’re sorry this has happened and will correct this by refunding £17.13 to you. This is made up of £15.52, which is the amount you were overcharged, and £1.61, which is equivalent to 8% annual interest.
We’ll credit the account or card that you last used to pay for the policy within 8 working days of this letter.

Not bad considering the original premium charged was £226.

 

[SR3210]

My insurance renewal was cheapest. Never has this happened before.

 

[DITTRICH]

My insurance renewal was cheapest. Never has this happened before.

Me too this year - very surprised at the variation of stupid quotes on the comparison sites. Almost like they don't want new business.

 

[Smiley]

The insurance market has been turned on its head over the last few years....the main reason being the legislation that prevents companies providing a cheaper price to a new customer than a renewing customer. My guess is that this in turn has made the business case for the comparison sites more difficult - the insurance companies no longer have the ability to fund the comparison site commission from the higher (rip off in some cases) renewing customers who did not shop around - so now the comparison site commission has to be funded from the people using it - hence why the prices on comparison sites tend to be higher than a renewal quotation or a price direct from the company. The public will work this out and stop using the comparison sites I guess?

 

[sattie]

My insurance renewal with Churchill has increased by 52% for my CLK 320 2001, going up from £239 to £362. Comparison websites are quoting over £500. I plan to discuss this with Churchill to see if they are willing to lower the renewal premium.

Have purchased a GLC 250d 2017 and I'm in the process of obtaining insurance. Aviva provided a quote of £4625, while Direct Line and LV declined to provide any insurance. The best offer I found on comparison websites was £1113 with a £525 excess. The only way to reduce the cost further is by using a telematics system, which she is unwilling to do. She has a clean driving record with maximum No Claims Discount (NCD) protection. I also tried the Multi Car insurance option from Admiral, but it turned out to be more expensive than getting separate insurance for the GLC and VW Touran 2005.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I’m just doing the first car and house insurance renewals since the cost insurance shot up, although I’ve insured new things in recent months there’s no history to compare to.I’ve had to renew two lots of home and contents insurance today, and I’m staying out with both, but it’s interesting to see how pricing has changed.

The renewal for policy #1 had gone up by 41% since last year’s negotiated price. It’s a cinentionsl propert, I phoned and said I was thinking of leaving and received a 9% discount on the renewal price meaning that the underlying increase in price was 28%. It was great value last year and even after a 28% increase it’s still reasonable so I have renewed without shopping around.

The renewal for policy #2 had gone up by 15% since last years online price with a new insurer. It’s a relatively unusual or specialist property, I phoned and they couldn’t offer a discount, they only offered to reduce cover which I didn’t want to do. I invested quite a lot of time a broker and they couldn’t get anywhere near even the renewal price, so I’ve accepted the renewal price.

Whilst policy #2 was the best value last year (with a new insurer) it was 127% of the price of policy #1, so well over twice as much. The increases to both policies this year close the gap considerably, with policy #2 now being only 103% more. I don’t have enough data points to conclude but I think it probably confirms that policy #1 was the great price I suspected it to be.

Next month I have batch of cars due for renewal at the same time, all with the same insurer, but a very spread of of value and performance. It will be interesting to see how that changes

 

[PXW]

I thought the big insurance rises this year were primarily on motor insurance (mine on the Tesla - yes, I know - has increased by over 50% in each of the last two years with no change in circumstances), until I just had a renewal for my house buildings cover at an increase of 60% from last year. Straight onto the meerkat, and the next lowest is up a further 30%.

It must be a wonderful business to work in. "How much do we want to increase our income and profit by this year, lads? How about 50%? No, don't be a wimp, make it 80% - if we do it, everyone will follow and we'll all be rich...".

 

[StMarks]

I thought the big insurance rises this year were primarily on motor insurance (mine on the Tesla - yes, I know - has increased by over 50% in each of the last two years with no change in circumstances), until I just had a renewal for my house buildings cover at an increase of 60% from last year. Straight onto the meerkat, and the next lowest is up a further 30%.

It must be a wonderful business to work in. "How much do we want to increase our income and profit by this year, lads? How about 50%? No, don't be a wimp, make it 80% - if we do it, everyone will follow and we'll all be rich...".

Fwiw I see very strong parallels between Insurance companies and Bookies.:
Basically with both you are simply "betting" your money against luck.

The Bookies accept your premium, with the assurance that you will be paid out if you happen to be lucky. Their calculation is that they will usually pay out nothing, and when they do it will be amply covered by all their other premiums.

However your Insurer accepts your premium, with the assurance that you will be paid out if you happen to be unlucky. Their calculation is that they will usually pay out nothing, but if they do it will be amply covered by all their other premiums.

Perhaps the biggest difference, is that we are not legally obliged to use gambling establishments.??

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I have four cars on one policy, and the renewal notification has come through today, none of them are Range Rovers but even so the renewal premium is up by 82%

I may have to shop around!

 

[ToeKnee]

I have four cars on one policy, and the renewal notification has come through today, none of them are Range Rovers but even so the renewal premium is up by 82%

I may have to shop around!

Not long done my renewal, only two cars though and even though my insurers increased the price by a silly amount they were still the cheapest after I spent ages going through a few comparison sites.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Not long done my renewal, only two cars though and even though my insurers increased the price by a silly amount they were still the cheapest after I spent ages going through a few comparison sites.

That was the case with our home insurance recently. I didn’t shop around extensively but i concluded quickly that it was more expensive than before but still reasonable compared to other insurers.

