I just got roasted for insurance..big time.

Conor

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This is a just a rant and a kind of hail mary of sorts to see if there is anything I missed.

Ok, so let's get the painful out of there first: I just paid £1899.33 for a Hastings Essential policy. Absolutely mental and I paid it begrudgingly. I had gotten a better quote over the weekend, but after twiddling the system with different values I obviously triggered something and the quote went high and couldn't reduce it again (Using legit, true information)..

So, I guess it was inevitable.. here's my background.

* Stopped driving my last car - MK V Golf GTI (2.0 T, 200BHP) with policy stopped June 2016, putting me outside two years for NCB
* My car is a S212 E350 CGI engine putting out 292 BHP
* TS20 "conviction" from 2015.
* Full Irish licence (issued September 2007)

I guess the odds were really stacked against me. Next year I will have 1 yr NCB and no "conviction".

I'm just peeved as I know I am good driver and have been driving since about 12 years now and even recently in my parents cars in the 2 year gap period. My last premium for the GTI Golf was £900. Victim of circumstance but it's painful to say the least.

Have you ever been stung when been "away from the wheel" for a while?

Please tell me i'm not the only one :/
 

ajlsl600

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blxxdy hell.!! at those rates its maybe almost worth insuring wreck just to keep yr cover going......
 

Srdl

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Ouch!

Sounds like it’s all down to the lack of NCB. If I take your premium and apply the 79.5% NCB I have from LV, then I get a premium of £389. That’s a bit more than the £250 or so I paid last year on my 2010 E350 Coupe but I’m old(!), have no convictions and live in leafy Hampshire not a London suburb.
 
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Conor

Conor

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Couldn't agree more.. or at least putting the cost of a would be premium aside each year you don't drive and just use that when you return to driving, that is probably the most cost effective thing to do.
 
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Conor

Conor

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Ouch!

Sounds like it’s all down to the lack of NCB. If I take your premium and apply the 79.5% NCB I have from LV, then I get a premium of £389. That’s a bit more than the £250 or so I paid last year on my 2010 E350 Coupe but I’m old(!), have no convictions and live in leafy Hampshire not a London suburb.

Yea absolutely.. there are key factors. Actually, I forgot to mention that I live in a council estate in SW London.. certainly wouldn't help either.

I'm sure the pain will be relieved once I am able to waft around on Monday.. albeit maybe temporarily, as on Monday it's going to MB for a full inspection.
 

Taffy7hfa

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Don't get me started...I only have to hear the words Car Insurance and my blood pressure rises.
In 2012 I was stupid and received a fixed penalty and 3 points for using a mobile phone whilst driving,
Fair cop.
I have (had) a clean license and have never had an accident or made any sort of claim, I passed my test in 1979 and at that point was averaging around 30k miles a year. Once the points had been added to my license I did the right thing and let my insurance company know as I'm pretty sure they can do their own check on your licence if they wish anyway.
Maybe I was naïve but I was expecting an increase of maybe £100 quid a year on my premium, the insurance company took a different view, my conviction, in spite of 33 years of unblemished driving immediately catapulted me into the category of "high risk driver" which meant increasing my annual premium from £216 a year to £684 a year, needless to say the poor sod on the other end of the phone got both barrels, all a waste of breath though. I did change insurers but in reality it made little difference.
To add insult to injury, from the point of view of insurance company's the conviction stays live for 4 years, whereas the law says at 3 years the points cannot be taken into account by a court, although they do remain on your licence.
The bottom line is that the total cost of my infringement (including the £60 fixed penalty) over the 4 years that the points were live was over £1900.
I have no problem with being punished for my mistake, I should not have been on the phone, but insurance company's take the p*ss and are a law unto themselves.
 
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Conor

Conor

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Well my points story is... I was coming out of a town on a main road where an absolute tosspot was driving ridiculously slow, as soon as I passed a traffic island I pulled out and passed them - we are not talking high speed even but it was on a hatched area.

Little did I know the car behind me was an unmarked police car, my rear view lit up immediately. Was raging.

Yea, I don't think its fair that they ask about motoring penalties in the last year, as soon as they come off your licence, they should be considered "spent"..

Admittedly I used to be blasé about speed limits and points etc. Now, I am going to be super careful in all aspects.

But with the above in mind, I still think the major loading is coming from the NCB, but sure, points certainly don't get you a discount.
 

Frontstep

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If you read my Morethan saga you will see that I love Insurance companies that saga still carries on and it apparently has gone for "independent legal advice" after I threw a few arguments at them courtesy of a trusty edition of Insurance Law that groaned my way.
My long held belief is that they are bookies.
 
