I paid almost £4000 for car insurance back in 2000

cantdecide · 08-05-2013 1:38pm #1

It was sheer exploitation. It might be the equivalent of €7000+ today? Car insurance for young men at the time was an absolute scandal and subsequently, it came down to less outrageous numbers only after government intervention.

Idiot is what you're thinking but wait... I was 18, loved cars, lived in the middle of nowhere and had no access to another vehicle or public transport and a bicycle wasn't a viable option due to distances and safety. I would have spent those kinds of number on taxis to work. It was Hobson's choice.

Now that I'm a grown-up and not some punk kid any more, I often think about how the industry corralled us into the hands of Quinn to be either stripped or told eff off. Would you seek recourse?

FTR, I've never had an accident, claim or conviction having driven almost continuously since.

The Backwards Man · 08-05-2013 1:41pm

I paid 1.50 for a 99 on blackpool pier in 1997.

What was the question again?

Praetorian Saighdiuir · 08-05-2013 1:41pm

Yuuuuuup!

I was 20 in 2001. I had a 1990 <1 litre Nissan Micra. It cost me £1300. The insurance was £3,600.

Feck you Quinn Insurance!

SEPT 23 1989 · 08-05-2013 1:43pm

I paid 3200 punts a year for third party on a 1 litre to get on the road

but the freedom a set of wheels brought was worth it

tinkerbell · 08-05-2013 1:43pm

Well Mr Quinn had to make sure he charged enough on your insurance so he could afford to pay for his daughter's €100,000 wedding cake :pac:

Gumbo · 08-05-2013 1:49pm

i was 20 in 2001, bought my first car off my parents, a 1998 Honda Civic 1.4 HB which they had owned since new.

Quinn were the only company insuring young first timers at the time, i paid £4,600 Irish Pounds

cantdecide · 08-05-2013 1:49pm

Praetorian Saighdiuir wrote: »

I had a 1990 <1 litre Nissan Micra. It cost me £1300. The insurance was £3,600.

My car was £800! After all the expense of getting on the road, all I seemed to do was drive to scrap yards looking for bits...

tinkerbell wrote: »

Well Mr Quinn had to make sure he charged enough on your insurance so he could afford to pay for his daughter's €100,000 wedding cake :pac:

I didn't even get a feckin' invite

Faith+1 · 08-05-2013 1:52pm

kceire wrote: »

i was 20 in 2001, bought my first car off my parents, a 1998 Honda Civic 1.4 HB which they had owned since new.

Quinn were the only company insuring young first timers at the time, i paid £4,600 Irish Pounds

F*ck!!! :eek:

Dravokivich · 08-05-2013 1:53pm

That farce that is insurance rates in this country is what's always put me off getting a car and even learning to drive.

Folks always say "But sure it comes down over the years." bollocks to that. It's extortionate.

wandatowell · 08-05-2013 1:53pm

€2,800 for my first year in a 1999 Opel Astra. That was 7 years ago now. Jesus that car was mint though. Myself and the old chap scoured the country looking for the right car. Had some laugh those weekends. Ok it was only two weekends but still.

The insurance halfed every year until I hit the €500 mark, where its seemed to have stopped shrinking.

gurramok · 08-05-2013 2:05pm

And yet people who were financially raped by those companies when they were young are still giving them their business many years later. :rolleyes:

jam_mac_jam · 08-05-2013 2:07pm

oh well, just be thankful you didnt buy a house.

wardy2 · 08-05-2013 2:18pm

Back in 2004 i was 17 and My first insurance was with Quinn for a Opel Corsa 1.0 and the total was for €5,000 the crap thing was the car cost €6,000....

Gumbo · 08-05-2013 2:29pm

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

oh well, just be thankful you didnt buy a house.

Some of us did

But hey, its an investment

cantdecide · 08-05-2013 2:32pm

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

oh well, just be thankful you didnt buy a house.

I almost bought one in Summer 2006 :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

That would have been even more financially badly timed than the car insurance:o Luckiest day I ever had was the day it all fell through.

phasers · 08-05-2013 2:34pm

Insurance for my 1.4l orange Peugeot 206 was €1,400.

