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I can't believe my car insurance has risen by that much!

(27 Posts)
Devorgilla Thu 07-Mar-24 18:54:17

Not sure which thread to put this on but this seemed as appropriate as any. I have just turned 80 and hope to continue driving, at least for this year. I knew my insurance was due for renewal end of this month so checked on my current insurance site online. It's gone up by an extra £240. Why? OK, I know prices go up annually and suspected there might be an age penalty, but £240's worth? Can anyone recommend an insurance company that deals with older drivers? My daughter tells me there are companies and I am hoping someone here has availed of their services and can recommend. I need the car to transport my husband to various appointments.

Pittcity Thu 07-Mar-24 19:00:30

I'm afraid that everybody's insurance has gone up by around 50%. This was a shock to us too.
You might have luck shopping around, try Go Compare and such.

Witzend Thu 07-Mar-24 19:02:44

Definitely get more quotes!

Jaxjacky Thu 07-Mar-24 19:07:55

Try Moneysupermarket.com to get quotes, you can change between fully comp and third party, add another driver, some of these things make a difference. One of ours went down about £5, the other up about £30.
There are other comparison sites.

Jane71 Thu 07-Mar-24 19:13:30

Yes mine went up 50% as well: hell of a shock.
You need to try another company, probably using comparison web site. Good luck.

Georgesgran Thu 07-Mar-24 19:17:48

Mine would’ve doubled had I stayed with the same provider.
A bit of work online and a different supplier came in at £100 more - ‘just’ a third increase. It’s certainly something to consider now when buying a new car - which I never used to do.

House insurance next!!
Hopefully not such a massive increase?

Bonnybanko Thu 07-Mar-24 19:27:16

I’ve just negotiated with my house insurance company I just asked is that your best price? They came down £100. I did the same for my Sky package they came down too , I never pay the price these folks send me never never ever

HelterSkelter1 Thu 07-Mar-24 19:33:19

I have just renewed car insurance fully comp with the Co-oP. It went up only by £30.00. Much less than I was expecting.

Aveline Thu 07-Mar-24 19:37:58

It's always worth getting lots of quotes and even then seeing if they can be reduced.

crazyH Thu 07-Mar-24 19:48:21

Yes, mine went up 100% - but that’s due to a mishap - I say ‘mishap’ 😂and not an accident, because I was blinded by the sun and drove into the grass verge. Even the police officer who attended, agreed with me. But that didn’t help reduce the cost of my insurance…….

Katie59 Thu 07-Mar-24 21:01:31

Car insurance has shot up especially expensive cars that are stolen often, in addition the cost of repairing accident damage has increased a lot. Advancing age does not help either.

cornergran Thu 07-Mar-24 21:07:21

Mr C was 80 last year devorgilla, the renewal seemed to require selling a kidney! The insurer acknowledged a large increase simply for making it to 80. Shopping around we ‘only’ paid an extra 30% for an identical policy. Much better than the 75% increase demanded by the previous insurer. It’s tedious and my least favourite job but worth it. Hope the same for you.

TinSoldier Thu 07-Mar-24 21:12:25

It goes without saying that you should always shops around but when you do so can affect the price you are quoted.

Moneysavingexpert has this to say:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/car-insurance/when-to-renew/

The cheapest time to get quotes is 20 to 26 days ahead of your renewal date – cover becomes more expensive the closer you get. It's the same if you are buying car insurance for the first time.

Why is it cheaper to renew my car insurance earlier?

When we concluded that 20-26 days before renewal was the cheapest time to buy car insurance, we asked insurance providers Compare The Market, Confused.com, MoneySupermarket, Admiral, Aviva, Direct Line, LV and More Than why the price differed depending on how far in advance you got the policy. All told us generally the same thing.

It's based around risk – buying it a few weeks before you need it suggests you're more careful and organised, while leaving it to the last minute means you're seen as higher risk, with some insurers telling us they've seen a direct link between drivers who leave sorting their insurance to the last moment and a higher number of claims.

As for why the super-prepared are being penalised with higher prices for getting a quote 30 days in advance, it's basically because there are fewer insurers returning quotes at that stage.

You can here Martin Lewis discussing this here around 17 minutes into the programme:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0gkx014

Tenko Fri 08-Mar-24 08:33:22

Thank you Tinsoldier . I didn’t know that buying your insurance earlier rather than last minute. But it makes sense .

NotSpaghetti Fri 08-Mar-24 08:37:05

I read that 27% was average - but my mother-in-law's insurance went up with a leap one year (at 80 or possibly 90) many years ago.

Devorgilla Fri 08-Mar-24 17:31:17

Thank you all for your advice and comments. I have until end of month to negotiate. Your comments gave me some ideas and advice I had not been aware of. I'll try to update when I renew.

Devorgilla Tue 26-Mar-24 19:49:26

Update - I phoned the insurance company, asked if this was their best quote and got a 'loyalty' bonus discount. So happy now and insured for forthcoming year. Thank you again for all your excellent suggestions.

HousePlantQueen Wed 27-Mar-24 15:21:52

I had to change insurer last autumn due to a huge hike in our premium, I gather it is due to the increasing cost of repairs. My SiL had an accident in the ice last winter, bashed in the back of his car, it took 4 months for the insurance approved repair garage to get the parts, 4 months of car hire paid by the insurer. Add these type of events on to high end cars being stolen, and we all end up paying more

RosiesMaw Wed 27-Mar-24 15:25:09

Mine has gone up by approx 200% - from £487 to £1200
Mind you, I had two claims last year, so my own fault, a moments in attention and while only bent metal- expensive bent metal!
Without the claims it would still have gone up by 25% but at least I’d have been better equipped for shopping around.
Mea culpa.

silverlining48 Wed 27-Mar-24 17:02:27

Ours more than doubled without any claims. I looked elsewhere but still still ended up paying a lot more than I had last time.

merlotgran Wed 27-Mar-24 17:11:40

I’ve spent a couple of hours this afternoon trying to find a cheaper quote as mine has gone up by £200.

They were all much of a muchness. 😮

Grantanow Thu 28-Mar-24 09:19:44

I tried to get LV to reduce my increase (about double) but they adamantly refused despite my 9 year NCD and clean licence. I find it very hard to believe costs have risen so much.

Yertiz Thu 28-Mar-24 09:28:45

Try comparing through a cash back site. (Top cash back, Quidco). They give £45 cash back at the moment on car insurance and compare insurance providers.

Luckygirl3 Thu 28-Mar-24 10:19:01

I had this avwhile back and I rang to ask why it had gone up so much. They hivered and havered, trying not to say it was because of my age until I'm I asked if it was because I had passed 75 .... why the twee prevarications I do not know!

Anyway, I went through it is detail and discovered they had me down for doing many times more miles than I ever do and getting them to reduce that brought the cosy down.

Luckygirl3 Thu 28-Mar-24 10:20:04

Cosy! ... I am typing this on my phone!