Current favourite insurers?

Ken Long

Ken Long

Member
Insurance renewal time and AXA have put our fully comp policy up £25 despite having no claims in the year we've owned the A2. So I'm shopping around, and a cursory search on Go Compare shows a number of cheaper policies are available. Not all insurers are created equal however so I'm interested to know who you'd recommend.
Looking at fully comp, social use only, agreed value, and lowish excess.
 
as an example, 1st Central Online are probably £75 cheaper than AXA, and include windscreen cover, key cover, personal cover, contenst cover, courtesy car and driving abroad cover.
 
I use SAGA, one of the benefits of getting old sadly! But the price was loads cheaper than any other supplier.
 
Ken Long said:
Insurance renewal time and AXA have put our fully comp policy up £25 despite having no claims in the year
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I would grab that without hesitation on the basis you must of been happy with the premium last year. £25 is noise. I've seen some articles about insurance almost doubling this year despite the policyholder having the same car at the same address and no claims. Insurers are saying cost of parts and labour have shot up, especially for recent models & EVs. Yes, we have older cars but any car we hit is bound to be newer.

It could be that some insurers are deliberately contracting their customer base or even exiting over a few years.
 
Clackers said:
I use SAGA, one of the benefits of getting old sadly! But the price was loads cheaper than any other supplier.
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Saga premium for the A2 went up this year, but not by much, so i shopped around and for the same cover my best price was only within £2-3 or so. hence stayed with Saga. However two years ago they obviously had a dislike for the SEAT and there renewal was nearly £400 more than i got wth Tesco.
 
Before you go with any insurer (note, not broker - I mean the underwriter who will be named on any certificate), make sure to check their rep on Trustpilot - search for the word “claim” as the experience of those who actually had to make one is what you’re looking for.

I’m with Adrian Flux - but that’s in large part because very few insurers will insure me (modified, agreed value, business use). They have been excellent to deal with and Markerstudy (my underwriter) we’re similarly excellent when I claimed earlier this year.

I do agree with the above comment though, £25 isn’t much and it’s well-publicised that car insurance costs this year have risen substantially Ken.
 
A good friend of mine used to work for his own independent insurance broker and advised me that insurance companies charge 'sucker' rates for folk that stay with the same insurer for years on end, they put the premiums up every year to off set the cheaper prices offered to new customers. He advised me to constantly shop around, or contact the company you are insured with and challenge their renewal price...they will then drop you down to the 'new customer' price. I think the uk gov have now stopped this practise, but I will always challenge a new price that they send me, and often get it reduced for the sake of a 10min call. My renewal quote this year was £133 fully comp that is with commuting and business use too, a lot of folk don't have the commuting bit, and if they have a bump, when asked where they were going and they say I was on the way to work, their insurance is nil and void...please be aware of this...the joys of knowing someone in the insurance trade is great!
 
'Price walking' like this has indeed now been made illegal. Insurance companies (and others such as broadband providers) now have to charge the same price to new and existing customers alike. Obviously for insurance, this will still vary with the customer's risk profile position, which may be such that the company no longer wants that business and quotes higher (to everyone in that position) to discourage it. So it's still worth having at least a cursory check through the usual comparison sites to see you can get the same or better cover elsewhere for cheaper.
 
We`ve used Quote Me Happy for many years now. All On Line. Self Service amendments to Policy are Free of Charge as you make the changes yourself e.g. adding / removing drivers.

Steve U
 
In Today's The i News paper

The i News Motor Insurance 2023-09-05.jpg
 
Sainsbury's would have insured the A2 fully comp for £50 but my son wanted to learn to drive so I moved to RAC at £350. He changed his mind, bicycles are better :rolleyes: . Next year probably yet another car with Saga.
 
Insuring the 2004 A2 I now have was approx £40 more expensive than it was to insure my 2005 3 litre Z4 convertible last year. I was a little surprised.
 
Last Wednesday's i News had a full page article "Brexit or Inflation? How did motor insurance get so expensive". Reasons given:

  • Claims inflation is a lot higher than general inflation - motor claims +33% over the last year (ABI)
  • Fraud is rising
  • Insurers pricing forward - i.e. they are expecting claims to keep rising ahead of general inflation
  • Insurers recouping previous losses
  • Lack of transparency in insurers costs
  • Brexit has led to supply chain shortages
  • 2nd hand cars increased in price during the pandemic.
  • Current age of a garage owner is 65 and many are now retiring, so less competition
  • The number of autobody shops has fallen 20% over the last decade#
  • Legislation outlawing the practice of discounts for new customers
  • Rising claims as people's mileage and driving habits return to pre-pandemic levels
  • The rise in EVs - higher repair costs (batteries and all the electronics)
  • Admiral increased prices 20% this year and others are following suit
The article did quoted some independent industry analyst saying the insurers could manage the whole repair system more effectively. For example choosing garages that have better supply chain management. Suggests to me the whole repair system could benefit from a chain of repairers with good electronic links to suppliers and insurers so they can give estimates very quickly plus accurate repair times.

I would add: Because insurance is compulsory there is no incentive to be competitive on price and they just accept customer churn knowing for every customer they loose they will gain one from elsewhere. The risk is more uninsured drivers and the insurers still paying out but without the income.

I know my independent Audi/VW (they don't do body work repairs (AFAIK) were struggling to find an auto electrician and have yet to train someone in EV battery / system repairs.
 
Alan_uk said:
In Today's The i News paper

View attachment 112827
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All the EVs being written off, because no one can test/certify that the battery pack, (sealed for safety), is to spec post repair.
That's how the "convert your classic to an EV" industry get there batteries.
Also the scraping of older, (cheap to fix), cars, results in newer replacements that are not so cheap to fix!
Mac.
 
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