Just got my renewal before we headed off on holiday - £40 up on last year. Happy at that (Land Rover Defender 90).
Just got my renewal before we headed off on holiday - £40 up on last year. Happy at that (Land Rover Defender 90).
Last edited by Chris_in_the_UK; 9th February 2024 at 14:25.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
OK, lets say all the complainers are right. Insurers are rip off merchants and only do it because they can get away with it as its a legal requirement, so let's do away with the legal need to have insurance.
There, you no longer have to have insurance. Instead if you damage someone elses property, or injure someone, its down to you to pay for it, you have no choice in that and have to pay any amount ordered, even if that means selling your house, all your possessions (including watches) everything you own to pay the "claim" as the wringed party must be compensated.
Accident management companies still exist, its a profitable business so why should they stop, same for ambulance chasing lawyers.
You've seen some of the costs being talked about in this thread of how much "simple" repairs cost. What was it ? £20K for a cracked headlight and bumper scratch? How many people have that money to hand?
What about a more serious accident where someone gets injured, is off work for a year and needs household care and assistance for that year? Now the bill is £150K +. Remember, you have no choice, the bill must be paid.
What if the worst happens? No, not killing someone, but paralysing them or giving them brain damage... now your bill is going to start at a minimum of £1.5 million, how are you going to pay that?
Oh, and you still have to pay for the damage to your own car.
That's why insurance is compulsary. Its not the insurers decision to make it so, thats down to the legislature to ensure we are all protected.
Motor Insurance is not a profitable line of business for insurers, it's a loss leader for selling policy ancillaries and for selling additonal insurance .... ever wondered why insurers ask you if you are a home owner, how many kids you have? Data they can use to offer you home insurance, life insurance, medical insurance.. just like any other business that cross sells product ...like supermarkets.
Last edited by Kris; 9th February 2024 at 20:26.
An update to this thread. I hadn't realised how much the weighting had changed recently to the actual vehicle model as opposed to other factors.
As I said earlier, my insurance renewal for a Ford Fiesta was coming in at around £1400. I'm greater London, clean driving licence, no recent claims and 16 years NCD. Ford Fiesta isn't brand new and value around £5000. I used the same insurer, got a quote for a Volvo I was thinking about buying, value £25,000 and the insurance quote was £600. Feels crazy that to insure a vehicle 5x the value of another cuts the premium in half! It seems like vehicle models drive the price more than other factors (including the vehicles value) nowadays. Might do a quote on a Range Rover for the fun of it....see if anyone would actually insure!
+1, contrary to popular myth insurance companies don't make much profit from vehicle insurance and it's always been that way, my father worked all his life in the insurance business and he used to tell me this back in the 70s when I was moaning about the high costs.Originally Posted by Kris
Here's a question for all those moaning: How much would YOU charge to underwrite the insurance of a typical vehicle for 12 months?.....think about !
you are correct when i left the industry 4 years ago now for every £100 in premiums collected we paid out £106 in claims , its a avg out business make more on pet insurance than you lose on car insurance etc etc, also the bulk of profit comes from investments not premiums .
Hi Mitch
Hear what you’re saying and don’t doubt .
I think issue is the ‘spread’ i.e I have been claim free for decades but my premium goes up 40% which is hard to stomach if it’s purely to pay for others claims ? But is that true ? I am unsure.
My last year in business 2019 my company policy quote went from £36’000 to a suggested 40k with zero claims in previous 6 years and no significant additions, common sense prevailed, but hard to fathom given zero ‘burn rate’, and the fact 6 year’s premiums were very profitable for insurer.
What we did notice owning dealerships and body shops is just how many cars are now written off that would have previously been repaired and this is seemingly a huge factor in payout levels going through the roof, i am unsure if its to do with price of Parts and Labour or the fact that if it’s written off quickly the dreaded car hire bills don’t kick in hard ?
^ This is what I was thinking. 16 NCD, doesn't really count for much any more. From what I understand, my choice of driving a Fiesta is the main factor of driving my insurance price up simply because it is one of the most popular models of car in the country and therefore have a high number stolen and involved in claims. If I bought a Volvo at 5x the value suddenly my premium halves. Crazy.
It’s a dark art for sure.
Cayman GTS under £160 last year, over £300 this year. Smart car is the same, so very strange how it works.
Also guessing many more young folk out in fiestas & crashing them vs Volvos, which builds a profile of the car. Assume the same sort of balance in my Porsche vs Smart situation.
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hi, its all about risk, also what the underwriter/ company want to insure or the direction they see as a opportunity to not make a loss, not so much to make a profit, that's why you find some will run a mile from electric cars etc, a lot of premiums are auto generated and its only when you question the quote do you get a individual quote as you probably found when common sense prevailed? afraid as you prob know it can be as much as a post code on one side of the street can make a difference, insurers rarely refuse cover they just make it expensive so you go away.
you are correct the repair costs have a big significance in claims costs which reflect in premiums, parts, labour, hire car all play a part in the decision to total loss a car, including the salvage value .e.g if a car is worth 5 k repair costs are 2.5 k ( so economical)but salvage value is 3k as a cat D then its cheaper/better for the insurer to total loss it, and even more so if hire is accruing.
accident management firm also have a impact, so i always shake my head when people complain about premiums but have used a accident management company for their claim and boast about the payout! we all pay for this not just the person who was insured.
I was dreading the renewal quote on my Golf R and sure enough it went up from £380 last year to £630 from the same insurer.
Following a search on a comparison site it came in at £271 fully comp with business use. Probably helped by being in mid fifties and living in rural North Wales.
Cheers
Neil
The underwriting binder they have will dictate what they can and can’t insure and whether it’s a reasonable price, that’s why if someone does a midterm adjustment and it’s outside the scope of the binder the end user could get clobbered with the underwriter having to use a different route.
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Practically the same thing for me on my Defender. With NFU.
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