Insurance Companies

[MrGreen]

Incorrect.
If all those factors were real then I wouldn’t have been able to renew for less than last year and every year. They’re poor excuses to hike prices.

Research who is on the FCA board and where they previously worked.

Calling it BS is immediately refusing to accept the ‘facts’. There is a revolving door for employees in this sector between government, the financial industry and the FCA.

Also look out how these people become extremely rich way above what their salaries are.

 

[Lubrown]

Absolutely, but ultimately it's us the consumer that are to blame. You have an insignificant bump/scrape and suddenly you have claims management companies ringing you promising the earth, closely followed by the ambulance chasing solicitors offering no win; no fee claims. Here's a true example, our daughter’s car was parked on their drive & the neighbour reversed into it & made a very minor scuff/dent on the plastic bumper. My daughter offered get a quote for the repair & settle without involving the insurance company, the quote from an independent body repair shop came in at just under £700. The neighbour refused to pay & told my daughter to go through the insurance. It was a relatively new car & still under the manufacturers warranty, so my daughter went to the main dealer & basically said "sort this". A transporter arrived at her house with a brand new courtesy car on it, they took away her car, 3 weeks later it was returned & the loaner was put on the transporter & taken away. In the meantime, she had solicitors ringing her asking her if she wanted to claim for injuries, she explained that she wasn't even in the car when the "accident" happened, no problem say the solicitors, we can claim for stress/loss of amenity etc, she declined. The total bill came to £4.5k, If it had been my car & I had reversed into something, I'd have buffed it out & lived with it.

I don’t think customers are really to blame - some pay for add-ons, such as legal cover, better loan cars etc. but they can’t control the price the providers of these services charge. And why shouldn’t they use services they chose to pay for?
As I said it needs regulating.
Ideally the FCA would set benchmarks for pricing. No reason big insurance companies should be paying way more than you or I could hire a car for. Same for repairs. Yes a painted bumper with parking sensors, tricky to reach fixings will cost more than a grey plastic thing with easy to reach fixings but the industry has many experts with decades of experience and must know when they are being ripped off. Why pay over the odds and not question it? Insurance companies could vote with their feet and not use the chronic overchargers. That’s what you or I would do. But they don’t because they can just bump everyone’s premium up and not have to look at it.

 

[Bav]

If you care to list the factors that you believe aren't real, than I'm happy to discuss specifics, but they're all real, they're all having a real impact on premiums and they've all arisen due to pumping £450 billion of liquidity into the economy during the pandemic.

Of course the FCA board are made up of senior ex-industry employees - you'll be telling me next that it'd be preferable to have the FS regulator run by people who know nothing about FS. Again, unrealistic expectations leading to unsubstantiated accusations.

 

[MrGreen]

If you care to list the factors that you believe aren't real, than I'm happy to discuss specifics, but they're all real, they're all having a real impact on premiums and they've all arisen due to pumping £450 billion of liquidity into the economy during the pandemic.

Of course the FCA board are made up of senior ex-industry employees - you'll be telling me next that it'd be preferable to have the FS regulator run by people who know nothing about FS. Again, unrealistic expectations leading to unsubstantiated accusations.

You listed them yourself.

If those factors were genuine all insurers would have high prices. They don’t.

Even if they were real they still don’t equate to insurance quotes increasing by up to 300% in some cases. This isn’t just vans, but cars, buildings etc.

The FCA report clearly states that insurers practices are leading to higher prices.

Prices in Europe are up 11%, that’s understandable with pandemic factors. Where as the UK prices are up 32%. That’s blatant profiteering.

 

[DXX]

Prices in Europe are up 11%, that’s understandable with pandemic factors. Where as the UK prices are up 32%. That’s blatant profiteering.

Ah maybe that’s what we get for getting our ‘freedom’ back, that’ll teach them with there piddly 11% hike! We are the North Korea of Europe now, there’s no escape, work harder to pay the bills.

 

[Salty Spuds]

C’mon chaps, let’s keep it friendly, I come on here to escape from all this day to day stuff. If I want depressing I’ll watch the BBC

 

[signtoo]

Agreed with @Salty Spuds, I don't think there's a need to argue with eachother that we're all paying too much for insurance. A lot of good points have been raised above.

I think it's fair to say we can all agree that:
* Insurance companies are there to maximise revenue. This is what private businesses do, unfortunately.
* They also "get away" with not paying out due to fine print - unless you have a lot of spare time and are willing to spend *hours* sifting through admin and paperwork, it is not always clear what is covered and what isn't.

Who's on the losing end?
* Not the insurance companies.
* Definitely the consumer.

Who's "fault" is the above?
* The insurance companies.
* Definitely not the consumer.

I think most people here are arguing the same point. Being a good, loyal customer *SHOULD* reward you. However, this is not the case with insurance companies, and technically being better on paper (the best possible low risk customer they can ask for) does not universally help your quotes. It feels like random statistics, and it is not fair on the consumer that we have to bear the brunt of that.

What if you're old and not great with computers, does that mean the insurance company should be allowed to fleece you off for next years renewal? People who are technically savvy, and/or have a lot of time on their hands, get the best deals, and it should not be like that.

