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Car Insurance Premiums


Simon Daymond

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Just got my car renewal, it's jumped from £390 last year, to £951 this year. No bumps, car is a year older, now have 9 years discount. If I pay by direct debit, the total price rises to £1188! APR 46%

 

What a flaming rip off. The company? Well I'll give you a clue.. you go to their 'garage' if you have perfectly good shockers on your car, but believe them when they say that they all need replacing.. in their adverts their staff can play the piano, hypnotise small kids etc.. they had a snappy song (apparently you couldn't get better they said).

 

Pull the other one

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My insurance company tried this last year. On the advice of a friend who'd had the same problem, I used the company's website to give me an online quote, which was much less than the renewal. I then invited them to explain why and was transferred to the "retentions department" who explained that the new policies were different(!) and managed to renew at a price less than that quoted by the website. I think all insurance companies are trying this on in the hope that customers won't notice. It's a trick they've borrowed from the banks, who consistently improve terms on new accounts and don't offerthose improvements to existing account holders. Caveat Emptor!

 

Andy

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also had this with my landy last week, renewal was £260 up from £160 last year so i phoned sure term who quoted £220 then foot man james who quoted £170 then got back to my innsurance who came down to £170 also. Why not qupte me £170 the first time instead of £260?? Anyway went with footman james cos they offerd free breakdown recovery, Fully comp cover and with unlimited milage, Also really helpfull and quick to pick up the phone:D

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I sent them a snotty email, but I doubt I'll hear back. Seems like a trick some try, to get money from those who don't pay enough attention to their personal affairs. I re-read the renewal small print: if the policy renews, which it would do automatically unless you have cancelled prior to renewal, it would cost you £40 to cancel within 14 days, after 14days - a small fortune, £166 commision, £25 arrangement fee, £40 cancellation charge, along with a proportion of the total for the amount the vehicle was on cover.

 

So it would seem that by the time most would get their statements and notice, it would be too late and they would have to pay out just to leave.

 

Also I think it's very poor that I received my renewal less than 7 days before the policy expires, what if it was lost in the post etc? It gives me little time to renew. Interestingly, on the price comparision sites, last month I got some quotes, this week I got some more. This week's quotes were all higher than last month in all but a couple of instances. Seems strange that when you actually receive your renewal and then attempt to get a quote, the price has gone up? or am I just paranoid

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You're not paranoid Simon . Had my truck renewal a couple of weeks back & had already decided to go elsewhere . Accepted a quote but when I actually went to buy it had increased by about £50 .

 

More than a litttle peeved when my previous broken told me it wasn't their fault they couldn't come up with a more competitive quote , it was down to the insurers . I said no - you're the broker , you're suppoed to be working for me & finding the best quote , or am I too old fashioned expecting you to actually do something for your fees ?

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All of what is in that article may well be true, but it still doesn't explain the rampant profiteering that many of us are experiencing. If an insurer can magically drop their quote when challenged, there's only one possible explanation of why it was that high in the first place!

 

Andy

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My other half loves it when the car insurance is due, and house insurance for that matter. She spends her evenings the week before checking out all the comparison sites, she finds a good deal and then rings them up. 3 Years ago the insuance for our Lexus RX300 4x4 was about £350 fully comp. A few weeks ago she got that down to £249, still fully comp. She done the same with the house insurance. When we moved in about 4 years ago it was over £450 home and contents, cover up to £1m etc. As of a few weeks ago we now pay £120 for the same cover.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My van finally died a couple of weeks back so I was looking for a cheap car as a runaround until I found a suitable van.. it was then that I found out that my no claims bonus I had built up on my van for the last 10 years was not transferable to a policy on a private car.. I found a couple of companies that would except commercial policy NCB but the quotes came out more than if I just had zero NCB.. go figure??

 

So just bought another van, changed my insurance over & got new quote for when my policy runs out next month.. used a comparasion site & every company that quoted me it was cheaper insurance for full comp than TPFT?? TPFH was on average £100 more expensive.. :undecided:

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I know it is moving away somewhat from the original topic, but when I tried to insure my 1961 Iron Fairy crane for travel on the public roads I had enormous difficulty finding anyone who would cover it. I didn't want lifting or crane insurance, simply RTA cover so I can move it from one part of the site to another along 400 yards of pubic road.

 

All the insurers I tried who advertise cover for classic plant refused cover (even those who proudly claim to cover any type of plant), and only one (classic car) insurer in the end came up with the goods. Ever they record it as a "van" despite a) having photos, and b) the fact that every time I correspond for whatever reason with them I point out that it is a mobile crane not a van. At least they can't say they were't told.

