Insurance big jump in premiums.

[rayaans]

My Lexus insurance only went up by about £100-200 on both of ours. Not too bad at all. Went up £200 on the Merc too so its not exactly just Lexus vehicles involved. Its a widespead thing mainly due to the number of claims after COVID, **** drivers, uninsured idiots and the cost of parts amongst thefts as a whole

[Goodplan53]

On 4/24/2023 at 6:26 PM, DAN@ADRIAN FLUX said:

Hi.

Please feel free to give us a try for insurance if you wish.

Regards,

Dan.

I recently renewed my insurance policy with LV for both cars: my UX and the wife’s RX.  Despite having been with LV a year, the increased renewal price now includes a mandatory £600 excess plus my optional £300 excess. What’s worse is their insistence that the RX must have a tracker fitted which must be operational or else they won’t pay if it’s stolen! Oddly LV seemed satisfied that Find My Lexus in the Lexus Link acts as a tracker  - but I’m not convinced they would honour this.  I went ahead and renewed with LV but am having my doubts.  

[flookyk]

Insurance Premium rises reasons

Just read this article on the BBC website.

Some interesting figures, especially the last one that reads that in 2022 for every £1 cost of Insurance Premiums charged it cost the Insurance Companies £1.10 in claims paid out.

Also the 40% increase in labour charges by some repairers. 

[peniole]

Read the same. I think they have their numbers wrong. Just looked up 2022 operating profits for several insurance companies. Aviva 300ish mil AA churchill LV ALL 50ish mil each. Find it hard to believe they're running at a loss.

[flookyk]

1 hour ago, peniole said:

Read the same. I think they have their numbers wrong. Just looked up 2022 operating profits for several insurance companies. Aviva 300ish mil AA churchill LV ALL 50ish mil each. Find it hard to believe they're running at a loss.

It would be interesting if we could look at their published accounts to see if they separate them over the different insurance types to see which, if any, is making a loss and which makes a profit.

[beyond the blue]

Well, I was hoping to be one of the lucky ones who's renewal wouldn't too bad, not to be I'm afraid. Last year with LV £438 renewal quote for this year £711. After shopping around the cheapest I could get for the same cover £741. After speaking to LV the lowest they would go was £675, an increase of 54%, I'm shocked!

[peniole]

Sadly, bad all around, and you likely have the upgraded encrypted CANBUS. Was told by my dealer past MY21, it was scrambled. He's sure the new RX and NX are on the new encrypted system, he's asking about whether our ESs were also upgraded in/past MY21, or just with the facelift, if even that. Will report back what he learns. I'm dreading next year's renewal. If this continues I'm thinking of trading in for something less desirable to thieves.

[beyond the blue]

An addition to my post above, l now spend more on insurance per year than l spend on petrol.

[Goodplan53]

22 hours ago, beyond the blue said:

Well, I was hoping to be one of the lucky ones who's renewal wouldn't too bad, not to be I'm afraid. Last year with LV £438 renewal quote for this year £711. After shopping around the cheapest I could get for the same cover £741. After speaking to LV the lowest they would go was £675, an increase of 54%, I'm shocked!

Hi Neil,

I, too, have been with LV last year and again this year and my insurance has increased by a similar amount.  The big shock, however, was the mandatory £600 excess (on top of the voluntary £300).  They also made it a condition of cover that the car is fitted with a tracker which must be operational at the time the car is stolen for them to pay out.  Did they stipulate this on your renewal?  However, they seemed satisfied with the Find My Lexus app.

[First_Lexus]

13 hours ago, peniole said:

I'm dreading next year's renewal. If this continues I'm thinking of trading in for something less desirable to thieves.

Me too. I renewed in May this year with a large increase in premium cost, but feel like I’ve got off lightly after reading some of the more recent posts.

I love my RX, but I’m now only completing c5,000 miles each year. With the car two years old shortly, I’ll reluctantly be looking to trade down in the Spring of 2024 ahead of the next insurance renewal. 

