Insurance Rip Off

[MikeSh]

I've been with Hastings this last year for about £450. Renewal has come in for over £1100.

I rang them to cancel the renewal (for the first time in many years I'd authorised automatic renewal - that won't happen again) and the agent asked if he could do better, so I said ok. Went through all the details and it magically came down to about £750, even though nothing had changed.

But I have quotes from comparison sites in the low £400s and even places like Aviva and Direct Line are 'only' £600ish. LV= were about £750.

From comments above I'll give Toyota a look now. (Edit. They've refused to quote)

[FROSTYBALLS]

Was the LV= quote by phone or online? My online quote was £126 cheaper than the renewal, and £57 cheaper than their best phone quote. 

[Haliotis]

Got my renewal notice yesterday.  Up approx another £350 (again) although no change in circumstances.  Rang my insurers and said I was unhappy with the new premium, and explained why.  Their agent asked me to hold whilst he went through the policy.  Without anything changing, he came back with a figure nearly £200 lower, and making my renewal cost increase about £155 more.  I accepted this, but why could not that revised figure have been given in the first place?  I do appreciate the fact that my insurer was prepared to do a revision - many are hard-nosed and flatly refuse to budge.  I am registered on quite a few comparison sites - some just remind you that it is real time, where others actually put their best premium offer in the email.  These premiums are always ridiculously high - I don’t really bother with them now, so perhaps I should simply make the time to unsubscribe them.

[AndrueC]

My renewal in March from the AA was a bit of a jump so I went on to a comparison site and got almost the same premium as the previous year from Aviva. £302 for a '19 1.8 Corolla, 10+ years without claims, low-crime town, car kept in locked garage.

To be fair my car insurance has never changed much over the years so must have dropped in real terms. I think it was around £250 for an Austin Mini back in the 90s. Highest it ever went was £400 about ten years ago (though for no particular reason that I'm aware of).

Didn't do quite as well with the home insurance a month ago as that was something like a 7% increase.

[MikeSh]

20 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Was the LV= quote by phone or online? My online quote was £126 cheaper than the renewal, and £57 cheaper than their best phone quote. 

That was online.

[Cyker]

Just renewed mine too funnily enough; Another hike across the board except for eSure and Churchill, who were roughly level with that I paid AF for the current policy.

AF hadn't sent a renewal for some reason so I called them and it had predictably hiked, but after notifying them of my lowest quotes the lovely sales agent was able to get it down to roughly what I was already paying too so it'll be my 3rd year with them!

I really need to find a clean way to move my insurance and car tax renewal dates as they are both at really poor times (Insurance right before xmas and cartax right before April so I always get hit with the increases after they send me the reminder, which is just a kick in the proverbials... "Here's your car tax reminder, this is what you owe!" *goes to pay* "Just kidding it's £10 more now because screw you!"

 

[Haliotis]

When you consider that your premium will rocket, even for a no-fault claim,  I have been wondering how the protected NCB now operates.  Where it is a fault claim, how do the statistics compare between, say, a 12-year NCB, a 6-year NCB, and not bothering to take out protection at all?  Paying for protected NCB is by no mean cheap.

Also, how does the total voluntary-plus-compulsory excess work?  Suppose for example, a driver has a £400 damage incident.  If the driver’s total excess is £500, he/she would pay in full out of their own pocket - reporting it to the insurer is only a formality to meet notification rules.  In which case, a premium renewal figure should not be impacted.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Protected NCB/NCD protects the amount of bonus or discount you receive - doesn't protect the premium.

With some companies, the protection may reduce after a number of claims, whereas with others the protection doesn't reduce.

[Heidfirst]

16 minutes ago, Haliotis said:

When you consider that your premium will rocket, even for a no-fault claim,  I have been wondering how the protected NCB now operates.  

It protects your discount from the calculated headline premium. It does not stop the headline premium from being increased in light of a claim (I have personally suffered from this even although my car was parked, the offender admitted it & I did all the claim myself against his insurance but, of course, had to report it to my insurance)

[Cyker]

5 hours ago, Haliotis said:

When you consider that your premium will rocket, even for a no-fault claim,  I have been wondering how the protected NCB now operates.  Where it is a fault claim, how do the statistics compare between, say, a 12-year NCB, a 6-year NCB, and not bothering to take out protection at all?  Paying for protected NCB is by no mean cheap.

Also, how does the total voluntary-plus-compulsory excess work?  Suppose for example, a driver has a £400 damage incident.  If the driver’s total excess is £500, he/she would pay in full out of their own pocket - reporting it to the insurer is only a formality to meet notification rules.  In which case, a premium renewal figure should not be impacted.

That's not been my experience - For the whole time I've had a car, the increase in insurance cost has shown no correlation on whether I had a claim, fault or non-fault.

