Car insurance - Gosh

Yep, similar here after sorting renewal over the weekend. Best I could do after shopping around was ~20% increase on last year.

Quidco offering a flat £45 cashback on premiums via their comparison tool, which may soften the blow if it does come through.

I think the government ought to look at the increasingly paultry milage allowance too as .45 is being eroded away.

I change provider every year now for all insurances - it's seems premiums only go up if you don't switch. Other than pet insurance I've never made a claim, and yet house and car insurance both go up every year - I'm guessing my chances of making a claim increase each year?

Also I always use Quidco, when you factor in the cashback it's almost always cheaper or the same than the previous premium.

Can't stand it when I phone to cancel & they ask why I'm switching,  maybe they could match my new premium price?...🤬

<p>In most years insurance will rise due to inflation - the cost of settling claims in reassess every year. This year, more so.</p><p>That said,, our house insurance has gone down around 10% this year - even with an uplift in cover to reflect increased costs in replacing items in a like for like basis.</p>

Our house insurance was down, incl £16k of specified bikes.

There was a Guardian article online on this very subject yesterday.

I'm not sure why this is a surprise any more ---- after shopping around like i do every year both my house and car insurance came out cheaper than last year.

Cheers. Just read the article and I'll start shopping around using Quidco when back from hols
The surprise was by how much it went up. It always goes up and I call them and it goes down

Yes I had a renewal for double for my van insurance even though the  same company was quoting half their renewal quote on comparison sites

you can see how companies could be motivated to ratchet prices up a bit as there’s a benefit to be gained if someone isn’t motivated to shop around. But doubling the price means the only action a customer are going to take is shop around. It almost seems like a strategy to deliberately repel customers rather than retain them,

I shopped around - the same company was offering one of the cheapest prices - instinct was to go with someone else

I'd suggest they just don't want the business for some reason. I've been with direct line for years now and it waves around a bit, sometimes up and sometimes down. No reason to move.

There’s a slight risk using Quidco as the starting point in that the panel of insurers will have priced in the cashback cost and just inflate the quote by the same amount.

I’ve not tested Quidco but using TopCashback all of the insurance quotes were more than going to the open market.

My car insurance is due to renew next month. I just checked my quotes from this time last year and the cheapest ten were all £400-450. I used my saved quote on Compare the Market (so it was the exact same details except going from 9 to 10 years NCD) just now and the first ten were all £600-650.

My home insurance also went up from £615 to £896

Been with Direct Line a few years now, always do the phone up renewal "are you sure?" dance when the renewal price comes through the post, pretty much always get it price matched to comparison site prices.

This year, I have changed my car, so insurance renewal price had really gone up (went from a Passat to a newer Passat), managed to get it down enough to stay with them, but still a bit more than my previous year price.

Mine aren't too bad...

My MG TF - £376

My Civic Type R - £394

Wifes Kuga - £376

All fully comp, protected no claims, legal expenses, no mileage restrictions, business use and road rescue (including home) on all of them.

This is with LV multi-car.

My son had to do the same. His almost doubled for no reason. Got it for the same price by searching. Mine actually came down, but that was in January.

Not looking forward to the Aygo renewal as that has son and daughter on it. Currently £800 for a 12 year old car. Renewal in November

We saw ours go up by about 20% - but even hunting round we found that Admiral were within £10 of much cheaper and less good insurers.
Leon for 3 of us full business use and 20k miles a year, £370
Ibiza for 5 of us including one just passed test, two newer drivers and two of us 'mature', with full business use and 10k miles, £875.

It always goes up and I call them and it goes down

When this happens I call them to cancel. I never give them a chance to 'see if we can match your offer'. They had their chance and they've lost my business.

Just going through this process with Mrs R's car insurance. Theoretically price walking is no longer allowed, but the renewal quote she's been given is about 30% higher than last year and 15% higher than a new customer quote. It's wierd that in trying to attract new business they're quite happy to lose existing business.

Mine aren’t too bad…

My MG TF – £376

My Civic Type R – £394

Wifes Kuga – £376

All fully comp, protected no claims, legal expenses, no mileage restrictions, business use and road rescue (including home) on all of them.

This is with LV multi-car.

Don't know what I'm doing wrong then.

Ford CMax 999cc but covered pretty much as above - never had a claim or accident in 40 years, best quote I've had is £490 from SomeoneI'veNeverHeardOf Car Insurance via Comparethemarket.

LV wanted just short of £800 as did pretty much all of them - ended up at £580 with Admiral.

Maybe West Yorkshire and Community Nurse are high risk.

Maybe West Yorkshire and Community Nurse are high risk.

I'd say the community nurse bit is where the premium is getting hit. Lots of short trips, usually under time pressure - they'll have the data!

My wife also works in insurance (for NFU not LV), so she knows which bits to tweek. 🙂

Been with Direct Line a few years now, always do the phone up renewal “are you sure?”

I really can't be arsed to talk to anyone. If I get a hiked renewal offer, I'm straight on a comparison site. Done and dusted in 10 minutes.

Funnily enough, all my policies are set to not auto-renew these days. And all my renewal quotes were perfectly reasonable this year, so I went with them. I wonder if they are just trying it on with people who won't even notice until the money goes out of their account?

It’s wierd that in trying to attract new business they’re quite happy to lose existing business.

Yep. Some insurers are crazy about this - the renewal means they have done the paperwork before inviting you to 'click here'.

It seems one of those things that the industry 'just does' and everyone in the industry thinks 'this works' and 'of course', but all us customers go 'you lot are weird...'

