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Car Insurance renewal..

Robert

Robert

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I'm not Bob
So the last 2 years I've been insured with LV.

2 years ago it was £300 for the year. Last year the renewal came in at £335. Seemed a reasonable increase so I renewed.

Just now LV renewal has come in at £545 for the same cover. I have full no claims and a clean licence.

Direct line come in at a similar figure. NFU mutual whose radio adverts i heard were just under £500.

Quidco compare for car insurance gives be a host of offers around £300 to £350 and will give me £45 cashback.

So it looks like I might go for Bank of Scotland insurance for £335 (less £45). Unless it has changed BoS own Direct line don't they?

Just surprised at the amount of difference for the same cover. (Comp with legal and protected bonus - not that I've ever used the add ons).
 
Fully agree. Market has shot up.

In our case with extra year NCB and no claims in living memory, the Direct Line increase (this week) was 42% and they wouldn't budge. Compare the Meercat etc all came in more expensive. I was shocked.

We all know that the consequence of rampant inflation is that there will be more uninsured cars on the road. Those in ULEZ super car tax zone or similar will have a higher proportion of false plates too.
 
Ours ( both cars) were similar trend.
Decent premium, then next year a rise that didn’t warrant shopping around.
Then this year a big rise, insurer wouldn’t budge.
Tesco’s was a few quid cheaper, when the documents arrived it was the same underwriters :shock:

Tip don’t leave it until the last minute as they know you are short of time to renew and play hard ball.
 
Yeah, I’ve had the same thing. Direct Line. Very cheap to start, then minor nudges, and last time doubled. I went to one of the comparison websites, and got quotes back where I started ie half what DL were asking. ‘phoned Direct Line, and asked what they were playing at. More or less verbatim the woman at the call centre said. ‘I have no idea. I can maybe get you 10% off but no more.’

Needless to say I am insured somewhere else now.

But: my parents put me on their car insurance for their annual 6m jaunt to Australia, in case it needs moved or something. When I was added as an additional driver (not main driver) the premium came down. I don’t know what algorithms they are using, but surely that can’t be right…
 
LV did exactly the same with my house and contents due at the start of November, previously a little over £300 and increased the premium by a wopping 69%. I got nowhere with them and after getting an identical LV quote through a comparison site but at £70 less I wrote to the CEO and received a general reply clearly sent out to the many customers complaining so I switched to Direct Line with slightly better cover at less than last years LV price. I've no doubt they will do the same to prices in due course.

I have a multicar policy with 3 cars with LV due next May and am fully anticipating a switch with that too.
 
It will start to get regulatory attention hopefully. They appear to be ignoring the rule not to treat loyal customers worse than new ones.
 
BoS do not own Direct Line. Direct Line was owned by RBS but spun off after the financial crisis.

BoS have a panel of insurers that underwrite the cover. It’s not uncommon to find the same insurer with the same cover with a seemingly different price on different aggregators. There is as much if not more effort that goes into pricing the marketing margin that the aggregator can extract as the risk premium. The aggregators are not independent and will position deals where they earn more ahead of others.

It is worth checking what additional charges may be levied if your needs change. Quite a lot of insurers now have admin fees if you make any mid-term changes. Also, they may require you to use their chosen repairer or pay an additional excess if you do not.

It makes my wee boil that the regulator has done such a shabby job resulting in an opaque and confusing market.
 
Blackswanwood":fxzkcsii said:
BoS do not own Direct Line.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I got the Scotland bit right :)

My renewal is the 19th but I'll decide in the next day or so.

Can't decide if I include breakdown cover or not. Car is low mileage, owned from new, regularly serviced and never broken down... but there is peace of mind knowing it would get home easy if it did break down. Diesel Superb coming up on 8 years old.

Can you join if/when you break down? :)
 
AJB Temple":brtqk3f5 said:
It will start to get regulatory attention hopefully. They appear to be ignoring the rule not to treat loyal customers worse than new ones.
Click to expand...
My wife has just reinsured our car - the insurer we've been with for a few years couldn't get within £150 of the deal we've taken - she actually queried it on the phone, when the chap dropped it £50 from the original quote.
 
Robert":1ra7ax6g said:
Can you join if/when you break down? :)
Click to expand...

Nope, don't think they would attend.

Can't decide if I include breakdown cover or not. Car is low mileage, owned from new, regularly serviced and never broken down... but there is peace of mind knowing it would get home easy if it did break down. Diesel Superb coming up on 8 years old.
Click to expand...

My car is now 6 years old so unless I pay the exorbitant Mercedes servicing costs which gives "complimentary" breakdown it isn't covered also my wife's Mini has just come out of warranty and I aslo have a little Skoda used with the motorhome all very low mileage and well serviced so I took out personal breakdown cover with LV Britannia which covers both me and my wife independantly if driving or as a passenger in any car. That cover cost me a total of £42.16 which seems very good value to me.

Both the Merc and the Mini are automatic which is something to take into account as without breakdown you might not be able to get the car to a garage or home as you have to be careful towing an auto or you can destroy the gearbox.
 
Lons":3udi2ajv said:
That cover cost me a total of £42.16 which seems very good value to me.
Click to expand...

That is good value! I've been with Autoaid for years which I thought was about as cheap as you could get. I'd definitely recommend them, used quite a few times over the years in normal car, classic car, even a van towing a caravan and always got great service and swift recovery. Much better than horror stories from the big boys, AA etc.

www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk

They're recommended by Moneysavingexpert

Insurance has gone up across the board, blamed on cost of living but seems like a convenient excuse to make more profits to me.
 
Just looked at that autoaid site. Never heard of them before but looks interesting.

£63.64 to cover you driving any vehicle and free spouse cover too. That means Mrs car is covered as well. Roadside fix or recovery to home. And a personal recommendation too.

Hmm tempting..

T&C's say £9 set up fee but no mention of that on main site. Hmm
 
AJB Temple":19vzo4yn said:
It will start to get regulatory attention hopefully. They appear to be ignoring the rule not to treat loyal customers worse than new ones.
Click to expand...

I agree it needs further regulatory attention - the equivalent new business price is in effect channel and distributor (aggregator) dependent which makes it easy to stay compliant but avoid the intent of the rule in my opinion. :x
 
AutoAid Breakdown offers a breakdown insurance policy that is personal based. This means it’s you that we cover, not the car. With AutoAid Breakdown, you’ll be covered in any eligible vehicle you’re driving ...


That's a little contradictory, it's covering the car you happen to be driving, not you. I don't drive any more but might well have been tempted to take out breakdown insurance for any vehicle I might be in. Just a thought.
 
It's interesting. Prompted by this I checked the autoaid site for a trip. EU cover wanted just in case. Autoaid is nowhere near the cheapest. The prices are surprisingly low. Green Flag are offering in our quote (an EV) full year cover UK and EU with home start, recovery, get you home etc for £56. £40 excess for each claim. You can pay £93 and have no excess on any claim. The cheapest was £29.40. Using Meerkat.
 
Most of them allow no claim within the first 24 or 48 hours.
 
Robert":1l6gp6di said:
Just looked at that autoaid site. Never heard of them before but looks interesting.

£63.64 to cover you driving any vehicle and free spouse cover too. That means Mrs car is covered as well. Roadside fix or recovery to home. And a personal recommendation too.

Hmm tempting..

T&C's say £9 set up fee but no mention of that on main site. Hmm
Click to expand...

I'm also with AutoAid....have been with them for years. Used them a few times and always excellent help/service. Highly recommended. Just downloaded their app that you use when you breakdown, it sends your GPS location etc.
 
Good recommendation.

What stopped me signing up was there was no EU add on on the sign up page where you can opt into extras. So it seems you have to sign up (and pay) first before you can get the EU price on top. The separate single trip EU quote was £40 just for 10 days and it was very difficult to find how they deliver the service. They refer to a "sister company" called Euro Rescue. Unfortunately despite the mostly excellent reviews, Autoaid is not competitive at all for those who need wider cover.
 
But: my parents put me on their car insurance for their annual 6m jaunt to Australia, in case it needs moved or something. When I was added as an additional driver (not main driver) the premium came down. I don’t know what algorithms they are using, but surely that can’t be right…[/quote]


My previous insurance quotes have been halved when i’ved added my partner as an additional driver ( she’s a driving instructor) , from the person i spoke with at the insurance company, it’s all about the psychology of risk and that insurers knowing who we know and trust is a good predictor of how an individual is likely to behave.

All that said my renewal is up in late january , so i’ll have to see how much mine jumps.
 
Yep - my mother is an additional driver on my policy purely because it's cheaper than not having her there.
 
I'm on my daughters policy for the same reason. Never driven her car... but I could.

Autoaid is available via Quidco with £16 cashback so i think I'm sold on it. I looked at the site in a private browser so no previous visit cookies to upset quidco.

So £335 + 64 - 45 -16 = £338. for my insurance and breakdown on 2 cars. Doubt I'll ever use the breakdown but still..

Quidco takes about 6 months to pay out on insurance but they usually do pay.
 
Another vote for autoaid. We've used them for years and, while we haven't had cause to call them many times, on the few occasions we have they've been excellent.
 
Tiresias":2m618lrd said:
But: my parents put me on their car insurance for their annual 6m jaunt to Australia, in case it needs moved or something. When I was added as an additional driver (not main driver) the premium came down. I don’t know what algorithms they are using, but surely that can’t be right…
Click to expand...


Artiglio":2m618lrd said:
My previous insurance quotes have been halved when i’ved added my partner as an additional driver ( she’s a driving instructor) , from the person i spoke with at the insurance company, it’s all about the psychology of risk and that insurers knowing who we know and trust is a good predictor of how an individual is likely to behave.

All that said my renewal is up in late january , so i’ll have to see how much mine jumps.
Click to expand...

Yes, I sort of see where you (or they) are coming from. Insurance companies are not renowned for doing things out of the goodness of their hearts, so I presume there is some evidence from their database that justifies this.

It just seems so counter intuitive. I know that when I was in practice if a client wanted a valuation report addressed to more than one lender, I would charge extra for the extension of the PI cover. And ensure that the lenders knew this was being done. This may surprise you, but property investors and developers can be somewhat shady coves at times. And we were talking many millions, not house vals.

However, far be it from me…

I assume there is a limit – if we include my brother (younger than me, full NCB and living in Oz) would it go down further? And if we invented some more junior family members? Would it eventually, like a fractal thing, end up with us paying nothing at all?

Bet not.

And some day I will tell the story of the Deer Park Roundabout, my Boxster and the very kind polis. Insurance related I can assure you. But I digress.
 
Oh do tell. Boxsters are pretty hard to crash. Handling is exemplary.
 
My renewal arrived today, i’ve a car and a transit van covered as seperate policies running side by side, car went up 11% van by 40%. Anyone have any suggestions regarding an alternative provider for the van , currently with L V
 
As of today - me too with autoaid... and Bank of Scotland car insurance starts today as well.
 
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