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Most car insurers run at a 100% loss ratio across their book. Few will price in any underwriting profit. They try and make their money off investments instead
Can you unpick that a bit?
What does 100% loss mean?
Are you saying they don't make any profit from the premiums, but stick the money in a stocks-and-shares ISA?
Fully comp policy on my van up from £478 to £552 (Aviva).
They've always been good to deal with, so I'll probably just swallow it and renew rather than shop around.
Can you unpick that a bit?
What does 100% loss mean?
Are you saying they don’t make any profit from the premiums, but stick the money in a stocks-and-shares ISA?
Loss ratio is the amount of money an insurer makes v's the amount they pay out. 60% loss ration means they pay out £60 for every £100 they take in premiums. Traditionally insurers were at 60 - 70% ish, most now are very close to 100% meaning they pay out as much in claims as they make in premiums. I know that some are over 100% which isn't sustainable long term but can be help for a short period of time if there were a lot claims events.
So they make money in wider investments and/or through sales of other products.
Most car insurers run at a 100% loss ratio across their book
Just to be clear, you mean a Combined Operating Ratio approaching 100% on private car insurance.
100% Loss Ratio would be around 120%+ COR at a guess, which is including the cost of operating the insurer plus commission/advertising costs. And that's very a low cost on car insurance, whereas on house or commercial policies the commission + operating costs are generally a much larger percentage.
zippykona
Full MemberThat’s if you can actually call them up.
Which companies are good at answering their phones?
IME Churchill are. And not just for taking your money but also for claims and stuff. It's mostly why I've stuck with them even when they've not been quite the cheapest, they were absolutely superb for the claims we made- a house fire, a series of breakins, and a written off car. Literally negotiated me upwards by a grand for one of the break-ins, fast payouts, no fuss with builders etc.
To be fair, that's a good point.. Years ago I was with hastings and they tried 1000% to palm me off to some pirate 3rd party claims managent company....
on a non fault claim... the 3rd parties insurers were much easier to deal with as it was a cut and dry case, hire car straight away, ( a brand new merc) where as hastings 'couldn't find a hire car'
Errm, no, you are my insurers, you sort it, that's what I pay you for.
The entire car insurance industry is a convoluted mess.
Just had my renewal through. Was £280 up to £411!
just done very quick quotes on confused and it’s coming out £600+ !
Subaru Legacy 2007. 4kmiles a year. Edinburgh 45yo male and 47yo female both full no claims and neither ever had a conviction. £350 up from £250
Nissan leaf 2015. 5k miles.a year £300 up from £240 for same people.
Oh and direct line, they tend to always be cheapest for us. Have occasionally gone to admiral or Aviva but no other companies get close.
Insurance companies really ****ing rip the arse out of consumers. Having said that I decided to get on the gravy train and bought shares in Aviva, Legal and General and they give great returns. I consider the share payments as rebates.
Its been a tough one this year and i expect it to continue.
Golf 1.4tsi up from £275 to £550
Audi RS4 up from £800 to £1500 (most north of 3k and up to 6k!!)
Both old low value cars though.
Thing is in the last year the wife got points (that i didnt find out about till renewal), The house roof went through the back of her car resulting in a claim for property and car and i wrote off an M3.
So yea sorry about that a lot of this is probably my fault....
My car insurance is half the cost of my van insurance. Car: 9yr old MINI Cooper SD (2ltr, 170bhp) with a few modifications. Van: 6yr old Transit Custom dual-cab (2ltr and slow...).
It shows the risk factors/cost of claims associated with vans are exceptionally high compared to what I'd class as a high-risk small hot hatch largely owned by nobbers. Even my previous car (17yr old Vauxhall Monaro - bascially a muscle car with a 400bhp 6ltr V8) was similar cost to insure as the MINI.
2012 Volvo c30 D2, currently insured by RAC.
I’m 52 with no points, 20+ years no claims; was £178 last year & just rocketed up to £195 this year. That’s fully comp’ with 5k miles (I rarely do over 3k in my own car), European cover, £0 voluntary excess & £150 compulsory excess.
Coupled with £0 VEL, & 50+ mpg from an asthmatic 1.6 diesel it’s about as cheap motoring as I could get.
Errm, no, you are my insurers, you sort it, that’s what I pay you for.
Er, no they aren't. Hastings is a broker, not an insurer. But yes, they should still be sorting you out.
The third party insurer helps you for two main reasons; it's cheaper if they just sort it; if you're impressed then you'll go to them for a quote.
Oh, and there's no regulator or ombudsman protection if the repairs are crap. You're on your own to take action in court.
My daughter has just had her renewal letter.
22 years old, 2005 1.3 Yaris, 6000 miles/year, 4 years NCB, black box (Tesco)
£403 last year, up to £437 this. The broker I often use can't get anywhere near this. This is the first time it hasn't come down in price.
Hmm, Just checked again as renewal for Aygo is due in a month, and the quotes are £1,200 up from £800. It's a 13 year old £2k car. Flippin heck. Daughter and son insured.
Aygo is due in a month, and the quotes are £1,200
You could buy them a bike each for that.
Just had a look on Money Saving Expert and there was a very interesting and Very relevant bit of info there, borne out by a test I did: the best time to get a quote is ~26 days before your insurance is due.
I just did a quick test checking for insurance to start on 19 Nov and it was almost half what I've been quoted assuming I wanted it to start before the end of October - £681 vs £1197
I was going to test the dates to see if it is a bit cheaper
Tried putting in November 18th and made no difference.
No difference here. Just awaiting the current insurer's renewal quote.
£680 for an Audi a5. (Up from £320 on my previous car which was 1/10 the value). Despite going for the least chavvy - and therefore hopefully less Nick able- configuration I assume theft is still the main driving force behind claims for my demographic. I know 2 people that have had cars stolen from their drives, a third nearly lost a motor home. No other major claims (that any of my friends would admit to at least) in the same period.