I’d say the community nurse bit is where the premium is getting hit. Lots of short trips, usually under time pressure – they’ll have the data!

Most likely, pretty much everyone on our team has at least one work related speeding fine from trying to get to visits on time when they're behind.

Plus loads of parking fines for leaving it where we shouldn't to get to a call, or not getting back to the car in time when a visit runs over.

Had my van with NFU for years, always competitive even with business use in the community - went from a Transit Custom to the CMax and they weren't competitive at all - much dearer for like to like cover for the car - same mileage, same job, same addresses.

Similar to me, admiral went from £700 to £1100 for a 2 car policy, no incidents or accident. I was pretty surprised at that rise.

Got them down, eventually to £800, mostly by removing my daughter's bf from her car, though not sure why that made a £200 difference as he's 25, no claims, etc, but ended up with a better deal on comparison site, so didn't renew with them in the end.

Mine's up for renewal. Renewal quote was for £100+ more than last year (200 to 300). Got on the comparison websites and the renewal was cheaper than any of the quotes on the comparison websites. I'll have to suck that one up this year.

Mine actually went down. The mileage cost went up a bit but the standing charge dropped significantly, pretty chuffed as a low mileage driver

Just re-checked, my standing charge almost halved. Hopefully won't have to do many Exeter Uni runs this year!

No increase from LV for my renewal last month - £350 for an Audi A6.

I really can’t be arsed to talk to anyone. If I get a hiked renewal offer, I’m straight on a comparison site. Done and dusted in 10 minutes.

I can’t be arsed with comparison sites, I found they just spammed you and didn’t seem to actually save time entering some of the data, and as one of the insured has a medically restricted 3 yr license you could end up getting all the way through a quote only for it to require your to phone them and repeat all the same data over the phone.  May have improved now but I’ve found Direct Line and Aviva were in the same ball park or better for similar cover anyway.

it is strange how the industry penalises repeat customers - in every business training I have ever done the message has always been to keep your existing customers as winning new ones is expensive.  However they must have the data and know what works - presumably there are enough of us who are lazy to justify it.

Thanks, that reminds me to have a look on the comparison sites ..

Ours went from 400 to 470 for a bog-standard 2009 Mazda 3, parked on street. But that's not such a bad increase compared to some here!

£350 for an Audi A6.

Wow - advanced driver?

I was with Admiral for around 25 years. At renewal time I always sought a quote for a fictitious neighbour, inputting my driving history and car.  The 'match my renewal quote to that for a new customer or I'm going' phone call usually worked. Last year they flatly refused to budge so I shopped around and found a cheaper quote with LV. Phoned Admiral back to tell them I was cancelling and they immediately offered the renewal at the 'new customer' rate. This was still more then LV were quoting, so I declined. Had they agreed in the first place, I'd still be with them.

I suppose car insurance is a bit like a broadband or SKY TV package, companies gamble that most folk out there will complacently auto-renew at higher rates, so they can afford to lose the few who shop around.

Lesson learned, shop around and don't be loyal, companies aren't.

I'm constantly surprised by the wide variations in costs that folk report in these sort of threads.

I've just renewed at £190 for a 2.0TDi Superb.  Don't think I've ever paid over £200 for decent, protected, fair excess and big name insurer fully comp.  Currently with LV, last couple of years I've been with Direct Line but this year they wanted about £240, so that was enough to set me off wandering again.  It's just legalised theft.  A state supplier could do us rates for a tiny fraction of that cost but oh no, the private sector does it best...  Which is why every government department self-insures it's vehicles.

Mine's not on a comparison site and I think I'm only allowed to tell you by private message who it is, cos referrals get big savings. So naughty to try to get savings on a forum, innit just. 😛

Yep, it's the same all over. Lots of reasons - inflation, increased interest rates (if paying monthly), the ban on price-walking etc.

Ours went from 400 to 470 for a bog-standard 2009 Mazda 3, parked on street.

Just had a quick look. The cheapest one by a company I've heard of is £380 with Aviva. That's a big improvement!

I’ve just renewed at £190 for a 2.0TDi Superb. Don’t think I’ve ever paid over £200 for decent, protected, fair excess

Presumably you have off-street parking and live in a low crime area!

What is considered to be a 'fair excess'? I just tried tinkering with mine. Putting it up from 100 to 300 knocked about £20 off the quotes.

My house insurance renewal went up. Did the online thing and my current provider was still cheaper. Phoned them up to moan/ask why and the response was cost of inflation raw materials etc.

Wow – advanced driver?

He said A6, not S6 😉

Our Admiral Multi Car went up by £1100 (c£800 last year wanted £1900 this) when they sent the renewal through. LV multi car was £900 less for the same cover and the same cars. I phoned Admiral and said I didn't really want to change, but I would as the price difference was extortionate. Their retention team magically got the price down by £850 to keep me as a customer. It was not worth changing to save £50 so I renewed.

So it's always worth a call.

I've insured with Saga this year FFS. I'm only 45 but the missus (named driver) is a touch older, which brings me in scope apparently.

It's expensive compared to last year, but a lot of quotes were  (I've always been a zero excess person and nobody will entertain that now - £250 min and average probably £350. Car's only worth £5/6k!).

That said, the cover is proper - no weaselly shitty amounts or conditions and some great features like private treatment if ever in a car accident up to:

Or pounds.

Still, ****ing SAGA!

I’ve insured with Saga this year FFS

Don't worry about it, I insured with Sheilas wheels way back as they gave me a better quote. Get the best quote you can.