I recently insured a car with a broker and it surprised me how reasonable their prices were so I will try a couple of brokers to see if they can improve on the renewal price, keeping fingers crossed.

 

[MrGreedy]

MSE mailshot this week claims a 50%ish increase on both motor and home insurance in the past 12 months. Average car insurance now circa £950.

This, with the eye watering cost of living increases and inadequate wage increases for most working people means much higher rates of uninsured driving? Maybe? Thus further putting up insurance prices next year?

 

[Fastcar155]

Hi , as I have mentioned before if car insurance keep increasing at such percentage government won't have to remove cars in general from the streets , car insurance companies will do governments dirty work.

 

[f17ant]

Hi , as I have mentioned before if car insurance keep increasing at such percentage government won't have to remove cars in general from the streets , car insurance companies will do governments dirty work.

This ^

 

[HappytalkAgain]

I have four cars on one policy, and the renewal notification has come through today, none of them are Range Rovers but even so the renewal premium is up by 82%

I may have to shop around!

Blimey Rob.

Could it be anything to do with your newly acquired nuclear pocket rocket?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Blimey Rob.

Could it be anything to do with your newly acquired nuclear pocket rocket?

That’s on a completely separate policy with a different insurer because it’s modified, so not that. Circumstances all the same. Will try a few brokers and ask my current insurer if they can improve on it.

 

[Rayny]

In October my renewal increased from about £325 last year to about £525 this year - I shopped around but could not get a quote for less than about £680 anywhere else, and a quote of about £780 as a new customer with my existing insurer.

Just to lighten the mood - This is an insurance joke :

How Insurance Works -

After Mr. O'Toole's barn burned down, he called the insurance agent to file a claim.
He told the insurance man, "We had that barn insured for fifty thousand bucks, and we need that money immediately!"
"Just a minute there, Mr. O'Toole," the agent replied. "Insurance doesn't work quite like that."
"What do you mean?!" he said. "The policy here says $50,000!"
"That's a maximum," the insurance man said. "What we do is will ascertain the value of what was insured, and then provide you with a new one of comparable worth."
After a long pause, he replied "That's how insurance works?"
"Absolutely," the agent said.

"Well then," he said, "I'd like to cancel the policy on my wife immediately!"

 

[92Adam]

48yrs old…
Based Central Bedfordshire 20+ yrs no claims no accidents or convictions…
Last years price £450ish…
This year’s renewal £612…
Checked on the interweb cheapest £550 with £0 excess…

Go figure…

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I have four cars on one multi-car policy with a mainstream insurer, which is due for renewal later this month. The renewal came through a few days ago and I was horrified to see that the 2023 renewal had increased by 82% relative to the 2022 premium.

I called them today, and they have reduced the 2023 renewal so that it’s now 48.7% more than the 2022 premium. That was the best they could do, unless I add more cars to the policy, however being a mainstream insurer anything rare isn’t their bag.

I was interested to see that the two least expensive cars had both gone up by 37.4% and they gave me 9.7% discount on the renewal price of both. The two most expensive cars both had gone up by 54.1% and they gave me 21.5% discount on the renewal price of both.

So I phoned the broker who did what I thought was a cracking deal on the Kleemann SLK 55K S8 and their quote was more than 3.5x (263%) more expensive than the negotiated premium from my current insurer.

The biggest difference was on the most expensive car to insure of this group of four, it was 5.5x more expensive than the negotiated price with my current insurer, and a staggering 8.5x more expensive than the 2022 premium. You read that right.

So if I stay with my current insurer my insurance cost for those four cars will increase by almost 50% but it’s a relative bargain compared to the broker. I can only assume their rebranding and non-stop adverts on the radio have cost a lot!

I may get another quote, but all things considered I think the revised 2023 premium from my current insurer is still fair value given the type of cars they are. I knew that the deal this time last year was outstanding so not a surprise.

 

[SpikyMikey]

I have four cars on one multi-car policy with a mainstream insurer, which is due for renewal later this month. The renewal came through a few days ago and I was horrified to see that the 2023 renewal had increased by 82% relative to the 2022 premium.

I called them today, and they have reduced the 2023 renewal so that it’s now 48.7% more than the 2022 premium. That was the best they could do, unless I add more cars to the policy, however being a mainstream insurer anything rare isn’t their bag.

I was interested to see that the two least expensive cars had both gone up by 37.4% and they gave me 9.7% discount on the renewal price of both. The two most expensive cars both had gone up by 54.1% and they gave me 21.5% discount on the renewal price of both.

So I phoned the broker who did what I thought was a cracking deal on the Kleemann SLK 55K S8 and their quote was more than 3.5x (263%) more expensive than the negotiated premium from my current insurer.

The biggest difference was on the most expensive car to insure of this group of four, it was 5.5x more expensive than the negotiated price with my current insurer, and a staggering 8.5x more expensive than the 2022 premium. You read that right.

So if I stay with my current insurer my insurance cost for those four cars will increase by almost 50% but it’s a relative bargain compared to the broker. I can only assume their rebranding and non-stop adverts on the radio have cost a lot!

I may get another quote, but all things considered I think the revised 2023 premium from my current insurer is still fair value given the type of cars they are. I knew that the deal this time last year was outstanding so not a surprise.

What hacks me off about this sort of thing is that they are happy enough to try it on with (in your case) an 82% increase , but can bring it down to just under a 50% relative increase if you make the effort to phone them up.
"..........chancers" as Mrs S would say (and does, frequently!)