 

I haven't tried insuring an odd-ball (no offence intended) MV eg tracked armour since I do not presently have the good fortune to own one. Is it as difficult as a mobile crane?

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I haven't tried insuring an odd-ball (no offence intended) MV eg tracked armour since I do not presently have the good fortune to own one. Is it as difficult as a mobile crane?

MV's are well catered for & insurance is very cheap compared to cars/vans

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  • 1 month later...

Just had my renewal through for the Bedford and Land Rover. I think it was around £110 last year. The quote for this year has gone up to £153:shocked:

 

I know it's still cheap but considering the total price of years gone by that's a massive increase. I can't be bothered shopping around for that price, but if it goes up like that again next year I will be looking around. I'm with Footman James. Has anyone else seen such a big hike in their premiums???

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I note you have an 'Import' truck Surf ? I have a 99 SSRX and used to use Adrian Flux how about trying their underwriters ? I see they have advertised in the Military mags ? might get a further discount ? just a thought:-)

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I note you have an 'Import' truck Surf ? I have a 99 SSRX and used to use Adrian Flux how about trying their underwriters ? I see they have advertised in the Military mags ? might get a further discount ? just a thought:-)

 

 

 

Hello mate,

 

My Surf is insured with Roadsure. They are all same as same as mostly. Thanks for the thought though. ;)

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ou could try Footman James, they don't just do MV insurance http://www.footmanjames.co.uk/modern_car.aspx you may even get the HMVF discount that we get on MV Insurance..

 

Just added the 101 to the Ferret insurance (£110 with FJ) for an extra £28, which includes a £20 admin fee...thats up to end of Jan when its up for renewal but still flippin' good value....and at least they know what you are talking about when you call them!!

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I'm looking at buying a BMW F800GS for commuting to work. So far I've phoned for quotes from BMW's insurance (who use a normal broker) and Carol Nash. BMW's was £298 fully comp with all the usual extras like breakdown, European cover, helmet and leathers etc. Bike would be parked outside (no garage) brand new (£8,000) an no no claims on a bike. Does this sound good?

 

Going to try go compair etc and see what I can get it down to.

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I'm looking at buying a BMW F800GS for commuting to work. So far I've phoned for quotes from BMW's insurance (who use a normal broker) and Carol Nash. BMW's was £298 fully comp with all the usual extras like breakdown, European cover, helmet and leathers etc. Bike would be parked outside (no garage) brand new (£8,000) an no no claims on a bike. Does this sound good?

 

Going to try go compair etc and see what I can get it down to.

 

Be wary of comparison sites ! you get the basic low price then you do the extras !!! you will be surprised how little cover you actualy get ! Brokers are wisening up to these deals and are sharpening their pencils ! Just asked our 'underwriter expert' he says you may get a better deal fronm 'Bike insurer' they are part of Sky brokerage, however the BMW package is keenly priced for the service they offer,hope this helps;)

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Be wary of comparison sites ! you get the basic low price then you do the extras !!! you will be surprised how little cover you actualy get ! Brokers are wisening up to these deals and are sharpening their pencils ! Just asked our 'underwriter expert' he says you may get a better deal fronm 'Bike insurer' they are part of Sky brokerage, however the BMW package is keenly priced for the service they offer,hope this helps;)

 

 

 

Hello John,

 

Thanks for that mate. I will see what they offer. The trouble is they ask all these questions about what "extras" you have like heated grips etc but until I actually buy it I haven't got a clue. I'm going to try Footman James as I have my Military Vehicle insurance through them and they may do me a good deal?

 

The BMW quote isn't bad I suppose considering the bike will be brand new, kept outside and I don't have any no claims (for a bike anyway). I was hoping for around £200.

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I agree with the comments on comparison sites. I have found that regardless of what you pot in with respect to voluntary excess they always seem to ignore this and when you look further you suddenly realise the nice cheap you got wit £250 excess suddenly has £1000 and when you adjust is no longer cheap.

What I tend to do is use these as a basis and then target a few of the companies own website to get a real quote with what you want.

 

With respect to bikes try a few specialist companies or the specialist comparison run by MCN

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/INSURANCE/

 

Mike

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Help please...

 

Does anyone know of a company that offers a policy to cover multiple vehicles, maybe a private collectors policy? somehow I've managed to get to 7 vehicles including a couple of motorbikes and a tractor! worse thing is I seemed to have bought them equally spaced so little more than a month goes by without something up for renewal. add to that MoT's and tax...

 

Anyway it seems daft to have separate policy's after all I can only drive one at a time.

 

Cheers,

Q

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