Car Insurance Renewal

Dummy

So I reckon that the Motor Insurers do not understand that everything is falling in price.

Last year, I renewed my motor policy - fully Comp, for 350 euro. I am mid-40's, no penalty points, no speeding tickets and not even a parking fine ever. I take pride in my driving and regard myself as a good, courteous, well mannered citizen on the road.

This afternoon I get a call from my current insurers to tell me that my insurance expires on 24th of next month and they wanted to advise me that the renewal price is 490 euro.

I am amazed that everything else in the country is falling in price - milk, bread, hotel rooms, houses, rent, the rate of inflation....... but am very surprised that the insurers can increase their prices by 140 euro.

She tried to explain to me that insurance prices have gone up because there was an increase in claims. I reminded her that this has nothing to do with me as I have not crashed any car or made any claim and she could exclude me from this side of the calculations. Price dropped by 40 euro. But am still not happy with this.

I know I am extremely thick but this sounds very like rip-off to me. What are other peoples experience with their motor insurance providers and renewals?


D

Fatswaldo

Im of the same vintage and circumstance. Same story for me every single year. Renewal price is always higher that expected. I get a quote from the internet, bring it to the broker and tell them Im going elsewhere unless they better the internet quote. Broker has never failed to lower the price! Chancers the lot of them!

johndaman66

I hear you Dummy and appreciate your furstration. Unfortunately insurance does not work quite like bread, milk, hotel rooms, house prices or any of the other items you mention. It is one of the the things (if not perhaps the one thing) that works in the opposite direction seemingly. During recessionary times the amount of claims, be they genuine or fraudulent tend to increase and indeed the overall cost of claims to insurance companies tend to rise. So I am led to believe from reading another thread on boards. Consequently everybody ends up paying extra regardless of whether they have made a claim or not. So don't think its as easy as excluding you from the calculation (even though this is the way insurance is suppose to, or at least you would imagine should work). Everybody seemingly forms part of the equation regardless of claims made or not made as the case may be.

There is also the scenario that insurance companies are trying to recoup investment losses and trying to claw these losses through higher motor insurance premia. I am off the opinion that this is fundamentally wrong but was abruptly shouted down on another thread when I made this suggestion.

I was quoted a higher renewal premium last Feburary even though no claims were made and there was no change in my particulars. At first I thought this was illegal as I had previously (years back) read of a case on MIJAG where a young driver took Quinn Direct to court for doing so and won. I may have missed something or else the law may have since changed. In the end I got a higher level of cover for over 100 euro less than renewal quote. I got TPF&T cover for 350 euro for a 27 year old male with a 1.6 litre car and five years claim free which I thought was very good. I would be very surprised if I got it renewed for anything near as competitively next Feburary but heres hoping. Do shop around though and something tells me your bricks and mortar insurance brokers are better to deal with than your online ones.

TomMc

My premium jumped up 200 quid as well. After a check on 123.ie I had it down 300 from the renewal notice figure. Broker called this morning to remind me and I quoted the new premium I had gotten myself. They matched it within 5 minutes. QED. Insurance co's may take liberties, but it is a buyers market. If they cannot match the best terms they do not get the business.

oldyouth

There are so many threads on this subject, I cannot believe people still come up with new examples. When your insurer presents you with their renewal invite, shop around. When you find a significant saving, why bother going back to your original provider, they don't deserve your custom and YOU have done their job for them by searching out the market tolerent price.

A few years ago, the Insurance Federation establised a legally binding practice for Insurers to send out your No Claim Bonus 3 weeks in advance of your renewal date, to prevent the practice of clients having to go back to their insurers to request same when an alternative quote had been found. Effectively, this was giving them another bite of the cherry at retaining your business. What more can the industry do than give you the power to vote with your feet?

bazz26

My renewal jumped up by over €200 on last year's premium. I did the usual, rang most insurance companies & brokers (other than my current company). I then got some online quotes and found some were even a bit cheaper than the quotes I got from ringing the same companies. I ended up going with an online quote that was around the same as last year's quote with the policy being pretty much the same too.

