84 replies to this topic

[Catteeclan]

At least part of the problem is the lovely blame culture we live in. No one has an accident anymore...someone has to be blamed and made to pay...that would be us then. That and a dollop of greedyness (which is somewhat the same thing).

Spot on. The greedy of us are pushing up costs.

[slartybartfarst]

That programme last week about car insurance was a real eye opener - five years ago there were something like 350,000 whiplash claims - it's near 800.000 today. Everyone is paying everyone for accident details, so it has to be worth someone's while and so the ultimate cost to us all has to cover all these 'backhanders'. And a replacement car will be the most expensive car hire you'll ever have. And with the faked crashes etc etc. The programme asked a bunch of teens how much they were paying for little hatchbacks - the cheapest was £1900!!

So I suppose we should be grateful - it just doesn't feel like it!!

Chris

[Dave277]

When you go to a garage for a quote to repair your car and its going to be an insurance claim, all they are interested in is how much they can make too.
A couple of years back we had a brand new car ( first one for us ), and a small dent had appeared on a rear door. Anyway I didn't want to claim for small repair but just fork out ourselves. Went to a large local repair centre and told them I wanted a quote, they asked if I was claiming on insurance and when I said no they wanted to charge me for a quote So I went else where obviously. Its no wonder the insurance just goes up & up.
My youngest son is 17 soon and I am dreading getting a quote for him, as it was bad enough 2 years ago with my oldest

[dablik]

My weekend has just gotten more exciting,,,,,,,,,,,,,NOT

Received a letter in the post from Aunty fookin Carol to say i didnt declare a fault claim last year in the car,,,SWMBO was the driver,,,, not me,,,why the fook am i being penalised,,, it's not like she rides my bike,,, they say as i am the main insurer the claim went against me and as i havent declared i now owe them a premium of £45,,,,,,,,,,plus an Admin fee of £25 for a mid term change in the policy,,,,,2 days still to cancel policy,,,,,so i'm looking elsewhere to see if i can get a better deal,,,,,will still be £25 out of pocket though,,,,, worlds gone bloody mental.
The underwriters Chaucers want a copy of both parts licence, full details of the incident and a statement as to why i didnt declare

If i now find a better or same price deal i think Aunty may have to

I'm slowly getting priced out of owning a motorbike or will end up buying summit mega cheap to insure and run

Edited by dablik, 29 July 2011 - 12:37 pm.

[RSRocket]

Got a good set of Quotes on Bike insurer, http://quotes.thebik...CFYpA4QodvUffVg
Carol snatch didnt win this year

[dablik]

Update

Aunty carol declares it's the underwriter who's adamant about charging me for an undeclared fault,,,,and no no we cant do anything about it,,,,maybe,, just maybe we can void the Admin fee so you stay with us
Anyhoos i thought fook that,, so i rang Chaucer direct,,, initially they did'nt want to discuss as it's my broker who deals with the issue,,,, so i told them Aunty was blatantly trying to rob me aand i was posting it all over the 6 m/bike forums i'm on plus facebook and twitter,,,, after a very calm discussion they then agreed as my wife had been the driver and provided my car insurer verifie's the fact they as the underwriter would agree no further charges applicable,,,,, gets on to car insurer who kindly call Aunty to be told by some little scrote,, nah,, no way,, cant do that,,,, i phone Aunty and make a compliant,,,,blah blah blah,,, will paste all over the internet,,,,,, and if there not prepared to recognise my over 20 years no claims discount on my car why the bloody hell do they have the right to manipulate me into paying a premium for a claim i was not the driver off and also my wife wont ever be fookin riding my motorbike,,,massive rant,,, dear Aunty called me back to say they spoken to the underwriter and all is okay,,,,,a few tail ends to sort out next week when Chaucer are back in,,,,but result for me,,

Then i guess i will have all this again next year when i need a new insurer
Conniving,, manipulating bassads not you Lew,, your okay,,, unless your real name is Ben

[danceswithmopeds]

I had policy no 39 when CN opened for business here. Stuck with them until policy increases got too ridiculous.
Co-incidentally, I received a card from them this morning, reminding me that they were still open for business.
I think I'll give them a ring on monday and wind them up for a change.

