Insurance, legalised extorsion.

[bigstraight6]

The Memsahib had the insurance renewal on her car through recently, and the annual premium had risen by £120 over the previous year to £328. A quick perusal on confused.com really did confuse, as the insurance company that had just sent through the aforementioned renewal quoted £220 I won't say which company it is, lets just say I'm LESS THAN impressed We have now switched insurers (those nice girls in the pink car ) and the premium is now £154! It seems best practice to shop around and switch insurers every year then, so much for loyalty and not making any claims and being rewarded accordingly

[Guest]

I have been lucky. With AA insurance for 8 years and its not done online-which makes a difference (online cheaper). On a few occasions they have matched better quotes to keep the custom.

[reallyloud]

Had something along the same lines with that 'Less than honest' insurance company, their internet quote on confused.com was roughly half what I was paying. For some reason they didn't seem to know anything about these internet offers and chose not to tell me that I could have made a huge saving. I'll second bigstraights advice to avoid like them plague, no matter how professional, how neat their graphic design is or how ethical they seem.

[mk2_craig]

I recently saved a fortune on the Mundano using confused.com, Barclays got my business last year with their "£50 bonus if we can't beat your renewal quote" offer but their best effort this time round was still more than twice what Admiral ended up being able to do 12 months' cover for.

[Guest]

I'm delighted that I've managed to get a £500-ish quote for the 323 Estate, that's the cheapest I've had on anything.I've worked out that I've only been driving since I was 20, I'm 23 now and have paid out a total of over £5000 in insurance on various cars without ever making a claim. That's despite no points on license, cars all kept on the driveway, etc.I suppose that's the price I pay for being cool.

[Albert Ross]

I don't seem to have a problem...Shitey Astra 1994, group 8, 168 per year.Thoroughly excellent 2006 Focus Ghia, Wife driving, 320 per year.Land Rover, Still being built, will be 90 per year.That's living in this part of Doncaster, which appears to have more than it's fair share of caravan dwellers, and we've had one car pinched and another clunked into outside the house. I must just be a good risk, even with some dubious history. (IN10, DR10, Failure to provide correct information on claim forms etc......All straightened out now as a clerical error) I guess it's cos I'm approaching old git status.....nearly 42!

[retrogeezer]

Cadmiral(!) Insurance - multicar policy:Last year, 1994 Audi 80 2.0 and 1996 Mondeo 2.0 Ghia - Premium £466 (fully comp)Sold the Audi in October 07 and got a refund of £165 (approx 6 months) Just got renewal for 13.4.08 for just the Mondeo - £452.00!!!Confused.com gave many quotes around £270ish, but put it in my girlfriends name at £224.00 as will be insuring the 323 in my name on a classic policy.Byebye Cadmiral.

[r.welfare]

I always play about four of the comparison websites, takes about 15 minutes all told.Currently paying about £220 TPFT on the saloon, 30yo, decent postcode and parked on a driveway, 7yrs NCB (although that will shortly reduce ), with the AA.Was also impressed that the AA insured the estate with no NCB for only £20 a year more, on the same terms. They also tell me that provided I renew with them next year, the NCB on the second policy will jump up to match that on the first one. Obviously I need to check the small print as to whether this is transferable in year 3...As Mrs W has threatened to dismember me if I purchase any more cars this is probably the best way of doing it - a trade policy would be nearer 4 figures a year I reckon, and neither 405 qualifies for classic insurance, sadly.

[STUNO]

Can you insure for 3rd party only ? At least if you cause some mayhem the only one not covered is your piece of shite. And for us its quite a bit cheaper. I too have complained about insurance untill I needed it !My insurance is cheap too! I pay 720 pounds a year for:House replacement contentscommercial taxiBut Im also looking forward eagerly to the pension !

[r.welfare]

You can Stuno - "TPFT" = Third Party, Fire and Theft. You can get Third Party Only, but it tends to be only a tiny bit cheaper than TPFT. Not sure if anyone will insure on the most basic cover, which is Road Traffic Act, any more.

[STUNO]

You can Stuno - "TPFT" = Third Party, Fire and Theft.

Yes we are talking about the same as I see in your previous post

[Marty]

 

£52.57 (FC)

 

 

One towing: £445 (FC)

 

One being towed: £329 (TPFT)

 

 

Same engine as Xantia, newer than Xantia - £198 (FC)

[Milford Cubicle]

I'm delighted that I've managed to get a £500-ish quote for the 323 Estate, that's the cheapest I've had on anything.I've worked out that I've only been driving since I was 20, I'm 23 now and have paid out a total of over £5000 in insurance on various cars without ever making a claim. That's despite no points on license, cars all kept on the driveway, etc.I suppose that's the price I pay for being cool.

Can you not wang most of your cars on 'classic car insurance'?

[wilko]

The Memsahib had the insurance renewal on her car through recently, and the annual premium had risen by £120 over the previous year to £328.

When my insurer (Endsleigh) sends me my renewal quote, I ring up and tell them I've found a better deal and am considering not renewing - I hold the line for 5 minutes & they find me something cheaper every time. I was paying around £38 a month for TPFT on my old Rover 216, the renewal was going to be about the same, I told them to jog on and they came back with £28 a month...What I think happens (in my case at least) is that Endsleigh being a broker only automatically run your renewal quote via your current insurer, when you tell them it's crap, they run against all the companies they deal with, and inevitably find something better...I'm currently 30 & paying under £400 TPFT (but with 3rd party cover on other vehicles) on a 2.4 Laurel with 3 years NCB.I think the "classic car insurance" situation is misleading too - from talking to a chap I know in insurance, there are quite a lot of insurers who won't touch anything as a "classic" if you intend to use it as your daily driver, but who will provide a very competetive "2nd car policy" quotes for ANY car that is declared as a 2nd car limited to 5k miles a year for Social, Domestic & Pleasure use, bad news is, this is usually restricted to the over 25's.What are people's experiences with modified car insurance?I haven't owned a car with modifications other than exhaust/wheels since I was about 21 - back then I simply chanced it and didn't declare the mods (as you do when you are young and foolish!) I am considering working the Laurel's suspension over, and being older & wiser now, I'd like to do it properly & legally...