To be fair it isn’t just the insurance price that’s leading me to this decision. It’s the fact that the car spends most of the time as an expensive ornament on my driveway. I simply don’t need such a large and expensive vehicle now.

Believe it or not, my next car is likely to be a Honda Jazz. I’ve looked at EV and am unconvinced, but I think a hybrid Jazz will suit me perfectly. It will be something of a shock at first I guess, having owned two NX and now and RX over a decade or so, but the convenience of a smaller and nippier car for my majority local use, combined with far lower costs, seems like an obvious decision.

Just to add, I have started feeling quite conscious of how the RX ‘looks’ in the current climate (both economic and environmental). Just a few weeks ago a young lady at a petrol station asked me why I needed such a large car. I didn’t have a good answer other than ‘because I can’ and ‘because I like it.’ It’s harder and harder to justify for me and my usage.

[beyond the blue]

24 minutes ago, Goodplan53 said:

Hi Neil,

I, too, have been with LV last year and again this year and my insurance has increased by a similar amount.  The big shock, however, was the mandatory £600 excess (on top of the voluntary £300).  They also made it a condition of cover that the car is fitted with a tracker which must be operational at the time the car is stolen for them to pay out.  Did they stipulate this on your renewal?  However, they seemed satisfied with the Find My Lexus app.

I queried the tracker issue with them a couple of weeks ago by live chat and the reply was it's not required. My renewal paperwork says unless 'tracker required' is stipulated in the conditions I'm covered. I can't see this mentioned anywhere. The paperwork states my excess is £400 plus nil voluntary 

[Summersy]

Well my is300 is coming up for renewal next month, i'm in the same boat as almost everyone else. Way more expensive than last year, and it seems there nothing i can do about it. What a joke!

[GMB]

We're not going to offer to renew your car insurance

Churchill Insurance are refusing to renew the insurance for my ISF. I rang them to ask why. Person No 1 says don't know, passed to expert - Person No 2 says there are no notes on your policy and no reason, - passed to expert No 3. Rude lady with foreign accent cut me off during security questions again!

Rang back -  a nicer person says there are no reasons but our underwriters say no. It's the car, not you.

I asked about CANBUS which does not apply to the ISF but underwriters say no - so, sorry about that Byeee.

Thanks Churchill. It sounds a bit like chucking the baby out with the bathwater. They lost a good deal as the car only goes out during quiet sunny days and there aren't many of them in England!😕

 

[Boomer54]

1 hour ago, GMB said:

We're not going to offer to renew your car insurance

Churchill Insurance are refusing to renew the insurance for my ISF. I rang them to ask why. Person No 1 says don't know, passed to expert - Person No 2 says there are no notes on your policy and no reason, - passed to expert No 3. Rude lady with foreign accent cut me off during security questions again!

Rang back -  a nicer person says there are no reasons but our underwriters say no. It's the car, not you.

I asked about CANBUS which does not apply to the ISF but underwriters say no - so, sorry about that Byeee.

Thanks Churchill. It sounds a bit like chucking the baby out with the bathwater. They lost a good deal as the car only goes out during quiet sunny days and there aren't many of them in England!😕

 

Thinking outside the box here you could just ask them to insure it on the days it doesn't go out !

I know that is stupid, but not as stupid as their policy , or are Insurers now in the business of not insuring.

[Shahpor]

This happened to me when I got my Stinger.

I was actually mid year on my policy when my car arrived, so I had no choice but the cancel my policy as their underwriter wouldn't insure it.  Didn't stop them charging me the admin fee though!

Perhaps Churchill have changed their underwriters in the last year?

[GMB]

1 hour ago, Boomer54 said:

Thinking outside the box here you could just ask them to insure it on the days it doesn't go out !

I know that is stupid, but not as stupid as their policy , or are Insurers now in the business of not insuring.

I have come to the conclusion that there is no "thinking" by the insurance companies just statistics based on limited information. They will not reason with anyone.