Back in feb when I first started idly window shopping I could have insured a £30k Cayman for £390. Regret passing that up now!
Ox - I did the same in that I got online quotes from 28 to 7 days before my renewal date; no meaningful difference.
Just had my renewal through
was £320 up to £510. No claims, convictions, nothing.. Even with the free £250 excess cover go compere offer nothing is coming in cheaper than my renewal cost..
That's bonkers...
Just renewed the insurance on the camper. Last year, £256. This year, £264. 🙂
67-S4 14yrNCB, last year Aviva £340, this year £680.
AABeam £450 same cover.
Cheaper available £250 but only 3* on trust pilot thus avoided.
Just renewed the insurance on the camper. Last year, £256. This year, £264.
I reckon you've done pretty well for whatever reason!
My renewal quote was £360, up from last year's £180. I hit the comparison sites and the best I could manage was £236. Not too horrendous I suppose, but still a 31% bump from last year. That's with mileage down from 10k to 8k, oldish driver in an oldish 320d so car value probably isn't a big factor.
I reckon you’ve done pretty well for whatever reason!
TBF it's only insured for 5k miles a year on a specialist camper/motorhome policy, and I've no third-party cover for driving other vehicles. But, yeah, happy with that.
Even with the free £250 excess cover go compere offer nothing is coming in cheaper than my renewal cost.
I'm sure there's a host of reasons why it's gone up.
Ox – I did the same in that I got online quotes from 28 to 7 days before my renewal date; no meaningful difference.
Yeah at this point I think they just push a big red random number generator button. Just had a prospective quote for adding a supercharger and taking it to ~725 bhp. £1100 on the nose, 7000 miles/year, fully comp with all the usual extras.
That's cheaper than some quotes I've had for the car as standard.
Note - I'm not adding a supercharger, that would be ludicrous
I’m sure there’s a host of reasons why it’s gone up.
Nicely done
was £320 up to £510. No claims, convictions, nothing.. Even with the free £250 excess cover go compere offer nothing is coming in cheaper than my renewal cost..
That's about what mine went to but managed to get £250 with comparison sites. Admittedly it's with a company I've never heard of but 🤷♂️
£987 fully comp on a Peugeot 208 110 Tech edition.But only started driving again in June. After years of year round motorcycle commuting.
£150 on a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 Sports Tourer. Been riding since 2003.
Ive pretty much gone the other way, ditched the car and commuting by a motorbike/moped and am worried about having no noclaims if I get another car in the future.
To maintain my no claims discount I'm insuring the family car in my wife's name one year, mine the next and so on. So that there's no more than a year's gap in qualifying bonus.
am worried about having no noclaims if I get another car in the future.
It's not too bad if you are on the wrong side of 40yo. with a sensible car, think honda jazz rather than M5.
I went ten years without a car as I commuted by train and seemed pointless to pay to maintain one.. I have my bike/taxis.
Typicaly you'll lose any NCD after two years if you don't have your own policy, not sure how it would work with a multi car policy, or as a named driver though, if you are not the 'main' policy holder I suspect it won't apply, but YMMV.
I spent a lot of money on taxis, but it was less than what I would have spent on maintaining and fueling a car, on balance.
Renewal in for my Vito van with direct line, £418 last year with zero ncb, renewal £582.
Quick scan on Confused.com and Admiral come in at £360, that'll do.
Thanks mattfez, yeah, that was my thinking but I'm exceedingly tight so although I've managed to prise the wallet open for a couple of trains so far I've never quite got up the courage for a taxi, instead walking the 3.5miles from the train station up into the village I live in. My logic being if I'd go for a walk in the woods for an hour, why not this to avoid a taxi fare lol
Daughter has her second test next week - 6 months between a minor failure. Insurance due at end of month. She's insured but hasn't been using the Aygo, son has as his 'track' car is in need of repair (big brake upgrade).
Quotes have jumped 50%, but will wait to see if she passes.
VOLVO V50 1.6d (Some mods) – £845.99, 2yr NCB, 22yr old son
...
Last year:
VOLVO V50 1.6d (Some mods) – £936.75, 1yr NCB, 21yr old son
Side note: this speaks to how wildly risky young drivers are. At a time when everyone else has gone up 50%, just making it from 21 to 22 alive made the premium fall 10%!
just making it from 21 to 22 alive made the premium fall 10%!
... and of course there's also the extra year's NCD.
I have just discovered that a much more valuable, VW Camper without any no-claims bonus is cheaper to insure than a Leon 1.4tsi FR estate with 10 years NCB....?
The camper does have a tracker and aftermarket alarm, but wow....
a much more valuable, VW Camper without any no-claims bonus
Valuable because it's old? Or new?
I can understand it easier if it's old. Newer might be a bit more of a stretch as I thought there was a healthy 2nd hand/dodgy market.
Maybe people just don't crash VW campers so much?
Which is surprising, because they're so busy waving at each other they hardly ever have their hands on the wheel.
Campers low risk of accidents probably, generally lower mileage, ours has always been cheap even when it’s been a daily driver.
Who have you insured with Matt? Brentacre have been good recently.
2 cars on due on same day (Weds this week!) with same insurer…now £438…renewal £543. Done a bit of option-finding elsewhere today and can’t it much better with like for like cover. They said on the phone today it was their best price - maybe they weren’t actually lying. Bollocks.
I’ve only owned 5 cars in 33 years but the insurance has always been around the £350 ballpark. My insurance stayed roughly the same this year.
There’s also only 3 years age difference between my first car and my current car.
Do the prices include many extras and add ons like legal insurance, breakdown etc?