Car insurance - ripoffs

pc-guy

pc-guy

pc-guy

Soldato
Joined
29 May 2005
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This is another disgusting behaviour from insurance companies where they cost is dropping yet they are still charging us more and more.

The number of motor insurance claims settled last year dropped by 19%, as vehicles sat idle with drivers staying at home.

The total amount paid out fell by 6% compared with the previous year, the data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) shows.

But the average price paid by drivers for new comprehensive car insurance fell by only 1%.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56359861

seeing car insurance is compulsory there needs to be regulation on it and a consumer body that has power to set limits etc. It is getting out of control. They are just making £ billions out of everyday people and laughing their way to the banks.
 
I do get fed up of the automatic ramping of prices, loyalty is for losers scenario, constant switching but sometimes the same underwriters, they just skim of the top
 
It's almost like they're a business...as annoying as that is for something we need to have if we want to drive, until they become not for profit organisations then it's just the way it is.
 
moon man said:
I do get fed up of the automatic ramping of prices, loyalty is for losers scenario, constant switching but sometimes the same underwriters, they just skim of the top
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I rarely chop and change.

I think we all understand the dance of the renewal. I usually go away and get some quotes on equivalent and then present my best 3 to my insurer and ask if they can get close.

9 times out of 10, they'll match them, but if they can get within 10%, I generally opt to stick with them anyway.
 
I've been with the same insurer for about 16 years (Elephant)

Their renewal quote is usually fairly competitive, but if I phone and ask for 'best price' before shopping around, they'll knock enough off that I've never got a cheaper quote elsewhere.
 
I expect 15-20% less each year for no claims. If not I move to someone else as its usually around 15-20% cheaper so up to them fight amongst yourselves for my money!! :p
 
Its almost like car insurers price for the risk they're taking on when deciding new business / renewal prices and exclude one of events unlikely to be repeated from their pricing strategy - crazy!

Let me see, what can I think of that may drive up car insurers costs in 2021? This is just off the top of my head and uses widely available market knowledge and no specifics.

* Parts inflation - Brexit and general vehicle complexity
* Increase in reinsurance cost - market hardening as re insurers look to protect margins following significant losses on travel / BI last year combined with general lack of capacity (Berkshire Hathaway group companies have exited UK motor all together) - several very very large UK motor insurance players have seen significant cost increases in their XOL programs and some have been unable to fully place.
* GIPP - General Insurance Pricing Practices lands soon, gone are the days of a separate new business and renewal price, all those firms that liked to price walk their customers on renewal are going to have to stop and will no longer price new business at a loss
* Whiplash reforms - delayed again, might finally land soon.
* Increase in claims severity - more vulnerable road users due to people avoiding public transport, delays in repairs, increase car hire duration
* Increase in expenses - investment in working from home, additional resource, CoViD disruption, while this may result in a reduction in long term costs most offices are leased many years in advance so it'll be a while before the benefits flow through, increase in bad debt as customers are unable to pay premiums

I've said it a million times, UK Motor is one of the most transparent and competitive markets there is. Underwriters make very fine profit margins. While last year was a bumper year for many on the claims frequency front it came with increased cost of claims and many insurers returned some of this benefit to their customers (ie Admiral gave every policy holder £25 back, other insurers waved MTA fees)

I understand the perception that car insurance is a rip off, but if you take a deep dive into it, it really isnt.
 
mikehhhhhhh said:
I rarely chop and change.

I think we all understand the dance of the renewal. I usually go away and get some quotes on equivalent and then present my best 3 to my insurer and ask if they can get close.

9 times out of 10, they'll match them, but if they can get within 10%, I generally opt to stick with them anyway.
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I try this but it hasn't worked the last few times, with house insurance tesco refused to match their own quote from the comparison site!! basically lost a customer for about 20 or 30 quid, my car and house ins both around the £100 range
Edit mentioned house as was in gd or thought it was
 
moon man said:
I try this but it hasn't worked the last few times, with house insurance tesco refused to match their own quote from the comparison site!! basically lost a customer for about 20 or 30 quid, my car and house ins both around the £100 range
Edit mentioned house as was in gd or thought it was
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I tend to use brokers, where you speak to real people that in-turn speak to real people at the underwriters.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I don't find my insurance to be unreasonably expensive for what it offers
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Same here tbh but I am getting on a bit (relativly) so tends to be cheap, I do like to shave pounds of though here and there isp and utiltys to sort out very soon
 
comparison websites like a month before with the prices saved are really good. Been a bit forgetfull till last min but those prices saved then going to the actual insurers website and then ringing them really helps
 
I had my renewal quote from Admiral a few weeks ago. One 5 minute phonecall and it was reduced by nearly 30%. Amazing how they can suddenly find savings isn't it?
 
I will admit to something...this year is the first year that I haven't even bothered to question my renewal properly. It came in slightly higher than it was last year, but still it was the lowest of any of the other quotes I could find on comparison sites. The only lower quote I found was Admiral, and it was only about £15 less, and it wasn't exactly like-for-like cover.
I know my insurance company will happily price match (within reason) if you can prove you've been quoted lower on a like-for-like quote, but I'm not sure if they exclude Admiral from that policy. So this year, I decided that rather than spend 30 minutes on the phone to save £15 quid, I just took the renewal offered and paid up.

Part of me feels bad for not haggling, but also, I'm starting to think life's a bit too short to quibble over some stuff.
 
Insurance companies are very anti-consumer. If you don't shop around and haggle every single year you get ripped off.

I usually have 2-3 insurers I just rotate. If I stick with the same one the price gets hiked every year.
 
Rids has covered it pretty well. Remember that claims paid is not the total cost of insurance; you can make an underwriting profit but still an overall loss. And Personal lines Motor is a very competitive sector where ratios run pretty high to begin with.

Also a decline in claims frequency in 2020 wouldn't necessarily translate to a long-term trend if lockdown restrictions were lifted - they can't just slash prices on the assumption that the next year was going to be benign as well otherwise they risked having horrendous loss ratios for 2021.
 
Invertigo said:
I had my renewal quote from Admiral a few weeks ago. One 5 minute phonecall and it was reduced by nearly 30%. Amazing how they can suddenly find savings isn't it?
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Yep, just done mine with them today on the C63. < £450, knocked off £300 with a 10 min call. Just the usual hoops we all have jump through every year I guess.
 
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