Wtf is going on with car insurance prices?

[Flat4]

Just had the renewal in for the Corolla - £80 more than last year! And comparing the market, I'm not getting any where close to the renewal price. The cheapest one is nearly double what we paid last year.

Similarly, when I got a quote to put the Granvia back on the road in March, which didn't end up happening in the end, it was £200 less than what it is now!

Checked the Volvo and the Forester just for comparison and they're the same. Have prices gone up across the board or is this a seasonal price increase I'm seeing?

[sutty2006]

It cost me a tenner to insure the Carlton. 
 

 

THE WORLDS GONE MAD!!!!! 

[sheffcortinacentre]

Typical ripoff they've decided price is going up so that's that.

[AnnoyingPentium]

Fabia's up to something near £800 now (was £600 looking at quotes previously) and any quotes for the Focus are starting to creep towards £1k for me, previously £700/£750. Being 19 doesn't help much, but it wasn't this expensive before. Nothing else has changed, I'll have an additional year NCB as of renewal time, been at the same address since 2010, not often that cars are nicked etc.

[JJ0063]

Like everything, prices are on the rise.

Average claim cost has doubled in the last 12 months 

Post brexit, post covid 

Obtaining parts from Europe is harder and more expensive, the factories that produce the parts are paying more for materials, the shipping costs for parts are higher.

You then have the increased energy costs in the factories that both make the parts and also the physical repairers, all paying more on energy, then you have higher labour costs and workers demanding higher wages.

Cars are more expensive to buy, so courtesy car costs are higher

I read a lot about this through work and it’s amazing how much claim costs are going up. All of the above is money the insurers themselves are paying out so everyone’s premium is increased to try and claw it back.

From what I’ve seen speaking to customers and the figures I see day in day out, most premiums have increased 15-20% in the last 6 months alone. Excesses are also on the rise. The insurance world is an absolute nightmare at the minute and I think it’s definitely going to get worse before it gets better. 

[Cheggers]

Just had the renewal in for the Corolla - £80 more than last year! And comparing the market, I'm not getting any where close to the renewal price. The cheapest one is nearly double what we paid last year.
Similarly, when I got a quote to put the Granvia back on the road in March, which didn't end up happening in the end, it was £200 less than what it is now!
Checked the Volvo and the Forester just for comparison and they're the same. Have prices gone up across the board or is this a seasonal price increase I'm seeing?

It's a fart over £1.50 a week more. Compared to a lot of things lately that could have been a whole lot worse.

[Split_Pin]

My insurance renewal for the Cavalier came through, £87 for last year £83 for this year. The Saab and Rover renewals were only a few pounds more, so I don't think there's a general increase.

[Mrcento]

I was £520 a little over a year ago, my renewal was going to be £780. Zero accidents, zero claims over the year, an extra year on the NCB,  £260 more.

That's on top of the 'comedy' of multicar, where it doesn't matter what 2nd car i look at, every insurer wants a grand+ per car. If i had 3 cars, they'd want close to 4 grand.

For ultimate LOLZ, that always works out more than just taking out a second policy with zero NCB with the same insurers, who then have the audacity, without fail, to tell me they have saved me about £400 via the multicar quote, even when 2 policies with themselves would work out £300 CHEAPER than a multicar.

I don't doubt there are reasons for things going up in general, but It's a fucking con on top of that. If you want the proof, go and get a quote for a car, any car, select the date you want to insure it from within the next week, note down the number.

Now go and do the exact same thing, change nothing details wise. but select the date you want to insure from as 3 weeks away, then laugh out loud as the quote you get back will be about 40% less than one needed more.

When i was looking at an Octavia recently, they wanted £750 if i was to insure it within the week. If i wanted to insure it in a little over a fortnight? £490. Just shows they can do it for much, much less, they just want to take maximum advantage of people needing it sooner, like all con artists,

[Timewaster]

I believe there has been some ruling that insurance companies can't charge existing customers more than new customers which has stopped the practice of artificially cheap deals for new customers.

[Flat4]

19 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

My insurance renewal for the Cavalier came through, £87 for last year £83 for this year. The Saab and Rover renewals were only a few pounds more, so I don't think there's a general increase.

