shocked at my gti car insurance increase

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LEEA123
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shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by LEEA123 »

i am shocked, gone up £200 with nothing changed on policy Did a new scan for other quotes, all about the same. I am 50 years old now, not 18 :). What has happened haha.
SRGTD
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by SRGTD »

My premium increased by around 14%. I also haven’t changed anything; mature driver (retired), living in a low crime area, low annual mileage (circa 4,500 miles per year), and other than a couple of windscreen stone chip repairs on previous cars, no claims in over 20 years. I also found that the premium I was quoted by my existing insurer this year was pretty much in line with the lower end of other competitor’s premium quotes.

You don’t have to have claimed or changed anything for your premium to increase. There could be a number of underlying reasons for the increase;
  • we all contribute towards the cost of claims, whether we’ve claimed or not; the contributions of all policyholders help to pay for the claims of the relatively small number of policyholder that have had claims.
  • general high levels of inflation impacting the cost of vehicle parts and paint, increasing energy costs (e.g. for heating paint baking ovens in vehicle repair workshops) and labour rates will have all added to the cost of vehicle repairs, which feed through into claims costs.
  • increased sophistication of cars and the tech that’s built into them make them more complex and more costly to repair.
  • with fewer new cars having been built in the last 2-3 years and generally long lead times, demand for late date used cars will have increased. This will have had a knock-on impact in a likely increase in vehicle thefts of late date desirable models (stolen to order or broken up for spare parts) so insurance companies may well have seen an increase in the frequency and cost of theft claims.
  • most insurance companies use some factors in their premium calculation algorithms that we might not consider as directly related to the insurance risk - credit score is one such factor. Statistical analysis has shown that there’s a direct correlation between a person’s credit score / ability to pay their premium and the insurance risk. Therefore, if a person’s credit score changes, it could affect their premium.
  • the insurance industry goes through market cycles alternating between periods of profit and loss. If the industry is currently in (or has just experienced) a period of loss, then there’ll be a general upward trend in premiums compared to last year and previous years to address those losses and deliver individual insurers own profit targets and also enable them to pay a dividend to their shareholders.
There are certain things individuals can do to mitigate premium increases - e.g.;
  • consider taking a higher excess
  • review the annual mileage driven; if you genuinely drive fewer miles than the estimated annual mileage declared to your insurance company, you could consider a lower figure that reflects your current annual mileage. However, only do this if the estimated annual mileage on your policy can legitimately be reduced; falsifying mileage - or any other risk information - could invalidate your policy.
  • review any add-on covers under your insurance policy (e.g. breakdown cover, legal expenses, personal accident, provision of a courtesy car). If there are any you are unlikely to use or don’t need, perhaps you could consider deleting them.
  • fitting an insurer-approved security device to your car. Some insurers may allow a discount off the premium for this - not all do, so always check with your insurance company first before incurring the cost of having a security device fitted.
  • for those that can afford it, it is usually cheaper to pay the whole annual premium in one amount rather than paying monthly.
  • it can be worth phoning your existing insurance company and speaking to the renewal retention team to see if there’s any scope to reduce the premium quote, so you renew and the insurer keeps your business. When I’ve done this in the past, I’ve been quoted a revised / reduced premium. However, now that new and existing customers are (allegedly) quoted the same prices, there may be less scope to get a premium reduction by phoning up and asking for it.
MikeDO
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by MikeDO »

Out of interest... I requested a quote from confused.com for my car (Polo GTI 2022 model) and the cheapest quote was from my current insurer (Darwin) and the increase is pretty much 30% !!!

Fair enough, my premium is pretty low to start with (was £230 and cheapest quote was approx £300). One of the "few" benefits of living in the middle of nowhere and being an old git :D

So many different factors for folks though, as SRGTD points out above.
LEEA123
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by LEEA123 »

MikeDO wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 9:36 pm Out of interest... I requested a quote from confused.com for my car (Polo GTI 2022 model) and the cheapest quote was from my current insurer (Darwin) and the increase is pretty much 30% !!!

