Oddities of car insurance

[Frontstep]

You should try having a youth on a so called black box policy.

Absolute tosh, crazy rules and staff from asylums.

All wrapped up in a very expensive package.

I did post it on here ages ago, the 100% accurate and infallible system had him taking two journeys at once.

Oh and we can't remove the penalties,

even when their appointed repairer was speeding in it !

 

[grahamcol]

You should try having a youth on a so called black box policy.

Absolute tosh, crazy rules and staff from asylums.

All wrapped up in a very expensive package.

I did post it on here ages ago, the 100% accurate and infallible system had him taking two journeys at once.

Oh and we can't remove the penalties,

even when their appointed repairer was speeding in it !

Well that's absolutely appalling and words fail me. I do remember reading your post on this l think, some time ago. Loathsome, legalised criminals a lot of these insurers are and it's about time the whole industry was shaken up.

 

[Frontstep]

Unfortunately that is only part of the story, he was hit broadside by a car that shouldn't have been there.

It took an awful lot to move them from a 50/50 fault position even with video evidence.

I had to move up the foodchain quite considerably and overwhelm their Solicitors with case law to get a satisfactory and fair outcome.

The default position which has obviously been agreed by the Insurers is thoroughly dishonest and impacts drivers.

They are as bad as the fraudsters who do target them.

 

[sausage]

Unfortunately that is only part of the story, he was hit broadside by a car that shouldn't have been there.

It took an awful lot to move them from a 50/50 fault position even with video evidence.

50/50 is such BS and a scam to ensure both insurers make a significant profit from the situation and the insured folks have to pay for it. Let's just think about that in a fairly shoddy manner for a moment:
Firstly insurance is to protect the insured against significant cost.
What we have here is a mechanism whereby we pay a premium to access money which we then pay back many times over in coming years (assuming you stay with the same crooked insurers).

Someone went into the back of my Porsche. Insurers wanted to go 50/50

The repair for the third party was £300 ish.
My repair was £5000 plus Porsche courtesy car for two weeks at £300 a day or so.

Aviva were unable to negotiate that each party would settle their own bill. So rather than pay £300 the third party insurer actively wanted to pay half of my bill at closer to £10,000. Why would they do that I asked myself? Aviva tried to negotiate this and failed to. WTH ??

Out of interest I managed to obtain a renewal quote from Aviva to indicate how much my premium would increase at next renewal. My premium was due to go up by £2800 ish. I already had large excess and my premium that year was about £600.
So, in the following year Aviva would have recovered a premium of £3400 ish, plus my excess which was something like £500 or £1500. Plus the £600 for that year.
How many years before my premium is back to £600? Years, decades!!

So how is that me being insured against a financial risk? I am simply paying Aviva to borrow money from them at an exorbitant rate of interest. It is NOT true to the concept of insurance at all - as far as I can tell.

The accident happened when I was on route to trade my car in for an upgrade. A few weeks later, a trader said "I am not worried about the damage on your car, in fact I think we can polish it out". He then get one of his guys to have a look and the damage was completely removed within minutes using a MOP.

This was the reason I wanted to settle the claims separately and not go 50/50. The insurers and repairers were all focused on the chance to make money rather than do something in the interest of their customer. I escalated to the manager of the complaints team, who was very good at her job and sorted the mess out for me.

 

[Frontstep]

The default position of 50/50 is very comfortable for the Insurance Industry and to extricate yourself is difficult and many will give up.

For my son already on expensive young driver Insurance, it would have been a significant long-term hit.

How often I was told in an almost metronomic tone that he had a "duty of care" to avoid an accident, therefore, was liable.

I submitted his dashcam evidence and still received the same mantra, I was even told he should have predicted the other Insured would drive into him.

That's when the large books came out and only then did it get transferred to their Solicitors who eventually advised them to accept he was not at fault, at all.

 

[sausage]

Increasingly the world we have to live in and specifically those we pay money to provide us a service actually ends up doing damage to us and our material interests for the sake of profit.

It is nauseating and utterly out of control, it has been getting worse for years, but we are at a crux now. It is a shame our government is set up to fluff up vested interests of their crony companies. There needs to be some balance redressed for the benefit of customers.

To put it another way, are there any companies left that do the job because of a love of the industry or is it just a vehicle to make money. Nothing wrong with the latter, but when the need for every extra 0.00000001% outweighs the interest of the customer then the customer becomes the very last consideration in a list of priorities. It is wrong, fundamentally wrong and we all suffer it.

Youngsters today - such as Frontsteps son are probably one of the victims that are so widely taken advantage of. Possibly a situation enabled and furthered through a media campaign that demonises young drivers. This is likely to create a reaction in the more mature drivers where they just don#t care about the interests of the young and this has enabled that victimisation. It's disgusting.

 

[S500 Pete]

Try insuring a car in Florida.

No "No claims bonus so everybody claims for everything. Windscreen companies will do an insurance job and give you $100 back. So rates are ridiculous.

2008 minivan at $1500 a year!!!

 

[joderest]

sorry, cant complain this year.
Admiral multi car policy. Mercedes ML270, me and other half to drive, Mini Cooper D, me and other half to drive, Toyota Aygo, Me and the other half, plus 19 year old daughter as a learner.
Total £849, fully comp all three cars.

However, i dread to think how much more i will have to pay when daughter number 2 passes her driving test.

 

[rorywquin]

@joderest

I’ll see you and raise you....

