Insurance! What A Joke!

[z-tune-z2]

Where do I begin...

I own a T- Sport and being of insurance group 7, insurance is going to be a bit on the hefty side! Especially for a 20 year old male! Bought the car a year and 6 days ago and paid a whopping price for insurance having scoped it out before purchasing the car. To me, the car justified it. The 1.4L Polo just didn't do it for me any more.

I make it 10 months before the Yaris made friends with another car because I was being careless, almost wrote the poor girl off with a 5 mph 'incident'. Come renewal time, I obviously expected a nice little bump in the premium, 10% in fact, no surprises there. Coughed up what the sheet asked for and cried myself to sleep (metaphorically).

Having sat around a week, I thought no more about the insurance business until my friend was looking at quotes and comparing his 1.6L 205 GTi to his familys Williams Clio, I was gobsmacked at how cheap it was in comparison to what I was paying so I asked him to see what he'd pay on my car. The answer was, very little. Asked him to try my address with his driver status details, a few months more experience and 1 yrs NCB and again, very little.

Confused as hell I decided to do some investigation given that his quotes came from my insurers. I thought to myself, okay, the accident, that HAD to be it, that MUST be why I paid double his quote last week. To my surprise, no. I'd entered the details as accurately as possible and here was my insurance provider asking for £300 less!!! Immediately called up to ask what they were playing at and after they adjusted all the little details and combined it with the details of my claim, they were asking for 60% of what I paid last week.

Bricks were ****

They're now refunding the difference :)

[Cyker]

Result!

But yeah, it's ridiculous the difference some changes have on the premium!

I learned a similar way to you that it's worth double-checking the finer details on renewal in order to get the best price...

[Red Yaris 54]

I was being careless

It is careless people like you who push up insurance premiums for everybody else!! :D

[z-tune-z2]

Result!

But yeah, it's ridiculous the difference some changes have on the premium!

I learned a similar way to you that it's worth double-checking the finer details on renewal in order to get the best price...

Well the problem was... There was no difference between the two policies! Absolutely none whatsoever. Truly astonished.

I was being careless

It is careless people like you who push up insurance premiums for everybody else!! :D

Well at least I wasn't being wreckless! XD My apologies, if it makes you feel any better, I paid a huge excess!

[Red Yaris 54]

I was being careless

It is careless people like you who push up insurance premiums for everybody else!! :D

Well at least I wasn't being wreckless! XD My apologies, if it makes you feel any better, I paid a huge excess!

Oh......................that makes it alright then! :P ;) ..................but still puts up our premiums!

[alfiejts]

A lot of companies offer cheaper "new" policies than renewal prices. Its the same for both car and house insurance.

My last house insurance renewal was £667 but if I got an online quote as a new customer with the same firm, it was just £320!

Needless to say, I didn't renew the old policy and took out a new one....

Its just the way that insurance market pricing is going at the momnt - the're having to sell "new" policies at a loss to be competitive in the marketplace and then make their money on a renewal.

It pays to shop around every year at renewal to make sure you're renewal quote is competitive.

And its the same in many "financial services" situations. I'm lucky to have some savings in an ISA, but my bank has reduced their interest rate to 0.5% - but they've introduced a new ISA product giving 3.75% interest.

Again - unless you keep an eye on the rates available and move your savings, you're not going to get the best deal.

They rely on people just renewing their policies or leaving their money in old accounts to make their profits...

[Passedit]

Another thing Insurance companies are up to is automatic renewal. When the date of renewal arrives they debit whichever card you used for payment, for another years cover, unless you ring and tell them otherwise. Two companies I used have just started doing this. Be warned or you could be paying for something you do not want or is cheaper elsewhere. I thought there was a law against inertia selling.

[Cyker]

Oh yeah, that's another nasty little trick

The thing is, that's actually illegal unless you explicitly agree that they can do that, but if you sign up on-line, there is often an obscure checkbox somewhere (Usually near the ones that say you 'agree' to let them spam your e-mail address ) which is pre-ticked to say they can just auto-renew without asking...

[Parts-King]

Another thing Insurance companies are up to is automatic renewal. When the date of renewal arrives they debit whichever card you used for payment, for another years cover, unless you ring and tell them otherwise. Two companies I used have just started doing this. Be warned or you could be paying for something you do not want or is cheaper elsewhere. I thought there was a law against inertia selling.

There is nothing illegal in that, the clue is in the name "Automatic renewal" They guarentee to give you ongoing cover and all you have to do is pay, the thing you dont notice is how much it goes up by each time. Insurance are not the only ones, breakdown cover, magazine membership, they all do it because it works for them, its called business and you will have agreed to their terms and conditions by clicking the check box and buying the product

Always make a one off payment if you can afford it and NEVER accept the renewal price without shopping around first. It has never been easier to get a quote these days, there is no loylaty on behalf of the insurance company, why show loyalty back to them?

Kingo

[Raeman]

I renewed my motorbike insurance 3months ago, got quoted £27 more than last year despite me having no convictions or claims in the year!

So i rang and questioned it, been with the same bike insurers for 8yrs now, so out of loyalty they gave me a £40 discount. (They do this stunt every year btw)

I was just going to accept that untill i remembered what a friend told me to try once.....

So i go online, same ins company, same details ect....the quote and policy i got was identical in everyway except it was just over £80 CHEAPER than the telephone quote! :o

So ALLWAYS get an internet quote as it cuts the admin costs out and in my case, put an nice £80 back in the wallet! ;)

As for the ins on my 2 cars, i allways shop around and haggle, but usually the current insurers want your business again and will give discounts. You just have to be cheeky and ask, no discount, go elsewhere.

[Cherry Red Pocket Rocket]

I just had my renewal quote from my insurer and I swear it is only £100 less than it was last year. I've got a year no claims and I'm 21 now thus I was expecting it to be considerably less? They want £580!!!

[Red Yaris 54]

I just had my renewal quote from my insurer and I swear it is only £100 less than it was last year. I've got a year no claims and I'm 21 now thus I was expecting it to be considerably less? They want £580!!!

At least is is less!.................................It might start to get a bit cheaper after you are 25 or 30 ;)

[alfiejts]

For all you "youngsters" out there, try adding your parents as named drivers to your policy as that may well reduce the quote.

I do not mean take out the insurance in their name, as that will invalidate the policy. If you are the main driver, then the policy needs to be in your name, but if you add them onto the policy as extra named drivers, that can often reduce the premium as the insurance company sees that the overall risk is lower if some of the driving is done by people of a lower risk category.

Its best to try various options using the online quote web sites...

When I did my daughter's policy, some policy quotes were least with both myself and my wife added, whereas other companies were "least" with only one of us added but not the other...

[charged]

I just had my renewal quote from my insurer and I swear it is only £100 less than it was last year. I've got a year no claims and I'm 21 now thus I was expecting it to be considerably less? They want £580!!!

Insurance is up, pretty much across the boad and typically by over 11%. You are lucky to see a drop!

[Cherry Red Pocket Rocket]

I followed the tips according to this website: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance...p-car-insurance

My renewal quote was £577.91 and by shopping around and then haggling with my current insurer they price matched my cheapest quote which was £467.72. £110.19 saving and all the better seeing as there is an increase in insurance premiums by 11% across the board!

I'll check the reamining comparison websites and insurers but don't think I'll get it cheaper than that which I'm pleased about anyway.