Fair enough, my premium is pretty low to start with (was £230 and cheapest quote was approx £300). One of the "few" benefits of living in the middle of nowhere and being an old git :D

So many different factors for folks though, as SRGTD points out above.
mine was 282 last year now they want 499, every quote online is roughly the same , thats a very big increase, paying monthly and protected ncb is costing me 100 a year on it
SRGTD
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by SRGTD »

LEEA123 wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 2:26 am
MikeDO wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 9:36 pm Out of interest... I requested a quote from confused.com for my car (Polo GTI 2022 model) and the cheapest quote was from my current insurer (Darwin) and the increase is pretty much 30% !!!

Fair enough, my premium is pretty low to start with (was £230 and cheapest quote was approx £300). One of the "few" benefits of living in the middle of nowhere and being an old git :D

So many different factors for folks though, as SRGTD points out above.
mine was 282 last year now they want 499, every quote online is roughly the same , thats a very big increase, paying monthly and protected ncb is costing me 100 a year on it
@LEEA123; Online and comparison sites aren’t always the cheapest.

It’s worth considering companies who aren’t on comparison sites such as Direct Line, Aviva, NFU Mutual (there will be others too). Also there are companies who market themselves as performance car insurance specialists (try an internet search on ‘insurance for performance cars’ or similar search - as your car’s a GTI, it might be worth contacting a few to see if they’re able to offer you a competitive price. A traditional high street broker might be worth considering too; some brokers have scheme arrangements with certain insurance companies where they may have negotiated lower rates than the standard rates charged by those companies. High street brokers will also have access to some insurance companies who aren’t on comparison sites and a broker will do the legwork for you.

Some performance VW owners on other forums have found VW Insurance to be surprisingly competitive, so worth trying them a try if you’ve not already done so.

Although the majority of people will buy car insurance based on price, bear in mind that cheapest isn’t necessary the best; if it’s the cheapest it might so for a reason - e.g. poor levels of cover, poor customer service, poor claims service (always check out any online reviews of customer and claims service for companies you’re considering, but don’t overlook they might not all be genuine reviews). Car insurance tends to be a grudge purchase for most people as you don’t see anything in return for your financial outlay unless you’re unfortunate enough to have a claim, and IMHO that’s when excellent claims service and quality of repairs are very important factors.

Please update this discussion thread once you’ve found a price and insurance company you’re happy with, as it might be useful to other forum members who are also faced with large renewal price increases.
lancslad1985
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by lancslad1985 »

I can testify to the you get what you pay for. I was with Esure for years and back in 2015 when someone hit my Volvo, they were great. Last year when someone hit my Tiguan it dragged on for six months despite the fact they had my dash cam footage showing it wasn’t my fault etc. they were utterly useless and they ended up getting their solicitor involved as other side “refused to pay”.

According to the solicitor, Esure didn’t send him the dash footage despite him asking twice and the moment the other side saw it they paid. So I can only assume Esure didn’t send it them.

I’m now with LV and they seem (touchwood) much better. Completely hassle free when I swapped my polo gti with no charge and all done online in less than five minutes.
Last edited by lancslad1985 on Tue Jul 25, 2023 6:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
SRGTD
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by SRGTD »

lancslad1985 wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 7:30 am I can testify to the you get what you pay for. I was with Esure for years and back in 2015 when someone hit my Volvo, they were great. Last year when someone hit my Tiguan it dragged on for six months despite the fact they had my dash cam footage showing it wasn’t my fault etc. they were utterly useless and they ended up getting their solicitor involved as other side “refused to pay”.

According to the solicitor, Esure didn’t send him the dash footage despite him asking twice and the moment the other side saw it they paid. So I can only assume Esure didn’t send it them.

I’m now with Aviva and they seem (touchwood) much better. Completely hassle free when I swapped my polo gti with no charge and all done online in less than five minutes.
I’ve been insured with Aviva (previously Norwich Union) in the past and found they were very good. Their online self service facility that allows you to make certain policy changes without having to contact the call centre is very good.

In their Norwich Union days, I had another car drive into the back of me. My car was inspected, repairs authorised and repaired all within 2 weeks. The other driver who I knew and knew where they lived was insured with some obscure Lloyds of London syndicate and their car was sitting forlornly, still damaged outside their house a good couple of months later. I spoke to them and they were still waiting for repairs to be authorised 😮.

