Car insurance

[BillyStubbsTears]

Just got a renewal quote.

No claims, no offences. Same old £5000 car as last year.

The quote has gone up by 75%. Checking online, I can't get it any cheaper.

This feels like something next to straight out robbery. Anyone had anything similar, or know anywhere competitive to look?

[Sprotyrover]

A lot of those online companies have a rolling system so you check on a Monday and the top 3/4 quotes are ridiculous , you go on the same sight a few days latter and they have rolled on and you get a set of completely different quotes at reasonable rates.direct line, Go Compare etc do it.

[turnbull for england]

 I read the due to cost of parts, labour etc older cars are more or less a write off in a bump, which means prices have gone through roof. We bought sister in law's little c1  for the insurance settlement fee of 350 after they wrote it off quoting 1500 for new rear bumper. Pulled it straight and it's good as gold . Granted it's not perfect but it's 20 quid road tax , FSH and starts every time . Far too good for the bin

[Bentley Bullet]

A mate of mine has an old Renault Scenic. He bought a new tyre for it recently and it cost more than the car was worth!

The car is immaculate and works as perfect as when it was new.

[i_ateallthepies]

My renewal quote last week with Co-op was 17% more than last year.  I found the broker below earlier this year when I was searching for learner driver insurance and later travel insurance and in each case they came in significantly less than my renewal quote for the same or better cover.  Worth giving them a call.

https://www.rigbyfinancial.co.uk

[idler]

Mine with Direct Line went up from £300 last year to £580. I rang and asked why. She asked if I had shopped around and I said not yet.
She said she would see if other discount was available and after a minute said there was nothing she could do. When I asked why the big rise she said Market Forces.
I then went on  the comparison sites and the cheapest was £499.
My son-in-law’s went up by £200 and he couldn’t get cheaper elsewhere. It seems almost like a cartel. I also tried Age UK. and their quote via LV was £805 even though the LV quote on Go Compare was only just over £500.

[mugnapper]

Martin Lewis recommends comparing quotes 23-26 days before your renewal date as the optimum way of getting a cheap quote.
I did it last year and paid £50 less with esure than my renewal quote from Sheila's Wheels.
Sheila's Wheels are owned by esure. So that makes sense, doesn't it??

[normal rules]

This is what happens when everyone gets pay rises. Someone, somewhere has to pay .

[normal rules]

If you do low miles consider pay as u drive insurance . Car rental worth a look if your use is ad hoc. As insurance is included . Dropping to third party cover only ? Fit a dash cam if it gets a reduction in premium.

[normal rules]

Wait until new ICE cars are banned. Anyone driving a diesel or petrol car who gets their car written off will be looking at an ev or hybrid replacement in future if they have a like for like policy. Which will cost much more and hence premiums will go skyward

[idler]

Last year Direct Line put my renewal up by £100. When I queried it they immediately dropped it to £2 cheaper than the previous year.
Last year the comparison sites cheapest quotes were a couple of pound cheaper than that. This year the cheapest isn’t.
It doesn’t help having a BD2 postcode which is one of the worst in the country for uninsured drivers.

[ravenrover]

I'm afraid I am of the belief not to give 2nd chances to my insurers . If they quote me a figure, as did LV, who I had been with for several years that is extortionate, it went up by nearly £200, I go straight onto comparison sites. Ended up with Aviva at just a few pounds more than last years premium. If LV really wanted my custom and would have been prepared to reduce their premium why not quote that figure in the 1st place without any haggling. They are just relying on blind loyalty to try and rip people off.

[Filo]

I'm afraid I am of the belief not to give 2nd chances to my insurers . If they quote me a figure, as did LV, who I had been with for several years that is extortionate, it went up by nearly £200, I go straight onto comparison sites. Ended up with Aviva at just a few pounds more than last years premium. If LV really wanted my custom and would have been prepared to reduce their premium why not quote that figure in the 1st place without any haggling. They are just relying on blind loyalty to try and rip people off.

This is exactly me, especially when they come back and say they can match my best quote, too late, you tried to rip me off, so elsewhere I go

[Donnywolf]

Or .... I can't match that price as you are an existing Customer , so you move and save 25%

Following year you return to previous insurer as you ARE now a new Customer

[Crowle Rover]

My car insurance is with the AA.

Last year £260 this year £330.

Went on a comparison site and found one for last years price with a different company.

Rang AA to cancel as I told them I'd got a cheaper quote.

Quelle surprise,AA said they could match that!!

So why not offer that price in the first place?

[colfromdonny]

My car insurance is with the AA.

Last year £260 this year £330.

Went on a comparison site and found one for last years price with a different company.



Rang AA to cancel as I told them I'd got a cheaper quote.

Quelle surprise,AA said they could match that!!

So why not offer that price in the first place?

Don't accept the match, tell them to beat it by 10% or better still take your business elsewhere.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Renewal was almost double last year's 270,  max I could negotiate down was by 50, best alternative was 330.

I did leave it till a week before and note some offers a month before were about 30 cheaper. That suggested renewing 23 to 26 days before seems about right.

[drfchound]

I heard a few years ago that three weeks before renewal was the optimum time to get quotes and it is something I do for all my insurances.

[GazLaz]

Insurance companies did their b*llocks in during Covid. They need to get their cash back somehow.

[silent majority]

Ive had similar problems.

Retired last year so no longer doing anything like the mileage I used to do, no longer need business cover either. Result? Increased by £200.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Insurance companies did their b*llocks in during Covid. They need to get their cash back somehow.

75% increase?

