Excessive renewal for a mature driver

Excessive renewal for a mature driver

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Discussion

farbbm

Original Poster:

309 posts

197 months

Tuesday 27th February
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My father in law's insurance is due for renewal very soon, and has just been hit by a large increase in his renewal. it's jumped from £279 last year to a whopping £852 this year. Now the main point I should mention is that he'll turn 80 this year, and it seems to be the main reason for the increase after speaking to his current insurance company, although they also say his 2007 BMW 325i SE convertible is not considered yet to be a classic, but didn't seem to be a problem for them last year.

He only does 3000 miles a year, with the wife and dog visiitng places here and in Europe, but as it's not his daily driver he's now considering selling it because with a major service due, road tax and addtional costs it's all mounting up, to the point where he's not seeing the value in keeping the car which would be a shame, given how he still enjoys owning and drivng it.

Does any one have any recommendations of insurance companies he could try who might be more reasonable on the price, or anything he could add to his policy to reduce the premium? He's obviously realistic to what he may have to pay but that renewal does seem excessive.

Fitz666

657 posts

149 months

Tuesday 27th February
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Have you checked a comparison website?

sortedcossie

703 posts

135 months

Tuesday 27th February
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not the same but ours went from £630 to £1150 - comparison was useless, picking up the phone got it down to £850. Insurance is just nuts at the moment.

There are policies that cater for older drivers, my dad got a decent discount via the Caravan Club as their insurer or underwriter had specialist policies.

d_a_n1979

9,608 posts

79 months

Tuesday 27th February
quotequote all
farbbm said:
My father in law's insurance is due for renewal very soon, and has just been hit by a large increase in his renewal. it's jumped from £279 last year to a whopping £852 this year. Now the main point I should mention is that he'll turn 80 this year, and it seems to be the main reason for the increase after speaking to his current insurance company, although they also say his 2007 BMW 325i SE convertible is not considered yet to be a classic, but didn't seem to be a problem for them last year.

He only does 3000 miles a year, with the wife and dog visiitng places here and in Europe, but as it's not his daily driver he's now considering selling it because with a major service due, road tax and addtional costs it's all mounting up, to the point where he's not seeing the value in keeping the car which would be a shame, given how he still enjoys owning and drivng it.

Does any one have any recommendations of insurance companies he could try who might be more reasonable on the price, or anything he could add to his policy to reduce the premium? He's obviously realistic to what he may have to pay but that renewal does seem excessive.
Insurance is mental currently; for everyone. But the older you are (more so 65 upwards it seems) the dafter it gets!

My Dad's with Saga (he's 75) and drives an X3M and insurance was stupid as per the norm; no one could come close to what Saga offered. However my Dad is a qualified advanced driver and retains it every year due to his 'previous life' so that does help a bit...

He'll be changing the X3M end of this year as it's at its 3 year age when he looks to renew; probably downsizing too unless my Mum agrees to getting an EV as she hardly does any miles in her 220i! But they need one vehicle with a proper engine for the miles they do to their property in the Highlands and back etc

All in; I think it's worth hitting the phones and speaking to a few insurance companies and seeing what they can offer; the likes of Chris Knott etc always do best over the phone

MitchT

16,222 posts

216 months

Tuesday 27th February
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My late father's insurance rocketed as he progressed towards 80, though he was showing early signs of dementia so we were glad that it encouraged him to give up. It does seem to be a thing - approaching 80 and suddenly 300 becomes 900, or similar.

farbbm

Original Poster:

309 posts

197 months

Tuesday 27th February
quotequote all
Thanks for your replies, it does seem to be an ever growing problem, however in this case it does look we have a resolution. His insurance company covering his daily driver have come up with a reasonalbe quote, so the BMW look to be staying another year at least.

Drmarkf

23 posts

30 months

Pica-Pica

14,447 posts

91 months

Wednesday 28th February
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d_a_n1979 said:
farbbm said:
My father in law's insurance is due for renewal very soon, and has just been hit by a large increase in his renewal. it's jumped from £279 last year to a whopping £852 this year. Now the main point I should mention is that he'll turn 80 this year, and it seems to be the main reason for the increase after speaking to his current insurance company, although they also say his 2007 BMW 325i SE convertible is not considered yet to be a classic, but didn't seem to be a problem for them last year.

He only does 3000 miles a year, with the wife and dog visiitng places here and in Europe, but as it's not his daily driver he's now considering selling it because with a major service due, road tax and addtional costs it's all mounting up, to the point where he's not seeing the value in keeping the car which would be a shame, given how he still enjoys owning and drivng it.

Does any one have any recommendations of insurance companies he could try who might be more reasonable on the price, or anything he could add to his policy to reduce the premium? He's obviously realistic to what he may have to pay but that renewal does seem excessive.
Insurance is mental currently; for everyone. But the older you are (more so 65 upwards it seems) the dafter it gets!

My Dad's with Saga (he's 75) and drives an X3M and insurance was stupid as per the norm; no one could come close to what Saga offered. However my Dad is a qualified advanced driver and retains it every year due to his 'previous life' so that does help a bit...

He'll be changing the X3M end of this year as it's at its 3 year age when he looks to renew; probably downsizing too unless my Mum agrees to getting an EV as she hardly does any miles in her 220i! But they need one vehicle with a proper engine for the miles they do to their property in the Highlands and back etc

All in; I think it's worth hitting the phones and speaking to a few insurance companies and seeing what they can offer; the likes of Chris Knott etc always do best over the phone
I am the same age as your Dad, I don’t think an advanced driver qualification counts once you have a decent (lack of) claims record and experience. I have tried with and without the advanced qualification, it made no difference. We are with LV= for car, however they are now taking the piss with our house insurance renewal, so I will probably be using my bank for house insurance.

curvature

425 posts

81 months

Thursday 29th February
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farbbm said:
2007 BMW 325i SE convertible is not considered yet to be a classic, but didn't seem to be a problem for them last year.
For the past 2 years I have had my 2007 Z4 Coupe on a classic policy with Chris Knot with an agreed value for around £240 a year.

This year I have had to go out to the open market and comparison sites to get close to what I paid last year. I spoke with Chris Knott and they said that the previous underwriter they were using had now withdrawn from the market so the best they could do was over £200 more than last year.

They also stated that they could now only offer a classic policy on vehicles that were 20+ years old.

My dad is 82 and also struggles for decent rates and that is just on a small Toyota.


Mr Tidy

24,270 posts

134 months

Thursday 29th February
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It was about 20 years ago but my Mums' premiums kept climbing every year once she reached 80 and we couldn't find insurers who would quote for new business at her age.

But it did make it a bit easier to talk her out of keeping the car when she reached 88 and really wasn't safe to drive any more!

L88AGC

15 posts

55 months

Thursday 4th April
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Can’t Recommend BMW Flex insurance enough, they blew my quotes out the water and the excess was only £150

andrebar

507 posts

129 months

Thursday 4th April
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My mum is 81 & just renewed with RAC for a modest increase on last years premium. They’ve been consistently competitive for her since Saga whacked her premiums up a few years back

twokcc

881 posts

184 months

Friday 5th April
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L88AGC said:
Can’t Recommend BMW Flex insurance enough, they blew my quotes out the water and the excess was only £150
At what age was that? only asking as the Flex insurance due on my 2018 Cooper s at the end of may, first year I have been with them and 76 years young