Another stupid insurance bollox thread.

[New POD]

My Lad, got his first car aged 21 in June. The insurance was a highly unreasonable price of £1100, but hey it was cheaper by adding me and the wife to it.

 

So Roll on to Sept and he's just started an undergraduate placement in NW London, and contacted his insurance company to get address adjusted. They want £700 extra.

 

I've just been on line and got a quote for £661 all in. (I had to remove me as a named driver to get the Endsleigh student price)

 

He's phoning his current insurer now to ask for a refund.

 

Why are they such twats ?

[fairkens]

Increased risk=increased premium, glad u got a better deal though

[New POD]

Increased risk=increased premium, glad u got a better deal though

Changed (not necessarily higher) risk = chance to screw the unsuspecting customer. If they'd gone in at £150 extra, he'd have taken it. Cut off nose to wipe arse.

[Pillock]

Good luck getting a refund that doesn't start with a minus sign, once they put on the cancellation fee, admin fee, and then point out the small print that after 6 months you get nothing at all.

[New POD]

They said he'll get £800

[Bobthebeard]

I recently got a refund on the insurance policy for the MGF. The 'refund' was £0.00 and actually cost me £27.

'Administration fees sir, innit.'

[fairkens]

From outside London to inside London is almost always an increased risk, some bits of nw London are not nice at all. It's all risk algorithms, don't take it personally

[Bobthebeard]

The world of insurance just does not make sense. It is not fair, or logical. The whole system is totally focused on making money. For the insurance industry, the claims companies, the car hire companies, the approved repair companies, every one but us/you. Who said it had to be fair?

Just accept this, breathe and relax. You will live longer.

[HH-R]

I hate changing car mid insurance term. Usually get quotes for £250-300, change car and they whack on £200 quid, new quotes are back down to £250-300 but if you cancel they shaft you too. Bunch of robbers.

[robinmasters]

He's moved to London (a big city, with more crime, and more traffic, so more accidents), and his premium has gone up.

 

You've got a better price elsewhere. Everyone who sells something which involves a contract over a period of time gives better deals to new customers. Not only that, but the new policy is specifically aimed at students.

[New POD]

He's moved to London (a big city, with more crime, and more traffic, so more accidents), and his premium has gone up.

 

You've got a better price elsewhere. Everyone who sells something which involves a contract over a period of time gives better deals to new customers. Not only that, but the new policy is specifically aimed at students.

Oh I know. But the risk didn't go up 65%. He went from a Liverpool Post code to an NW7 one. I was expecting 20%.

[fairkens]

The world of insurance just does not make sense. It is not fair, or logical. The whole system is totally focused on making money. For the insurance industry, the claims companies, the car hire companies, the approved repair companies, every one but us/you. Who said it had to be fair?

Just accept this, breathe and relax. You will live longer.

 

If you look at the stats for the car insurance industry as a whole you will see that it has only made a profit once (possible twice) in the last 20 years. Its a loss leader for most insurers, thats why they're so keen to sell you home/travel/accidental fart follow through cover, there's more proft in those sectors.

 

 

Oh I know. But the risk didn't go up 65%. He went from a Liverpool Post code to an NW7 one. I was expecting 20%.

The insurer you were with has a risk profile within which they are happy to insure. Doesn't sound like this includes 21 year olds in NW London. They don't expect you to pay the massive hike in premium, its a nice way of saying "we don't want your custom anymore". They could have refused to provide insurance, but he would have had to declare this and so this is a nice way of doing it. Same goes for the OMG£20kpreemiumrobbinbastards for some snotter Corsa you see in the Daily Mail and the like every now and then.

[gtd2000]

My mates lad - now also 21 is doing pretty well on his insurance costs and is now running around in a Toyota Celica.

 

He had one of those trackers installed for a year or two and the costs are quite affordable now.

[Six-cylinder]

It seems if you are prepared to change your insurance every year there is a better deal to be had than staying loyal!

[Pillock]

See also Cable TV, mobile phones, home insurance, gas, electric and probably chimney sweeps.

 

Most people won't shop around so will pay the higher 2nd year price. Too much hassle or didn't realise etc.

 

There's a whole minefield of discrimination rules so instead of not quoting, its safer to quote massive premiums. They didn't refuse to quote so you can't accuse them of discriminating, but they can adjust their risk model to stop you buying it. I once got a £15,000 quote for a Polo - from Saga, when I was 21. They specialise in over 50s so just price younger people out of the equation.

[New POD]

If you look at the stats for the car insurance industry as a whole you will see that it has only made a profit once (possible twice) in the last 20 years. Its a loss leader for most insurers, thats why they're so keen to sell you home/travel/accidental fart follow through cover, there's more proft in those sectors.

 

 

The insurer you were with has a risk profile within which they are happy to insure. Doesn't sound like this includes 21 year olds in NW London. They don't expect you to pay the massive hike in premium, its a nice way of saying "we don't want your custom anymore". They could have refused to provide insurance, but he would have had to declare this and so this is a nice way of doing it. Same goes for the OMG£20kpreemiumrobbinbastards for some snotter Corsa you see in the Daily Mail and the like every now and then.

The thing is that they don't NEED to make a profit from the car insurance. Its about borrowing money from the insured people to invest on the stock market, such that the return on it is higher than what they have to pay for it.

 

If you have 1 accident per 1000 people and an average premium of £500, then you have £1/2 million to invest. If you pay out £1/2 million and 1p per 1000 people, on average you've borrowed £1/2 for 6 months at a cost of 1p

 

I say six months, because there will be a claim every day of the year, but by the law of averages the cost of all claims can be treated as happening halfway through the policy.

 

So given that you can currently make returns of 20 30 40 % on the stock market, you can actually pay out more than the premiums and still make a profit.

 

 

On your second point, you are so right.

[New POD]

My mates lad - now also 21 is doing pretty well on his insurance costs and is now running around in a Toyota Celica.

 

He had one of those trackers installed for a year or two and the costs are quite affordable now.

Yeah but he may as well have a Toyota yaris, because if he uses any of the performance and they see high G's for acceleration, braking and cornering, and will then increase the price.

[New POD]

Hilarious, again, because my wife's insurance is also with the same company, and the renewal, with all 4 of us on it came in at £3000. Now we are taking both kids off, as the youngest is off to university (dropped her in Cardiff on Thursday) and oldest now has his own car, but I thought I'd get some quotes with all 4 of us. Cheapest starts at £1400 via confused. So half the cost. So then I did a quote with out the kids. £214 is the lowest.

 

Now I phoned up current insurer and they can do me and the wife for. and they started at £378. After explaining my confused quote they moved to erm £345.

 

So off to direct line this morning. And £171 is what I've just paid.

[Micrashed]

I recently got a refund on the insurance policy for the MGF. The 'refund' was £0.00 and actually cost me £27.

'Administration fees sir, innit.'

Quite - it would cost me more to cancel the insurance on a car I no longer own than let the policy reach its natural expiration.

[Richard]

Quite - it would cost me more to cancel the insurance on a car I no longer own than let the policy reach its natural expiration.

 

Beware of that because this can happen now if you don't cancel. http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/fife-man-faces-crippling-costs-after-motorbike-he-sold-was-involved-in-fatal-accident-1.554725

[fairkens]

Investment returns aren't that great at the moment, bond market has been difficult and insurers aren't so keen to plough everything into the stock market post 2008 crash, things have picked up a bit over the summer though. Couple of big claims would easily wipe out most investment gains