I miss that car

I drove it into a gate because I'm a moron

TPD · 08-05-2013 2:38pm

Insurance rates have come down dramatically since, right? Right!? Aiming to have my test done and a car bought before autumn.

endacl · 08-05-2013 2:40pm

I can beat all of those. First car was a Renault 5. I was the third friend in a row to come into ownership of it. Bought for the princely sum of ... A pint!

So, the car cost about three quid in old money, plus change of ownership plus three months tax. I was 20, and quoted 5200 for insurance. Scrapped the car and stuck to the push bike...

SkadooshJ · 08-05-2013 2:42pm

I got my first car in 2007, my insurance was €1800 on a 1.4 golf. Its currently €700 on a 1.4 Civic

smash · 08-05-2013 2:49pm

kceire wrote: »

i was 20 in 2001, bought my first car off my parents, a 1998 Honda Civic 1.4 HB which they had owned since new.

So it was only 3 years old then... You make it sound like it was a banger.

martinedwards · 08-05-2013 3:00pm

Ah all you young 'un whinging about car insutrance!

My Dad in law is complainging because at 78 his is going back up again!

Bottom line is that (a few) kids who have only just learned to drive think that they are pro rally drivers and smash up themselves, thier 6 mates in the car, the mum pushing a double buggy, a bus shelter and 2 Mercs.

I have a collegus whos in his late 50s.

he asked a pupil who was complaining about car insurance to mime driving.

he leant back, one arm strainght ot and nodded his head along to the imaginary beat.

"Ah" says Sammy "when your mime becomes sitting up straight with both hands on the wheel, and the music turned down so you can hear the ambulance coming up behind you, you might get sensibly priced insurance."

wisdom!

cantdecide · 08-05-2013 3:18pm

martinedwards wrote: »

Ah all you young 'un whinging about car insutrance!

If the price was right back in 2000, how come it's less than half for yungfellas these days?

I think they knew there would be no need to justify themselves knowing there would be a lot of support for screwing the boy racers...

tin79 · 08-05-2013 3:43pm

Dravokivich wrote: »

That farce that is insurance rates in this country is what's always put me off getting a car and even learning to drive.

Folks always say "But sure it comes down over the years." bollocks to that. It's extortionate.

Enjoy the bus so. Peasant.

Dravokivich · 08-05-2013 3:47pm

tin79 wrote: »

Enjoy the bus so. Peasant.

I'd rather pay a little for something, than hand over bags of money for nothing.

seanogwalsh · 08-05-2013 3:49pm

Only got on the road recently, in a 1.3 toyota starlet that cost me the princely sum of €450. The very cheapest policy I could get, third party only, is costing me €1950. Kind of sickening. I was quoted five grand by one company!

Mr Benevolent · 08-05-2013 3:59pm

I paid €1500 for my first insurance in 2011 as a 31 year old man. Ah, the benefits of starting late. Didn't need a car until then.

This year my insurance was €380

3qsmavrod5twfe · 08-05-2013 4:08pm

First car was a 1994 1.3l Lancer, cost me €1300, paid €3300 for isurance. This was in 2003. And that was with a substantial discount cos the lad in FBD was doing me a favour at the time.

AnarchistKen · 08-05-2013 4:25pm

I know a fella that paid €6k for a little 1 litre Peugeot 106 (first car). Car was only worth €3k. Full license and all.

Somewhere Sean Quinn and his family are still laughing at this.

Jester252 · 08-05-2013 4:36pm

Must be the time we live in or I'm lucky. '97 1.3L Fiesta (that I got as a gift from my sister as she hadn't used in in three years) a insured for €1,100. Got my full licence and now its under a grand in 2012.

grey_so_what · 08-05-2013 4:43pm

I wonder how much is £1,100 is worth today compared to 1981? - First insurance PMPA - still have the receipt.......

Thank God for growing old........:rolleyes::eek:

or....

Maybe not......:D:D

I'm not sure I want to know the answer....

Mini HL....with a lovely dash, what a dream car!

BlimpGaz · 08-05-2013 4:53pm

You'd hardly even get an Eastern European prossy to like yer micky wit that.

