October 2021, Direct Line: insured for £335 (with extras like towbar, legal, car hire, protected NCD)

October 2022, direct line wanted £408, re-insured with LV for £326.

This year LV want £432 to renew, so got quotes as follows:-

• LV online quote - same as renewal (not as daft as it sounds, in the past I've got an online quote from my existing insurer when renewal has shot up that was lower than the renewal price, so its my first port of call!)
• Direct Line £833 !!! (rechecked details to make sure I'd entered mileage as 12,000 pa instead of 120,000!).
• Zurich - no longer do car insurance
• Saga £736
• Aviva £779
• Halifax £629 - pop-up says its with LV! Nice commission they are taking then.

Caravan insurance was expected to be about £400(up from £300 the previous year) but was  quoted on renewal as £600, came down to £400 by shopping around

If this happens next year with my second car (an MX5) it'll have to go. As will the caravan. As well as my loss of things I like to do, the insurers will lose income from me that I can no longer afford.

This is what admirals excuse is. 

 

 

Why are renewal prices higher than last year?

In January 2022, the FCA introduced new rules for the insurance industry to protect loyal customers from being charged more than new customers who often benefited from a new customer discount.

 

This means renewal prices for existing customers will always be the same or lower than the equivalent price for a new customer. 

 

However, this doesn't mean renewal prices are guaranteed to be the same or lower than last year. Read our explainer on what affects your car insurance price.

 

We always recommend you should check other insurance providers to make sure you get the best cover and price for your needs.

 

Claims costs are on the rise

The increased cost of claims is the main reason car insurance prices have gone up so dramatically over the past year or so.

 

The cost of insurance policies was generally low after the COVID-19 pandemic, as we experienced lower claim volumes because everyone was staying home more. This was why we launched our £25 Stay at Home Refund in 2020 to reflect the reduced insurance claims during this time.

 

However, there are other external factors which have added to the increased cost of claims. They include:

 

Severe weather

The extreme hot and cold weather we have experienced over last year led to more weather-related claims.

 

Car theft

There were 130,521[2] motor vehicle thefts in England and Wales in 2022/23, a significant increase compared to the previous year. This, combined with fewer parts available, has made settling claims costlier.

 

Car repairs

Like everything else, repairing your car, hiring skilled mechanics, and running a business is more expensive now. For example, the cost of repairing vehicles in the UK has increased by 33% and labour costs are up more than 40%[3].

 

Energy crisis

Energy prices have risen dramatically since 2022, which has added more than £70[1] to each repair in the UK according to the ABI.

 

Delays to parts

Around 40% of work is affected by parts delays[1], meaning cars are likely be in the garage for longer. The increased cost of providing courtesy cars has influenced the price of insurance.

 

Inflation impact

You might not know this, but inflation affects how we calculate insurance prices.

 

As car insurance cost is for a year of cover, we price our current policies for future inflation and the inflation that has occurred to date.

 

This is because a claim can take months, or even years, to settle, and inflation continues to apply until we settle a claim.

Those poor insurance companies. It's hardly worth them staying open, they can barely make ends meet. Who would want to scrape by with the meager profits they make ? 🤣🤣🤣

That was a long pile of BS from Admiral. They could have just said it's because of the 'Greed Factor' and we would have all understood 👍

UPDATE:  Feeling a little gobsmacked. I've been insuring for 13k miles/pa, however since we had this car 2 years ago we've covered a princely 20,657 miles! So I called LV to change my annual mileage to 11,000, expecting a tenner, or maybe £20 tops to be knocked off.

Premium went down by £52! Which is unreal, but a good result and a bit closer to my budget (which was last year's prem +10%).

Heaven help me if I was still covering 25,000 miles each year.

Phew!

 

2 hours ago, RMurphy195 said:

So I called LV to change my annual mileage to 11,000

Our mileage is also pretty low so I set them accordingly. I was told years ago by an unusually helpful guy at one of the insurers that there was a point where setting your mileage too low puts premiums back up again, the logic being that they don't think you drive enough to keep in practice. Unfortunately he wasn't prepared to tell me what that point was!

 I was braced for big increases this year, but so far the opposite has happened, all renewals with the same insurers and no change in circumstances have shown slight reductions in our caravan, home and Mrs's car insurance.

Mine is due March so I'll probably get a big hit to make up for those!😀

Legal crime isn't it 🙄 Insurance companies should be scared of vehicle owners not us being scared of them, take a stand and don't pay them what they want, give them a telling off before you look elsewhere, even hearing of peoples excess trebling, all so it stops people from claiming so insurance companies get richer and richer.

New insurance company set to take the market by storm

Gonna have Adam Ant in my head for the rest of the evening now.

 

Hi.

Have you tried ourselves at all for insurance?

Regards,

Dan.

