Insurance too much!

[Kothaex]

Unfortunately my insurance has increased this year... when I was expecting a decrease.

This will be my third year driving (at 23), and I've had the Cupra 280 for a year now. My first year's insurance on a 1.4 Polo was £1400, followed by £990 for the Cupra (crazy right? discount for the first few years of license and no claims is insane!)

Or so I thought. I'm now back up to £1350. Nothing has changed except I've moved away from home (for which Admiral gave me a £50 refund when I told them), the car is now parked in a locked garage instead of a driveway, and I have an additional year's experience and no claims for a total of 2.

Yet, compared to my first year with the Cupra, I'm barely getting any insurance results. I compared a result between an up! GTI and this, and I got 70 results back vs 20. Most of the big insurers consider me uninsurable, I guess, when they didn't last year.

This combined with the increase in road tax to £220 has me wondering if an up! GTI, straight swap as they're somehow the same value, would be worth it to save a grand or so per year.

Just ranting, unless anyone has any ideas!

p.s. I've tried Adrian Flux and they quoted me over £1400, though that wasn't over the phone.

 

[Alfski]

Have you given Chris Knott a try?

They are also a club insurance partner and as a younger driver myself I've found them to have beaten any quote that I've put to them so far having been with them myself for 3 years now.

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[Kothaex]

Have you given Chris Knott a try?

They are also a club insurance partner and as a younger driver myself I've found them to have beaten any quote that I've put to them so far having been with them myself for 3 years now.

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I haven't, no. Thanks for the recommendation, they'd slipped my mind.

Out of interest, how much do you pay, what do you drive and is it modified? If you don't mind me asking

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[paddy6789]

It sounds odd, but give SEAT Insurance a call - they were by far the cheapest when I was looking for mine a year ago and they offer a 3 year guarantee of no price increases (as long as you don’t change the policy in any way).

Failing that, there’s SKY insurance, they’re another broker like Adrian Flux. Although try giving Adrian Flux a call as they can often give better quotes over the phone.

I think everyone has found their insurance has gone up this year. It’s the price we pay for scum who steal our cars, which unfortunately is on the rise.


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[Kothaex]

It sounds odd, but give SEAT Insurance a call - they were by far the cheapest when I was looking for mine a year ago and they offer a 3 year guarantee of no price increases (as long as you don’t change the policy in any way).

Failing that, there’s SKY insurance, they’re another broker like Adrian Flux. Although try giving Adrian Flux a call as they can often give better quotes over the phone.

I think everyone has found their insurance has gone up this year. It’s the price we pay for scum who steal our cars, which unfortunately is on the rise.


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If you think it's related to thefts, do you think I could save money getting an immobilizer fitted? I saw a lot of people like the ghost systems.

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[Alfski]

I haven't, no. Thanks for the recommendation, they'd slipped my mind.

Out of interest, how much do you pay, what do you drive and is it modified? If you don't mind me asking

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Your welcome, definitely give them a call and see if they can help.

So, I drive a standard 14' Ibiza FR. This was a mid-term adjustment so unfortunately I don't actually know what my annual premium is meant to be

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[paddy6789]

I’ve got ghost, it makes zero difference to insurance they just don’t recognise it as anything at the moment.

A tracker does though, I’ve got the Autowatch cat5 tracker and it makes a bit of difference, but again, not a huge difference (for me anyway)


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[davidstarkey11]

Unfortunately my insurance has increased this year... when I was expecting a decrease.

This will be my third year driving (at 23), and I've had the Cupra 280 for a year now. My first year's insurance on a 1.4 Polo was £1400, followed by £990 for the Cupra (crazy right? discount for the first few years of license and no claims is insane!)

Or so I thought. I'm now back up to £1350. Nothing has changed except I've moved away from home (for which Admiral gave me a £50 refund when I told them), the car is now parked in a locked garage instead of a driveway, and I have an additional year's experience and no claims for a total of 2.

Yet, compared to my first year with the Cupra, I'm barely getting any insurance results. I compared a result between an up! GTI and this, and I got 70 results back vs 20. Most of the big insurers consider me uninsurable, I guess, when they didn't last year.

This combined with the increase in road tax to £220 has me wondering if an up! GTI, straight swap as they're somehow the same value, would be worth it to save a grand or so per year.

Just ranting, unless anyone has any ideas!

p.s. I've tried Adrian Flux and they quoted me over £1400, though that wasn't over the phone.

Similar kind of thing happened to me, £250 increase on the previous year. I moved out and bought a new build with a locked garage, CCTV fitted and a driveway bollard. As it's a new build there is no previous crime records so most insurance companies class the area as "high risk" in terms of crime. Bare in mind I moved round the corner from my old house, same NE13 postcode.

They'll just always find a way to make as much money from you as possible. They're a for-profit business at the end of the day.

 

[bgb]

The factors at play here are;

1. First year custom - low premium for your custom but rake it up again later to make it back. They bet on some people shrugging and accepting the increase!
2. New home location - Higher crime rate? More central location? Busier traffic wise? Insurance also funnily enough use the length as stay as a factor along with if you on the electoral roll call.

Add a partner on the policy? Parents etc?

Tell them the cars on the drive way, or street. They see telling them its in a garage as a risk to trick insurance into lower premiums.

How soon is your renewal date?

Gone direct? AXA were cheapest for me!

 

[BigJase88]

mines has also went up to £320 this year

 

[SRGTD]

The insurance market is cyclical; it goes through periods of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ market conditions. In a soft market, insurers are trying to attract business and expand their car insurance accounts and may maintain premium rates at their current level of reduce rates, with the risk that this might result in them making losses. When losses are experienced, insurers will start to increase their rates, so prices in general across the whole car insurance market will increase. If increasing rates then move insurers’ accounts back into profit, then they will look at ways to expand their accounts again and premium rates may be held or reduced - and they cycle continues over again...........

