Motor insurance- is a rise in price inevitable?

take everything

Just renewing my motor insurance there and, just like last year, they tell me insurance is going up regardless of claims i make etc.
Just wanna get a feel for what other motorists' experiences are in this regard.
Admittedly this crowd i'm with will give me a few quid off the increased price but it still works out marginally more than last year (about 20 euro)
I've had no claims with them apart from a window last year (which they don't count as a claim).

I know, i know- shop around.
But is this a trend that i should accept and not worry about 20 euro?

Has anyone's insurance actually DECREASED recently?

TwoShedsJackson

I wouldn't bother switching for the sake of 20 euro. But as you say, ring around, no insurance company is going to decrease your premium straight off, they're going to increase it and hope you say nothing.

So if you ring around and get something a good bit cheaper, go back to them and tell them so, if they want to keep your business they'll match it, if they don't, they won't.

Atomic Pineapple

Mine increased by nearly €400 with Quinn this year, quick initial ring around and I'm getting quotes that match last years quote no problem so I reckon with a bit more searching I can get it cheaper than last year.

So always worth ringing around.

Mine is up in April I think, as I'm just recently out of my late 20s (:pac:) and now have no penalty points I hope to attain cover for less than last year.

MidlandsM

Motor insurance- is a rise in price inevitable?

it's happened a while now.

johndaman66

I'd be surprised if you already have built up a full ncb and you get it for any less than last year, assuming all other particulars remain unchanged. My renewal premium on a 1.6 litre family saloon was €350 in January 2008. Changed to a piddly 1.0 litre VW Polo hatcback for a spell in November, 2008. Didn't get a rebate...fair enough there was only a few months to run. Renewed in January, 2009 in the piddly 1.0 litre Polo and premium was €350...shopped around and the best quote I could get besides was €360 for lesser cover. A couple of months later I changed back to a 1.6 litre family saloon again and was asked to fork out an additional €160 extra to so. You can see how my insurance effectively went up. If I were to look elsewhere they weren't going to rebate me pro rata and I couldn't stick it in that ball of junk VW polo any longer! Needless to say will be shopping around in the next few weeks...think you should do the same OP. You might be lucky and end up with the same premium but unlikely I reckon, if as I say you had a full NCB at renewal time last year and there are no other change in particulars.

johndaman66

draffodx wrote: »

Mine increased by nearly €400 with Quinn this year

I think the Government levy they add to their premium now accounts for a hefty little sum am I right in saying?

MidlandsM

johndaman66 wrote: »

I think the Government levy they add to their premium now accounts for a hefty little sum am I right in saying?

no, its just the new people running Quinn have changed their risk/terms/premiums. They are re-positioning away from younger drivers.

vectra

Got renewal notice from Quinn. = 1082

went online and filled in details for a new quote.
Got one for 1004
Almost 80 euro cheaper

Guess what
it was with Quinn as well..
How can that be??

paying it tomorrow :pac:

Gumbo

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

I wouldn't bother switching for the sake of 20 euro.

i have an excell sheet with every insurance company on it and i ring around every year without fail!

if another company is offering the same policy for 10euro cheaper and my existing company wont match it i swap out of principle.

challengemaster

vectra wrote: »

Got renewal notice from Quinn. = 1082

went online and filled in details for a new quote.
Got one for 1004
Almost 80 euro cheaper

Guess what
it was with Quinn as well..
How can that be??

paying it tomorrow :pac:

I've done that for the last two years, knocked atleast 200 off each time

Atlantic Dawn

I think once you hit the average Joe Motorist criteria of being 30+, full no claims and drive a Corolla, Golf or Astra your pretty much going to find zero competition and all will creep up slightly. Where there is some competition is in rare cars some with high risk attached to them and also variations for younger male drivers from companies wishing to take the business and others giving a PFO quote as they have taken on enough risk of that category.

With the amount of people unable to pay or keep up with their insurance premiums because of the way the economy has gone it's inevitable that those left paying will have to pay more as claims will increase and profits drop for insurers.

Shane732

Of course insurance premiums are going up. In recent years, from say 2002 onwards, most insurance companies generally made losses on their insurance books due the heavy competition in the market. The insurance companies were able to sustain the losses on the insurance books as the companies were making significant gains on their investments.

The price of premiums almost became secondary, once cash was flowing in and it could be invested everything was okay as nearly any investment was making money. As investments started to lose money insurance companies were no longer able to sustain the losses on their insurance books, thus the increased rates.

The industry has almost come full circle - insurance premiums are now essential to keeping insurance companies investments on track.

jaffa20

kceire wrote: »

i have an excell sheet with every insurance company on it and i ring around every year without fail!

if another company is offering the same policy for 10euro cheaper and my existing company wont match it i swap out of principle.

That spreadsheet would be interesting to see as renewal is coming up for me in february. There should be a sticky on here with all the insurance contact details without the amount of threads there are about it.

