Do you want the good news or the bad news?

[ChrisKnottIns]

Hi, I thought you'd be interested in this even if your car insurance isn't due just yet but especially if it is! There's some bad news but there's also some relief at the end...

The bad news
According to an industry report last week, Comprehensive car insurance premiums are now at their highest levels since 2010.

The report reveals that the average premium rose to £847 during Q2 of 2017. That's an increase of £66 or 8.4% across the last quarter and £132 or 18.5% across the last 12 months.

The report cites 4 main reasons:

1) the increase in Insurance Premium Tax (IPT), which has been going up since July 2015 and now sits at 12%,

2) the marked reduction in the Ogden discount rate for personal injury awards,

3) good old Brexit - insurers are seeing increases in the cost of vehicle repairs, fuelled by Brexit’s impact on car part prices, and

4) greater repair complexity as the level of expensive technology in vehicles increases.

The report claims there's no evidence to suggest the increases are going to abate. A £1,000 average premium is still on the horizon but is getting closer.

There's some good news though...
Chris Knott's average new policy premium is just £405 - less than half the national average according to the report. This is also a much shallower increase across the last year - only £14 (3.6%) and still bucking the trend.

As a happy client recently said "This is my third year with @ChrisKnottIns and every year they beat all my other quotes for both cars that are modded. Many thanks again and keep up the good work and the prices down!" carcall, Audi-Sport forum

Please give us a call for a quote to access these lower average rates for club members. You'll need to mention this forum to gain access to our 'Clubs & Enthusiasts scheme'.

QUOTELINE: 0800 028 6463

ONLINE: Visit https://www.chrisknott.co.uk/CarQuote to request a call back.

*****************
Feedback about our clubs and enthusiasts offering:

"Well Chris Knott's has come good again - this is my 3rd year with them now this year. They beat all other quotes I was getting without even trying." Rusty2009, Astra J/GTC OC

"Another customer today. Not entirely new as insured a few Alfas with you many years ago. Good price, friendly chat with Ian. Not convinced about the need to supply driving licence check code as never had to do that before, nothing to hide but guess it's to flush out some that have." gavp, BabyBMW forum

"Hi Guys, just purchased my first policy from you - beat my renewal with AXA of £845, now I'm paying £760. Happy motoring. Easy, quick and competitive ." Vrs_Maj, VWAudi Forum

 

[bob 6600]

I can understand postcodes being a fairly big factor but when a person has 10, 15 or even 20+ years claim free, why can't they be rewarded properly rather than a 'no claims' system that can be beaten if you shop around?

This is not aimed at CK btw

 

[turbopete]

insurance going up? now THERES a shock

IMO insurance is, to an extent, legalised, enforced robbery. as for postcodes, ive lived in 4 different postcodes in my driving history so far. the first was a CA17 postcode, car garaged etc. I then moved to a CA1 postcode, car on the street. the price difference was under £10 on a £400 policy. from there I moved to a DL13 postcode, car on drive, price difference, £4 on the same £400ish policy, now I'm at a DL16 postcode, again car on drive and price difference was non existent. I'm still paying well over £300 for my car insurance and almost £100 MORE than a friend (still living in the CA17 postcode I admit) with 2 years more driving experience as he is 2 years older than me, yet owning a V8 diesel RANGE ROVER (worth about £70k when he bought it at 2 years old)

as for insurance groupings, theyre a load of tat, to an extent at least, as ive been told by people working in the insurance industry, and ive had it proved to me when I swapped the 203 for the Mondeo. 203 was group 31 I believe, Mondeo group 19. lower insurance group SHOULD mean cheaper insurance. oddly I was initially going to be charged £140 EXTRA for the MONDEO which, after some button tapping came down to £40 but still, its 12 groups AT LEAST lower, so should be cheaper to insure!

this isn't a dig at any 1 company, its the entire industry. at least Dick Turpin was decent enough to wear a mask before robbing you!

 

[bob 6600]

insurance going up? now THERES a shock

IMO insurance is, to an extent, legalised, enforced robbery. as for postcodes, ive lived in 4 different postcodes in my driving history so far. the first was a CA17 postcode, car garaged etc. I then moved to a CA1 postcode, car on the street. the price difference was under £10 on a £400 policy. from there I moved to a DL13 postcode, car on drive, price difference, £4 on the same £400ish policy, now I'm at a DL16 postcode, again car on drive and price difference was non existent. I'm still paying well over £300 for my car insurance and almost £100 MORE than a friend (still living in the CA17 postcode I admit) with 2 years more driving experience as he is 2 years older than me, yet owning a V8 diesel RANGE ROVER (worth about £70k when he bought it at 2 years old)

as for insurance groupings, theyre a load of tat, to an extent at least, as ive been told by people working in the insurance industry, and ive had it proved to me when I swapped the 203 for the Mondeo. 203 was group 31 I believe, Mondeo group 19. lower insurance group SHOULD mean cheaper insurance. oddly I was initially going to be charged £140 EXTRA for the MONDEO which, after some button tapping came down to £40 but still, its 12 groups AT LEAST lower, so should be cheaper to insure!

this isn't a dig at any 1 company, its the entire industry. at least Dick Turpin was decent enough to wear a mask before robbing you!

