Think! Insurance.

[Lenard]

Good evening to one and all,

               It will soon be time to sort out the dreaded Insurance renewal, I assume like most people? I opt for the no claims discount when filling in the forms, But is there any real advantage in going down this route? It does  not stop the premium going up at the next renewal, even if you have avoided any accidents/claims. I tried both options on the web and the result was £65-00 less for the non NCD option. Am I missing something?

Regards   Lenard.

[Tracker]

There was a Money Saving Expert programme on ITV this week where Martin Lewis explained many of the legitimate ways to reduce insurance costs. It may well be on ITVX or summat but I have no idea how that works as my smart TV is incompatible with it's non smart user!

It was car insurance based but the ideas will extend to Motorhomes too.

[Deneb]

I assume you are referring to optional NCD protection, rather than declaring that you have no NCD to transfer from a previous policy? The latter can result in a premium difference of several hundred pounds.

For NCD protection, I think it is a case of reading the small print for each and every policy, as the operation of an NCD "discount" seems to vary between insurers. There can be a clause which states that a single claim during the life of the policy will not result in any reduction of NCD, but further claims will result in a reduction applied on a sliding scale. Others may simply operate the sliding scale whereby they will step back your NCD as a percentage of the full premium discount for each claim. Without NCD protection, you would generally lose any and all NCD following a claim.

Of course, although the discount reductions are usually stated, none of this is particularly transparent as it doesn't prevent your future premiums being loaded simply because you have been involved in an incident and are deemed to be at higher risk etc., so the effective discount reduction according to the insurers published table may in practice be a 10% decrease in your original NCD discount, but applied to a higher base policy cost than was previously the case, since the overall risk cost that the insurer applies to the base premium is calculated first.

Add on the now common practice of removing several features that used to be standard cover in most policies and making them options at additional cost, trying to compare quotations for different insurers at renewal is becoming a minefield because quite often they are not on a like for like basis at all.

[John52]

I read Martin Lewis advice

The biggest risk factor is the driver.  So they make (sometimes wrong) assumptions based on what they know.  For instance if you leave it to the last day before it runs out they may assume you are a risk taker and quote you more.

I tried to get an online quote from Direct Line to see if it was cheaper than my LV renewal.  I was shocked to find they wouldn't insure me.  Then I got a call from a broker they had passed my details on to.  Someone who specialises in bad risks. WTF?

I have a clean licence, 50 years NCD, never made an insurance claim in my life and Direct Line turned me down.

She told me the reason Direct Line would not insure me was because I had requested third party only cover.  Based on that alone they assumed I was a risk taker and turned me down flat.

I explained to her that if it was left to me I would ban comprehensive insurance.  Because if drivers had to pay for the damage they caused it might concentrate their minds to drive more carefully.

So I went back to Direct Line and tried again - this time requesting Comprehensive Cover - which they accepted and quoted me straightaway.  

[John52]

56 minutes ago, Deneb said:

trying to compare quotations for different insurers at renewal is becoming a minefield because quite often they are not on a like for like basis at all.

Unless they are third party only in which case the cover will be the same legal minimum? so you can make direct comparisons.

Maybe thats another reason they don't like you asking for third party only?

[crocs]

You really just have to shop around for insurance. Underwriting is a black art rather than a science and it can sometimes seem counter intuitive. For example, it would be reasonable for me to assume that I am low risk with a 40 year claim free record but an underwriter might take a different view on risk as the law of averages suggests that I am overdue a claim and, therefore, high risk.

[Deneb]

For my car insurance, I always run a quote through the main comparison sites each year. It is interesting on each site to see the insurers that decline to quote, as well as those who do quote but give a premium of £6,000 plus.

But I invariably seem to end up see-sawing between Saga and John Lewis for alternate years, or have done for several years now. They aren't the cheapest quotes by a long way, but I subscribe to the view that cheapest isn't necessarily best. Even though the discounted quotes for new business were supposed to have ceased, I am still finding that I can get a lower quote by switching after 12 months with each insurer, and fully comp with a few add-ons was still below £300 at last renewal a couple of months ago.

I've never tried a quote for third party cover, but thought it was generally the case now that premiums are usually higher than fully comp because of the perceived risk of the customer base.

For the van, I've been with Comfort for several years now. I haven't found any other quotes that come close, the renewal has never gone up dramatically and a couple of years ago actually reduced!

Edited November 12, 2023 by Deneb

[Lenard]

Thankyou, Tracker, Deneb, John52 and Crocs,

Yes it is a minefield which sadly you have to go through and I do not look forward to it. I did watch the programme the other night, but he talks so fast, that to take in all the points he is making, is difficult! The other thing is that you only know if the company is any good when you have to claim, something we have not had to do, touch wood.

Regards   Lenard 

[thebishbus]

I think another thing to watch is your age. Some insurance companies will not insure  you  above a certain age. With other companies, once you are accepted will still cover you as long as the DVLA will renew your licence . Worth checking when you renew.

                   Brian B.

[John52]

On 12/11/2023 at 10:07, Deneb said:

 I subscribe to the view that cheapest isn't necessarily best.

Same here

But when you are unable to compare the quality since ' trying to compare quotations for different insurers at renewal is becoming a minefield because quite often they are not on a like for like basis at all' you might as well go for the cheapest IMO

[John52]

3 hours ago, thebishbus said:

I think another thing to watch is your age. Some insurance companies will not insure  you  above a certain age. With other companies, once you are accepted will still cover you as long as the DVLA will renew your licence . Worth checking when you renew.

                   Brian B.

True

But they can still change their minds

I haven't heard of one that stops insuring its policyholders when they reach a certain age - but they could

I read somewhere about insurance companies that will no longer continue to insure current policy holders with certain electric cars because of the sharp increase in the cost of repairs (shortage of silicon chips etc)

[John52]

On 12/11/2023 at 10:07, Deneb said:

I invariably seem to end up see-sawing between Saga and John Lewis for alternate years, or have done for several years now. 

I've never tried a quote for third party cover, but thought it was generally the case now that premiums are usually higher than fully comp because of the perceived risk of the customer base.

Mine is classed as a Light Goods Vehicle and I have found some companies much better than others for vans because they accept when they are not being used commercially - which greatly increases risk.  I generally switched between LV, Direct Line and Churchill each year finding them all similar quotes for new customers.  But after asking Direct Line for third party only and giving up, their quote for comprehensive was more than double what I am paying.  So I am wondering if asking for third party only cover has put a marker against me.

Whatever, the lesson being don't even ask for third party insurance.