In fact, some of the biggest increases have been when I haven't had a claim for many years - The most recent hikes being a perfect example (Thanks FCA! )

Additionally, in years where I have had a claim, my next-years premium has sometimes seen the smallest increases. This year my renewal was slightly less than last year, and I had a new claim for being rear-ended!

The only time I've ever heard of someone's insurance 'skyrocketing' after a claim was because they lost their entire NCB and their premium reset to roughly what it was when they were a new driver.

That said, I suspect the NCB is not all it's cracked up to be - Someone here lost all their no claims because it wasn't protected some years ago but their insurance only went up by a hundred quid or so and not increased over double like I was expecting which was a bit sus...  

 

[Haliotis]

I wonder why they have some of the questions on a proposal form.  Why should it matter whether one is single, married or divorced?  Why does it matter what one’s title is - just plain Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms or a title such as Doctor, Teacher or Reverend?  What does it matter if you have children under 16 at home, or how many?

We know that insurers can use these figures for weighting a premium, but they are crude and one-size-fits-all is  rubbish.  Any one of the above qualifications can vary from extremely trustworthy to outright accident prone.  The only sure method to obtain accuracy (and fairness) is to use a driver’s history, and not the last five years.

[Cyker]

I'm 90% sure that's just so they can make sure they sell your details to the right spammers...  

[FROSTYBALLS]

7 hours ago, Haliotis said:

The only sure method to obtain accuracy (and fairness) is to use a driver’s history, and not the last five years.

So where do you suggest insurers get an accurate version of the driver's history from?

[Paul john]

4 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

So where do you suggest insurers get an accurate version of the driver's history from?

That would be the DVLA

individuals can use this form 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291862/D888_260214.pdf

 

[Graham47]

6 minutes ago, Paul john said:

individuals can use this form 

And where on that form does it say that a business is entitled to access your record without infringing GDPR ?

[FROSTYBALLS]

2 minutes ago, Paul john said:

That would be an electronic copy of a form such as this

Which would only provide history of driving entitlements (groups), endorsements, convictions, disqualifications, (for some) a photo, etc. It won't provide information on any medical conditions or restrictions.

For those with the old style driving licence, which is valid up to the person's 70th birthday, it won't include a photo.

Nothing on accident or claims history.

[Graham47]

7 hours ago, Haliotis said:

What does it matter if you have children under 16 at home, or how many?

Never seen this question on any car insurance quote form…..

 

7 hours ago, Haliotis said:

Why does it matter what one’s title is - just plain Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms or a title such as Doctor, Teacher or Reverend?

So that they can address any correspondence correctly.  I’m sure you would be very upset to be corresponded with as “Ms” … Do you not feel someone who has spent a lot of years studying is entitled to be addressed as “Doctor “ ?
But again, I’ve never seen “Teacher” offered in any drop down list.

[Paul john]

9 minutes ago, Graham47 said:

And where on that form does it say that a business is entitled to access your record without infringing GDPR ?

Insurance companies and other gov organisations like the police can access DVLA info on cars or people without a break of gdpr as the access is for legitimate purpose . Gdpr covers inapropriate data leak and such leaks are fined by the ICO. 
does that help?

[Paul john]

12 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Which would only provide history of driving entitlements (groups), endorsements, convictions, disqualifications, (for some) a photo, etc. It won't provide information on any medical conditions or restrictions.

For those with the old style driving licence, which is valid up to the person's 70th birthday, it won't include a photo.

Nothing on accident or claims history.

Claims history is stored on the “Claims Underwriters Exchange” database which all insurers have access to. 
 

Individuals can request this information from CUE via the Motor insurance Bureau 

[Graham47]

12 minutes ago, Paul john said:

Insurance companies and other gov organisations

I’d like to see evidence of that ….

 

13 minutes ago, Paul john said:

does that help?

Please don’t patronise me !

[Paul john]

6 minutes ago, Graham47 said:

I’d like to see evidence of that ….

 

Please don’t patronise me !

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/claim-history/#:~:text=You can check your car,claims made by previous drivers.

🤦‍♂️

[Graham47]

That’s not the same thing at all..that’s referring to the insurance database. We already know insurance companies can, and do, check for previous claims.

You referred to them getting access to a drivers record held by the DVLA.

 

[Paul john]

3 minutes ago, Graham47 said:

That’s not the same thing at all..that’s referring to the insurance database. We already know insurance companies can, and do, check for previous claims.

You referred to them getting access to a drivers record held by the DVLA.

 

Ok for clarity.

here is a link that can help.

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2024/05/why-insurance-companies-check-driving-licence/#:~:text=The Driver and Vehicles Licensing,dependent on your chosen company.