Insurance Renewal Time Again!

[ccr999]

Has anyone else noticed that their insurance renewal premium has shot up this year? Do you get the feeling that 4X4's are getting special treatment from the insurance trade?

My renewal has gone up by 40%!

No I haven't got any more endoresments as I drive like a snail everywhere, only ever had one for speeding in the last 10 years. I haven't had any accidents this year and I'm getting older (wrong side of 50) much as I would like to be 40 or even 30 again! I don't live in Beruit, I'm not a pop star throwing TV sets out of hotel windows!!

I am just Mr Average decent, honest guy in the street, so it must be the car, which is an unmodified 2002 2.2DTI.

I have been to all the specialist insurers and all of the top names, plus Confused.com (and I was!). Quotes ranged from £350 with Admiral, £775 with Adrain Flux to £975 with Direct Line. I must have got quotes from 20 companies via Confused.com, and checked another 10 companies directly, and the spread was £350 - £1400.

On closely questioning them all, all they seemed to want to say was that for some policies premiums had risen by 20 - 30% this year, but a small number of policies saw a drop. My wife's car was one of those that dropped by 10%, so given she has a similar driving record to me, it only leaves the type of car as the deciding factor. AND,... Direct Line were £450 last year as I switched from them, so where do they get £975 from?

Unless of course you take the cinical view that the insurance companies are a bunch of backstabbing ******** and all those No Claims discounts, introductory discounts, club membership discounts, park it up the drive discounts, only go to shops discounts, etc., are a ruse to make you believe the premium that amounts to the Gross National Product of a third world country is a jolly good deal and you tell all your friends to buy there too?

Anyway, perhaps we should start a list of Frontera hating insurance companies and not put any business with them be it car, house, contents, pet or life insurance? And it would be nice if their pricing had to be transparent, after all Sainsbury's doesn't tell you the price of a tin of beans only after they have swiped your credit card do they!

Rant over, I feel better even if a little poorer now!

Oh yes Green Flag is cheaper for breakdown cover than AA and RAC by a country mile and they get to you just as quick with no real difference in levels of cover!! So unless your insurer is offering a discount on their breakdown cover, check Green Flag out.

And just remember, "they ain't getting the TV!"

Stephen

[SnortonR]

Have you tried LV. my renewal was under £180 - full NCD, mileage limit 5k, no legal cover, me & herself, extra discount for 2 policies at same address.

[fronteramac]

my renewal quote throu swinton was 2400 last year was 700 nothing changed with details went with sureterm direct who only deal with 4x4 and classics 450 fully comp cheaper than last year result ,,get a quote on line u never know matey

[purplerainbows1961]

Hi if you have paid your premium and are within the cooling off period,just give sureterm direct a try my man,last year my ins was 450 this year 1080,went to sureterm 240,fully comp.just try ..nothing to lose and a pocketful of wonga to gain.

[drinksoptional]

Can vouch for cheaper insurance with sureterm my only issue was some odd amount of paperwork

[fronteramac]

its a complete rip off something has to change it cant be like this every year or is it the gov trying to get cars off the road but its hitting the pockets of working class people who are struggling not the richer ones ,,,,oh heck am startin to moan sori guys

[drinksoptional]

I dont get the 40% increase especialy if you more than 5 yrs ncb

[NautilusNick]

I only insured my fronty first time 2 weeks ago, ( been riding a motorbike so not got car insurance to compare with) managed to get esure fully comp (they would not do t,p,f&t) £321 im 33 full ncb no accidents no convictions and the other half is a named driver on my policy. I tried direct line first who had previously insured me on my mondeo st24 ( 3 years ago) there quote was almost £500 (only paid £280 fully comp on st24??). I tried changing voluntary excesses etc to see if I could get any of the quotes down only real difference was about £40. The biggest difference I found was adding my partner to the insurance, she dropped my premium by £100, she the same age, driving same time with the same clean driving record bloody woman drivers lol now I have to share Betty with her

[luke2110]

i pay £175 a month, gutting i know!! but i have to get my no claims up , and im high risk because of my age

[jontera]

mine actually went down..ok only by £40..but still it was lower..I'm with Sureterm, renewed this years just after the annual meeting..was due on the 12/05/11..

but..today a strange thing happened...

I got a letter from Sureterm (dated 19 may 2011), a renewal reminder....reminding me that my insurance is due to run out on 12/05/12, and that by now I should have recieved their most competitve quote, also that failure to contact them prior to the expiry date i would no longer be insured..

now i'm wondering if i've been asleep for 12months....or actually managed to get the fronty upto 88.8mph and the flux capacitor worked..

[fronteramac]

great scottttt the flux works marty we have to go back to the future to when insurance was cheap sori got carried away then

[andysd1]

mine went up by £10, dam, that's now £188, a year, thank you frank pickles

[bigdazz]

205 a year Franky pickles renewal next month Barry[Franky pickles ] quoted me 190 some rumor going about on Toyota site that Franky are stopping 4x4 cover anybody heard anything ?

[ccr999]

Thanks for all of the replies, and yes I had tried all of the companies mentioned, both on line and then phoning them to ask if they had perhaps mistaken me for my 18 year old!