I didn't even bother wasting a phone call contacting my previous insurance company to see if they could match it. My attitude is that if they could have then they should have just quoted me their cheapest price in the first place.

Del2005

oldyouth wrote: »

There are so many threads on this subject, I cannot believe people still come up with new examples. When your insurer presents you with their renewal invite, shop around. When you find a significant saving, why bother going back to your original provider, they don't deserve your custom and YOU have done their job for them by searching out the market tolerent price.

1

A few years ago, the Insurance Federation establised a legally binding practice for Insurers to send out your No Claim Bonus 3 weeks in advance of your renewal date, to prevent the practice of clients having to go back to their insurers to request same when an alternative quote had been found. Effectively, this was giving them another bite of the cherry at retaining your business. What more can the industry do than give you the power to vote with your feet?

AFAIK they where forced to do this by law, they didn't voluntarily do it. And I stand to be corrected but I think it was Mary Harney that forced it onto them.

OP, motor insurnace has never made a profit in Ireland, it has been subsidised over the last few years by the companies playing the stock/property markets. Since both markets have crashed they have to make money for their dividends somewhere else now.

feb09

bazz26 wrote: »

I didn't even bother wasting a phone call contacting my previous insurance company to see if they could match it. My attitude is that if they could have then they should have just quoted me their cheapest price in the first place.

100% agree.
They tried to rip you off in the first place, so like the poster above said why give them a second chance

Dummy

I went onto an Irish price comparison website last night and was quoted €330 for the renewal of my policy. I have the same policy at that price - absolutely nothing lost between the two policies.

I am amazed at this. There is something wrong here.

A quote arrived in the post this morning from a company that I had got a quote from last year. They quoted circa €530 - for 3rd Party, Fire & theft. Their quote was shredded.

Also, I see that reductions are given for "Advanced Driving" course. I would be very interested in this. Has anyone done this and seen a reduction in their premium?

Where can you do such a course?

D

Dabko

wow, thats mad! After reading this, just got a call from quinn to remind me my insurance was due for renewal in october! They also told me there was a price increase of 40quid!
Just got a quote there online from insure.ie for 200 quid less:eek:
Quinn - ye bunch of chancers!

(no, im not affiliated with either!)

ytareh

This seems to be now standard practice with them (BEWARE!) and the case for both me and the missus ie premium goes up from 300 odd to nearly 500 ,only in the case of both our insurers they steadfastly refused to drop the price and I genuinely believe they couldnt/wouldnt do it any lower (although I didnt push too hard-couldnt be bothered) .Anyway we both went with different companies and are back paying just over 300...what a shower of eejits !Maybe some of these companies are paying an introductory discount to entice punters in the hope of getting people stupid enough to just pay up when shafted in Year 2...One crowd told me that I had to pay MORE because I ONLY had one years NCB in my own name whereas the year before I had 9 or 10 years + as a Named Driver ...what a crock!

jmcwobbles

I got my renewal notice yesterday, from the same broker that I used last year. Paid 260 last year, my circumstances have not changed at all, and I got a renewal quote for 451!! I'm raging, I'm gonna go hunting and see what prices I can find on the internet before I ring them.

The only thing is, some fecker crashed into my car and wrecked my front bumper earlier in the year, without leaving a note. My NCB is protected, so I am planning to get this fixed under my insurance (but the claim hasn't gone through yet so even aside from the fact that the NCB is protected, this shouldn't have affected my premium). I'm just wondering though - if I was to change to a different insurance company for this renewal, does that mean I wouldn't be able to get my car fixed with a new insurer as the incident occurred prior to me joining with them? Would I still be able to claim from the old insurer after I move my business to someone else? Or am I basically stuck with them until I get it fixed?

johndaman66

jmcwobbles wrote: »

My NCB is protected, so I am planning to get this fixed under my insurance (but the claim hasn't gone through yet so even aside from the fact that the NCB is protected, this shouldn't have affected my premium). I'm just wondering though - if I was to change to a different insurance company for this renewal, does that mean I wouldn't be able to get my car fixed with a new insurer as the incident occurred prior to me joining with them? Would I still be able to claim from the old insurer after I move my business to someone else? Or am I basically stuck with them until I get it fixed?