I know that experience doesn’t necessarily reflect Avivia’s current service standards, but illustrated to me the benefit of insuring with a reputable company with a good product and very good service.
LEEA123
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by LEEA123 »

Did a quote this morning from vw insurance, they quoted 373 for monthly or 340 for a one-off payment. That was without protected ncb.
I have 15 years ncb and they only take into account 9 years. The protected ncb would be extra 50 pounds, can't see the point if they only take into account nine years, and if made a claim would lose two years which would still be above what they take into consideration.

Will keep looking tomorrow and will post an update on the best I found. I did try direct line, they wanted almost 700 lol.
At the moment I am leaning towards the vw insurance. Will keep updated
MikeDO
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by MikeDO »

Interestingly.

VW car Insurance, Direct Line and Darwin (+ a number of others) are all underwritten by U K Insurance Limited.

LEEA123

"I have 15 years ncb and they only take into account 9 years. The protected ncb would be extra 50 pounds, can't see the point if they only take into account nine years, and if made a claim would lose two years which would still be above what they take into consideration!

No disrespect intended and maybe I'm misunderstanding you. But that's not how protected NCB works.
LEEA123
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by LEEA123 »

MikeDO wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 9:07 pm Interestingly.

VW car Insurance, Direct Line and Darwin (+ a number of others) are all underwritten by U K Insurance Limited.

LEEA123

"I have 15 years ncb and they only take into account 9 years. The protected ncb would be extra 50 pounds, can't see the point if they only take into account nine years, and if made a claim would lose two years which would still be above what they take into consideration!

No disrespect intended and maybe I'm misunderstanding you. But that's not how protected NCB works.
yer I am just using my silly logic if i have 15 years, but only 9 counts, and I lose two years if I make a claim I would have 13 years, that's my logic )
LEEA123
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by LEEA123 »

Just an update , i contacted my current insurance company which is ford insure , I explained that the quote was too high . They then decided to give me a new price to include ncb protection , The reduced the quote from 499 to 368 . That is the best I have had so I took that . What annoys me is that they could not offer me that in the first place, and i was almost going to tell them to just forget it out of principle .

But as i could not find better anyway than the revised price i accepted it .

Just seems that prices for insurance have gone up all over the place and not just by the current rate of inflation
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PO10ASH
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by PO10ASH »

Seems to be a common occurrence it seems, blame all these people claiming the weird and wonderful.

Last year I managed to pay £725 with 6 Years NCB, 1 declared speeding offence and no claims at 29 for 11k miles, this year it looks like my insurance is going to be around £1.1k with 7 Years NCB and no claims/offences at 30 for 11k miles.
SRGTD
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by SRGTD »

LEEA123 wrote: Mon May 29, 2023 12:23 pm Just an update , i contacted my current insurance company which is ford insure , I explained that the quote was too high . They then decided to give me a new price to include ncb protection , The reduced the quote from 499 to 368 . That is the best I have had so I took that . What annoys me is that they could not offer me that in the first place, and i was almost going to tell them to just forget it out of principle .

But as i could not find better anyway than the revised price i accepted it .

Just seems that prices for insurance have gone up all over the place and not just by the current rate of inflation
Good outcome. If you don’t ask you don’t get, so as I posted in this discussion thread, it’s always worth contacting your existing insurance company to see if they’ll reduce the renewal price they’ve quoted.

Agree, it is really annoying they don’t offer their best price in the first place.
MikeDO
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by MikeDO »

Thought I would resurrect this thread.

Just got my renewal through from Darwin and guess what.. it's almost double last years premium.
And Compare the Market cheapest quotes are around 50% + on last years premium.

So... tried VW Insurance (same under writers as Darwin and many others) and the quoted premium (with a much lower excess) is much more palatable.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with VW car insurance?
The policies seem solid. But some of the O/L reviews don't look that great!
lancslad1985
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Re: shocked at my gti car insurance increase

Post by lancslad1985 »

Same issue here. Was paying £400 (lot of extras and very low voluntary) and they now want £680. Tried comparison sites and best was £650. Tried direct with those “not on comparison sites” companies and it was £1000 plus. Not had an accident, no tickets, no changes, already at max no claims (most stop counting after 9).

The only one that is cheaper is VW. Never used them but I can potentially save myself £100. So think I’m going to go with them. Pretty much everything is included as standard as well. It’s whether I can be bothered to try knock my insurer (LV) down as they already came down to £640 with me just asking for their best offer.
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