Car insurance remained the same price after passing full test?

Bigmac1euro

I recently passed my driving test, and i rang my insurance company to inform them, and I had assumed my premium would be reduced ?
Anyway, they told me that my premium would remain the same and only upon renewal would I see a change.
Renewal is not until August so I wonder would it be worth my time cancelling my current policy and getting quoted as a full license holder and maybe that would bring my premium down. id lose 3 months no claims for this year but that's not a whole lot.

K.Flyer

I would presume not, for one reason that I can think off.
One of the questions asked by insurers is if you have ever cancelled or had an insurance policy cancelled, if the answer is yes, then it raises a red flag and you may be declined. Then that becomes another red flag for other insurers because in addition to the above question they also ask have you been declined insurance which also raises another red flag.
You could speak with a broker and ask for advice and you might get lucky.
Also I don't think the no-claims discount is awarded monthly.

CeilingFly

Check your policy breakdown - you may find the loading for provisional licence is not huge.

Bigmac1euro

K.Flyer wrote: »

Also I don't think the no-claims discount is awarded monthly.

I know its not awarded monthly i just mean't the last 3 months of driving wouldn't mean anything if I was to cancel. My NCB would still be 2 years though.

But thanks for the advice, i was really under the impression your premium would come down after getting your full license because my insurance company last year told me this. But obviously its not all insurance companies.

Wheety

It's actually quite common for insurance to go up for your first year after passing your test. This is because you can now drive on your own and are more likely to have an accident.

Cows Go µ

K.Flyer wrote: »

I would presume not, for one reason that I can think off.
One of the questions asked by insurers is if you have ever cancelled or had an insurance policy cancelled, if the answer is yes, then it raises a red flag and you may be declined. Then that becomes another red flag for other insurers because in addition to the above question they also ask have you been declined insurance which also raises another red flag.
You could speak with a broker and ask for advice and you might get lucky.
Also I don't think the no-claims discount is awarded monthly.

But the policy would have been cancelled by the policy holder, not the insurer so other insurance companies will have no issue.

OP, call the insurance company, ask how much of a return you would get if you cancelled the policy (most will have an early cancellation fee) and then get some other quotes. It might be cheaper to move, it might not. It's worth getting the quotes to check. Some companies give a good reduction for getting your full licence, others don't.

Bigmac1euro

My insurance told me today that I would get an 80 euro refund if I cancelled but the next quote I got off a broker was 1650 and my current insurance is 1700 so I probably won’t bother. It’s not worth it.
And no red marks if you cancel your own policy, it’s only if the insurers cancel it on you.
Anyway thanks for the advice guys!

CeilingFly

A couple of insurer's offer an incentive for passing the test during the insurance, but its priced in anyway so the overall cost will be similar to an insurer that doesn't offer it - as your new quote suggests.

On the flip side - if you were unlucky and had an accident or car stolen a week into a policy, the insurer can't increase the price until renewal. So it works both ways.

Btw 1700 for provisional licence holder was an excellent rate in the first place.

Bigmac1euro

CeilingFly wrote: »

A couple of insurer's offer an incentive for passing the test during the insurance, but its priced in anyway so the overall cost will be similar to an insurer that doesn't offer it - as your new quote suggests.

On the flip side - if you were unlucky and had an accident or car stolen a week into a policy, the insurer can't increase the price until renewal. So it works both ways.

Btw 1700 for provisional licence holder was an excellent rate in the first place.

Yeah it’s not bad in the grand scheme of things but it’s still an absolute joke. Also I wouldn’t be considered in the young catergory as I’m over 25.
But anyway I’m just going to stay put.

CeilingFly

If over 25, then the loading for provisional licence was probably quite small - there should be a breakdown on the documents.

Still, I'd hate if insurers were able to change the cost immediately after an issue.

L1011

The days of the provisional loading being huge are gone and we're slowly going to the UK system - insurance goes up after passing the test.

The loading used to be huge because basically everyone drove unaccompanied and there were lots and lots of claims; passing the test meant you'd at least come to a standard. Now, you don't drive unaccompanied as a norm and passing the test means you're let out on your own with all the risks that brings.

It'll take more time to work itself out entirely but expect this to be the norm within a decade - insurance on a provisional to be cheaper than not; because you will be at very low risk of claiming.

Bigmac1euro

L1011 wrote: »

The days of the provisional loading being huge are gone and we're slowly going to the UK system - insurance goes up after passing the test.

The loading used to be huge because basically everyone drove unaccompanied and there were lots and lots of claims; passing the test meant you'd at least come to a standard. Now, you don't drive unaccompanied as a norm and passing the test means you're let out on your own with all the risks that brings.

It'll take more time to work itself out entirely but expect this to be the norm within a decade - insurance on a provisional to be cheaper than not; because you will be at very low risk of claiming.

Yeah I get you,
It’s a disgrace though. These insurance companies will do anything and use any possible means to increase your premium along with operating cartel like behaviour between one another. You’ve brown eyes and blonde hair, that’s an extra 200 quid cheers thanks :-|

CeilingFly

steo_magra wrote: »

Yeah I get you,
It’s a disgrace though. These insurance companies will do anything and use any possible means to increase your premium along with operating cartel like behaviour between one another. You’ve brown eyes and blonde hair, that’s an extra 200 quid cheers thanks :-|

You seem to be bitter about insurance companies.