I’ve just renewed our car insurance. Cover for my 2017 SL (both driving it) costs less than the same cover for my wife’s 2014 B Class (both driving it).

Only difference is SL is in the garage.

~£480 for both fully comprehensive.

 

[Wearsafoxhat]

I have been helping my niece and nephew with their car insurance this weekend. ( their parents and a woodpecker with a rubber beak fall into the same category!!)

Anyway, nephew has just passed his test, Astra 1.4 and a decent £1670 fully comp.. more than the car but expected.
My niece, 4 years ncd on her Fiesta 1.1, £860 fully comp, out of interest we put in my E55k details..

£1320 fully comp, on the road outside her house !!! go figure that one out..

 

[sausage]

sorry, cant complain this year.
Admiral multi car policy. Mercedes ML270, me and other half to drive, Mini Cooper D, me and other half to drive, Toyota Aygo, Me and the other half, plus 19 year old daughter as a learner.
Total £849, fully comp all three cars.

However, i dread to think how much more i will have to pay when daughter number 2 passes her driving test.

I do not think I have cause to complain at the moment I open or renew a policy.

It is what happens when you need to use the policy that is the correct measure of the value. Not the price you pay up front, but the price you pay long term, the outcomes of claims that seem designed to work in the providers interests and not yours, and in terms of stress, hassle and lost hours on the phone dealing with the company. Any company that keeps its customers routinely waiting for more than 10 minutes on a phone line gets struck off my personal suppliers list

 

[sausage]

I have been helping my niece and nephew with their car insurance this weekend. ( their parents and a woodpecker with a rubber beak fall into the same category!!)

Anyway, nephew has just passed his test, Astra 1.4 and a decent £1670 fully comp.. more than the car but expected.
My niece, 4 years ncd on her Fiesta 1.1, £860 fully comp, out of interest we put in my E55k details..

£1320 fully comp, on the road outside her house !!! go figure that one out..

First time I insured a fast car I was asked if i had a history of driving fast cars, I said "No". They explained to me that it would affect the premium.
Years later when I put my mother on, who has zero experience of fast cars, the premium came down by £150.
Later, with the 911 and the (old) Range Rover, I sold the 911 and the premium increased. I could not figure that out, so instead of splitting my 10k miles p.a. between a 180 mph sports car and an old diesel Range I was now only in an old diesel RR. I failed to see how I could be an increased risk after removing access to the 180 mph car.

I am convinced the algorithms are skewed to screw us. No transparency at all. I do think it is required these days, and should be mandated by law to protect us.

 

[ajlsl600]

I NEVER get inss my 2013 ml250 near 2x cost of 2003 sl600..

 

[M80]

Not the price you pay up front, but the price you pay long term, the outcomes of claims

It can depend on what you want the insurance to do.
Those with expensive mo mo's and those that are dependant on having a swift repair / replacement may need the more reliable insurance company, if there are still any out there.

Those that drive the lesser expensive cars and can afford the wait and even the insurance created corrupted reduced pau out may be more inclined to take the 'cheap' insurance.
Teenage newbie with a pin striped Corsa comes to mind, and otherwise adapted to make it 'special'.

 

[Not_Anumber]

My insurance dropped by over £ 300 when i went from a Audi A7 to a E350 cdi which made no sense. Im glad of the saving but it was bizzare. Though both have 3 litre diesel engines the S212 is 60bhp more powerful. Also the Audi was a standard equipment, non S line spec whilst the Mercedes is a Sport with AMG Line wheels, body mouldings etc. Unfathomable.

 

[A.J.]

My insurance dropped by over £ 300 when i went from a Audi A7 to a E350 cdi which made no sense. Im glad of the saving but it was bizzare. Though both have 3 litre diesel engines the S212 is 60bhp more powerful. Also the Audi was a standard equipment, non S line spec whilst the Mercedes is a Sport with AMG Line wheels, body mouldings etc. Unfathomable.

It’s all about statistics as you will know. Different cars attract different types of drivers, driving styles and consequently accident probabilities. A very complex science indeed

 

[Blobcat]

My insurance dropped by over £ 300 when i went from a Audi A7 to a E350 cdi which made no sense. Im glad of the saving but it was bizzare. Though both have 3 litre diesel engines the S212 is 60bhp more powerful. Also the Audi was a standard equipment, non S line spec whilst the Mercedes is a Sport with AMG Line wheels, body mouldings etc. Unfathomable.

Most Audis are driven 1/2” off of the rear bumper of the car in front so they tend to get more claims…

 

[A.J.]

Most Audis are driven 1/2” off of the rear bumper of the car in front so they tend to get more claims…

Audi A3 is right up there with 3 Series BMW now, don’t think they even have indicators fitted as standard anymore

 

[mioba]

My insurance dropped by over £ 300 when i went from a Audi A7 to a E350 cdi which made no sense. Im glad of the saving but it was bizzare. Though both have 3 litre diesel engines the S212 is 60bhp more powerful. Also the Audi was a standard equipment, non S line spec whilst the Mercedes is a Sport with AMG Line wheels, body mouldings etc. Unfathomable.

Audi are also more desirable for car thieves.

 

[A.J.]

Audi are also more desirable for car thieves.

Mmmm, Debateable

The UK’s most stolen cars​

• Range Rover Sport
• Range Rover Autobiography
• Land Rover Discovery
• Range Rover Vogue
• BMW X5
• Range Rover Evoque
• Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• Land Rover Defender, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW X 6, Mercedes-Benz GL
• Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class
• Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW M3, Audi Q7