I lied to my insurance company last year about how much Quinn were going to cover me for. They matched it:)

Yakuza

It's always worth querying the renewal premium with the company you're with, once you're armed with figures from other companies (or even your own company's new business figures on their website). They are banking on you not taking the time to shop around / don't pay attention to the rewewal notice, and will just like the new debit kick in (if you're on a monthly payment plan).

Once queried, it's amazing how your broker / insurance company will give you the "online" rates once you rattle your sabre a bit by threatening to leave.

Still, for the sake of less than a tenner, I won't bother as to move companies as this means filling out more forms, yadda yadda. Life's too short.

MidlandsM

I note in these threads its always about how much you pay?

Its good to keep a focus on the level of cover, the excess,stepback etc, not just price. The amount of times I've spoken to people who just had a claim and they have no idea of that their policy will and will not cover - all they focussed on was the price at the time and many regret that.

padma

In 2009 my insurance cost me 980 euro for third party insurance with Hibernian, at the end they gave me a renewal quote of 1560, that included a 10% discount, after shopping around I got a new quote of 760 for fully comprehensive insurance, so as far as I can see shopping around is the only way.

Our man in Havana

vectra wrote: »

Got renewal notice from Quinn. = 1082

went online and filled in details for a new quote.
Got one for 1004
Almost 80 euro cheaper

Guess what
it was with Quinn as well..
How can that be??

paying it tomorrow :pac:

challengemaster wrote: »

I've done that for the last two years, knocked atleast 200 off each time

Done it myself too, saved €500. Quinn really are cheeky bastards.

L-M

I rang Quinn just before Christmas for something unrelated, and just asked if they had my quote for next year (due 22nd of Jan). They had and said it would be 980. Perfect, down 500 from last year.

I got a letter in the post this morning saying that the renewal is 1587.67! So I rang them and the girl said it was a mistake and to ignore it. I'm afraid to try and get a cheaper quote off them now incase they delete my old quote and bring me up to 1500!

Our man in Havana

Limerick man wrote: »

I rang Quinn just before Christmas for something unrelated, and just asked if they had my quote for next year (due 22nd of Jan). They had and said it would be 980. Perfect, down 500 from last year.

I got a letter in the post this morning saying that the renewal is 1587.67! So I rang them and the girl said it was a mistake and to ignore it. I'm afraid to try and get a cheaper quote off them now incase they delete my old quote and bring me up to 1500!

Don't be afraid to play their online quote game. The worst that can happen is it will quote more than the renewal. No harm done.

L-M

Haddockman wrote: »

Don't be afraid to play their online quote game. The worst that can happen is it will quote more than the renewal. No harm done.

Yes but they'll be able to see that I tried getting a quote online. I know it sounds like I'm letting them win but I am happy with 980 and don't want to make a hash of it!

Our man in Havana

Ah I thought you said they had renaged on the 980 quote? If they honour the 980 (knowing Quinns you will be lucky) then happy days. If not there is nothing to lose in playing them off against themselves.

hadook

It's definitely worth ringing around. My broker couldn't quite match the best quote I got during my last renewal but managed to find me a policy with slightly better benefits (my insurance now travels fully comp etc) for 17 quid more.

The difference between the original renewal quote and the premium I paid was nearly 200 quid, approx a 40% saving.

L-M

Haddockman wrote: »

Ah I thought you said they had renaged on the 980 quote? If they honour the 980 (knowing Quinns you will be lucky) then happy days. If not there is nothing to lose in playing them off against themselves.

Sorry, they are honouring the 980, I just don't want to go pushing my luck and find I've to pay more!

L-M

Just rang Munster group there, the intial quote was 1180 and I said Quinn were doing it for around 930 they didn't hesitate in saying they'd do it for 830! A 350 quid drop on their intial quote. The only thing holding me back is there third party extenion for driving other cars is limited to 2 litre, but the lad on the phone seemed very vague about it.

Our man in Havana

That is a good result.

MidlandsM

vectra wrote: »

Got renewal notice from Quinn. = 1082

went online and filled in details for a new quote.
Got one for 1004
Almost 80 euro cheaper

Guess what
it was with Quinn as well..
How can that be??

paying it tomorrow :pac:

Haddockman wrote: »

Done it myself too, saved €500. Quinn really are cheeky bastards.

no cheekyier than all the others. They give an online discount for doing business with them online is all.

Our man in Havana

They give an online discount for doing business with them online is all.

There is a discount of around €30 for doing it online, says so on their website. So these mad reductions we can get by playing them is nothing to do with doing business online.

coylemj

Limerick man wrote: »

The only thing holding me back is there third party extenion for driving other cars is limited to 2 litre, but the lad on the phone seemed very vague about it.

Are you sure that's not the limit for comprehensive cover on someone else's car? I'm fully comp. with Axa and have a good NCB, I have comprehensive cover for someone else's car but only for up to 2.5 litres and a value of 30,000 euros, above that I am still covered to drive but only for 3rd party i.e. if I borrow an E280 and drive it into a ditch, it's my problem.

L-M

I think you're thinking of open drive, I asked about third party cover while driving other cars and that was the reply I got.