Record rise in insurance costs

wez130

wez130

wez130

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The AA has recorded the biggest jump in the cost of car insurance since it started tracking the market, with young people bearing the brunt of the rise.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11516195

Can't say i've not seen this coming, finally all the false claims for whiplash etc are coming back to bite us all in the face, well, not me in particular as i'm old :P, but indirectly it will affect us all. I personally can only see one thing happening from this, insurance premiums of £3000 + are just not feasable for young adults, let alone us older folk, therefore, i predict a record number of uninsured drivers driving on our roads, i for one wouldn't like to be hit by an uninsured driver, something has to give.

I, as the arcticle does, blame the claim culture we all live in, the government need to grab it by the scruff of the neck and shot it out of this country, it causes more problems than it solves, bankrupcy (sp) in businesses, price hikes in insurance etc.

To those who find it all too easy to go and make a claim because you burnt your hand on a hot cup of coffee, think about it, it'll only affect you more in the future.

Discuss...
 
I agree with you, but sadly think we have now as a country gone too far down the "best have a claim" road to turn back.

I also have 0 faith in the insurance industry to relay savings to customers even if they started making them.
 
DiamondMark said:
I agree with you, but sadly think we have now as a country gone too far down the "best have a claim" road to turn back.

I also have 0 faith in the insurance industry to relay savings to customers even if they started making them.
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i wouldnt say i have faith in all insurance companies but i know of a few that have done a bit more than what was expected of them
 
DiamondMark said:
I agree with you, but sadly think we have now as a country gone too far down the "best have a claim" road to turn back.

I also have 0 faith in the insurance industry to relay savings to customers even if they started making them.
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Exactly. All the higher premiums are going to do is make people feel more justified in claiming for "whiplash"
 
SGWills said:
i wouldnt say i have faith in all insurance companies but i know of a few that have done a bit more than what was expected of them
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You're right some insurance firms do go the extra mile, but as an industry they are right up with the rest for grabbing money, and i just dont think savings would be passed on, they would just find another reason to justify high costs.
 
thecremeegg said:
Exactly. All the higher premiums are going to do is make people feel more justified in claiming for "whiplash"
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but if they claim they should expect an increase, the buck has to stop somewhere, normally it will be with the insured not the insurer
 
I think we may see a change in the nature of insurance claims in the not too distant future. I have heard there is a growing desire in the industry to put more money in to contesting claims in an effort to significantly reduce the ease with which you can make a spurious or overinflated one. The hope is to begin to deter people from seeing a bit of whiplash/brand new Ferrari courtesy car as the norm. Would be interesting if anybody closer to the industry than I am hears the same thing.
 
Is this the reality for most people on here, on some forums that I use the younger lads have noticed it but mine continues to go down every year I was wondering what others in their mid to late 20's (the point where you notice insurance starts to get cheaper) have noticed?
 
PMKeates said:
I think we may see a change in the nature of insurance claims in the not too distant future. I have heard there is a growing desire in the industry to put more money in to contesting claims in an effort to significantly reduce the ease with which you can make a spurious or overinflated one. The hope is to begin to deter people from seeing a bit of whiplash/brand new Ferrari courtesy car as the norm. Would be interesting if anybody closer to the industry than I am hears the same thing.
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Good. Another alternative I thought of was a self funded scheme that keeps the money for you and can be taken out by health care related firms to pay for injuries caused by the injurys you claimed for/related. Like the Deposit scheme for private landlords.
 
Relentless81 said:
Is this the reality for most people on here, on some forums that I use the younger lads have noticed it but mine continues to go down every year I was wondering what others in their mid to late 20's (the point where you notice insurance starts to get cheaper) have noticed?
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27 here, 9 years NCB, insurance has been cheaper year on year except for this year. As said before though, the rise isn't exactly biblical.
 
Our insurance renewal came up this month (2 car policy). It was £80 higher than last year with the company stating something on the lines of " you live half a mile from a higher risk area". The wife was straight on the phone and managed to get £50 knocked off the increase.
 
Premiums have gone up due to extreme weather over the last year (floods, ice) which have increased claims.

Fake or inflated claims is a nice story but it hasn't suddenly increased.
 
Renewal letters are always more expensive than the previous year in my experiance. Mines not due until January when I hit 5 years NCB for the first time, i'll be quite dissapointed if it goes up but it looks likely
 
my insurance has done something like this since i started driving

880 Fiesta 1.25
790+160 Fiesta 1.25 + 3months extra cost for Fiesta ST
440 Fiesta ST
450 Fiesta ST (increase could be attributed to my SP30 i guess?)

Im a bit worried about next May, don't want it going up too much
 
The industry is always slow to respond to new trends and this allows new trends to become established too quickly. The claims management companies have seen their opportunity and have got themselves proper comfy over the last 15 years with the industry sat on it's arse looking bemused. 20 years ago Solicitors were generally well respected but now they're generally regarded as ambulance chasing crooks.

There's lots of problems to tackle:

Outright spurious injury claims, including staged
Genuine injury but exaggerated
Credit hire
Excessive legal fees & insurers underwriting no win no fee cases for Solicitors/claims management companies (loading the gun and handing it to the enemy)
Crooked "medical experts"

There have been two significant MOJ reforms over the years (one has only just kicked in) with a view to trying to minimise legal wrangling (and therefore keep costs to a sensible level). None of the reforms though are silver arrrows, fundamentally the issue is that there's a shift in the general public's attitude in that whiplash money is pretty much their god given right. This is the real issue - the frequency of whiplash claims has rocketed. So, whilst MOJ reforms might serve to reduce the average whiplash claim from £3,000 to £2,000 - the ever increasing frequency kills off the "saving".

A newly proposed reform (not sure whether it will see the light of day or not) is that underwritten no win no fee will die. Net result of this is that people will either have to hand over a fee to a claims management company upfront or the claims management company don't charge a fee at all. You can imagine that a claims management company or solicitor will be VERY careful about the cases it takes on if it is not guaranteed of receiving it's legal fees. Additionally the man on the street will think twice about making his non-existent fraudulent whiplash claim once you remove the no win no fee comfort he is presently afforded.

Two things I do see insurers doing now to fight the fire is: -

A) Offering healthcare to people who say they have whiplash
B) Paying for private investigators to follow around the injured party

Imagine if you put in an injury claim because you want a few £k only to find the insurer inviting you to a BUPA clinic to get treated - you're going to run a mile. You want cash not treatement for your non-existent injury. The PI's are ace - fees are falling therefore it's well worth rolling the dice on a £3k injury claim to have someone followed for a few days.

Industry is fighting back and it's weaponry is improving but progress is slow.
 
I've had 3 incidents in the last year, (never had a single one since 2004).

1. was in slow moving traffic, and i accidently went into someone at 3-4mph, she claimed whiplash

2. someone cut me up from the left when he was merging, and the insurance company went in his favour?! again he claimed whiplash!

3. a lady went into the back of my car at around 30mph (probably wasn't that fast but she was definitely going fast) my neck hurt for a few days but after that I was fine. All my friends were telling me to claim whiplash for an easy £2k but I feel guilty :(

I wish others were not thieving *******
 
whiplash for 3-4mph accident? wtf.. i could get hit by a car at that speed and just walk away laughing.. some people seriously..
 
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