Unfortunately I am finally admitting defeat and the car is going SORN, at least over the winter. Tax at £695 did not help either. Main service due ( no faults ) but £700 plus. Finally Insurance at "God knows what".

I do not want to sell it but the cost per mile at under 2000 miles per year is getting beyond a joke.

The amazing thing is that the motorbike - a beast with 1868cc is only £200 per year Insurance. I am much more likely to get killed on that thing!🏍️🤠

[Boomer54]

2 hours ago, Shahpor said:

This happened to me when I got my Stinger.

I was actually mid year on my policy when my car arrived, so I had no choice but the cancel my policy as their underwriter wouldn't insure it.  Didn't stop them charging me the admin fee though!

Perhaps Churchill have changed their underwriters in the last year?

I doubt it. They are owned by Direct Line and their policies are underwritten by UK Insurance Ltd. Not aware of any recent change in that situation.

[Boomer54]

55 minutes ago, GMB said:

I have come to the conclusion that there is no "thinking" by the insurance companies just statistics based on limited information. They will not reason with anyone.

Unfortunately I am finally admitting defeat and the car is going SORN, at least over the winter. Tax at £695 did not help either. Main service due ( no faults ) but £700 plus. Finally Insurance at "God knows what".

I do not want to sell it but the cost per mile at under 2000 miles per year is getting beyond a joke.

The amazing thing is that the motorbike - a beast with 1868cc is only £200 per year Insurance. I am much more likely to get killed on that thing!🏍️🤠

Sympathise, I took that decision myself a number of years ago and sold my BMW Coupe at that time. Moreover, you're generally right in that it's actuarial based and that is simply the application of statistics to large sets of data which leaves little room for for considering any specific individual. I suspect there may be a few Insurers out there who understanding that may have distinguished themselves from it to take advantage of the niche market that it creates. Not my area ,but if you dig I think you might find one.

[Mr Vlad]

I was watching Rip Of Britain last week. This particular programme asked why has car insurance gone up so much.

They had a guy from the motor insurance body who came out with such rubbish for reasons on the increases.

Reasons were: Cost of electricity. Maintainance. Other reasons too which I can't remember but those two reasons stuck.

What a load of rollocks. 

Insurance price hikes happened sometime between January and July this year I think. The quote for my now dead is250 in January was £450. After my accident I searched for quotes on a replacement is250 in July. Cheapest was £735. I thought to myself expletive expletive. I wondered even if the writing off of my car had anything to do with the price hack but I doubt it.

I'm dreading what my insurance will be next January. 

The thing also. Insurance underwriters are refusing point blank to insure EV's !!!!!!!

[wharfhouse]

Out of interest I ran a few quotes to see how things compared (using Confused.com). My insurance isn't actually due until April so set a start date as 13th November (a few weeks out as advised for best pricing). I ran the same risk profile on all cars: my current 2014 IS 300h (which is an Executive trim), a 2019 IS 300h, a 2019 Lexus UX 300e, a 2019 Lexus RX 450h, and a 2019 Tesla Model 3 - all cars were in fairly basic trim levels for a fair comparison with my own. Other than the value of my own car being lower due to age (about £12k for comparison), the values of all the cars were not too far apart (from £25k - £32K). I chose 2019 for used cars - the newer the car the higher the premiums would be across the board.

The results were:

My current 2014 Lexus IS 300h: £444

2019 Lexus IS 300h: £522

2019 Lexus UX 300e: £516

2019 Lexus RX 450h: £836

2019 Tesla Model 3: £780

Not very scientific I admit, but it was interesting to see the differences (IMHO) and certainly brings it home that when looking at changing a car that these days the insurance premium can become something of a millstone if not careful.

 

[GMB]

Two hours of misery on the phone and the internet to get insurance.

Churchill bumped up the price by about £250 despite no claims etc.  420old to 670new. A 60% increase🤬

Tried the usual comparison sites and saw an offer at £450 and thought " that will do". Halfway through the process I changed an incorrect date, from four years, ago by 14 days - a simple change to indicate an anniversary. The recalculation jumped up by £250 for what appeared to be an improvement or benefit. Just trying be be honest Guv!