[Bristol Red Rover]

Insurance companies did their b*llocks in during Covid. They need to get their cash back somehow.

How does that work? It's insurance on a car, nothing to do with virus, economic collapse, company shareholders crying about only one yacht, pension investors whining. Its a con.

[normal rules]

Just had a renewal for my little runaround.
Full no claims. No points, no claims. £220 last year. Renewal is £300.
I will be shopping around.

[idler]

Just had a renewal for my little runaround.
Full no claims. No points, no claims. £220 last year. Renewal is £300.
I will be shopping around.

Good luck but comparison sites were still dearer than Direct Line for me and that was after a £180 increase.
The same applied for my son-in-law who had a £200 increase.

[Mr1Croft]

Insurance companies did their b*llocks in during Covid. They need to get their cash back somehow.

How does that work? It's insurance on a car, nothing to do with virus, economic collapse, company shareholders crying about only one yacht, pension investors whining. Its a con.

I was insured with Admiral and during the initial 3 months of lockdown they refunded most customers £25 as the lockdown meant the roads were quieter so their accident claims pretty much stopped overnight.

But then things started to go bad. The lockdown reduced car sales, with the largest decrease in new cars, and as lockdown restrictions were beginning to be lifted, the full impact of Brexit was beginning to be felt by genuine part suppliers which affected the accident repair industry. The average lifecycle for accident repair tripled, which means higher costs for insurers in terms of hire and general admin costs.

Then the semi-conductor crisis began, which severely limited the number of new cars coming onto the market. This had 2 major impacts on the industry, firstly the used car market saw increases upwards of 30%, which meant the market value of vehicles being written off were higher than what the vehicle was originally underwritten for on the policy. But with the reduction of new cars coming into the market, writing off the nearly new cars would result in 3/4 months minimum wait for customers to get a like-for-like replacement. Prior to COVID most vehicles were considered for write-off if the repair value was above 60% of the Pre Accident Value, but as these issues came into effect it meant that most insurers were going as high as 95%.

You'd think repairing a car at 95% of the Pre Accident Value would still be cheaper than writing it off, but when you consider the costs of hire vehicles, compensation, personal injury the average claim cost to insurers rose dramatically. Then there was the effect on the repair industry, despite the number of cars on the road being less than pre-covid, raising the threshold from 60-95% resulted in an extra 250,000 vehicles that needed repairing in a 12 month period.

Most repairers were still recovering from COVID, still facing issues sourcing parts, could not replace courtesy cars that were coming off lease. A high number of technicians had left the industry either due to Brexit or decided to pursue other opportunities with better work-life balance. Now throw in all these extra vehicles that need repairing and now there is far more demand than supply.

All of the above combined into more delays, which means higher cost, and when there is more demand than supply, inflation naturally increases which sees insurers starting to up their rates to tempt insurers into prioritising their repairs over other insurers and the average labour rate began to spiral.

Then, the icing on the cake was the surge in EV vehicles in the last few years. Most insurers priced the premiums on these pretty low due to the fact that they were supposedly safer to drive thanks to more automated technology. But these vehicles are highly complex, which means even the smallest of accident damage still requires a specialist repair/knowledge and equipment to repair, which comes at a premium. The high voltage batteries on these are worth anywhere from 85% to over 100% of the vehicle value. So any EV with battery damage is normally not worth repairing.

As a result the average cost of repairing an EV was much bigger than initially expected, and the likes of Tesla were actually involved in just as many accidents as any other car. One of the main issues is that there is so much more power under your right foot, so things like car park dents and low speed impacts were actually causing more damage.

As we reached the second half of 2022, whilst the used vehicle market for ICE vehicles was still rising rapidly above inflation, we actually saw the used car market for EVs begin to fall. There is very little appetite or incentive for consumers to buy a 3 year old + EV. There isn't the market confidence that the battery will last. For example, if you have a 3 year old Tesla and it gets written off in a accident, why would you want to spend £25,000 on a 3 year old Tesla when we don't know how these vehicles will perform after 8/9/10 years? This created another issue as the value of used EV was dropping whilst used ICE was increasing, which would have seen an increase in settlements.

As the semi-conductor issue began to resolve itself, most vehicle manufacturers prioritised building new vehicles and getting them into the market over manufacturing parts. Naturally, they make more money selling cars than parts, and when you've been severely impacted on building new cars for 2 years, it would make sense to do this. But again this just resulted in more part delays for repairers.

So yeah, this sector was severely impacted by COVID, and whilst things are only beginning to stabilise in the last few months, I imagine insurers took a big hit in the last 3 years and will be looking to recover that somehow.

All that being said, I switched to Esure in June when my renewal was due and managed to get it £200 cheaper. 

[BillyStubbsTears]

Just tried esure. They quoted me £2300.

Anyone starting to think this market is f**ked?

[Padge_DRFC]

Insurance companies did their b*llocks in during Covid. They need to get their cash back somehow.

This was where motor insurers were making the most profits on their premiums than ever. Nobody was on the roads claiming.

[mugnapper]

Just got my new quote. I do 5000 miles a year in a car worth bugger all.
Last year £170
This year £284.
Go Compare here I come

[idler]

Just got my new quote. I do 5000 miles a year in a car worth bugger all.
Last year £170
This year £284.
Go Compare here I come

Good luck, me and the son-in- law couldn't better our quotes. Mine was a £ 180 increase and his was £200.

[Filo]

Just got my renewal quote £20 cheaper than last year, last year £282, renewal £262, that’ll do me, saves pissing about for quotes