@Kothaex; the fact that you have seen a large increase in premium isn’t necessarily a reflection of you or your car being seen as a high risk by insurers. If the car insurance market is currently experiencing ‘hard’ market conditions, it could be that premium rates in general across the whole car insurance market are increasing. If insurers have experienced a period of loss, they’ll be increasing rates to restore profits. External factors such as changes in the rate of insurance premium tax (IPT), legislative changes affecting overall claims costs, and the rate at which claims inflation (car repair costs, increasing personal injury costs) affect insurers’ profitability can also push up premium rates.

Nowadays, most people use the comparison sites to buy their car insurance. However, some of the companies who aren’t on comparison sites can be surprisingly competitive, so it’s worth checking out the likes of Direct Line, Aviva etc. It’s also worth trying a traditional high street broker who will shop around the market for you to try and source competitive premiums. Many high street brokers will have access to specialist insurers for young drivers and performance cars, and they may have negotiated special rates or have special scheme arrangements with some insurers for driver/car combinations that some view as high risk.

Whatever you do, don’t just let your current insurance auto-renew, as there are likely to be other insurers out there who’ll be cheaper than your current insurer. You could also consider making changes to your policy that could reduce your premium, such as increasing your excess or reviewing your current declared estimated annual mileage (only reduce your mileage if a reduced mileage is a genuine reflection of your annual mileage).

Good luck - I hope you find a more competitive premium.

 

[Kothaex]

@SRGTD hi mate, thank you for the detailed response. The only reason I say I might be "uninsurable" to these companies is because names I'm familiar with either refuse to quote me or don't appear on my comparison sites when they did last year. I will continue to shop around for sure.

I'm especially interested in the high street brokers you mentioned. Could you elaborate? I figured the closest to that was comparison sites.

I'm in England if that helps.

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[Maurizie]

@SRGTD hi mate, thank you for the detailed response. The only reason I say I might be "uninsurable" to these companies is because names I'm familiar with either refuse to quote me or don't appear on my comparison sites when they did last year. I will continue to shop around for sure.

I'm especially interested in the high street brokers you mentioned. Could you elaborate? I figured the closest to that was comparison sites.

I'm in England if that helps.

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Were you by any chance insured with an Admiral group company last year? They have a habit of disappearing off sites at your renewal time and giving you astronomical premiums. I'm 24 and just experienced that, e-sure ended up giving me a very quote and the price came down even more when I went off compare the market to their site as it wasn't pulling through my details right!

 

[Kothaex]

Were you by any chance insured with an Admiral group company last year? They have a habit of disappearing off sites at your renewal time and giving you astronomical premiums. I'm 24 and just experienced that, e-sure ended up giving me a very quote and the price came down even more when I went off compare the market to their site as it wasn't pulling through my details right!

I am in fact currently with Admiral right now.. interesting.

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[Maurizie]

I am in fact currently with Admiral right now.. interesting.

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Yeah the exact same thing happened to me, I was with Elephant though which is one of their group. I did a quote about 6 weeks before renewal and got about £800, renewal came through at 1700! Suddenly they'd all disappeared off the comparison sites, very sneaky business practices imo.

 

[BigJase88]

To add to what someone else has said give seat insurance a go, cheapest for me 2 years in a row

 

[SRGTD]

@SRGTD hi mate, thank you for the detailed response. The only reason I say I might be "uninsurable" to these companies is because names I'm familiar with either refuse to quote me or don't appear on my comparison sites when they did last year. I will continue to shop around for sure.

I'm especially interested in the high street brokers you mentioned. Could you elaborate? I figured the closest to that was comparison sites.

I'm in England if that helps.

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An insurance broker is an independent insurance intermediary who will have contact with many different insurers. If you provide them with your risk details, they can get a quote for you from the insurers they deal with. Broker names that spring to mind are the following - I don’t have any personal experience of these brokers so can’t vouch for them personally, but they might be able to help you;

• Swinton
• A-Plan
• Endsleigh
• Bewiser
• Keith Michael
• Hastings Direct.

Probably worth trying 4 Young Drivers; as the name suggests, aimed at young drivers. They do have a reference on the front screen of their website to performance cars.

Quotezone is a comparison site, but they do specifically mention performance car / young driver insurance;
https://www.quotezone.co.uk/car-insurance/high-performance/young-drivers

I’m not a young driver (far from it!), but I’ve found Aviva to be competitive, so might be worth trying them. Based on the experience of family members, their claims experience is also very good (important IMO, should you be unfortunate enough to need to claim).

 

[Kothaex]

@SRGTD woo, quotezone got me £973 with "1st Central" not that I've ever heard of them. It's a start! Not tried the other ideas yet.

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[OJ9693]

Yeah the exact same thing happened to me, I was with Elephant though which is one of their group. I did a quote about 6 weeks before renewal and got about £800, renewal came through at 1700! Suddenly they'd all disappeared off the comparison sites, very sneaky business practices imo.

Exactly the same happened with me. Almost halved my renewal quote last year and when i asked why they thought that renewal quote was acceptable, the lady said over half of renewals are just computer generated!! If that's even true who knows but i thought what a piss take.

 

[OJ9693]

If you have a health insurance plan with your employer and the same company to car insurance it may be worth seeing if they do a special discount as you're already holding a policy with them. My old work were with aviva and they gave a discount on car insurance because of it. Worth a shot if you have health insurance.