DaveR

....just got my renewal premium from my hitherto reasonable insurance company.

They've put the premium up by £300 from last year!!!!

The way I see it:
- I'm one year older (obvious but hey) --> 28 now
- I have one more years no claims (4 yrs)
- the car is worth much less than last year
- i've had no accidents/claims/points/fines

But they justified it by saying that 'claims experience across the board' dictates that those in the 21-29 age bracket last year had loads of accidents or something.

Nice.

Anyone know an insurance company that actually rates the premium based on the individual driver? (or am I being totally unrealistic here???)

cheers
DaveR

Gus M

You're not unrealistic to expect to be treated as an individual rather than as a statistic. I don't know what percentage increase your insurance company are trying to inflict upon you but it must be very high.
Time to start phoning around for a better deal I would have thought.

gridgway

My very good ins co dissapointed me this year by putting £250 on my P1 ins. on phoning however, they reduced it after a bit of humming and hawing by...£250.

How strange is that? Might be worth a go.

Was it HHH by any chance?

Graham

Johnny sti

Im 24 and the other half is 23. She is the main driver with 3 yrs n/c and im on it as a named driver with no no claims due to me only ever having company cars!
Our insurance last year on a 1993 wrx import was £1700 tpff. When the doreen got her third year n/c in Jan of this year, it went down to £950 tpff. This with an imobilser only and when i called to get it down by installing a tracker and/or a cat 1, they said it wouldnt make a differance.
Brilliant price drop but the sting must be coming next year!!

The company is admiral.

Neilo

my renewal came through the other day and its exactly the same as last year. 1004 with 6 years NCB but im only 23. Its a UK car also. This is with tesco.

My advice to you is go to www.confused.com, and see what that throws back at you. It scowered all the top insurers in one hit, saves a lot of legwork.

Good luck,
Neil.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Dave.

Elephant.co.uk were far and away the cheapest for me. Liv Vic renewal was £950 but Elephant got the money at £793 (mine's a Jap STi). Tracker on my car anyway (installed when I got the car) but they didn't ask for one.

X.

DaveR

Thanks for the advice guys.
I'm actually with Greenlight.

I've also tried Elephant as well as Confused.com. Elephant could theoretically give a cheaper quote online, but they don't ask all the questions they should be doing, about mods and stuff.

Greenlight know the total score as regards mods to my car and previously have been quite flexible with regard to stuff like that. But I think their underwriters have changed or something - the renewal quote took ages to come through (my insurance is up next week) and they say it was 'rated directly' by their underwriters, unlike last year.

I think scoobies all over the country must have been ploughing into trees last year or something .

Plus I guess living in London doesn't help....

Tentenths

That explains it... there have been several postings this year about Greenlight renewals going through the roof. This one's typical
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=298645

It would appear that the underwriters they use don't want to insure scoobs anymore.

chiark

Greenlight actively don't want the business.

Speak to them, and they'll tell you the same. They told me that they paid out, on average, £1.80 for every £1 they took as a premium for Imprezas. Some models are particularly bad, paying out £11 for every £1.

My renewal came through with the caution "Due to thefts in your postcode area, if you do not accept this quotation then it is unlikely that we can quote you for new business with your current underwriter", or something like that.

They really are hurting from the exposure on their Subaru book of business, and want out - or want to cover their payouts which, after all, is what insurance is about!

Like it or not, you are a statistic to insurers. They've got to use some metric or other to work out if you're likely to have a claim and cost them money, and the best way of doing that is to look at all factors. The car you drive is a big factor in this according to their research, and given their payout record, it's hard not to agree.

I turned 30, had a kid, and had another year's NCB (11 years now...). All those events make me personally a "better risk". However, my premium went up by over 300 quid with Greenlight due to thefts in the area and the stigma of the car that I drive.

Adrian Flux, who were atrocious for me last year, came in with a superb price... Truly a wierd situation (see the flux - good customer service thread)

My one real concern is that the specialists who we all revolve around to get good prices will pull the plug, leaving us with only the mainstream choices. Cross Greenlight off the list now - how many specialists does that leave?

Adrian Flux
L&V
Subaru Insured
...

Not many really, are there?