My Focus renewal was £435 v £290 last year. A bit (OK, a lot) of research finally got me a premium of £275. Local Belfast company too, maybe they know me 🤣

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Gonna have Adam Ant in my head for the rest of the evening now.

 

Stand with your dibber, your money or your wife🤣🤣🤣🤣

Oh well, just wizzed off a question to Martin Lewis' show. I think we have to make noises aboutn this, and that's as good a place to start (Watchdog is toothless!)

Well I’m certainly doing something wrong as my insurance quotes are coming up as £1600+ a year and I’m 33 lol prices are definitely ridiculous! I’m glad I joined this forum and I’ll look up the recommended insurers for quotes! 

5 minutes ago, Lord Koopah said:

Well I’m certainly doing something wrong as my insurance quotes are coming up as £1600+ a year and I’m 33 lol prices are definitely ridiculous! I’m glad I joined this forum and I’ll look up the recommended insurers for quotes! 

🤣 That premium is £1100 more than WeBuy... said my car was worth! Though, I am alot older then you 😁

I mean that’s a lot more then I paid for the car that for sure! Several times more haha but a car is definitely needed in the winter! I’ll shop around though! Don’t fancy paying 150 a month for car insurance lol

On 10/30/2023 at 12:05 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Unfortunately he wasn't prepared to tell me what that point was!

For answers to questions like this, you can try a comparison site and do "what if" scenarios.  I have done that with interesting results, like finding that putting my sister on my policy (address 100 miles away) would slightly reduce my premium. I think even adding a random unrelated person generally reduces the premium (provided they have a clean licence).  Adding your spouse definitely reduces the premium (however bad a driver she is, provided she has a clean licence).

Received a Welcome back email from Saga 4/10/23, I had arranged automatic renew.  The certificate usually comes by email, checked a couple of letters from Saga, my payment failed.  Why hadn't they emailed me urgently? The bank cancelled my card, issued a new one, due to suspected fraud. Insurance was cancelled, I've only been with Saga for about 15 years.  Original premium £249.46, new premium £559.37 plus cancellation fee £38.  I was a new customer, premiums higher for new customers.  Gave me flannel about FCA new rule to protect loyal customers (Jan 2022). I was a loyal customer, insurance doubled in 3 weeks. I noticed the value of my car was only about £20 more than their premium, Ford Focus 2002.  Insurance companies working harder to get the max from customers. The premium goes up, again, if I want to drive an extra 1000 miles a year. We are all in the same boat and must fight the increase.  There is no justification for doubling, or more, car insurance premiums. My premium last year was  £162, this year nearly 5 time the amount.  Families, with children and working parents, rely on cars. I'm 79 and disabled, driven for 60 years, London Transport buses, coaches, various lorries and army vehicles. I went to a comparison website and was quoted £180583.  We drivers are being taken for a ride.

Edited November 6, 20232 yr by Bunty
Spelling mistake.

7 hours ago, Bunty said:

...I went to a comparison website and was quoted £180583...

Now, that does seem a tad expensive!

Remember the value of your own car is largely irrelevant...the insurance is there to repair whatever you hit!  Whether that's a £10k bus shelter, £50k Range Rover or a £100k human.

Personally I'd prefer a USA style system, where car insurance is not mandatory, but you will be personally liable for any damages you cause.  I'm sure people would take more care while driving if that was the case.

52 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Remember the value of your own car is largely irrelevant...the insurance is there to repair whatever you hit!  Whether that's a £10k bus shelter, £50k Range Rover or a £100k human.

I concur, I used a sliding scale of my own car valuation from £500 to £5000, the quotation premium didn't move a bit!

57 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

a £100k human.

How do they work that out? Is there a Glass's guide for people?😀

2 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

How do they work that out? Is there a Glass's guide for people?😀

Yep, called the Forbes Rich List LOL 😂

14 hours ago, Bunty said:

new premium £559.37

Something weird going on with Saga. Just renewed my wife's insurance (same car for the last 9 years, no other changes) for less than the year before last.

My current premium for the ST is less than half your renewal quote. I'll see what happens with that.

Having problems downloading the correct documents from their site too - "current policy" and "renewed policy" both have the same details. The same thing happened last year - I still have a letter of apology from the CEO after my (fairly strong 😀) complaint. If it's not sorted he'll be writing another one.

14 hours ago, Bunty said:

I was a new customer, premiums higher for new customers.  Gave me flannel about FCA new rule to protect loyal customers (Jan 2022)

It's not actually flannel - it's the law.

But  anyway, it sounds as though you shouldn't have been considered a new customer. Prob worth checking the info they originally sent you  about what would happen if your card payment was declined - the info is normally there. If they DIDN'T contact you when they realised they wouldn't get payment, that doesn't sound right. But I don't know how quickly you opened the "couple of letters from Saga". My experience of Saga has generally been good - what did they say when you told them they were being unreasonable?