Is your Cavalier on a classic policy? That's my next port of call for the Corolla and the Granvia as they're both over 25 years old now. The latter seems to be a bit of a headache tho as it's import and so far I haven't seen any of classic insurers doing a policy for imports.

16 minutes ago, Mrcento said:

 

I don't doubt there are reasons for things going up in general, but It's a fucking con on top of that. If you want the proof, go and get a quote for a car, any car, select the date you want to insure it from within the next week, note down the number.

Now go and do the exact same thing, change nothing details wise. but select the date you want to insure from as 3 weeks away, then laugh out loud as the quote you get back will be about 40% less than one needed more.

When i was looking at an Octavia recently, they wanted £750 if i was to insure it within the week. If i wanted to insure it in a little over a fortnight? £490. Just shows they can do it for much, much less, they just want to take maximum advantage of people needing it sooner, like all con artists,

They do say 21 days before renewal is the sweet spot, apparently the better organised you are the less risky you seem. They didn't seem to be the case with Aviva tho when we were insuring the new Outback. No matter what date we changed to, we got the same price.

[JJ0063]

21 minutes ago, Mrcento said:

go and get a quote for a car, any car, select the date you want to insure it from within the next week, note down the number.

Now go and do the exact same thing, change nothing details wise. but select the date you want to insure from as 3 weeks away, then laugh out loud as the quote you get back will be about 40% less than one needed more.

When i was looking at an Octavia recently, they wanted £750 if i was to insure it within the week. If i wanted to insure it in a little over a fortnight? £490. Just shows they can do it for much, much less, they just want to take maximum advantage of people needing it sooner, like all con artists,

There is a genuine science behind it like @Flat4 says below and I have seen the figures first hand so although I’d love to agree (although it’s my job, I completely agree it’s a necessary evil and it’s stupidly expensive a lot of the time)

Insurance is all stats based, I’ve been asked so many times why I’m asking someone’s marital status or how long they’ve lived at their address for example. 

Stats show that clients who are well prepared, organise insurance weeks in advance etc claim less, so therefore should be rewarded for that. On the other hand claim stats seem to increase a lot for people who are desperate for insurance starting immediately. 

 

5 minutes ago, Flat4 said:

They do say 21 days before renewal is the sweet spot, apparently the better organised you are the less risky you seem.

 

[Flat4]

Could the fact we've only recently moved to this address this year, be contributing to the increase in price then?

I'm beginning to think I need to insure the Granvia now, rather than July like I planned, if costs are going to keep going up.

[Split_Pin]

23 minutes ago, Flat4 said:

Is your Cavalier on a classic policy? That's my next port of call for the Corolla and the Granvia as they're both over 25 years old now. The latter seems to be a bit of a headache tho as it's import and so far I haven't seen any of classic insurers doing a policy for imports.

Yes it is, with Autonet. 

[JJ0063]

5 minutes ago, Flat4 said:

Could the fact we've only recently moved to this address this year, be contributing to the increase in price then?

I'm beginning to think I need to insure the Granvia now, rather than July like I planned, if costs are going to keep going up.

How long have you been there? Insurers do an enrichment/soft search and if you don’t show as being registered where you quote, prices can either be higher or insurers won’t quote at all. This can be partly down to preventing people fraudulently using someone else’s address for cheaper insurance.

If you’ve been there more than say 2-3 months then it shouldn’t be an issue (other than your new postcode may be higher rated) for instance we moved on 8th December, I moved all my bank etc and registered on the electoral roll and by the first week of Jan I was a full match. I’ve seen clients 3 months and still not match. I’ve also seen plenty of people not match 5 years later but that’s usually the ones who don’t actually live where they’re telling me they do!

[RayMK]

My renewal last month was £120 more for the Mirage (2017 reg.) so I changed, going with the company which a comparison site recommended - because it was over £100 cheaper than I paid last year.  The old Tipo is already with the company I've switched to for the Mirage but renewal for the Tipo a few months back was hardly different from the previous year.  The Reliant is the only car I've got on a classic policy and has not changed much either i.e. within £10 of last year's premium. 

