Today, this 71.6 year-old driver of 47 years with no claims in more than 20 year, gets a renewal warning from Aviva beginning:
You must renew your policy before…for £541.15, up from £441.96 with no good explanation.
I’ve renewed elsewhere for £223.14.
Cheeky rapacious bar stewards?
Just another benefit of the Union?
Insurers forced to prove they have stopped ripping off loyal …
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk › bills › article-10975667
2 Jul 2022 — Rules principally designed to ensure loyal customers – who religiously renew their home or car policy without a fuss – are no longer ripped off …
Loyal insurance customers still being hit by huge price hikeshttps://www.thisismoney.co.uk › bills › article-1092969920 Jun 2022 — We believe new rules designed to ensure customers are no longer exploited are still not working after they were put in place by the FCA.
Car insurance firms use loopholes to keep costs high for loyal …
https://www.theguardian.com › money › may › car-ins…
28 May 2022 — Loopholes in the new rules mean they may still end up spending more to renew an existing policy than to buy a new one from the same provider.
Missing: exploitation | Must include: exploitation
Six million insurance customers are being hit by ‘loyalty penalty’https://www.theguardian.com › business › oct › six-mill…4 Oct 2019 — The City regulator found that elderly and low-income people were among the worst hit groups overpaying a combined £1.2bn in annual premiums …
Consumer Intelligence Survey Suggests … – Insurance Edge
https://insurance-edge.net › Articles
Consumer Intelligence Survey Suggests Remedies for Higher Renewal Pricing … home and car insurance pricing found 50% of customers say it is exploitative.
Talking-up Scotland 
Whether Car or House insurance my renewals ALWAYS involve a steep rise , an exasperated phone call , a complaint , then a lower quote .
Most of the time I am so fed-up with this that , regardless of the price offered , I move my business to another company .
Customer loyalty is not considered an important facet of the insurance business it would appear .
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First rule of insurance, get multiple quotes!
Martin Lewis recommends ‘MoneySuperMaket’, followed by ‘GoCompare’ then ‘Confused’. There are big savings to be made, especially if you have been with the same company for a number of years.
If you never switch, your insurer knows you’re not getting alternative quotes and treats you like a coo for milking.
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yes, its all wrong, but in fairness to the Union, the same thing will be happening throughout the UK.
You should try insuring your pet (in our case a dog). In the first couple of years we owned him we were insured with Direct Line (year 1) then John Lewis. In year 1 he had conjunctivitis diagnosed by the vet. But in year 2 this problem became such that it was clear that it wasnt conjunctivitis and was eventually diagnosed (after a trip to Edinburgh to see a guy who specialised in animal’s eyes) was keratoconjunctivitis sicca (to give it its Sunday name) or “dry eye” as some of you might know it better. The bill for this was quite considerable (if you think private doctors are bad ….) , but would John Lewis pay out? No way Jose, they said pointing to the “pre-existing conditions” term which ruled out paying for a condition which existed prior to the insurance contract. Ah but, I said, “he had conjunctivitis, but that has changed to dry eye”. The lady was not for turning.
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Our pet insurance which was via the PDSA has been hiked up loads, having made no claims, it now more than the house insurance, they are using a different company and changed how they can be contacted for a consultation. I must look into it again.
My sister years ago had an aging dog who had arthritis poor thing, private vets were charging her tons for medication which clearly wasn’t working. She then lost her job and had to use the PDSA, and low and behold, the dog received good treatment, no more pain.
As with human private health care, it’s convenient and lucrative to prolong an illness or under treat it. Cruel, and hopefully not common, but the money to be made from people or animals’ suffering for some, seems to surpass any decency.
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When our House Insurance was renewed last year,I noticed a clause which I hadn’t spotted before.
Any dispute with the insurance company to be dealt with by the courts in England under English law.
Suppose I had a dispute with a Volkswagen dealer,would I be expected to take a trip to Germany to resolve it ?
Just another example of how all things Scottish are being sidelined in the new Greater England that we now live in.
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This has long been the case in the UK, higher premiums mean higher profits.
Car insurance in the UK is based on notional risk of the driver and the vehicle classification, the combination of driver and vehicle is what is insured, so plenty of wriggle room for the insurer to hike the renewal.