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Conor

Conor

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If you read my Morethan saga you will see that I love Insurance companies that saga still carries on and it apparently has gone for "independent legal advice" after I threw a few arguments at them courtesy of a trusty edition of Insurance Law that groaned my way.
My long held belief is that they are bookies.

Well, yes it's all a game of probability really. It's just the bookies probably give better prices/odds and don't penalise you for backing a horse while standing on only one leg and such..
 
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Conor

Conor

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Sure, we could go down to Paddy Power and get odds on not crashing for the next 12 months.. would that pass as insurance?
 

A.J.

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If you read my Morethan saga you will see that I love Insurance companies that saga still carries on and it apparently has gone for "independent legal advice" after I threw a few arguments at them courtesy of a trusty edition of Insurance Law that groaned my way.
My long held belief is that they are bookies.

That is precisely what they are, just bookies !!
 
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Conor

Conor

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I thought the no claims you had gathered previously was valid for
5 yrs or more when a policy ended ,as long your previous policy was
fully paid up.

Nope, it's down to two years now. And the anti competitive landscape that is insurance means everybody has gone to that, as opposed say allowing 3/4 years and hoovering up the market of returning drivers...or enhance their models to cater for people like me who have still been on the road driving parents cars.. :/
 

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blxxdy hell.!! at those rates its maybe almost worth insuring wreck just to keep yr cover going......
ajlsl600, believe me here in Ireland they do just that !!! And if you have an accident, if it's less than €2-3'000, better get a loan and pay it off, rather than go through the insurance. Here it's completely legalized day light robbery. For example, in 2015, I bought a 2nd car as runaround, 2003 Audi A6, 1.9 TDI sports. Great car, performance, economy etc. 1st insurance came in at €320.00 . which was fine, no problem. One year later, renewal time, and quote arrives by Post... it is €1175.00. In a state of shock I query this, and was told the previous insurance price was based on my no-claims history on our other car, but this no longer applies, and effectively, I have only one year's driving history..hence the increase in price. Between 2015 and 2018, motor insurance companies operating here in Ireland ( maybe England too? ) held a mega cash gathering program.
 
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Conor

Conor

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Yeap in Ireland I believe it is gone absolutely mental.

Its strange though....get this:

In 2013 I was 25 and never had my own policy before but only a few year on my parents policy. I bought a 2007 GTI Golf and got insured from aviva for 770 and it dropped to 670 the year after. That was I incredible value and will never be seen again. To this day I still. Can't believe that.
 
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Conor

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Yeap in Ireland I believe it is gone absolutely mental.

Its strange though....get this:

In 2013 I was 25 and never had my own policy before but only a few year on my parents policy. I bought a 2007 GTI Golf and got insured from aviva for 770 and it dropped to 670 the year after. That was I incredible value and will never be seen again. To this day I still. Can't believe that.

That was Euro too.. at the exchange rate at the time, was about £500.. :/
 

bob 6600

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I saw something new yesterday when helping a friend with some quotes. He hasn't had insurance in his name for a few years and so has lost his NCD. I asked him to try Admiral as they have given me the best quotes for the last few years.

When filling out his form, the NCD was declared as 0 years but then the next question asked 'Number of claim free years'. Not to be confused as NCD, basically asked how many years have you been driving claim free and then the next question was how this was obtained? As a named driver, company car driver etc. Once filled out, he called them as the site wasn't taking payment and the quote was cheaper than anyone else, due to the claim free years. They asked who it was with (he was driving his wife's car I think) and they said they need to confirm with her, that's it.

As I said not seen this before and not sure if anyone else does it but it could help if you haven't had your own policy but have been claim free
 

LostKiwi

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NCD is a right scam.
You have one car and 9 years NCD.
You buy a second car. You can't use your 9 years as that's used on car #1. So you start from zero again (some insurers will now allow carrying NCD over to another vehicle).
5 years on you have an accident thats your fault in car #2 which then affects the policy on car #1!
 

Taffy7hfa

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I am waiting for the day when someone (an employee maybe ?) jumps in to defend the motor insurance industry, I think I could be waiting a long time .
 

alexanderfoti

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NCD is a right scam.
You have one car and 9 years NCD.
You buy a second car. You can't use your 9 years as that's used on car #1. So you start from zero again (some insurers will now allow carrying NCD over to another vehicle).
5 years on you have an accident thats your fault in car #2 which then affects the policy on car #1!

I agree, an absolute scam!
 

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