I just got roasted for insurance..big time.

[Conor]

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

Some great advice there.. I have actually called admiral on the off chance to see what the story was with experience. Turns out that will accept NCB up to 3 years ago.. and I have, drumroll please. Just been offered a policy for £1500! Better than nearly £1900.

Thanks a million for tipping me off and putting me in the right direction.. I was beginning to think there were no insurers out that there that accepted >2 years NCBs.

Thanks.

I'll post back when this is confirmed.

 

[Jim2]

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!

That's exactly what happened me LK !!! Got 2nd car, in 2015... insurance €320. , in 2016, new quote was € 1175. When I queried it was told, you have only 1 year's experience driving, so I reminded them of the policy on the other car, 35 plus years claim free insurance record. No good, you only have 1 year's experience in this car. So I decided to try a few other insurance companies over the phone. 1st company I contacted, and answered all their questions, which included how many years claim free driving do you have? So I answered truthfully 35 yrs plus. Was quoted €450....happy days, so I paid up there and then, and sent them all the documents they requested. A few days later, got a phone call from the ins. And they said that I neglected to tell them that I only had 1 years experience in the car, ( it was never asked ) so that changed the premium from €450 up to €850.....and as I had already paid them the €450, they were going to charge me for the cover they had already arranged... which interprets as a very small refund, so I had to pay the additional €400, and at least get some return for my outlay. Legalized banditry. And to add insult to injury, I guess that like you say, if I do have a claim, it will be referred on to the other car as well.

 

[Conor]

What are the terms for setting up an insurance company (quite restrictive, due to lobbying I would imagine).. but why can't people get together and crowdfund the capital to underwrite policies. We could then develop models to optimise for fairness and low cost policies as opposed to profit.

I honestly, think this needs to happen. People rely on their cars (due to family, work etc) and also legally obligated to have insurance.. the providers swoop and eat our lunches. Shame.

 

[Taffy7hfa]

Where are the Competition and Markets Authority when you need them ? Strangely uninterested in the concentration of market power and unfair practises that new technologies have brought to the motor insurance industry.
Our Government needs to wake up and accept that as car insurance is a legal requirement it is therefore not like other forms of insurance and requires root and branch overhauling.

 

[keefysher]

What are the terms for setting up an insurance company (quite restrictive, due to lobbying I would imagine).. but why can't people get together and crowdfund the capital to underwrite policies. We could then develop models to optimise for fairness and low cost policies as opposed to profit.

I honestly, think this needs to happen. People rely on their cars (due to family, work etc) and also legally obligated to have insurance.. the providers swoop and eat our lunches. Shame.

It is possible to 'self insure'. At one time big construction companies with 'Plant' divisions, the cars were 'rented' from the 'Plant' co across all other divisions, self insured their fleet based on the risk profile.

Probably how middle eastern people race around Londinium in gold wrapped supercars.

The rules regarding insurance do not apply to a vehicle owned by a person who has deposited and keeps deposited with the Accountant General of the Senior Courts the sum of £500,000, at a time when the vehicle is being driven under the owner’s control.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/144

 

[fabes]

I buy insurance for a living (for a large FTSE 100 company) and used to work for an insurer years ago (Commercial Union if you remember them) so have some experience.....

Most / All Personal lines insurers are rubbish now (and for sometime) when it comes to pricing new and retaining business these days
Claims service not that bad to be fair, but I have just moved my car and house as the holders were a bunch of try on artists putting my car up 25% for no reason. They called me when I lapsed my policy and had the cheek to start to reduce the offer like a bunch of double glazing salesman

I don't have the time for that....idiots

 

[mrmb]

I have been refused to be covered on W215 CL600 Bi-Turbo - because of my age. I am 25. However I have m own insurance on W204 C200 CDI 2011 and I am paying 1190EUR a year for it. I have full no claims bonus. I have managed to get a classic insurance on this car. My dad is set as the main driver having his second car is well and I was able to add me as a named driver for extra 45EUR a year. All together we paid 360EUR for the classic insurance on W215 CL600 Bi-Turbo.

The most funny thing is that when I was shopping around insurance companies asked me if I had any claims in the previous 5 years even if they weren't my fault. They were also asking for the amount of money that was paid off to me because of this accident. WTF?! And guess what, by manipulating this values I was getting totally different quotes online. It is one big scam and that's it.

I had an accident with my previous W204 that was totally wrecked. Not my fault. Insurance company paid me off for the car and small amount because of the accident etc. When I ahve done the quote before the accident if Liberty Insurance they quote me 1100EUR for my W204. Few months later by doing the quote again with Liberty Insurance they quoted me 2800EUR for my new W204 :O WTF!?

 

[Conor]

Hello to mrmb in Galway!

Yea, it's a joke alright. I had a claim in 2014 and I no longer have to mention it. Made me tetchy all the time. A stupid driver left his car with hand brake down and it rolled into mine. Nobody in either car and it affected my premium. I should have reported them for that.

 

[mrmb]

But how come your insurance can be affected if it wasn't your fault?

 

[Conor]

But how come your insurance can be affected if it wasn't your fault?

