Car Insurance €500 dearer with 3-day difference in renewal date!?

TLF

I am posting this as I am in shock (putting it mildly) and wondering if anyone has insight or experienced anything similar. For full disclosure I've also posted it on AAM so hope that's ok.

My car insurance is due for renewal on the 29th October (with Aviva). The renewal quote is ca. €880. I tried a 'dummy' quote online with Aviva with the same details (to see if new customer policy would be cheaper) but by mistake I put in a renewal date of 1st November and got a quote of ca. €370.

I rang Aviva today to see if they could do any better with my quote. I mentioned I had done an online quote and there was a huge difference based on the date, but expected this was some sort of glitch.

The Agent said, No, this was probably correct, as a weighting is applied based on the renewal date. So if more claims are processed in October this would drive up the renewal cost!!

I cannot believe this is a) possible b) allowed c) not spotted already. Has anyone ever come across this? I feel like I need to complain to someone but not sure where to start.

Also, if I let my insurance lapse for 3 days and effectively take out a new policy - can anyone think of any risks (apart from something happening to my car)? The agent said if I did this it would not affect my No Claim Bonus but I'd be slightly nervous. She said there was no way I could extend my existing policy to cover the 3 days.

Park up your car for 3 days somewhere safe, apart from not being able to drive it, I can’t see any risks associated with delaying policy start date.

Atlantic Dawn

Park it up for 3 days.

Have you tried to get alternative quotes from other providers?

Ten Pin

No claims bonus is generally valid for 2 years.

Not sure if this type of situation is specifically covered by the insurance reform legislation but it's moot at the moment as the minister hasn't enacted the relevant sections that would stop similar behavior which I think is called 'dual pricing'.

Apparently the optimum time to get a quote is 20-26 days in advance of policy start/renewal date so that might also be a factor.

This is from UK...
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/12/car-insurance-optimum-time-to-buy/

DopeTech

What price do you get if you enter in the correct date online?

screamer

It’s nothing to do with the date, it’s the fact that as a new customer they’d give you a better price. They all work on the basis that existing customers won’t go elsewhere and hike the renewals.

Darc19

screamer wrote: »

It’s nothing to do with the date, it’s the fact that as a new customer they’d give you a better price. They all work on the basis that existing customers won’t go elsewhere and hike the renewals.

Not always and not that difference.

But probably a combination of things including that it is over two weeks before the start of the policy. More than 2 weeks and they think you are shopping around.

Try AIG, do it online and add a partner or parent and the rate drops.

Both myself and herself are with AIG and her policy was €370 and mine €420 (class 2 business driving)

RachelsCousin

It makes absolutely no sense. The changes based on renewal date are generally very small.

You'll get a better price as a new customer, but not less than half price. There's something else different between the details you provided to them, either your car, address, or claims / driving history.
Put in the correct renewal date, and see what the quote is.

Bicyclette

Ring the AA for a quote.

Yes, they are a broker. But they are very competitive. I have my 24 year old daughter - a learner driver, myself and my husband all comprehensively insured on my (compact) car for €1,000.

It might work out better for you, or it might not. But an enquiry won't cost you anything.

Del2005

What are the quotes from other companies like for both dates?

shane b

Same happened me last year. My policy is due 5th of November. Got a quote in mid October and re-entered the same details 2 weeks later in the start of November and there was 200 euro of a difference.
liberty insurance said loadings change weekly and their quotes dont hold for more than 7 days.
Have my renewal and so far the 3 quotes I've got are all in or around the one figure but still more than my renewal.

TLF

It's definitely the date - if I use the exact same quote but change the date to my real renewal date (and change nothing else) it matches my original quote of €870.

Tried AA alright and it's coming in around €100 cheaper (than 870). Also tried AXA but not much of saving.

Most interestingly, for both AA and Axa whether I use 29-Oct or 1-Nov the quote doesn't change.

