Its a rip off

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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:53 pm

Received my car insurance quote, today, a year is £401 ($571) full comp, no claims, low mileage, I'm a O.A.P, use to do it through the Automobile Association.

So now gone through AgeUK, my car insurance with all the above is now £254.89p ($365.76) a saving of £146.11 ($205.24).

This is cheaper tham last year.

They do car insurance for the over 50's.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I've found it always pays to shop around come renewal time
This year I got a quote around a third of my renewal price and a cuddly meerkat

If you want to see some really ridiclulous prices try adding an under 25 year old to your insurance

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Nanny Ogg wrote:

If you want to see some really ridiclulous prices try adding an under 25 year old to your insurance

No shit, it's a crime.

Edit: And don't even get me started on health insurance. Over US$1200 a month, for shitty family coverage. ($4000/8000 deductible)

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:49 am

I had to add my newly licensed 16 year old son to our car insurance last week.
The price went from $450./year to $1550./year Shocked

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:38 am

Insurance prices are a complete and utter lottery.

I got £100 off simply because the salesman I was talking to on the phone had the same birthday as me. No shit. He started out at a price I was prepared to pay and that was comparable to other deals but when I gave him my DOB, he lopped £100 off.

Yeah, I was grateful but I was also left thinking "How the fuck do I find out the date of birth of the guy who answers the phone when I'm up for renewal next year?"

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:57 am

Slightlyoutofit wrote:

"How the fuck do I find out the date of birth of the guy who answers the phone when I'm up for renewal next year?"

Luckily for you the eggheads have done the sums: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem

Phone 23 companies and Bob's yer' uncle. Wink

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:32 am

^

Alternatively, you could always try telling him that you're studying for a degree in the ancient art of astrology and have been given an assignment to do which involves casting the birth charts of 10 random strangers to see if there is any correlation between birth date and career choice. And would he be so kind as to help you out Wink

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 2:18 pm

^^That'll probably get you two companies with the same birthday, not one company with your birthday.

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:18 pm

Its a real issue for me, as my car is in Group 20. Try getting a quote for that when you're 18 (actually I was trying to insure a 3.4 litre Jag Mk2 when I was 18. No chance - General Accident had me thrown out by security! A shame - at that age it would've been the ultimate babe magnet)

My current insurer hiked the renewal premium to an eye watering £850 (fully comp), so I got a better quote online at £650 from another company. When I rang to tell the existing lot not to renew it, they checked my online quote, agreed it was correct, and over £200 cheaper, then said they'd match it.

If they were prepared to do it £200 cheaper, why did they try and put my premium up by that much? They are obviously making it up on the fly, and charging whatever they can get away with - bastards.

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:58 pm

my stepson got a quote for a 20 year old Honda Civic; they wanted £6,000. Frightening. I get away with under £300 a year for a shit car in a dull town, but it's hardly fun.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:39 am

Mine came up for renewal a few weeks ago. Wasn't looking forward to it following the little bump I had in Jan '11. Renewal quote was pretty good - couldn't find anything significantly cheaper so I went ahead with it. Asked them about the accident - 'No problem, the claim was settled & you were found not at fault, so it doesn't count'. Great.

Couple of weeks later I get a letter from their legal department - the other party's insurer won't pay out & they want me to take them to court! Mad

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 11:27 am

the meerkats saved me this year, direct line upped my renewal by nearly 100 quid this time, was not impressed. I get a feeling my home insurance will also be going thru the meerkats also

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21158

Roycropper wrote:

If they were prepared to do it £200 cheaper, why did they try and put my premium up by that much? They are obviously making it up on the fly, and charging whatever they can get away with - bastards.

We only have one insurance person here in town. She gouged me for $480 for 6 months of liability on my Cadillac. A few weeks before my policy expired she tried to tell me that I had to bring the deed to my house up there to renew.

I went to the same company agent a few towns from here and renewed it for $150 with no deed. I'm now paying $104 at a different company.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:33 pm

They start you low then ratchet it up every year or 6 months. I went from Progressive family of policies to AAA about 3 years ago. The cost was half what I was paying. I've heard people say you need to change companies every 5 years to keep your rates as low as possible. They'll also up your prices if you change companies too often.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:13 am

We have been with one company for 3 yrs. Our credit union sent out a flyer advertising less expensive rates with a different company so I am going to check that out. We only carry comprehensive on my vehicle, the other 2 we just carry liability 'cause they are paid for and over 10 yrs old.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 1:50 am

My Vehicle Excise Licence (Road Tax) for the next 12 months was £210 GBP. Two Hundred and Ten Pounds!

My vehicle is almost 7yrs old, with an engine size of only 1300cc.

Now, I feel that is a rip-off!

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 1:55 am

Blimey, your exhaust emissions must be awful (Spicey food over Xmas to blame no doubt) Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:40 am

I've been with the Halifax for the last 10 years for buildings and contents insurance. Mostly I've been happy with them, but the last 2 years on the trot they've raised my premiums. They say it's because I live in a flood-risk area, following the big floods we experienced 5 years ago, which has apparently pushed insurance costs up acoss the board. Uh-huh. This despite the fact that i) I have always lived in a flood zone (the whole city is classed as one, the house didn't grow legs and move without me noticing), ii) I was fortunate enough to avoid the 'big flood' and therefore did not try and claim for replacing a non-existent granite topped kitchen and a 42" plasma tv like a lot of the locals did, and iii) I have never claimed on my insurance for anything. Evil or Very Mad

It seems I'm being penalised for their costs of paying out for other peoples fraudulent claims.

I think next year I'll be switching.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:56 am

I change insurers every year.

What I do is ring around 2 or 3 to start with and get a rough figure. Then I pick the cheapest one and knock a few quid off - normally between 10 and 15%.
Then I phone the next insurer and tell them that so and so has quoted me that figure and ask if can they beat it. If they can, I tell them I'll get back to them and I phone another one with their quote knocking off another 10% and repeating the process. I do this with at least half a dozen different insurers. Some will say that they can beat the price, some say they can't. Once I've done that many, I can get a general idea of the price and know how low I can go.
It takes a bit of time but it works. If I start out with the first quote of £500, I know for a fact that I can get it down to sub £400. When you think about it: a saving of over £100 is worth 30 minutes of your time.
The insurance market is competetive. If you tell the phone rep that a different company is beating their figure, quite often they'll try to offer a better deal. Way they look at it is they'd rather undercut and gain your custom that get nothing from you at all. I have to admit, this tactic probably won't work if you've got a record with lots of claims on it. But if you're clean, they might just think it's worth taking the chance on you and giving you the deal that you want.

Don't go through a broker and don't use a money comparison site. You dont want to pay broker fees and you need to talk to a human being so that you can haggle.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:34 pm

Fo'andles wrote:

car insurance quote, a year is £401 ($571)

I pay about €100/year ($130) for my bicycle.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 6:03 pm

After reading Slightly's post I am now inspired to do some calling around.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:37 pm

I insure my car through Admiral, each year the quote comes through and once I've got back up off the floor I go on line, use my exact same details and get a figure which is considerably less, with that and the details from the meerkats I phone Admiral back and haggle a fair bit off the price, Saves £150-£200 each time.

Not that they are money grabbing ba**ards and could offer me the cheaper rate to begin with.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:58 pm

I keep getting in wrecks or tickets so I'm always screwed. They are always just fender benders but still a wreck. I seem to have one once a year. Law of odds I guess I'm on the road a lot or I'm just a sucky driver.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

bravo95 wrote:

or I'm just a sucky driver.