Well, that's just the way it is. An insurance broker said so the other day. Completely nonsensical.

 

[mrmb]

The question is - why do we pay for the insurance so

 

[Conor]

The question is - why do we pay for the insurance so

Well because we are legally obligated to if we want to drive.

And the reason imho as to why it is "so high" and volatile is because big insurance is exploiting our obligations. Good drivers also substitute the bad drivers who cause accidents..

 

[d215yq]

It's also down to so many brokers sub brokers and over complication leading to bizarre outcomes. Once you get quotes in a foreign country you realise how it makes sense. Also the scamming and insistence on repairing minor damage/going to "official" places probably doesn't help. For example my quotes in Spain are:

120 for 3rd party
140 for TPFT
220 for comprehensive
350 for comprehensive 0 excess

If I want to swap the 300D for a 500SEC it doubles - fair enough as it has more power but it doesn't go crazy and assume I'll just start crashing everyday because I have a quicker car. Simialrly if I want a car under 10yr old instead of 30 it doubles too and then doubles again if I want one under 5 years. But that all makes sense as newer cars are generally driven less carefully than classics and of course repairs/write off value is higher.

I've never been asked what my profession is as SDP+C is standard and they dont care unless you go to full business. By law the car has to be insured for anyone on the policy with "sensible restrictions" - in my case over 25 and under 70. So no named drivers needed and can chuck the keys to anyone in that age range. Those prices also include breakdown coevr for all of Europe!

The only thing I don't understand is I started with 0 NCD as first spanish regd car and now with 4 years NCD they refuse to apply a discount as the policy is so cheap at 120 they say it wouldn't be worth it - so it stays the same regardless but am quite happy with that and means no need to protect NCD.

 

[mrmb]

I will have to consider to protect my bonuses as currently I will have a full bonus so at the end of the year I will definately buy a protection.

 

[Blobcat]

I will have to consider to protect my bonuses as currently I will have a full bonus so at the end of the year I will definately buy a protection.

Absolute waste of money, yes in theory you'll still have your NCB but the price will still go up because you've had an accident...
And when you query the price increase because you had protected NCB they'll say the increase would have been more if you didn't have protected NCB.
If you have a claim the renewal will be more regardless of protected NCB or not, all the "add on's" are nothing more than income generators for the insurance company and either worthless or can be had for much less elsewhere.

 

[mrmb]

Absolute waste of money, yes in theory you'll still have your NCB but the price will still go up because you've had an accident...
And when you query the price increase because you had protected NCB they'll say the increase would have been more if you didn't have protected NCB.
If you have a claim the renewal will be more regardless of protected NCB or not, all the "add on's" are nothing more than income generators for the insurance company and either worthless or can be had for much less elsewhere.

There is something in it - I didn't really thought about it. By the way Blobcat - how do you like your W213?

 

[Blobcat]

There is something in it - I didn't really thought about it. By the way Blobcat - how do you like your W213?

The W213 was great, absolutely loved it - I did 48K miles in 18 months with it.

Having previously had 3.2ltr IL6 and 3.0ltr V6 I wasn't expecting much (anything) from the IL4 2ltr but I was very pleasantly surprised. Mated to the 9G box I could easily get over 80mpg on a 180 mile run which for an E Class is amazing. Plenty of power, very comfortable (17" wheels) real leather and very very nice to drive. So good that I'd buy one with my own money if I needed a car of that type.

 

[Conor]

I just locked in, purchased and bought fully comp. from Admiral for £1500 as they accepted my 3 years NCB after a 2 year gap. Definitely better than £1980.

It's worth noting that, that specific quote was generated a week or so ago before my quotes jumped. It had the 3 years NCB included, which I stopped inputting when I realised it wouldn't be valid.

I discovered this quote by logging into admiral.com directly and saw 32 quotes (via confused.com) -- scrolling down the list I spotted the quote for my car.

Here's where things get stupid though. That quote was valid to start asap. But.. if I generate a new quote for a policy to start 30 days from now (should be cheaper). It was like £1900 or something.

I think this is definitely some kind of evidence that insurers profile your quoting activity and possibly use it against you in some way. At renewal time next year I will be very coy and careful about generating quotes.

i.e. I will be as anonymous as possible when quoting / shopping around.

I think what I did this time made me look like a rabbit in lights to the insurers, I think.

 

[A.J.]

All of these numbers being banded around seem like telephone numbers to me, I pay £270.00 Fully Comp. for mine from Tesco !!

 

[Jimbo1959]

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!

Car insurance companies these days are just bare faced robbers who make it up as they go along.

I wasn't even in my car when someone ran into it, being an honest burgher, informed my insurance company as you are meant to, and despite the other party paying for the repairs to my satisfaction, without Insurance Company involvement, my insurance company doubled my premium! Shower of thieving bast*rds! No amount of "discussion, persuasion or statement of fact (pleading)" would change their minds at all.

Now, if I have an accident which does not involve injury to anyone, and the other party is compliant in dealing with it ourselves, I will not inform my insurer, especially, if it is not my fault. To do so is just plain stupid.

You'd be better off insuring with the Mafia Alistair, at least they're honest thieves.