Yes thry make a profit - but any results I see don't show excessive profit.

Its the insurance scammers, the high awards, the excessive legal costs and high medical costs that cause the high insurance.

Aim your anger primarily at insurance scammers.

Thankfully some judges are seeing through them, but until there are regular convictions and jail sentences, scammers will continue to add 10%+ to your premium.

Bigmac1euro

CeilingFly wrote: »

You seem to be bitter about insurance companies.

Yes thry make a profit - but any results I see don't show excessive profit.

Its the insurance scammers, the high awards, the excessive legal costs and high medical costs that cause the high insurance.

Aim your anger primarily at insurance scammers.

Thankfully some judges are seeing through them, but until there are regular convictions and jail sentences, scammers will continue to add 10%+ to your premium.

Where are the results you are seeing they aren't making excessive profit ?
Look at how all the insurance offices were raided a month or two back,
What planet are you on ?
Why is it the case that car insurance was much cheaper 3 or 4 years ago ?

I have no time for scammers and I do agree with some of what you've said, but have medical costs rose in the last 3 years ? I am equally annoyed at insurance companies as I am of scammers and ill aim my anger at who I like :pac::pac:

CeilingFly

steo_magra wrote: »

Where are the results you are seeing they aren't making excessive profit ?
Look at how all the insurance offices were raided a month or two back,
What planet are you on ?
Why is it the case that car insurance was much cheaper 3 or 4 years ago ?

I have no time for scammers and I do agree with some of what you've said, but have medical costs rose in the last 3 years ? I am equally annoyed at insurance companies as I am of scammers and ill aim my anger at who I like :pac::pac:

Many insurance companies are public companies and you can read their annual reports.

Try not believing politically motivated stunts. The eu competition raids have yielded no prosecutions in 6 months.

An industry wide crackdown on scammers has yielded a substantial drop in false claims (and subsequent drop in premium) - just read the papers and see how many insurance scams are finally being thrown out of court.

I'm 30+ years buying insurance. Back in 1986 my first insurance was over £2,000 - you could buy a nice 3bed house in goatstown for £39,900 back then. - Same houses sell for €500,000 these days. So 2k was utterly horrendous.

Thankfully I pay under €500 these days.

Bigmac1euro

CeilingFly wrote: »

Many insurance companies are public companies and you can read their annual reports.

Try not believing politically motivated stunts. The eu competition raids have yielded no prosecutions in 6 months.

An industry wide crackdown on scammers has yielded a substantial drop in false claims (and subsequent drop in premium) - just read the papers and see how many insurance scams are finally being thrown out of court.

I'm 30+ years buying insurance. Back in 1986 my first insurance was over £2,000 - you could buy a nice 3bed house in goatstown for £39,900 back then. - Same houses sell for €500,000 these days. So 2k was utterly horrendous.

Thankfully I pay under €500 these days.

I believe the central bank has pushed the insurance companies to raise premiums in the past. And i think there's an awful lot going on behind closed doors we don't know about.

The thing is with their annual reports they make them difficult to read by making the document 100+ pages long. Insurance is expensive but I'm still going to pay it, I do feel sorry for the new drivers though. I'll leave it at that, nice to hear someones opinion from the other side all the same.

Fanny Wank

Yeah but the exec summary will tell you their profit/loss for the period in question

The market has lost hundreds of millions over the last number of years

Define "excessive profits" btw

Bigmac1euro

I changed my address from one postcode to another and they threw another 130 on top of my premium lovely

Sue Pa Key Pa

steo_magra wrote: »

I changed my address from one postcode to another and they threw another 130 on top of my premium lovely

My son's went up 60% going from Dublin 14 to Dublin 15.

Bigmac1euro

Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »

My son's went up 60% going from Dublin 14 to Dublin 15.

J*sus, i can count myself lucky so, I have been giving out on this thread about the insurance companies but I do think I am still getting a pretty good deal overall. I do still feel strongly people are getting taken advantage of, your son for example.
Like is he now 60% more likely to be in a crash ? Doubt it.

Sue Pa Key Pa

I thought it was excessive and made a formal complaint on his behalf. They were able to prove that they charged that difference between D14 and D15 for all clients. They did not have to prove the claim statistics between the two areas. I just moved his policy at renewal but had to suck up the additional premium until then

Fanny Wank

steo_magra wrote: »

J*sus, i can count myself lucky so, I have been giving out on this thread about the insurance companies but I do think I am still getting a pretty good deal overall. I do still feel strongly people are getting taken advantage of, your son for example.
Like is he now 60% more likely to be in a crash ? Doubt it.

Some (if not most at this stage) insurers rate on a small area basis based on census data.

The change in price would reflect modelling data such as unemployment rates, deprivation, commuting stats etc. These stats can be very predictive and often result in vastly different rates for locations that are geographically quite close