[r.welfare]

Not sure this counts as modified Wilko, but I fitted a set of alloy wheels* to my Accord, rang up my broker, and they said: no worries, nothing extra to pay. Something like a suspension drop might be different though. Adrian Flux were always touted as good for modifieds, might be worth a try?* I'm never buying a set of new alloys again - cost a bloody fortune and the wife had kerbed them within minutes...

[aled]

52 vvti corolla with wifey to drive £143 fc - churchill2 imps and a 100a on a same policy £ 132 unlimited milage fully comp with footman james

[Guest]

Can you not wang most of your cars on 'classic car insurance'?

Not usually! They generally don't like my age or the fact that I usually want to declare modifications (not even mad stuff, just things like alloy wheels).That said, I might try a few proper classic specialists on the 323 as that is to be kept standard for now.

[bones96]

got a quote for my 1.4 sunny declared my naughtiness on confused got a price for £575 so went ahead contacted the insurance company who gave me the quote on confused and they wanted nearly £700 so it was a case of having the car insured or getting nicked so when my insurance is ready for renewal im defo shopping around

[mk2_craig]

Adrian Flux were always touted as good for modifieds, might be worth a try?

Good for modifieds, CRAP 4 CLAIMZ. I've heard numerous horror stories about their customer service, sounds like the usual "small firm expanding too fast" script.

[pogweasel]

Interestingly I have just checked how much I would pay with the insurance co. mentioned at the start of all this: cheapest by a country mile, offering to cover my BMW fully comp 10k a year me & Er Indoors ( ) for a gnat's bollock over £300, which compared to my current "deal" with a large grey indian/african trunked mammal is rather favourable.

[Pillock]

Renewal prices are ALWAYS higher than new business..... they give you the lower price to lure you in, then smack you with a huge rise in the second year. They assume people are too lazy to hunt around and just take it on the chin as a rise in the cost of motoring.

 

If you notice, a lot of insurers will guarantee to beat your renewal quote... knowing full well they probably can't beat a new business quote.

 

It's also helpful to their stats.... "Bloggs Insurance gained 25,000 customers in 2007" sounds better than "Bloggs insurance gained 5 customers, but hung onto quite a few of the old ones too". They just forget to mention that 24,995 of the old ones found it cheaper elsewhere after the first year. S'what mobile phone companies do too, renewals/upgrades are hugely poor value compared to new contracts because they just like getting new customers.

[retrogeezer]

Renewal prices are ALWAYS higher than new business..... they give you the lower price to lure you in, then smack you with a huge rise in the second year. They assume people are too lazy to hunt around and just take it on the chin as a rise in the cost of motoring.

 

If you notice, a lot of insurers will guarantee to beat your renewal quote... knowing full well they probably can't beat a new business quote.

 

It's also helpful to their stats.... "Bloggs Insurance gained 25,000 customers in 2007" sounds better than "Bloggs insurance gained 5 customers, but hung onto quite a few of the old ones too". They just forget to mention that 24,995 of the old ones found it cheaper elsewhere after the first year. S'what mobile phone companies do too, renewals/upgrades are hugely poor value compared to new contracts because they just like getting new customers.

I don't agree, I've been with Cadmiral for 6 years, they were massively cheaper than Less Than on my Calibra (£350 v £790!!)

 

And every year since then, if the renewal has been very competitive but I still phoned them saying I had it cheaper elsewhere and they reduced it a bit.

It's only this year that it's gone up a huge amount and seems to be nearly £200 more than the cheapest quotes (of which there are a few in the same ballpark)

 

As for mobile phones, I've been with (the number after 2) for 3 years, 1st year was a cashback deal through carphone warehouse that was free Nokia 6630 (which I still use as it's so good) phone, 500 mins,300 texts etc and worked out at £4.00 a month. Following year, same talktime etc, free Sony K800i and £10 quid a month with 5 free months (so £70 all in) and I sold the Sony phone on ebay for £150!

 

This year, £5 a month, 5 free months (so £35 for the year!) and a free phone upgrade after 9 months - although I now 'only' have 300 minutes talktime. Thats a pretty good deal if you ask me.

[Justin Case]

The quote from my brokers seemed excessive even for an Alfa, so I phoned round. A very helpful lady from the AA quoted £120 less, so I went back to the brokers, who reduced their original quote by £80 and reduced legal expenses cover premium to 1p So I stayed with them as the cost was only a few quid more and their level of service is pretty good, but it pays to shop around.Btw I tried confused.com. First of all they hadn't got my job on their list, then they wanted to know the repair cost of the accident I had three years before; I hadn't a clue as my very efficient brokers had sorted out everything for me. To cap it all there wasn't a 'no-one' box to tick for 'who was to blame' Has anyone actually managed to get to the end of their on-line form, confused is an understatement

[Raffles]

Renewal prices are ALWAYS higher than new business.....

Not always, the insurance for my SRi has been with Admiral* for 3 years now and is has come down every year by a little bit. They are currently around £100 cheaper than the cheapest new business quote.* - Other insurance services are available.