I stand to be corrected but I do believe that in general a protected NCB is only protected if you hold your policy with the same company. If you were to take your business to another insurance company they would in geneal view you as having made a claim. As I say I am not full sure of this so if somebody better in the know could clarify? If this is the case it might be a better idea to get the bumper fixed up yourself or pick up one in a breakers yard to avoid making a claim. I do empathise with you for the incident. It is bloody lousy to go away and leave the scene of an accident like that without leaving as mush as a note on the windscreen.

jmcwobbles

Yeah you're probably right, I'll probably have to stick with them. Thing is, I got a couple of estimates for it and it'll cost about a grand to fix and I just can't afford something like that myself, which is why I decided to get it done on the insurance. My NCT is due in February and it won't pass with the damage that's there so needs to be done. I'll try and ring up and see if I can get a better quote even with the same company, a €200 increase is pretty steep! Bloody cars, they're nothing more than money pits!! :rolleyes:

CrowdedHouse

ytareh wrote: »

Maybe some of these companies are paying an introductory discount to entice punters in the hope of getting people stupid enough to just pay up when shafted in Year 2..

I suspect this is correct.

My current policy (through a broker) on an 08 320D cost only €286 fully comp with protected NCB(I'm old !)
Most of the quotes I got myself from companies(including the one I'm now with) ranged from 450 - 600

Blazer

Got a quote on nononsense.ie for only €350 comp.
Saving of €100 over Quinn.

the_syco

On a provisional, so last year was €1200.... this year I'm seeing prices online of €1400 Aside from insure.ie is there any other places good for giving a selection of quotes? Quinn gave me a quote of €2000. Only have the one year of NCB.

Ken Tucky

Going to change my Insurance co. after 7 good years to 123.IE. My present insurance company has been creeping premium up for the last 2 years so ive decided to change. Has anybody found these guys good to deal with. Seem fine but so do a certain insurance big Irish company who are like hell to deal with if you need to make a claim.

the_syco

Ken Tucky wrote: »

123.IE

Fogot about them! Seems I can get a quote of just over €900 with them. Savage. Will ring them up on Monday. F**king A! Well, gonna look for other sites to compare, but that's the best I've seen so far for myself.

ytareh

123.ie was the insurance that TRIED to shaft me !And this while also having two home insurance policies in my own name and having arranged one for my mam as well with them ...Very stupid business practice indeed.

Dummy

Got a car insurance quote on one of these comparison sites for a company called Kennco.

I never heard of them before & checked out their website.

Before I take the plunge into the unknown - has anyone any experience of them good or bad? Their price is very good.


D

Capt'n Midnight

Del2005 wrote: »

OP, motor insurnace has never made a profit in Ireland, it has been subsidised over the last few years by the companies playing the stock/property markets. Since both markets have crashed they have to make money for their dividends somewhere else now.

Back in 2003 Irish motor insurance companies made more profit than those in the UK, and I don't mean per capita !
http://www.mijag.com/press/press_bluebook2003_01.asp

Dummy

the final price I got was €323 for fully comp. Then out of the blue the original insurer called to see what I was doing and matched the price of 323 when I told them.


Amazing !!!

mike65

When I got my renewal the broker suggested a switch to Travellers, they were about 20% cheaper than renewing with Allianze who had jacked the premium up by about 100 euro.