Here premiums are based solely on the notional value of the vehicle and whether it is a company or individual as owner – However, it is the vehicle which is insured irrespective of who is driving it.
Every year prior to renewal my broker checks across the principal insurers for what is the best deal, last year it was ca 330 quid for a 1 year old Sandero.
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We have recently had the same experience with our car insurance – Direct Line for more than 30 years. Quoted £599.56. It was the 56p that got to me. Got a much lower quote from another company, phoned Direct Line to see if they would lower there quote but not interested so we went with the other company and will probably shop around each year from now on.
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John
OT but saw this in Guardian/Observer this morning
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/feb/12/quarter-of-a-million-children-enter-secondary-school-without-basic-maths-and-english
Schools in England.
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It is little wonder English School kids leave school without a proper grasp of the English language when half the TV commentators themselves have not learned them. Have raised this issue umpteen times with broadcasters over the misuse of the word ‘sat’ instead of ‘sitting’. It really irritates tme hat they have failed to grasp basic past, present and future tenses.
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You may have opened a can of worms here. My wife and I are both in our 70’s with an exemplary driving record with no claims yet this year were faced with a 36% increase in our renewal premiums from ‘One Call” which I challenged without success. Not only that we were the innocent victims of a ‘shunt’ in a local car park and as we had ‘ full comprehensive’ cover used our insurers to handle the claim and while the fault/liability was acknowledged by the other party and insurers we were asked to pay an extra £58 !!!!!! which apparently was ‘standard practice in the sector’ Absolute rip off merchants.
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It’s referred to in policies as an “Excess” and has been standard practice for many years which causes a reduction in premium.
The lunacy of your 58 quid excess is that it wouldn’t even cover the cost of processing etc., so is actually costing the company more than they recover from you, rather than ZERO if they didn’t bother…
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Bob ater 40+ years in the Finance sector I’m well aware of ‘Excesses ‘ both Comulsory and Voluntary’ but when the 3rd party and their Insureres have admitted full responsibility that does not apply. My point being that as the innocent victims in this instance we are now out of pocket from no fault of our own which seems to fly in the face of taking out ‘Comprehensive’ cover.
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I wasn’t aware it didn’t apply in that instance, it’s many decades since I made a motoring claim.
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Well this seems to have started something. Husband just informed me he has received an email from our energy provider, Ovo who took over from SSE (Scottish Hydro).
The email informed him that in two weeks time we will have to start paying monthly rather than quarterly. No choice. It is happening whether we want to or not and with only 2 weeks notice.
Husband now looking at other suppliers.
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Your husband will likely find minimal difference, the “suppliers” are a construct by the Tories to create a further disconnect between parties, the original supplier is in reality unchanged.
My hunch would be that the Treasury is haemorrhaging revenue having predicted a bonanza whilst HMG plead poverty, hence have leaned on ‘suppliers’ to cover their abundant and well deserved embarrassment
PS – My latest bills for the last month were 25 quid electric and 111 for gas despite sub-zeroes out in the sticks on the eastern front, last year’s total energy bill was 829 quid in total – I’m so grateful to be beyond HMG’s grasping fingers these days.
Good luck..
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Our Bill’s are not too bad. Lots of insulation including cavity wall insulation. Even under the floors. We have concrete floors. We also have a Covid space because the house is split level. My husband was able to get access to install the insulation so all the rooms at the back of the house have insulation under the floor and a very well insulated loft directly above them.
Solar panels so take advantage of sunny days, even in winter in Scotland, to run washing machine etc. Husband reckons it saves 30-40% of quarterly electricity Bill’s. Also get payments from feed-in tariff. Some quarters this means electricity is almost free. Coal (anthracite)-fired central heating installed in 1983 when anthracite was £6 per bag now £30. We are looking to replace. Looked at heat pumps but practically have to tear the house apart to install it.
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I recently received my home renewal notice (rsa via nationwide) with a 25% hike in premium demanded with no explanation or justification. Shopping around I got equivalent cover for less than 30% of the renewal price. Alarmingly, I could have got rsa identical cover for £50 less than they wanted for renewal…. NEVER allow insurers to automatically renew!
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