I've gone ahead and bought the new policy - for 370 it's a no brainer at the moment and agree with those of you suggesting just parking up the car for 3 days- I'll still be amazed if this goes through as I do think it's some sort of glitch, but it'll be interesting to see what happens now. The agent did say if I buy a fresh policy someone would likely ring me due to the gap in insurance.

whiterebel

I’ve seen this said before, that the rate holds high up to the renewal date and goes down dramatically afterwards. Won’t surprise me with the insurance industry in this country.

boardz

TLF wrote: »

It's definitely the date - if I use the exact same quote but change the date to my real renewal date (and change nothing else) it matches my original quote of €870.

Tried AA alright and it's coming in around €100 cheaper (than 870). Also tried AXA but not much of saving.

Most interestingly, for both AA and Axa whether I use 29-Oct or 1-Nov the quote doesn't change.

I've gone ahead and bought the new policy - for 370 it's a no brainer at the moment and agree with those of you suggesting just parking up the car for 3 days- I'll still be amazed if this goes through as I do think it's some sort of glitch, but it'll be interesting to see what happens now. The agent did say if I buy a fresh policy someone would likely ring me due to the gap in insurance.

All very strange....please update the thread and let us know how you got on.

Darc19

I suspect that there's an error in their system.


I wonder what it would give others for that particular date.

jimmycrackcorm

Bear in mind that with AA quotes, motor rescue isn't usually included and you'd need to take out AA breakdown cover which adds and extra cost.

Most other policies generally provide breakdown cover.

theteal

Yeah I've done this several times now at this stage OP. It's quite common to save a bundle by letting the policy end and signing back up the following day. I've never done an automatic renewal in my life but I've not necessarily always changed provider. There is no loyalty with these places.

In coincidental timing, I did hear on the radio this past week that the practice of gouging existing customers is to be banned over here (UK). No doubt this will cost people like me more money.

SomethingElse

How long of a gap can you leave in your insurance before it hurts your NCB etc?

Ten Pin

2 years AFAIK. It's mentioned in their terms when they ask where & when NCB was obtained.

Darc19

SomethingElse wrote: »

How long of a gap can you leave in your insurance before it hurts your NCB etc?

2 years, but you can negotiate. I was almost 3 years out with commercial insurance and as I had 8 years with them (axa) before the three year break, they allowed it. (I have separate car policy)

TLF

Hi everyone,
Didn't get a chance to update the thread until now, but in summary, the renewal has gone through successfully at the (crazily) lower price!

There was a bit of palaver alright but it was worth the hassle. I signed up for the new policy online and then had to submit my NCB cert. When I did that, I got an email from the (offshore) team saying I had to cancel the policy and submit a new one on the existing renewal date.

Rang the customer service (in Ireland) and they said no, not required. Everything is fine - but we will need to ring you when the new policy starts to do a gap in insurance questionnaire. In the meantime they sent a new insurance disc for the first month.

They then rang as promised (the same agent in Ireland) on the 2nd Nov (1st was a Sunday) and all I had to answer was whether the car was driven during the gap (no), had I driven another car (yes), was I a named driver on the other car (yes). That was it - they've since sent the full policy and disc.

I'm completely gobsmacked about all of this (and also delighted and annoyed in equal measure IYKWIM) and it'll be very interesting to see what happens next year.

FGR

Nice one OP - something I need to look out for.

I wonder in my case if I'm the subject of a glitch as I've renewed with An Post for four years in a row - reason being that the quote cannot be beaten. I'm paying less than €500 for fully comp for a car that I'm getting no less than quotes in excess of €900+ from everyone else. This is something I check religiously each year.

I put it down to the fact that, when I put the reg into their car checker it came up as the same model of car but completely different spec. Says it's the luxury model with 4x4 drive so I had to call them and they updated the quote with the model of car which is on my VLC. When I did that the quote dropped by €300!

Don't trust what those auto reg checkers - a lot of sites are correct but others are not and it will either bite you like this, or worse, when it comes to claim time.