Insurance is a surprisingly cyclical business. Premiums go up, making the business profitable. So more capital is raised, to allow a bigger market share, but that provides increased competition, and premiums reduce.
Possibly they are not allowed to offer deals to new custom that they don't offer to existing custom. In theory they are no longer able to fleece loyal custom in the way they once did.
I used to change insurers every year in order to get the new customer discount which kept my premiums fairly stable for many years. The renewable quotes were always a lot higher than I previously paid and shopping around significantly brought the price down. In the past 2/3 years the renewal quotes have been competitive with what I've found on various comparison sites. Perhaps for car insurance I'm now in a higher risk group based on my age.
I think that is easily got round, if the new policy is in any way different to the old policy.
Does it include buildings insurance?
IF it does, then climatic conditions may well be a factor. The only claim I've ever made under the buildings policy was in connection with that 1987 hurricane.
Motor insurance renewal quote here less than 6% up on last year, and still less than £225.
I'll let it renew.
One thing I've noticed that some items that used to be included in the policy are now optional extras. Pay a extra £30 for item X but people don't seem to realise that it's still subject to the compulsory policy excess of maybe £250.
In the old days item x would be included in the main policy but as a very low risk to the insurance company because most or all of the cost would be met by the excess. Now the insurance company still has the very low risk but charges the (optional) extra £30.
I've just received my renewal notice from Aviva: £230.86 from £145.32,
58.8% increase.I might shop around, although when I made a claim over 20 years ago they paid up without a murmur. Also we own Aviva shares so we'll get it back in dividends! ;)
Thanks to all for the useful comments.
Just renewed (not by using a comparison site) for less than I was paying last year, for the top-level option (basically unlimited everything (or almost so)).
Is this because of the high costs of repairs to electric vehicles?
That plus a dearth of suitably skilled repair workers?
Don't know, suspect insurers wouldn't tell you why even if they knew, anyway I've forked-out for a full set of discs, pads and tyres now, so it can stay for another couple of years ...
Putting some quotes in, I'm getting similar quotes for EVs and non-EVs... with the exception of Teslas. eg MG5 EV quote £500, Tesla Model S quote £1200.
That is likely because:
a) Tesla service centres are a PITA, they take a long time to fix things (more courtesy car costs) and they block insurers' tame repairers from getting parts to do the job at a lower cost
b) they tend to only supply parts in whole module form (they won't sell you battery components, just the whole battery) - like Ford only selling you a whole engine rather than a head gasket
c) Teslas are 'performance' cars which are driven by people who are more risky than people who drive MG5s (which are basically an EV Passat estate).
I hear Admiral is more EV friendly, but they wouldn't insure my hypothetical Tesla. Depends whether they're competitive for you generally (they weren't, for the Toyota I actually wanted to insure).
Theo
I did throw a lot of theoretical cars at the meerkats, non-PHEV SUVs were about 6-700 quid cheaper in my case than PHEV SUVs, of course the PHEVs are generally more powerful since they can combine engine + motor.
Made me laugh to see some plug-in Range Rovers have 3 cylinder 1.5 litre engines, after using up the ~35 miles of battery range, will those tanks even make it up a hill?
The problem could still be EVs. If the owner of an ICE car hits an EV then the insurer of the ICE car could still be liable for the cost of repair or scrapping of the EV. If EVs c ost more to repair and/or more liable to be scrapped in the event of an accident then the more EVs on the road the more likely that the insurance cost for all types of vehicle will rise.
That may be true of a new EV, but if the ownership cost skyrockets then the market value will plummet and so will the write-off value.
I have wondered of the circumstance where a manufacturer provides a comprehensive warranty, but any part destroyed in an accident will cost a small fortune to replace, whether that would constitute a monopoly?
In practice, third parties will proved alternative parts, though I am reminded of an issue with Ford body panels and copyright issues. In the end there was an agreement where manufacturers paid a 5% royalty.
No more so than when you kill the engine by driving thru deep water and the only repair possible is from the car manufacturer for the replacement engine.
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