Sure you're not female? Female's getting cheap car insurance because of their gender's a disgrace.

grey_so_what · 08-05-2013 5:00pm

BlimpGaz wrote: »

You'd hardly even get an Eastern European prossy to like yer micky wit that.

Sure you're not female? Female's getting cheap car insurance because of their gender's a disgrace.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Gumbo · 08-05-2013 5:16pm

smash wrote: »

So it was only 3 years old then... You make it sound like it was a banger.

Not once do I imply it was a banger. I highlighted my insurance premium at the time ?

Technoprisoner · 08-05-2013 5:19pm

i paid £3800 for my first insurance...next years renewal was €3800

i wonder if i could claim it all back now:rolleyes:

Praetorian Saighdiuir · 08-05-2013 5:23pm

kceire wrote: »

Not once do I imply it was a banger. I highlighted my insurance premium at the time ?

kceire wrote: »

i was 20 in 2001, bought my first car off my parents, a 1998 Honda Civic 1.4 HB which they had owned since new.

Weeeeelllll,

It's the highlighted bit that makes it sound like you had an aul banger. You know yerself that it's a term usually associated with something that someone had for a long time.

It doesn't work when you say things like "Aw, that was a nice ice cream, I owned it since new"...but the ice cream was 10 minutes old.

Ya poshy!

Potential-Monke · 08-05-2013 5:28pm

grey_so_what wrote: »

I wonder how much is £1,100 is worth today compared to 1981? - First insurance PMPA - still have the receipt.......

Can't find an Irish one, but the UK Pound in 1981 works out as:

£1100 in 1981 = £3993 today.

grey_so_what · 08-05-2013 5:36pm

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Can't find an Irish one, but the UK Pound in 1981 works out as:

£1100 in 1981 = £3993 today.

God Bless the Credit Union....:)

IM0 · 08-05-2013 5:38pm

insurance rates reflect risk. As a young un you are high risk for doing stupid shit, so stupid insurance costs

cantdecide · 08-05-2013 5:48pm

IM0 wrote: »

insurance rates reflect risk. As a young un you are high risk for doing stupid shit, so stupid insurance costs

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

Look at yer own sig!!

TINA1984 · 08-05-2013 6:27pm

You probably paid a fortune for car insurance back in the day because it was quite common for people to apply for a provisional licence, get it, slap on the L plates and drive around on your own happy out without having a clue about the basics of driving & the ROTR. All you needed to do was fill out a form to get your little green licencse.

In otherwords ye were high risk people to insure, as such you weren't being ripped off, just paying a reasonable price given how much of a potential liability you were on the roads.

Pedro K · 08-05-2013 6:41pm

The insurance industry in Ireland is still a joke. There's practically no market for any petrol car with an engine capacity over 1.6. No market for performance cars, even when you get to your 40s and 50s there's still only about two underwriters in the country who will take them on. Certain occupations are near impossible to get quotes for, even if your car won't be used in connection with the occupation.

Motorcycle insurance is fairly bad due to lack of underwriters as well.

Mugs game.

Cian92 · 08-05-2013 6:42pm

TINA1984 wrote: »

You probably paid a fortune for car insurance back in the day because it was quite common for people to apply for a provisional licence, get it, slap on the L plates and drive around on your own happy out without having a clue about the basics of driving & the ROTR. All you needed to do was fill out a form to get your little green licencse.

In otherwords ye were high risk people to insure, as such you weren't being ripped off, just paying a reasonable price given how much of a potential liability you were on the roads.

Sure all that's different now, is you have to do a theory test!

I got a grand deal, I started driving at 17 and paid €900 on a Fiat Punto.

I've got it down to about €500 now, but there are still companies that will quote up to €2,500 (I'm looking at you Aviva, and Axa and FBD). Each year I have shopped around and Quinn have been the cheapest.

Why did prices come down so much?

0ph0rce0 · 08-05-2013 6:49pm

Paid 1800 for my first policy.

In that year passed my test and got my full license and got my 1 year no claims,

the same company quoted me 1950 the next year :rolleyes:

350 now

I paid almost £4000 for car insurance back in 2000

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