75ZT Community

My Insurance is up for renewal next Month and what a pain it is becoming. My current Insurer have rewarded my careful Driving and Customer loyalty by whacking my Premium up by £111 making it £444!! My Insurance only went uup by £30 last year, this is outrageous in comparison

Finding Insurance for less than £400 is almost impossible, I am not driving a Supercharged Sports Car, why the High prices?

It isn't just me either, my Mother in Laws Insurance has tripled to almost £1100 !!

I though that Premiums would be coming down thanks to the Gov't Intervention last year?

Mines up in a month or so, paid £350.00 in 2010, £300.00 last year and a quick Merekat comes out at less than £200.00, although suspect when I go into it nearer the time it will no doubt be more than that, but doubt it will be more than last year.

It's the usual Carl; Post Code, job and age I would suspect.

Work colleague's son just insured an R32 for £1100.00 age 21. It started off at £1600.00 but he got it down to a more acceptable level by getting his 77 year old granny on it.

I kid you not!!!!

Hasting Direct, £254 FC for a 190!

I've said this lots of time on forums but I'll say it again - cost should not be the only consideration when buying insurance as cheapest is seldom best . . .

However, a £111 increase does seem out of order - having said that speak to your current insurers (some of the big companies have what they call a 'loyalty team/dept) and if you tell them you are going elsewhere they may bring the cost down.

BorgWarner - as for your work colleague's son putting his 77 year old grandmother on his insurance, he should be aware of this statement:


Peter Harrison, car insurance expert at MoneySupermarket, said: "Ignorance may be bliss to motorists who think "fronting" is a legitimate way to reduce the cost of motoring for their family and stay on the right side of the law, but in reality it's quite the opposite. "Fronting" on a car insurance policy is illegal and it is worrying how many motorists are willing to take this risk."
Repercussions
"Despite the obvious attraction of cutting costs on your car insurance policy, there will be serious repercussions if you are caught falsely claiming to be the main driver of the vehicle," says Harrison.

In the best case scenario you will be charged the correct premium as a lump sum. However, there are many more serious options. For a start the policy could be cancelled. You would then have to declare this every time you apply for insurance in future, which means many won't offer you any cover and your costs will rise.

Insurers can also refuse to pay-out for any claims, or can settle a third-party claim and recover the cost from the parent.

In the worst case, Harrison says: "It would be classified as fraud by an insurer, and could invalidate the policy. It could also result in the younger driver ending up in court being charged with driving without any insurance." This could lead to high fines and six penalty points (an automatic ban for new drivers).

He's aware of that Tourefogey and I believe he has told them he is the main driver. Some years ago my wife insured her car soon after my bike accident. Without me on the policy it was X, put me on it, even declaring my accident, and it was -X. I understand that it comes down because if other people are on the policy it is believed that the "main driver" spends less time driving it? Yup I know.

As for cheap insurance you never know until you claim. Bore-in-Law recently had his 320D smacked. Took almost 2 months to sort and there were that many people/companies involved in resolving the claim it ran like the credit list on Avatar. Eventually got it fixed and now it is apparently better than before and it was the best car ever made before!!!! Oh and his insurance company M&S.

30 years ago I suffered an industrial accident at work and lost the sight of my left eye. Informed both DVLA and the insurance company at the time. Insurance company cancelled the policy out of the blue, don't recall the reason. DVLA also took my licence off me because my useless GP was of the opinion that monocular sighted people are dangerous. Got both back, however still have to declare both whenever I go to insure my cars. Answer always is its not a problem. Yeah until I don't tell them and there's a problem.

Hope you get it sorted soon Carl, but said earlier, cheap isn't always best.

I agree Borg Warner - However, after extensive searching I now am looking at paying an average of £600 for my Insurance, my Current Insurer being the Cheapest at £444. My question is why? What has changed?

I will be haggling with my Insurance company, but won't hold my breath.

It costs more for several reasons. It is a legal requirement to have insurance, therefore motorists are sitting ducks. There is no alternative.

Despite the impression of on-line multi-choice competition, most of those included in the listings are within a tight range of headline premiums and very often the end price quoted is significantly different to the headline ’call bird’. And of course they vary greatly in extras and add-on’s within that tight range.

With so many entrepreneurs (there are relatively few of what used to be known as ’Insurance Companies’) seeking the opportunities on offer, syndicates are now rife. Populated by fund managers with no ‘stock‘ to worry about, the nature of the business is irrelevant. It could be Bolivian spud production or Peruvian knife sharpening, all that counts is software. That’s why tele-sales staff can only answer questions that have an on screen answer. In those on-line listings there are bound to be what appears as the cheapest. How many go for what appears as the dearest? In reality they may be the cheapest but what counts are comparators. If all the alternatives are scary, the lowest price seems attractive.

At one time you could get ‘Third Party Only’ (or the one-up ‘fire and theft’) as we all know. Nowadays there is no point, it’s no cheaper than Comprehensive (and that exposes the marketing lie). Those classes of cover were choices to be made if your car, and this is no reflection on ‘our’ cars but may just be relevant, had a low market value (affecting write-off values) or you were able to source parts to repair yourself. Like members of clubs!

There are also the unique opportunities presented by harsh economic times. The insurance business, being so close to the finance industry, knows only too well the value and importance of ‘a good day to bury bad news’. When all have been softened up to expect things to be difficult and well used to daily reports that it‘s getting worse, then that is the time to hit with even more hikes - ‘it was only to be expected after all’.

So, not good news then. But there may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon.
www.38degrees.org.uk may be the way if enough people feel strongly enough to do something on a collective basis. It’s legal, non-subversive, free. What’s to lose?