New regulation on car insurance (good news?)

[b0rn2sk8]

On the flip side, the car insurance is that it’s fairly competitive.

The same people will just leave if the renewal is not in the same ballpark, this time it will probably save them a phone call and the existing insurance company will lose the opportunity to retain the sale so, I’d expect them to give a competitive price if it’s within their risk parameters.

 

[AWPC]

Insurance companies in general are spivs, crooks & thoroughly dishonest! How on earth can they tell me despite no claims my premium is going up I said I will walk then they dropped the claim by £100! Crooks the lot of them they see what they can get away with first & foremost!

 

[Rroff]

Would be nice if there was some regulation on it.

An odd one for me is that almost all my friends and family seem to get:

Year 1: New customer rate
Year 2: +15-20%
Year 3: +£LOL like 300% increase for no apparent reason (and the "best" they can do on threatening to cancel is still a +50% increase).

I've always had a pretty static price year on year - latest automatic renewal was actually £50 cheaper despite having someone reverse into my parked vehicle in a car park.

The only difference is pretty much all of them pay insurance in one go and I pay monthly but I suspect that is just coincidence. Interestingly on that note despite the additional cost of paying monthly most people are hard pressed to match let alone beat my insurance cost on the vehicles I drive even paying it yearly.

Strange.

 

[HangTime]

How on earth can they tell me despite no claims my premium is going up

Why not? Whether you have historically made a claim or not is not the sole factor in determining risk. It could be that there has been a spate of claims in your area (crime, accidents or whatever), or lots of claims with your model of car compared to prior years. It could be that they were previously offering your premiums at a level that is no longer profitable (on average), for example due to increasing costs (e.g. due to legislation like this).

Then there is obviously the element of they want to charge you money and see if you will pay it, like pretty much all for-profit organisations. They aren't crooks because you can choose not to take them up on their offer. This is the element that should be reduced somewhat by the new legislation.

 

[Nasher]

Well they did this with energy and it just got more expensive for the people who shop around and haggle. So not good. We need to stop carrying the lazy/idiots of the world.

 

[theone8181]

Would be nice if there was some regulation on it.

An odd one for me is that almost all my friends and family seem to get:

Year 1: New customer rate
Year 2: +15-20%
Year 3: +£LOL like 300% increase for no apparent reason (and the "best" they can do on threatening to cancel is still a +50% increase).

I've always had a pretty static price year on year - latest automatic renewal was actually £50 cheaper despite having someone reverse into my parked vehicle in a car park.

The only difference is pretty much all of them pay insurance in one go and I pay monthly but I suspect that is just coincidence. Interestingly on that note despite the additional cost of paying monthly most people are hard pressed to match let alone beat my insurance cost on the vehicles I drive even paying it yearly.

Strange.

Probably means your paying over the odds to start with.

 

[lordrobs]

Good question. You'd imagine this will become a key differentiator, they have to charge higher premiums for NB but will try to win custom with perks that aren't counted as part of the premium. Maybe even some cheeky cashback if no claims are made if that's even allowed [not counted as premium]?

Looks like cashback, vouchers etc. is included so no workaround that way.

Reading more on it (via MSE) it sounds very complex. So they can still offer different prices via different comparison sites... as long as when it comes to renewal a customer who went via, lets say, confused.com still gets offered the same rate as a new customer going via confused.com. So... they could still be paying more or less for the exact same policy compared to going via compare the market

The only way I can see that working is if the comparison sites and insurers negotiate now a set discount that they are going to offer perpetually. Either that or they need to apply the current discount via a tag on the customers profile which records who they originally purchased via.

 

[Doobedoo]

For me it always goes like this.

I pay lets say £500 a year.

Renewed price comes in at £700 so I ring em up and ask what are they smoking? To which they reply let’s see what we can do. What’s the cheapest price you have got?

Me. I haven’t got a quote I’m responding to your silly renewal price. What’s the best price you can do for me?

Them. I can’t do anything without a renewel price.

Me. Ffs hold on a minute and let me just waste 30 minutes of my life just so I can play this silly game with you.

Me rings em back up. Cheapest price is £450 from those other numpties.

Them. Yeah we can match that.

Me. I thought you might say that. Not because I’m clever but because we go though this every year.

So their we go I’ve got better things to do with my life and they potentially don’t have to employ so many people to speak to people like me.

 

[Resident]

They just won't incentivise new customers with reduced rates, so the ones that shop around will probably end up paying more.