Max Power1

the_syco wrote: »

On a provisional, so last year was €1200.... this year I'm seeing prices online of €1400 Aside from insure.ie is there any other places good for giving a selection of quotes? Quinn gave me a quote of €2000. Only have the one year of NCB.

you should check out britton insurance. They were €4-600 cheaper for me than say hibernian or axa. Im provisional atm too. for TPFT on a 1.6 mondeo they quoted me 1200

vincenzolorenzo

Ring them up and offer to pay the same premium as you did last year. They'll more than likely accept.

My insurance was up in july and they were looking for €110 more than the previous year despite me getting older, no claims etc. Rang them up, offered the 2008 price and quick as a flash, the deal was done. It seems to me that they just pick random figures and hope people don't haggle.

mcmc

Would you be expecting the price of your insurance to go up much if you got 2 points during the year?

Henry Ford III

mcmc wrote: »

Would you be expecting the price of your insurance to go up much if you got 2 points during the year?

No.

Jaysoose

Hang on a second...the asre has fallen out of the car market so the value of any second hand car has fallen dramatically, so basically they are charging more for insuring something that is worth less than 12 months ago.

Am i missing something?

mike65

Apparently repair costs are the issue, insurers want the trade to use more "pattern parts" and less OEM stuff but thats not going down too well.

ToxicPaddy

Jaysoose wrote: »

Am i missing something?

Yup, just like almost every other financial institution on the planet, insurance companies got greedy, invested heavily in the markets to keep their shareholders happy and get big bonus's for themselves, messed up, lost a fortune and now expect us to pay for it..

Do like everyone else is saying here.. walk away and make sure they know why..

They wont learn of course, or care for that matter, as for every person that walks, there are probably 10 more who cant as they have a small or no claims bonus so they will just screw them over to make up for losing you as a customer...

Tox

AineB

The vehicle value doesnt necessarily have any impact on your premium, at the end of the day the insurer's will only ever pay out the current market value in the event of a claim - you cant profit from insurance.

The insurance game is a competitive market, therefore any insurance company will try and match your alternative quote, sometimes they can sometimes they cant - each insurer/broker targets a different market.

The rates of insurance have increased this year - Jan 09 - there was an increase announced of up to 30%.... unfortunalty. This is due to the insrease in claims (up by 29%) in the last 18 months, goverment levy also increased to 3% - not a huge increase there but every cent matters, plus this is the 1st time in 5 years the rates have increased.
They are also expecting a furhter increase in 2010 by approx 10%.

Im not saying I agree with it but unfortunatly insurance is not case by case rated meaning if 1 person makes a fraudulent claim everyone pays so perhaps people should think twice next time!

Only trying to be of some help

(Figures may be incorrect only slight web research done)

ToxicPaddy

Sounds about right, my insurer just sent out my renewal notice.. up 40% for no apparent reason..

No claims, no accidents, no reason whatsoever for this increase.. so guess I will be moving on from them.. their loss IMO.. :rolleyes:

Tox

ToxicPaddy

AineB wrote: »

...plus this is the 1st time in 5 years the rates have increased..

Well I must be doing something wrong as this is my 3rd insurance company is 5 years as they all have increased my premiums for no reason.. each year I was claim free, no accidents, car has decreased in value and the circumstances of where car was stored, its usage etc had not changed.. :rolleyes:

Insurance companies have screwed up like every other financial institution, common sense should prevail but it never does..

We are in a recession, people are losing jobs and cutting their spending..

So what do insurance companies do? Make it more expensive for people to insure their cars..

What do people do.. either move to another company or sell their car and do without.. end result, insurance companies have revenues and less customers.. and yet the cycle continues..

Yes claims have gone up as people dont have the cash and are having to turn to their insurance as they can afford to fix it.. So charge them more, thats what happens..

Yes there is an increase in false claims, so punish the person who made the claim to the full extent of the law..

Dont punish those who are claim free and a much lower risk.. :mad::rolleyes: