Unhappy Thread

[NScaleNotes]

Anybody else had problems with car insurance here in the Uk. I was with LV and they wanted £669 an increase of £244. I went on a comparison site and managed to get a quote for £525, a few days later I went on MSE, the Martin Lewis guy and got another quote which was the same comparison site for £505 so I have taken that up. I also made sure I stopped the auto renewal on my old policy. The silly think is the company I will be with is Allianz which owns LV and the insurance is under written by LV.
Chris H.

Yes, I've been ripped off too.

I'm now paying the same for 3rd party/fire/theft as I was for fully comp a year ago. Same car, same area, no claims. The only thing that's changed is the state of the roads but as I imagine everyone's excess has increased a lot of the repairs that result from that don't go through insurance anyway.

When I was younger I used to sigh when I heard people saying mandated insurance via privately held entities was legalized extortion but now I'm bit older and have paid a bit more attention to what goes on in the World I'm not sure I'd disagree anymore *.

* Before anyone replies, yes I think we should have and need car insurance but the current system is clearly not fit for it's stated purpose i.e. protecting ourselves and others from the costs of accidents.
The purpose seems to have become provide as little protection as possible for the maximum amount of profit to the shareholders. Maybe it always was, but it seems to me at least, that greed has slowly eroded any notion of fairness in so many industries.

For instance, why is it I can be quoted one price a month out from my renewal but that doubles if I don't renew until my policy is near expiring. Don't give me all the industry guff about it showing that the applicant takes more risks blah, blah, blah.  It's just legalized theft. Same as all this other demand-responsive/surge/dynamic pricing nonsense that corporations are trying to insert into every aspect of our lives.

As for why you'd have a policy with one company that is underwritten by another company that's probably got something to do with spreading out risk, favorable legislative jurisdictions, collateralized reinsurance and all the other games that go on in any financial market now.

All perfectly legal and reasonable old boy, you just don't understand how markets function you see...

[Newportnobby]

The problem is everything is done online now and you can't get over to a non being what your history is. When you finally (maybe) get a phone number and call, you get some half trained primate who does everything by numbers and, if it doesn't fit their formula, either refuses to quote or pulls an astronomical figure from their backside in the hope you'll go away.
Long gone are the days when someone would actually try to be helpful using the knowledge they've accumulated over years of working for the insurance company.
Again, they call this progress

[Bealman]

The only reply that comes into my head here is, yep. 

[Roy L S]

The problem is everything is done online now and you can't get over to a non being what your history is. When you finally (maybe) get a phone number and call, you get some half trained primate who does everything by numbers and, if it doesn't fit their formula, either refuses to quote or pulls an astronomical figure from their backside in the hope you'll go away.
Long gone are the days when someone would actually try to be helpful using the knowledge they've accumulated over years of working for the insurance company.
Again, they call this progress

I am with Direct Line, and like others my premium went up significantly on last year's. There seem to be many "justifications" for this including the excessive cost of claims relating to EVs. I phoned to query the increase and spoke to a human in the UK who I could understand and he did his best to help. I went away to get another quote (which came in lower) and went back to them with it. Having taken off "business use" which having retired I currently don't need (I left it on so my wife who is also insured could use the car if needed) and providing the quote details, they were able to reduce the premium to something more (to me) reasonable without compromising the cover. I think one has to expect to pay more, it is just a question of how much is reasonable and in my case making sure you don't insure for things you don't actually need.

[Newportnobby]

As it happens I've been with Direct Line since my triple bypass some 8 years ago. As said, they know my history and I'm damned if I'm going to try and explain it to an 18 year old reading questions from a script they can't deviate from

[lil chris]

Thanks for the replies guys, I worked for Direct Line before I retired at a repair centre. The cost of cars has gone up mainly because of ev's, a lot get written off. Also when a ev comes into the repair centre they are advised they have to leave so much room around the vehicle, so that means they do not have has much room for cars to repair. So they put the price up for all cars ev or not.

[Papyrus]

Yes, but I only have a small car and it's not an EV. Why should I have to pay more just so that other people can drive an urban tank?

Cheers,

Chris

[jpendle]

If it's any consolation here is the US it costs us £1765 p.a. to insure a 9 year old Audi Q5 diesel and a small, 20 year old pick up truck, that we hardly ever use.

Regards,

John P

[stevewalker]

Yes, but I only have a small car and it's not an EV. Why should I have to pay more just so that other people can drive an urban tank?

Because you may hit an EV, or even a Maclaren (although not much chance as their are so few) and your insurance would have to pay for its repair or replacement. Third party risk is the big one, not covering the cost of your own car. Look at the guy who fell asleep, crashed his Land Rover and trailer onto a railway and caused a train to crash - his insurers had to pay £27m IIRC.

[njee20]

If it's any consolation here is the US it costs us £1765 p.a. to insure a 9 year old Audi Q5 diesel and a small, 20 year old pick up truck, that we hardly ever use.

Regards,

John P

That's because you let children drive and the driving 'test' takes place in a car park 

The insurance industry in the UK (dunno about abroad, I work in the industry here) has, by and large, made an underwriting loss from personal motor in recent years.  That's why premiums have gone up. You're not being shafted or ripped off or anything of that ilk, as much as it's good to point the finger at someone. Indeed lots of large players (RSA/MoreThan quite recently) have stopped writing motor insurance altogether. That means fewer competitors, which really will drive up premiums. Obviously there's more nuance to it than that, but that's the crux of it.

Mine near doubled last year (not an EV, but a desirable 'hot hatch' if you listen to the motoring press), rather hoping it goes back the other way again this year...

[jpendle]

That's because you let children drive and the driving 'test' takes place in a car park 

16 to drive, but 21 to drink.

They've got their priorities wrong 

In Colorado you are let loose on the streets as part of your driving test.
But as the test person said to me "You made a couple of mistakes, but it's good enough for Colorado, you've passed"

John P

[njee20]

That is funny and terrifying in equal measure!

[PaulCheffus]

Mine near doubled last year (not an EV, but a desirable 'hot hatch' if you listen to the motoring press), rather hoping it goes back the other way again this year...

Hi

Out of interest which one?

According to the motoring press I also drive a hot hatch (Hyundai i30n). My insurance has only gone up £13 from last year after I rang them.

Cheers

Paul

[njee20]

That's interesting. It's a Golf R. Obviously I got the renewal, scoffed at it, went online and everything was even more expensive than my renewal. I did call them, I can't honestly remember if they brought it down, but it was still vastly more than the previous year.