The site would not go back to the original price. It remembered me as a mug and it was out to rob me.

I tried again from scratch and got quotes from £550 ( tesco ) to £1500 ( Abu Hassan and the forty thieves company ).

I finally rang the company who jumped the price to ask why the price jumped. They re-submitted the details and got £650 again. I told them that I had other options at around £450  ( bluffer ) so thanks for trying and cheerio   --    and all of a sudden the price came down to £450.

BTW they ( Churchill ) flatly refused to insure my other car this year. Don't need or want my money. I must be a really bad person.🥲

 

[Malc1]

Are you insuring your 1992 car ?

This might help ..  the " new to me " 1991 Ls400 .  I got quotes on-line from MoneySupermarket BUT had to go-back on the on-line quote as I had mis-stated about the 15" wheels .........

This was after I had almost got to paying and I took note of the Coy Name quoting for the insce ...  the new M/S quote came up with another insurer and lots more ££££ and the original quote had just vanished

I went on to that original quoting coy website with the 15" wheel scenario and lo'n behold, by going direct effectively on their own website I had saved myself £100+ 👍

It was a subsidiary of Adrian Flux ..  but notwithstanding my grief some years back with these guys I swallowed my pride and used their insurance coy for this time ...........

Fingers xd all will be well for me 

Saga my normal insurers refused to insure my 1991 car as it was over 30 years young ...........  I'll doubtless have similar issues when my 1995 Ls400 car insce is due too 

Good luck

Malc

 

[GMB]

I gave Adrian Flux a try and nearly fell off my chair/ dropped my pie/ crushed the whippet. They even rang me up to see what I thought of the £1300 bargain price.

Needless to say the reply was short.

TBH they did successfully insure my bike at a reasonable price via bikesure insurance brokers.

It is a bit of a pain to have to do this every year, but if you don't do it you will pay for the error of your ways.😴

FYI results:

Isf -2012- uninsurable going SORN end of month.

Is200 -2016 - insured £400ish with company I have never heard of but owned by a better known company that has awful reviews. I just hope that I never have to claim.

Memo to self - set speed limiter to 20mph even on Motorways.

[Boomer54]

26 minutes ago, GMB said:

I gave Adrian Flux a try and nearly fell off my chair/ dropped my pie/ crushed the whippet. They even rang me up to see what I thought of the £1300 bargain price.

Needless to say the reply was short.

TBH they did successfully insure my bike at a reasonable price via bikesure insurance brokers.

It is a bit of a pain to have to do this every year, but if you don't do it you will pay for the error of your ways.😴

FYI results:

Isf -2012- uninsurable going SORN end of month.

Is200 -2016 - insured £400ish with company I have never heard of but owned by a better known company that has awful reviews. I just hope that I never have to claim.

Memo to self - set speed limiter to 20mph even on Motorways.

Are they related to  

Gastroesophageal reflux disease | NHS inform

I see some shared DNA in that they both make you want to throwup. 😉

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

On 10/25/2023 at 4:19 PM, GMB said:

I gave Adrian Flux a try and nearly fell off my chair/ dropped my pie/ crushed the whippet. They even rang me up to see what I thought of the £1300 bargain price.

Needless to say the reply was short.

TBH they did successfully insure my bike at a reasonable price via bikesure insurance brokers.

It is a bit of a pain to have to do this every year, but if you don't do it you will pay for the error of your ways.😴

FYI results:

Isf -2012- uninsurable going SORN end of month.

Is200 -2016 - insured £400ish with company I have never heard of but owned by a better known company that has awful reviews. I just hope that I never have to claim.

Memo to self - set speed limiter to 20mph even on Motorways.

Hi.

I'm sorry we were unable to offer you a competitive quotation for your car insurance but thanks for give us a try.

Regards,

Dan.