Insurance premium lunacy
Discussion
I bought my Escort two years ago, and paid £107 for the first year's insurance.
A year later, the renewal quote came up at £122 - a bit of an increase but not too bad, so I just went with the automatic renewal.
This month, they sent me a renewal quote of £441! A quadrupling of the cost for no apparent reason - no claims, no change of circumstances.
A couple of minutes on a comparison site showed I could still get cover for around £130 elsewhere, so I phoned up my broker. After an hour on the phone today, and asking me about other quotes I've got, they ran a new check and came back with £125, so there is a happy ending... but I find it bizarre that there's no sanity check on quotes before they go out to verify that the new price bears any relation to the previous price - and that the price can then magically go back down to a competitive level if you phone up.
A year later, the renewal quote came up at £122 - a bit of an increase but not too bad, so I just went with the automatic renewal.
This month, they sent me a renewal quote of £441! A quadrupling of the cost for no apparent reason - no claims, no change of circumstances.
A couple of minutes on a comparison site showed I could still get cover for around £130 elsewhere, so I phoned up my broker. After an hour on the phone today, and asking me about other quotes I've got, they ran a new check and came back with £125, so there is a happy ending... but I find it bizarre that there's no sanity check on quotes before they go out to verify that the new price bears any relation to the previous price - and that the price can then magically go back down to a competitive level if you phone up.
Granadier said:
I bought my Escort two years ago, and paid £107 for the first year's insurance.
A year later, the renewal quote came up at £122 - a bit of an increase but not too bad, so I just went with the automatic renewal.
This month, they sent me a renewal quote of £441! A quadrupling of the cost for no apparent reason - no claims, no change of circumstances.
A couple of minutes on a comparison site showed I could still get cover for around £130 elsewhere, so I phoned up my broker. After an hour on the phone today, and asking me about other quotes I've got, they ran a new check and came back with £125, so there is a happy ending... but I find it bizarre that there's no sanity check on quotes before they go out to verify that the new price bears any relation to the previous price - and that the price can then magically go back down to a competitive level if you phone up.
Why would they?A year later, the renewal quote came up at £122 - a bit of an increase but not too bad, so I just went with the automatic renewal.
This month, they sent me a renewal quote of £441! A quadrupling of the cost for no apparent reason - no claims, no change of circumstances.
A couple of minutes on a comparison site showed I could still get cover for around £130 elsewhere, so I phoned up my broker. After an hour on the phone today, and asking me about other quotes I've got, they ran a new check and came back with £125, so there is a happy ending... but I find it bizarre that there's no sanity check on quotes before they go out to verify that the new price bears any relation to the previous price - and that the price can then magically go back down to a competitive level if you phone up.
Insurance companies bank on people hitting the auto-renew button without checking, preying on the likes of computer-illiterate pensioners. Also, although I have no science to back up my hunch of 18 years in the motor trade, I think insurance companies target a certain demographic on a certain day. For example, if you happen to be the 50-something year old looking to insure a sports car over 20 years old and living in Northumberland that they're looking for on Thursday, you'll get a great deal. If you're not, you won't. I'd welcome any input from insurance professionals who can enlighten me, but my experience is that you have to be in the right place at the right time. Hence why comparison sites are so popular, because although one insurance company is looking for what you aren't, another will be.
Sign of the times i guess, GREED on an excessive scale.
I think TB is right, although to me its pretty stupid not to question ridiculous hikes in insurance annually.
I think in the last 10 years i have probably changed insurance,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 10 times because of this very thing.
However i will say, and hope its ok to mention a insurance company, but the last 2 years for my Jeep and Lotus Sunbeam, Classicline have not put up the price, so if they continue to do so within reason, i will stay with them.
I think TB is right, although to me its pretty stupid not to question ridiculous hikes in insurance annually.
I think in the last 10 years i have probably changed insurance,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 10 times because of this very thing.
However i will say, and hope its ok to mention a insurance company, but the last 2 years for my Jeep and Lotus Sunbeam, Classicline have not put up the price, so if they continue to do so within reason, i will stay with them.
Sign of the times I'm afraid though has been going on for some years. I normally have this particularly with Motorbike insurance, they come with a renewal that is a fair bit higher than last year and after a phone call end up doing it for around the same as last year though this year they wouldn't budge so I had to swallow it.
But just last week my car insurance co. sent me a renewal invitation for over £400 (last year was £280) so I fully expected to be changing to another company and had already done the online comparison but, when I called them (after being on hold for 20 minutes) they eventually gave me the same cover for £250. - really this kind of behaviour can only be described as taking the piss.
I don't ever allow auto-renewal and this is a good reason why, though I did have one company insisted on it for my House insurance so I went elsewhere.
Whilst we've always moaned about insurance, I miss the 'old days' when insurance was simply just that - no mileage or usage limits or questions as to where you might park it, how many passengers etc.
But just last week my car insurance co. sent me a renewal invitation for over £400 (last year was £280) so I fully expected to be changing to another company and had already done the online comparison but, when I called them (after being on hold for 20 minutes) they eventually gave me the same cover for £250. - really this kind of behaviour can only be described as taking the piss.
I don't ever allow auto-renewal and this is a good reason why, though I did have one company insisted on it for my House insurance so I went elsewhere.
Whilst we've always moaned about insurance, I miss the 'old days' when insurance was simply just that - no mileage or usage limits or questions as to where you might park it, how many passengers etc.
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