Exactly. It was the same when they were told they couldn't discriminate based on gender. Everyone thought insurance would be cheaper but they just increased women's insurance to men's level

For me it always goes like this.

I pay lets say £500 a year.

Renewed price comes in at £700 so I ring em up and ask what are they smoking? To which they reply let’s see what we can do. What’s the cheapest price you have got?

Me. I haven’t got a quote I’m responding to your silly renewal price. What’s the best price you can do for me?

Them. I can’t do anything without a renewel price.

Me. Ffs hold on a minute and let me just waste 30 minutes of my life just so I can play this silly game with you.

Me rings em back up. Cheapest price is £450 from those other numpties.

Them. Yeah we can match that.

Me. I thought you might say that. Not because I’m clever but because we go though this every year.

So their we go I’ve got better things to do with my life and they potentially don’t have to employ so many people to speak to people like me.

See this is where you and I differ and I use their own tactics against them.

Instead of trawling around I just pluck a number out of the air and tell them that has been my lowest quote, nothing outrageous but usually much lower than their renewal offer.

Has only failed me once, with Tescos but they wanted 2100 when the previous year was 900, I had not made any claims either.

 

[Dwarfy]

My annual renewal goes one of two ways
1: Renewal arrives and I spit my coffee, yowza ok i'm off. Some comparison searches later and I've taken out a new policy, Contack current and tell them I'm not renewing, let them go through the "we can do better" process and then explain that they had their chance with the renewal quote and failed so I've already taken a new policy.

2: Like 1: except I've searched and renewals are in the some kinda area so decide to give them a chance, ring them and when they ask what my best offer was tell them a figure a tad lower than the "best" to see what they come back with, usually they can't match the low offer but will come down. Sometimes not enough, sometimes matching, I leave because if they can lower the price after calling it's clear they were trying it on.

In distant memory I once went with chaucer direct and the renewal was lower, the one and only time I used the same company 2 years in a row.

 

[Rroff]

Probably means your paying over the odds to start with.

Quite the opposite - I'm usually at the lower end of the range when it comes to what people pay for a given vehicle.

 

[Meaker]

I go through a broker (safely insured) since my car is modified so this time my renewal was lower without any effort.

 

[jaybee]

I think the only time I ever went with the same insurer 2 years in a row is when I've forgot and it's auto renewed. I'd like to see some caps on 17/18 year old insurance (when you have no no claims) as this has always been ridiculous and is at silly levels now. Yes, 17 year old lads are statistically the worst and that's fine and all, but £1500-£2000 to insure a rotting old hatchback worth only it's scrap metal value is a joke for 17 year olds that already have to pay hundreds in driving lessons and fees to get on the road.

 

[Greebo]

I had a great lne on my classic car insurance renewal this year.

1 years NCB so got 10% off

Renewal rate offered at a 10% increase.

Result - same price as last year lol

 

[theone8181]

I think the only time I ever went with the same insurer 2 years in a row is when I've forgot and it's auto renewed. I'd like to see some caps on 17/18 year old insurance (when you have no no claims) as this has always been ridiculous and is at silly levels now. Yes, 17 year old lads are statistically the worst and that's fine and all, but £1500-£2000 to insure a rotting old hatchback worth only it's scrap metal value is a joke for 17 year olds that already have to pay hundreds in driving lessons and fees to get on the road.

It's the damage they do to others though and the car being driven won't change it that much, if you hit another car at speed it's likely going to do similar damage as long as you cars a car and not something like a tank.

 

[StevieP]

To be honest this move doesn't make any difference to me - I will always shop around anyway - just because your existing insurer are allegedly going to provide you with their best terms, it doesn't mean you won't be able to find it cheaper elsewhere anyway!

Added to which, I don't give my existing insurer the opportunity to improve upon their initial quote anyway just on general principle! All this does is saves me the hassle of them scrambling to find a cheaper quote when I contact them to lapse cover!

 

[[TW]Fox]

To be honest this move doesn't make any difference to me - I will always shop around anyway

Of course it makes a difference to you. If insurers have a premium shortfall from existing customers as a result of this where do you think it will get made up?

 

[Doobedoo]

Of course it makes a difference to you. If insurers have a premium shortfall from existing customers as a result of this where do you think it will get made up?

Any data to back this up?

 

[[TW]Fox]

What?

Lets assume...

Business model: Offer low prices to secure new business (Price A), offer higher prices for renewals (Price B)

Scenario: legislation prohibiting Price A and B being different

What do you think will happen to Price A and Price B in this scenario?

 

[Doobedoo]

So no data then just assumptions being passed off as fact