(For what its worth, I found an insurer now under £400. This is comparing it to quotes in the 800-1200 region, which were the cheapest on some comparison sites!)

 

[Bav]

You listed them yourself.

If those factors were genuine all insurers would have high prices. They don’t.

Even if they were real they still don’t equate to insurance quotes increasing by up to 300% in some cases. This isn’t just vans, but cars, buildings etc.

The FCA report clearly states that insurers practices are leading to higher prices.

Prices in Europe are up 11%, that’s understandable with pandemic factors. Where as the UK prices are up 32%. That’s blatant profiteering.

Seriously? Most of the items in the list are just common sense mate - it doesn't take industry insight to know that the cost of almost everything has increased recently or to envisage how such rises propagate across an economy or even to understand how insurance is likely to be heavily impacted.

Anyway, you asked why your premium had increased from £534 to £1,150 - I gave you the reasons; you've stated a preference to believe in some fanciful notion of conspiracy. End of.

 

[MrGreen]

Ah maybe that’s what we get for getting our ‘freedom’ back, that’ll teach them with there piddly 11% hike! We are the North Korea of Europe now, there’s no escape, work harder to pay the

Seriously? Most of the items in the list are just common sense mate - it doesn't take industry insight to know that the cost of almost everything has increased recently or to envisage how such rises propagate across an economy or even to understand how insurance is likely to be heavily impacted.

Anyway, you asked why your premium had increased from £534 to £1,150 - I gave you the reasons; you've stated a preference to believe in some fanciful notion of conspiracy. End of.

Incorrect.
You’re mis-quoting what I said again.
I said if those reasons had increased the prices then no insurer would be able to quote me at a low price.
The fact that I got a low price is evidence that these quotes are not representative of the true facts.
The facts are that some of those items have increased in price but not by 100%+

The FCA also said this in their report. Are you suggesting what they wrote was a conspiracy?

 

[Bav]

Incorrect.
You’re mis-quoting what I said again.
I said if those reasons had increased the prices then no insurer would be able to quote me at a low price.

If you care to list the factors that you believe aren't real, than I'm happy to discuss specifics

You listed them yourself.

 

[Ali-G]

How about pet insurance then.
My £55,000 van is costing me approximately £350 -£400 per year to insure, yet a dog that I paid £900 for is costing me £1000 per year.

 

[SAJO]

My renewal came in from Brentacre and had increased 33% on last year.
I tried Comfort who beat the quote.
But I chose in the end, to put the van on the same policy as my car to create a multi-vehicle policy. I appreciate it doesn't work for all, but the difference was considerably better value than paying for 2 separate policies.

 

[MrGreen]

How about pet insurance then.
My £55,000 van is costing me approximately £350 -£400 per year to insure, yet a dog that I paid £900 for is costing me £1000 per year.

Same thing.
No pricing regulation leads to unfair practices.

The question is, why is there lack of regulation?
Follow the money.
Who benefits?
Share owners.
Who are the biggest shareholders?

Answer: Those that could change the regulations. MP’s, Lords and their mates.

 

[signtoo]

My £55,000 van is costing me approximately £350 -£400 per year to insure, yet a dog that I paid £900 for is costing me £1000 per year.

One I love more than life, the other is a nice looking transporter that takes me from A to B. I suspect other members' opinions may be the opposite

 

[MrGreen]

One I love more than life, the other is a nice looking transporter that takes me from A to B. I suspect other members' opinions may be the opposite

 

[Salty Spuds]

How about pet insurance then.
My £55,000 van is costing me approximately £350 -£400 per year to insure, yet a dog that I paid £900 for is costing me £1000 per year.

Don’t get me started on boat insurance

 

[Sackmycook]

Try jumping through the hoops for holiday home insurance......!

 

[Lubrown]

How about pet insurance then.
My £55,000 van is costing me approximately £350 -£400 per year to insure, yet a dog that I paid £900 for is costing me £1000 per year.

At least the Government acknowledged that rip off - down to vets overcharging. They won’t do anything about it now, for obvious reasons, but hopefully when everything has settled down the next government will pick this back up.

And this is what needs to happen with the motor insurance industry and their colleagues in repairs and ‘incident management’ (expensive car hire and physios). But for some reason nobody in power has shown any interest in this side of things. Maybe some nice donations going on.

 

[Lubrown]

“It felt like a massive scam”

(car related, not pet).

 

[ginkster]

I said if those reasons had increased the prices then no insurer would be able to quote me at a low price.
The fact that I got a low price is evidence that these quotes are not representative of the true facts.

Bav pretty much covered that earlier pointing out that companies tend to focus on certain customer types. Like me, you probably got cheaper insurance by finding a company that was happy with you and your vehicle - this time round as they will continually review and adjust their risk profiles. Try calling them again but this time with a Range Rover or £100k EV and see if they are still the cheapest - likely not as you may now well be out of their risk profile and they simply don’t want your business so give a ludicrous quote.

Out of interest how do you still have 35 years NCD given that many companies only recognise 9 (or whatever) years and that’s all you can carry over? Have you managed to stay with the few companies that recognise the actual number of years for 3 decades?