Years back when my brother lived at the same address his quotes were always much, much better than mine. For example, his quotes for his Supra were much lower then I would get on a normal car with less than half the power and value. He is only a year older than me. At the time, we had identical jobs too.

He now lives around the corner and his Cossie with agreed value is much lower than my W210, doesn't matter who I try. Simila no claims, driving experience and age. It's all a big con.

 

[alexanderfoti]

It's all a big con.

Agreed. S65 AMG - £1100 PA - C220 CDI - £900 PA......

 

[EmilysDad]

Agreed. S65 AMG - £1100 PA - C220 CDI - £900 PA......

I've got four cars (R320, Smart Roadster, Smart Fortwo & Citroen C3 ) on a single policy for just over £1000 last year

 

[alexanderfoti]

I've got four cars (R320, Smart Roadster, Smart Fortwo & Citroen C3 ) on a single policy for just over £1000 last year

Yes I am not that happy about it.

 

[EmilysDad]

Yes I am not that happy about it.

Neither was I when I'd to tax 3 of ours last May ...... £800+

 

[ChrisKnottIns]

The insurance groupings are one thing but then each insurer has their own experience of claims on those models too and they'll rate accordingly, so a grouping lower doesn't always mean it's a less risky car (if that makes sense). It means you can't solely rely on the groupings to assess whether it's going to be cheaper or not.

 

[peterws1957]

What we are seeing really is a result of the massive influx of competition into the market from "insurance providers". Prices seem to be almost random despite post code NCD etc. Insuring the CL recently I got a reasonable price from Hastings and took out the cover. I forgot to add bh as a named driver who had recently had a claim under her own policy and rang back the same day. Expecting a large increase I was told the price had reduced by £75 and they gave me an instant refund. No logic there really. Big contrast to when I did a bit of car insurance in the 70's. The premiums were based on very few factors -age/ occupation/ car /claims. The price was none negotiable and every company charged the same(by agreement). Wouldn't work in todays climate obviously.

 

[ChrisKnottIns]

Adding a female driver has often resulted in a reduction in premium. Stabilising influence I guess

 

[peterws1957]

Adding a female driver has often resulted in a reduction in premium. Stabilising influence I guess

If they only knew....

 

[ChrisKnottIns]

 

[drmw]

SL63 protected NCD, legal, etc £280 (just over 50% of the road tax which is sadly non-negotiable)
BMW 335i protected NCD, legal, etc £180

 

[flowrider]

I've never understood why I cant apply my NCD to both cars yet if I have a accident I bet both premiums will go up!

 

[ChrisKnottIns]

If you get the right insurer you can get your bonus mirrored across to the second car as an introductory discount - its a half-way house.

 

[turbopete]

The insurance groupings are one thing but then each insurer has their own experience of claims on those models too and they'll rate accordingly, so a grouping lower doesn't always mean it's a less risky car (if that makes sense). It means you can't solely rely on the groupings to assess whether it's going to be cheaper or not.

I can appreciate that but at the same time, cars in lower groups are sold as being cheaper to insure than higher group cars, expensive cars are, by the same token, supposedly more expensive than cheaper cars and we are constantly being told that its the cost of the car new that's the main factor because a £60k new MB for example still has the costs of a £60k car when its 15 years old and worth £1k!

so by the same token, using my own examples, my group 31 C220 CDi I had which, when we saw the original bill of sale was a £35k car, should have been more to insure than a £22k when new, group 19 Mondeo. and that's with the same drivers, driver histories, addresses, occupations, everything IDENTICAL except the car!!!! and I still cant figure out why I seem to be paying so much more for insurance than almost everyone I know, irrespective of the car and postcode, that's the same (give or take a couple of years) age and driving history as me!

 

[ChrisKnottIns]

but what if 10x Mondeo 2.0 TCDi Zetec's crashed for every 1x C220 CDi's? You'd expect a rating difference in favour of the Merc then surely?

 

[MalcQV]

The insurance groupings are one thing but then each insurer has their own experience of claims on those models too and they'll rate accordingly, so a grouping lower doesn't always mean it's a less risky car (if that makes sense). It means you can't solely rely on the groupings to assess whether it's going to be cheaper or not.

So you're saying the groupings are basically meaningless. Why have them?

 

[turbopete]

but what if 10x Mondeo 2.0 TCDi Zetec's crashed for every 1x C220 CDi's? You'd expect a rating difference in favour of the Merc then surely?

how about this for a shocker. maybe theres 15x more Mondeos around so the chances of 10x more of them being crashed is likely?? and as others have said, why bother with insurance groups if theyre meaningless? I don't know why we don't have a system where the car isn't insured but a driver? insure a person, based on their driving license number, to drive. that way ALL vehicles are covered by whoever is driving/in charge of them. simplifies things for everyone plus your quote is directly tailored to YOU. it wouldn't be hard to add accidents etc to the driving license database, license validity and points etc could be checked as per the current system by the insurers. or bring back sensibly priced 'any car' policies like we used to have where you were covered comprehensively for ANY car. at least then we would feel like we got some decent benefits from being shafted for hundreds of pounds each year!