Weird logic of car insurance

[roba]

I'm just looking into renewing the policy on one of the household cars, a small hatch. The missus is listed as the main driver, along with two others. I first got quotes through one of the comparison sites, then realised I'd forgotten to include details of a speeding ticket for her indoors from almost five years ago, and when I went back and added that, the cost of the cheapest quote actually dropped by £0.30 - go figure!

Another funny thing, the car's worth ca. £3k. One of the quotes I got was priced at... wait for it... £3.7k for the year - and even then it had a compulsory excess of £3k! I guess that's their subtle way of saying they don't particularly want my business.

 

[Wheelsnuts]

I have never been able to work out the reasoning behind the way these companies operate. I received my renewal quote last month - not too much of a shock but a bit more than some other offerings. Then I received a mail shot from what appeared to be another company promising to beat my renewal quote by £50, so I went for it. Would you believe it, the new policy is administered by the same company as my previous one. Only the 'front' name has changed: contact telephone numbers etc are exactly the same!

 

[markjay]

...Another funny thing, the car's worth ca. £3k. One of the quotes I got was priced at... wait for it... £3.7k for the year - and even then it had a compulsory excess of £3k! I guess that's their subtle way of saying they don't particularly want my business.

The Premium has very little to do with the value of your own car.

It's the 3rd party insurance which brings tbe Premium up - because from the insurer's point of view 3rd party is an open ended proposition.

If you hit a Veyron with your old banger (no offence meant) driven by a 25 years old professional who becomes quadriplegic.... once the cost of the Veyron, the lifetime cost of 24x7 care, and 40 years loss of income are taken into account... well you can see where this is going.

This is an extreme example of course, but you could simply cause some very expensive damage to other cars or property, or have one of your passengers seriously injured.

The loss of your own vehicle is the probably very low down in the list of possible eventualities that the insurer may end up paying for.

 

[roba]

The Premium has very little to do with the value of your own car.

Yes, absolutely take your point. Although I still find it perverse that the cost of the insurance is more than the cost of the car (and it's not like I'm a new driver, either, in which case I would understand).

Also, the policy isn't 3rd-party-only, it's fully comp, so in that sense the value of my car must surely be somehow factored into it as well, seeing as it is also being covered.

Besides, the £3.7k premium was ten times higher than the cheapest ones, and had ten times higher excess. Yet even with the cheapest cover I can still hit that young professional in his Veyron!

Anyway, I had a chuckle when I saw the quote, so thought I'd share.

 

[Stratman]

My renewal notice dropped through the letter box this morning, £178 fully comp from Direct Line. I thought I'd fill in their online quote just to see, and it came out as £152. One phone call later and £152 it is :bannana:

 

[Rory]

I think the most bizzare thing is the way the quote can be higher for garaged cars, a bit lower if parked on the drive, and lowest of all if parked on the street. Admiral companies are usually like this.

 

[IanA2]

The Premium has very little to do with the value of your own car.

It's the 3rd party insurance which brings tbe Premium up - because from the insurer's point of view 3rd party is an open ended proposition.

If you hit a Veyron with your old banger (no offence meant) driven by a 25 years old professional who becomes quadriplegic.... once the cost of the Veyron, the lifetime cost of 24x7 care, and 40 years loss of income are taken into account... well you can see where this is going.

This is an extreme example of course, but you could simply cause some very expensive damage to other cars or property, or have one of your passengers seriously injured.

The loss of your own vehicle is the probably very low down in the list of possible eventualities that the insurer may end up paying for.

The example I alway use is a fault accident with petrol tanker thats sets alight a very high class hotel with lots of rich folks on the casualty list.

TP claims soon mount up!!!!

 

[MancMike]

When I was paying £5500 for my car insurance policy only last year, I was quite a bit more annoyed than you chaps who are all just niffed at the "cheek" of the quotes let me tell you! Hm!