[Flat4]

4 minutes ago, JJ0063 said:

How long have you been there? Insurers do an enrichment/soft search and if you don’t show as being registered where you quote, prices can either be higher or insurers won’t quote at all. This can be partly down to preventing people fraudulently using someone else’s address for cheaper insurance.

If you’ve been there more than say 2-3 months then it shouldn’t be an issue (other than your new postcode may be higher rated) for instance we moved on 8th December, I moved all my bank etc and registered on the electoral roll and by the first week of Jan I was a full match. I’ve seen clients 3 months and still not match. I’ve also seen plenty of people not match 5 years later but that’s usually the ones who don’t actually live where they’re telling me they do!

That could be it then actually as I don't think we've officially registered on the electoral role yet. We moved in February so I should really sort that....

[Mrcento]

1 minute ago, JJ0063 said:

stats show that clients who are well prepared, organise insurance weeks in advance etc claim less, so therefore should be rewarded for that. On the other hand claim stats seem to increase a lot for people who are desperate for insurance starting immediately.

Rewarded, yes, bit you'd think things like Age, experience, driving record, lack of points at any point over 15 years of driving, the no claims bonus and location the car is parked (theft risk) would be more important to them than whether somebody purchased the policy a few days further in advance. I could literally take my entire NCB off, start afresh and as long as it was organised a few weeks early, save money than if i organised it to start in 5 or 6 days with a proven record, Sorry, that's complete makey uppery conning, even if there is some basic logic to it. It's think of a number X10 and add 5. And i say that as a Data analyst myself.

I understand a small difference, £40-£50ish, but £260 on top of a policy that they show can be done for under £500? Aye right. That's a some extra 'risk'. The weightings are clearly miles off. That's up there with getting penalised an extra £100  a year for living in a top floor flat because it'd take me an extra 15 seconds to get down and beat somebody to death with a shovel if i hear the alarm go off v somebody 1 floor lower🤣 Pure make it up then try to justify the robbery stuff.

I currently don't have car insurance in my name, nothing on the road right now and working from home so no real need, i'm effectively going to be heavily penalised when i next have a car on the road because i'll probably need the insurance when something i want comes up, not something i can pre-book a month in advance.

[Datsuncog]

15% rise this year on insurance for the Corolla E110 - and that was the best price I could get after shopping around.

Privilege, who I've been with for about five years, wanted to hoick it by 50%.

So I didn't bother renewing with them.

But yeah - I figured it was all just part of the "evryfing's costing more, innit M8?" general hike in pricing we're all experiencing right now...

[JJ0063]

1 hour ago, Mrcento said:

That's up there with getting penalised an extra £100  a year for living in a top floor flat because it'd take me an extra 15 seconds to get down and beat somebody to death with a shovel if i hear the alarm go off v somebody 1 floor lower🤣 Pure make it up then try to justify the robbery stuff.

 

So you’d laugh at a customer I insured last week who phoned me in a panic to say the CASSOA approved locked storage compound he’d arranged to keep his newly acquired motorhome in couldn’t allow him a spot for 3 weeks and he didn’t know what to do, but when I changed the storage to home address on the road another insurer came in over £300 cheaper, reason being they don’t insure any vehicle stored away from home because in their eyes if the owner isn’t with the vehicle, it’s a higher risk than someone who keeps their vehicle outside their front door so weren’t offering any price at all with it kept in a proper storage place. 
 

 

[Mrcento]

15 minutes ago, JJ0063 said:

So you’d laugh at a customer I insured last week who phoned me in a panic to say the CASSOA approved locked storage compound he’d arranged to keep his newly acquired motorhome in couldn’t allow him a spot for 3 weeks and he didn’t know what to do, but when I changed the storage to home address on the road another insurer came in over £300 cheaper, reason being they don’t insure any vehicle stored away from home because in their eyes if the owner isn’t with the vehicle, it’s a higher risk than someone who keeps their vehicle outside their front door so weren’t offering any price at all with it kept in a proper storage place. 
 

 

To be fair, that one makes a lot of sense, even without seeing the data.