The problem with firms like Flux, Pickles and Sureterm is they are fine if you are only using the car to go to the shops and back (Social, Domestic and Pleasure ONLY), and their super cheap on line quote is ONLY for that, as soon as you say you have to go to work in order to pay the premium, that gets counted as COMMUTING and you double the quote. So all of you people getting insurance for under £350 go and read your policy schedule CAREFULLY. If it does not include COMMUTING and you use the car to get to work, then you ain't insured!. NEXT,.... if like me you occasionally go to a different office to work, or on a training course, then guess what? That counts as USE IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR BUSINESS, add another 50% to the quote, and one of the 4X4 specialist insurers would not even quote for that, they told me they just don't! I am just an IT Manager, I don't carry equipment and just use the car to go to a different office once a week on average.

In the end I rang Admiral my current insurers and was really nice to the lady on the phone there, told her my tales of woe and she gave me a discount on the breakdown cover and a renewal discount, so now for a premium of £414.25 I get:

Comprehensive - Social, Domestic, Pleasure, COMMUTING, AND USE IN CONNECTION WITH MY BUSINESS
Legal Expenses Cover
Free Windscreen cover
National Plus Breakdown (same cover as the FULL AA cover, e.g., to the door, overnight, replacement vehicle)
£250 excess (no compulsory excess)

It would be interesting to see how many people think the cheap on line quote allows them to drive to work and back (single place of business) or even to drive to several different places of work? I bet there are quite a few out there who grabbed the cheapest quote and don't realise they are uninsured or sitting on a £600 excess or any number of hidden clauses.

And the moral of the story is:

1. Don't live in the south-east, anywhere south of the Watford gap means you must be a millionaire!
2. Don't go to work, run your car on benefits as you get cheaper insurance!
3. Don't get caught doing 35 in a 40! Yes speed cameras are set at 10% plus 1 mph after which you are nicked!!
4. Don't reverse into the neighbours car as a new indicator lens on a Corsa costs £1800!

Regards

Stephen

[luke2110]

[rancidrich]

My insurance has doubled
I'm 40, got a clean licence and 6 years NCD Havent made a claim for over 5 years and they still wanted £700 (won't be going with quick fit any more)
Asda has quoted £350 and have been the cheapest so far

[mickh]

One of the few benefits of getting old is cheap insurance. Saga,...... yeah I know don't all laugh has just quoted me £137 for fully comp. Now who's laughing.

[ccr999]

Just to be clear:

Social, domestic and Pleasure means going to the shops and back or the seaside at weekends.

Commuting means going to work or back, (a single place of work) even if it is just once during the insurance policy year, if commuting is not specifically included on your policy then if you have used your car to go to work then even if you have not had an accident you are not insured. So if you have an accident going to the seaside and the insurance investigator can prove you also used the car to go to work that insurance year, then they will not pay out and you are uninsured. The classic giveaway is the works car park sticker in the window when the assessor takes the pictures of the dent!

Use in connection with the policy holders business means going to work at more than one address during the year, so even if your employer says go on this training course for a day or nip down to the shops in your car for some biro's, then that is business use. Again have any accident at any time and the fraud department finds out you went on that course or finds your mileage claim P11D at the tax office and you are not insured at all that year. The first thing they will check is your P11D so if your employer paid you mileage money, they will have told the tax office via your P11D and they have you!

Any quote that seems to good to be true probably is, you are most likely only getting basic social, domestic and pleasure cover with a big set of excesses and need to read the policy schedule and certificate VERY CAREFULLY, TWICE!!

I have a friend who just allowed her insurance company to renew the policy automatically each year on the same credit card. The old "you need to do nothing, we will renew for you" line. She had an accident and when she filled in the claim form put down the speeding offence committed a few years or so back. Next thing she finds she is not insured and had to pay the full costs, fortunately it was just damage to her car so no one else involved. PLUS, she got a bill from the insurers for ANOTHER £800 to cover the true cost of insurance the last few years had she declared it, plus their "costs". After all they had insured her in good faith and she had "lied". No ammount of saying she did not know and they had not told her in 20 point bold font to declare changes worked. So she is paying it off at £80 per month with more interest. Worse still at the next renewal she will have to declare to anyone she goes to for a quote that she has had special terms imposed, etc.,. so we can guess how much that will add to her policy!

Read the small print, because if you have an accident the insurance fraud department will.

Regards

Stephen

[Big Dav]

jontera, if you have sent off your rrenewal npaperwork thern subsequently they contact you advising your renewal is due I would give them a bell to make sure they have received your renewal monies etc.

[ARMYOF1]

Got my full licence 15 / 02/ 1966
29 years claim free .
3000/4000 miles per year .
social domestic & pleasure only .
Dont know what you guys are telling them but this is what i got back from Sureterm ,
Looks like its Saga for a quote , or should i have put down got licence 2009, no bonus ,age 20 ,might have got a good quote then ...!!!!!!!!!!

Scheme PREMIUM
AXA INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED £472.70
AXA INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED £486.80
AXA INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED £501.87
HW Car Ins Bdgt EDI £586.24
ZENITH INSURANCE PLC £652.02
ZENITH INSURANCE PLC £668.76
KC Roadrunner 7.5 £669.59
Zenith PC Standard £682.88
KC Roadrunner 10 £687.23
Sabre 7.5% FC £697.01
Sabre FC £701.04
KC Roadrunner 12.50 £706.51
SABRE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED £711.11
Ageas KC 10 GRP £714.20
Ageas Elite 7.5 £723.46
Ageas KC 12.5 GRP £733.73
Ageas Guard EDI Econ £743.34
Ageas Guard EDI £764.19
Ageas Guard Economy £769.20
Allianz Clear 7.5 £769.25