Cheers,
Nick.

ozzy

Yep, I have a list of over 20 insurers I've tried over the past 5 years of Scooby ownership. Every premiums have risen every single year without fail. The only way I could get decent quotes was to shop around.

The number of insurers willing to take on Scoobs is falling, especially for younger drivers. I struggled to find someone this year, but L&V came to my rescue.

Elephant were slightly more expensive, followed by AXA (my previous insurers).

I used Chris Knott 2 years ago, but they told me that they don't touch Impreza's due to a few large claims.

Don't blame the insurers, blame all those to$$ers writing their cars off

Stefan

DaveR

.....hhmmm, not good

I've tried Adrian Flux, and I think I'm currently too young (28) for Subaru Insured, don't you have to be at least 30 or something?

But L&V I've not tried, is that Liverpool Victoria?

cheers
Dave

Slick555

I imported my MY00 from holland. First premium was with with Privilage and cost £1200 being under thirty. Since then I have changed companys every year due to premiums rising despite 5 years NCB and no points. At the time of my last renewal I was with Norwich union direct and they tried to up my insurance by £300, to around the £1000 mark. Tried alot of others and they were roughly the same. Then I tried the L & V. £650 fully comp, protected, living in surrey aged 32. They also give you up to 9 years NCB instead of others insureres stopping at 5 (or something like that).

I know insurance can be a hassle and what works for one desn't work for another, but give the L & V a try.

Good luck
Jason

rb5 286

iTrader: (2)

i wish i knew how insurance was worked out.

got a quote this morning on a ford fiesta 1.1 N reg 5dr as a run around so the scoob can stay in the garage.

quote was £480 3rd party only.

quote for my wife £274

quote for my wife with me as named driver £273

tell me this isnt f***** up??????

greasemonkey

As has been said above it's all a question of statistics, and nowadays it's all worked out on a computer.

Your age, location, the type of car you drive, your driving history and so-on are all thrown into the pot, and compared with historical information of other people with similar histories, cars, driving records, locations and so on, to produce a mathematical likelihood of you making a claim, and, when you do, what its value is statistically likely to be.

The difference there will be based on the assumption that your wife will do the bulk of the mileage in the car, and thus the statistical likelihood of a crash will be weighted on her record (and that of other female drivers) rather than yours (and that of other males).

PhilA

believe it or not, but direct line online was the cheapest for me by £200.

DaveR

...just tried L&V - but they won't even insure (at any price) men under 30 on subarus with a new policy apparently

scoobydood

Just asked Adrian Flux for a quote. Came back and said not insuring Scoobs @ the moment.......

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

was that with diamond by any chance?

I got a quote with my missus on her festa they quoted me £700!! im 31!

got a quote on the scoob they quoted me over 2k! lol, her for the fiesta £457 fully comp! whats that all about? they said its bevcause im a bloke! aint that sexist?

jamo

sherlock

iTrader: (1)

Have you tryed A-plan? good with me on std turbo was with them for past 5 years

matched every quote i came back with, even to the point of no charge on monthly

payments! Alas they could not match frizzels this year.

chiark

When a company says "we're not insuring X at the moment", it means "we're not competetive when it comes to your particular situation.

My insurance with Adrian Flux started on 15th March... However, I am over 30 with a near as damn it standard car (backbox only mod - declared).

The cheapest I ever got my MY00 insurance for was in November 1999 with Hill House Hammond - 650 quid for a 25 year old.

BedHog

When I bought my Scoob I swapped the Insurance over. There was only 4 weeks left and I didn't mention it was an import cos to be honest at the time I didn't think it was a big issue.

Just reinsured again for the year and said it was an Import - the chap spent a while checking various models etc and assured me that the correct car was already on the policy - even though it doesn't mention Import..... Came out at £580 which is brilliant compared to others but I am worried that they have insired the 'wrong car' even though I explained exactly what it was and that it was an import.

*edit - This was with Direct Line btw...

homer lawtey

I added my wife to my insurance on a GTO twin turbo as a named learner driver. The insurance dropped. I would try adding your wife to your insurance, even if they have no license, and you won't let them drive it, it might just knock some pounds off.

Steve