Not only is the lack of owner on hand/reliance on whatever security the yard has working and being functional at all times an issue, but the fact that there is likely plenty of things similar there for a would be thief or vandal to target basically makes it a soft target, basically a sitting duck in a whole pond of them instead of something that would need to be singled out. Even if that motorhome wasn't hit, damage to another/another vehicle being torched of whatever could impact everything.

My neighbour has a camper and used to store it away in a compound too, pretty sure the insurance cost will have played a part in why he binned his car and brought the van home to use as his full time daily!

[neil1971]

I've just had my renewal letter from Direct Line, £275 compared to £196 last year, I know everything has gone up but that's quite a jump, clean licence, full no claims, 52 year old with an old person's car (Nissan Note 1.4).

I must have had a quote from the Post Office at some point before as I had an email from them offering a quote, put my details in and it came back at £380!

[MikeR]

The doggy insurance comp tried pushing the premium up for the C1 up , but I had been on a comparison site first for the same provider and got a quote which was a lot lower , they went with that when it was pointed out !!!! 

[Joey spud]

My house/contents insurance last year was £302 this year LV's renewal quote is £457 and i've never claimed in thirty odd years.

I shopped around and got it with More than for £307. I understand inflation and materials/labour costs have increased but when you can move to another insurer and match last year's price then there's got to be something dodgy going on in the insurance industry.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

An online  quote last week from Lancaster Insurance for a classic policy, fully comp. for my W reg, Clio 1.2, standard car,  valued at £1200, parked at home, social domestic and pleasure, no commuting, 5000 miles annually, £700 excess, zero no claims bonus as until recently it was on my traders insurance.                                           Full UK license, no medical conditions, no convictions, never made an insurance claim, £1168.38p.

Two days later a phone call from them enquiring if i wished to proceed, I declined. The salesperson said he would see if they could get me a better quote and a short time later came back with an offer £983 with an outfit called Sabre Insurance which I also declined.

Just had an online quote from Tesco for £389.92, fully comp.

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by The Old Bloke Next Door
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[Zelandeth]

Yep...same boat.  Renewal paperwork has just come through here in the last week.  The classic policy for most of the fleet has gone up over £200 from last year (from £400ish to £625), and I can't get even close to that from anywhere else I've tried so far.

[bunglebus]

Just had my renewal through at £80 more than last year - thanks for the reminder though, got a better quote for slightly less than last year now

[bobdisk]

For the 2000 BMW 232Ci, last year £178.12, this year, for the same policy £240.96 !! Looked around, there are better, but no recovery, NCD protection, and legal.

[EyesWeldedShut]

39 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Yep...same boat.  Renewal paperwork has just come through here in the last week.  The classic policy for most of the fleet has gone up over £200 from last year (from £400ish to £625), and I can't get even close to that from anywhere else I've tried so far.

I jumped through  a lot of hoops for the impromptu auction purchase at the end of March.  Online bestist quote was £190+£40 cashback so I told Adrian Flux £150 was my best quote and they matched it.
My main policy is on the wife's Bini so I'll swap that over in November after the usual shoparound shennanigans. I won't be going multi-car as I've never yet found one that is competitive on price or seems to allow swapping cars in/out without an 'admin' fee.
The van insurance renewal though has come in way under any other quotes for two years running. Weird
 

 

[Metal Guru]

13 hours ago, neil1971 said:

I've just had my renewal letter from Direct Line, £275 compared to £196 last year, I know everything has gone up but that's quite a jump, clean licence, full no claims, 52 year old with an old person's car (Nissan Note 1.4).

I must have had a quote from the Post Office at some point before as I had an email from them offering a quote, put my details in and it came back at £380!

My wife’s car is with Direct Line and renewal notice was about £50 more than last year (£250 ish). Asked a meerkat and he said £196 best ( of companies I’d heard of). So I phone DL see if they’ll match it and the say how’s £185 sound? Wow, I’d have renewed at about £225 (CBA  to change if it’s less than £30).

They won’t budge on house insurance though.

[riek]

16 hours ago, JJ0063 said:

Cars are more expensive to buy, so courtesy car costs are higher

And with the parts delays, they're on hire longer too.