[dablik]

I had policy no 39 when CN opened for business here. Stuck with them until policy increases got too ridiculous.
Co-incidentally, I received a card from them this morning, reminding me that they were still open for business.
I think I'll give them a ring on monday and wind them up for a change.

Yea i think you should,,,, y aknow it pisses me off also with Aunty that they insist THEY give you free breakdown cover,,,,, bollocks they do,, it's already catered for in the quote which you can plainly see from other comparisons,,,, i only stayed with them cos the difference was £15 for the next least expensive quote,,,,, they have to come up with a bloody good price next year for me to stay,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

A-holes,, they always have a new angle to bloody try and rape us.

[leehenty]

MCE based down the road where I live did me £104 fully comp 100 excess and protected NCB.

BUT: Their own over the phone renewal price was 50 quid more, so I goes to their online website gets me deal online and cancel the old one.

Same underwriter same broker. Go figure. Even popped down the ofice to ask why they don't just get the best price and keep the policy running.
Something called price pointing they say

. i.e. If you are dumb or lazy enough to renew with us then it's ok for us to rip you off as it's an offer to buy, no one is forcing us to say yes.

[DeerStalker]

Shamelessly copied from another web Insurance contact with reasons behind costs for insurance all round;


The motor insurance industry paid out £120.60 for every £100 received in premiums last year, worsening from £118.80 per £100 in 2009
Taking investment returns off this, then they "only" paid out £117.10 per £100 received in premium income, worsening from £114.80 in 2009

Now tell me that your employer would continue to offer their services at a loss of between 17 - 21% on every contract. Before you have a rant, they'd put their prices up, just like insurers.

http://www.insurance...vertakes-lloyds

[Studley Ramrod]

Kinda makes sense when you consider that the actual premium for any given policy is probably only around 40-60% of the price you are quoted. The rest is fees and set-up charges and whatever else they wanna call it.

When I had me mk1 flambe'd I think I'd payed about £120-£130 for my insurance, but when I got the full breakdown costs I remember seeing the actual premium was just over £60.

[TDMTAM]

Just got my renewal quote in bugger have put it up to £304 up £100. Their reason why because I have committed the crime of fitting Panniers, top box screen & a seat.
oh well time to phone around.
TAM

[not2fast]

I can't believe how much I saved by doing the internet comparison sites. My renewel went up loads, rang round as I always have in the past and saved 95 quid...., did the comparison sites saved another 50 quid odd! £93 fully comp protected... Result!!

[TDMTAM]

Just got my renewal quote in bugger have put it up to £304 up £100. Their reason why because I have committed the crime of fitting Panniers, top box screen & a seat.
oh well time to phone around.
TAM

Well for the first time Aunt Carol has given me the cheapest quote at £185 including covering the panniers & top box etc.
Now I know a few of you have had some issues with Carol Nash but are they that bad!
TAM

[sidestand]

Well for the first time Aunt Carol has given me the cheapest quote at £185 including covering the panniers & top box etc.
Now I know a few of you have had some issues with Carol Nash but are they that bad!
TAM

They are excellent when you have to claim or need breakdown/recovery services at home or abroad, which in my opinon, is where it really matters

[magneto]

