Petition to investigate insurance prices

[Germgh0st]

Petition: Establish a Commission to investigate extortionate Car Insurance price rises

Car insurance prices have become increasingly more expensive since the Coronavirus pandemic, surpassing pre-pandemic average costs to insure cars despite a general reduction of road related deaths. Regulations at this time allow for consumer price gouging and cause hardship for many with no benefit.

petition.parliament.uk

Not sure what else it would uncover other than scams and uninsured drivers pushing up premiums but might be worth a signature.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Signed.

 

[W1ghty]

Done

 

[Helsinki]

Done

 

[m80]

Unless they can uncover cartel price fixing surely the capitalist market will control the prices by competition.

 

[st13phil]

Unless they can uncover cartel price fixing surely the capitalist market will control the prices by competition.

One thing about UK motor insurance that I do think needs a light shone upon it is that many of the well-known brands that seem to do everything they can to appear to be independent of one another are, in fact, all trading names of a particularly large retail insurance group.

Their actions potentially give the false impression of competition when there may in fact not be any real competition between them. It also speaks to the willingness of certain brands to simply pay out on an own claim basis rather than recovering from the third-party's insurer, which will often disadvantage the non-fault party at renewal.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Like all other businesses, Insurance companies are there to provide a return to their shareholders. It’s up to them to determine their profit margin to cover their costs, remain a sustainable business, and provide a return to shareholders.

As suggested unless there’s reason to believe that there’s anti-competitive practices then they can charge what they like. Anticompetitive practices across an entire industry is unusual, especially in the space of a year or so that prices rocketed.

Let’s start a petition to investigate energy, utility and oil companies as their prices have gone up a lot and their financial results are relatively rosy. Let’s not let Porsche off the hook, close to 50% profit margin on the 911 is bang out of order.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Let’s not let Porsche off the hook, close to 50% profit margin on the 911 is bang out of order.

My mate sells Porsches and hes was with me when you posted that....he laughed....a lot! They have never had anything like 50% in any Porsche let alone a 911......or do you mean Porsche the builder?....rather than the dealers. The dealers get about 18 to 20% with bonuses and operating stds met..GTs and the like often only have 8% to make sure they dont discount.......if they are discounted any higher than its making a loss to shift stock or a manufacturer backed promo.
The reality is new car dealers as a whole make an average of around seven per cent on new cars.

 

[Germgh0st]

The reality is new car dealers as a whole make an average of around seven per cent on new cars.

I got an £8400 discount off my new M340i, list price £64k. That's over 13% discount. I find it hard to believe they would have sold it at a loss. So I think that average should be a little higher.

 

[ChrisHGTV]

I think for fat margins Rolex is probably near the top of the table. (Both the manufacturer and subsequent retailer)

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

My mate sells Porsches and hes was with me when you posted that....he laughed....a lot! They have never had anything like 50% in any Porsche let alone a 911......or do you mean Porsche the builder?....rather than the dealers. The dealers get about 18 to 20% with bonuses and operating stds met..GTs and the like often only have 8% to make sure they dont discount.......if they are discounted any higher than its making a loss to shift stock or a manufacturer backed promo.
The reality is new car dealers as a whole make an average of around seven per cent on new cars.

Porsche AG.

No wonder he laughed, 18-20% including bonuses is an incredible margin, as you know.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I got an £8400 discount off my new M340i, list price £64k. That's over 13% discount. I find it hard to believe they would have sold it at a loss. So I think that average should be a little higher.

There are a number of factors which mean that the profit margin isn’t list price minus sale price. There are a variety of incentives which enable dealers to give away all (and more) of their dealer’s margin on the car and still make a profit.

Volume incentives are perhaps the best know, but there are also customer satisfaction incentives, finance product incentives, and others which enable a dealer to make a profit even though on paper it looks like there’s none.

 

[Germgh0st]

There are a number of factors which mean that the profit margin isn’t list price minus sale price. There are a variety of incentives which enable dealers to give away all (and more) of their dealer’s margin on the car and still make a profit.

Volume incentives are perhaps the best know, but there are also customer satisfaction incentives, finance product incentives, and others which enable a dealer to make a profit even though on paper it looks like there’s none.

Good luck to them then - I didn't take out BMW finance, I didn't take any add-ons, I didn't fill out a satisfaction survey and I don't imagine they sell a whole heap of these cars (judging by how many are on the road). They got little out of me