How fair do you think this was?
I work in the bike trade. Customer brings in an SR125 with an electrical fault. We loan him an SR125 F.O.C. to use while the parts come, and he said his insurance would cover. We didn't sell him the bike btw. 2 scrotes steal our SR from the customers house, then plant it into a car head on. Scrotes injured and Police catch them. Our bike is scrap. Turns out the chap's insurance didn't actually cover him. We have a £1000 excess, the bike was worth £1000 so no point claiming. The customer comes in, with his boss, and they both pledge faithfully to pay the £1000 at £100 a month. Stupidly I accepted this. I saw neither of them ever again.
So, 6 years on, I get a visit from a guy working for the Motor Insurance Bureau, they manage a fund set up by the insurance industry to compensate victims of uninsured drivers. The car driver that the scrotes ran into is claiming £250,000 loss of future earnings as the jolt had triggered an old back injury, preventing him from being a builder. The MIB man said, don't worry, your insurer won't penalise you for MIB claims. So. I called them. As I didn't report the incident or make a claim to them 6 years ago they were not responsible.....I was. What a fffing world!
When I made the statement that if they pursued this claim I would set myself on fire outside their head office they now seem to have chosen another option, thank God.
Actually, I don't think I could afford the petrol nowadays anyway.

[dapleb]

The MIB man said, don't worry, your insurer won't penalise you for MIB claims.

...cous we will get the money off of every other insurance policy by upping them all to pay for daft claims. Hoorah for greed.

[TKH]

They are excellent when you have to claim or need breakdown/recovery services at home or abroad, which in my opinon, is where it really matters

If they gave me a decent quote I might try them out but they are always around twice what I pay with Hastings Direct, who get their insurance underwritten.

Post code lotteries I guess

[Studley Ramrod]

The OFT have recently set up an inquiry, through the FSA, looking into why premiums have risen by over 20% in the past 2 yrs.
Don't hold yer breath, but ya never know !

[LewisBlackburn]

The OFT have recently set up an inquiry, through the FSA, looking into why premiums have risen by over 20% in the past 2 yrs.
Don't hold yer breath, but ya never know !

Its a bit late !

Accident management companies and referral fees are the problem. Encouraging and pretty much forcing people into making claims for personal injuries and credit hire. Below is some info on and what they charge.

Personal Injury - Nowadays you can claim for almost anything, Got a stiff neck for a day after an accident? you can claim for that, and if you lie a little and say its causing you more pain than it is you can get a significant amount of money. I believe the average PI claim in the UK is £1500 with £800 Solicitors fees.
This is one of the problems, the amount that solicitors charge is extortionate in the uk, in Germany for example the average solicitor fee is £300 per PI claim.

Credit hire doesn't help either. Because, if your involved in a none fault incident, you have the right to claim a like-for-like vehicle from the third party. Any solicitor, accident management company or insurer will refer you to credit hire.
The only good thing I can say on this is that the Big insurance companies have Bi-Lateral agreements between them which means the policy holder will get a Like-for-like car but its charged at the amount it actually costs to hire. So, the actual cost to Hire a 2L Mondeo would be about £35 a day, a Credit hire for a 2L Mondeo would be anything from £60 to £100 a day. so whatever you do don't reverse into a Porsche like my dad did the other day ! DOH !!


The above regarding Bi-Lat's wont apply if your policy is through Budget, Post office, RAC, Swinton, and many other brokers. These companies will take details of your accident on the first call, transfer you to a company called drive assist (accident management) who tell you that you cant have you car repaired unless you get one of their credit hire cars, then pass you on to your insurance company who have no idea that you've just been on the phone for an hour, have no details of your accident and have to take everything to log it.
If you have a small car or aren't bothered about being in a 3 door hatch for a week or two. Try getting the number of your insurance company and ringing them directly, trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of hassle.

keep your eyes open as their should be an announcement soon in the news regarding the banning of Referral fees, no doubt they will find a way around it but it may put some accident management companies out of business.


Now i understand that was an awful lot of information and if you chose not to read it i don't blame you, but for some i hope it was interesting.

and trust me, I've got plenty more insider information than that


The reason your renewal will be higher is someone in your postcode will likely have had made a claim on their insurance in the last year and as your in an area with a higher risk, you now have to pay more. Its a harsh reality, but that's how insurance companies manage Risk I'm afraid.