It is that time of the year I always dread, the renewal of my car insurance…..
I received my car insurance renewal notification letter, which as per usual states that my car insurance premiums has increased.
What I do not understand is why this happens every year?
Bearing in mind the following factors:
-
My car is worth less,
-
I have an extra year of no claims bonus,
-
I still have not claimed in the last 5 years,
-
I have no convictions, motoring or any other type, in the last 5 years
-
I have no medical conditions that stop me from driving, and
-
I have never been refused car insurance
But each year I am reliably informed that the increase is due to the insurance tax!
As a business model, the car insurance market has it sown up, if one wants to drive a car in the UK, you have to have car insurance.
The penalty for not complying is 6 penalty points on your licence, a fine of 1 and a half weeks of one’s take home pay, reduced by a third if one pleads guilty, costs and the government levy victim surcharge of £15 .
So in real terms, potentially it could cost one more in the long term not to have it, plus the conviction will have an impact on future insurance quotes and premiums.
So begins the arduous task of finding a better deal…..
This year I am feeling positive, I am up for the challenge, the sun is shining and I have decided to do something different, seduced by the adverts, and use one of the money comparison websites.
After filling in the pages of questions, I press the magic proceed button, to give me a raft of quotes.
The site informs me that motor premiums have increased on average by 20%, but no reason why, and that it will be providing quotes from 80 companies.
Well with that number of quotes I was sure I was going to be on to a winner.
So the quotes start filtering through, the first quote look very promising, showing a saving of 40% on my renewal quote!!! The only downside is that it is from an insurance company I have never heard of.
Surprising is the spread of the quotes, bearing in mind that they are all based on the same information, with the most expensive quote representing a massive 413% increase on my renewal quote and 280% of the value of my beloved car!
Only 3 quotes came in less than my renewal quote.
I now realise getting a good quote is going to be a little more tricky that I thought, time for plan B.
As a member of a breakdown company, I notice that I have a discount to their motor insurance, so I give them a call. Again answering those raft of questions, and before the operator gives me the motor quote, he wants to ask about home insurance.
This is annoying, as I had specifically asked for motor insurance, why are you asking about another service when you have not given me the information I wanted?
Finally, the quote comes out 42% more than my renewal quote, even with the discount.
So I give my original insurance company a call, to do a bit of negotiating. I give them the information of the cheapest quote, and we proceed to go though all my information again, to which I am now informed that, the following aspects do not have an impact on my quote:
The end result is that they cannot match the cheapest quote, and interestingly they do not even come up with a counter offer!!!
I would have thought it would be easier to keep an existing customer, rather than trying to poach someone elses?
At this point it’s time to take a break, when I get a call from the price comparison website, telling me that they can give a discount on my cheapest quote, am I interested?
Err let me think about that one?
I say yes of course, and so I am forwarded onto the company I am told will give me the quote, but I have to give them my details again, 5 minutes later I am given the wonderful news, they have a company who can beat me lowest on-line quote, who has a deal for female drivers, who is in the local area, am I interested?
This is great news, so I say yes, and my call is transferred to the company. I am waiting to hear what the quote is, when I am told I have to give them my details all over again, as the information is not passed on.
At this point I am really annoyed, but hey this is for a better motor insurance quote, no pain no gain!
So I go through the whole process again, answering the questions I now know off by heart.
The operator in a matter of fact voice gives me a quote that is 83% more than my renewal quote, and asks me how do I want to pay?
To which I reply that I am not paying that, and to stop wasting my time.
When the price comparison website calls me 10 minutes later to find out how I got on, I was really angry, and told them they had wasted 20 minutes of my life I would never get back, to remove all my details from their database and not to call me again!
I have since found out that one of the reasons, why my quotes are so high is that as I volunteer, I cannot purchase social, personal and commuting motor insurance.
It seems in the eyes of the motor insurance companies, volunteering means that “No good deed, goes unpunished”
I do not understand why being a volunteer, increases my risk to the motor insurance industry?
Now granted one could not tell the insurance companies about the unpaid contributions one makes to the community and society on a whole, but then one has to bear in mind that all conversations are recorded, and if one makes a false statement and/or and omission, even by accident, whilst obtaining motor insurance, at best they can terminate the policy and/or not payout when one comes to claim, at worst they can choose to prosecute, where guilt is absolute!
Interesting that in an industry that provides a service that is compulsory within society, for the privilege to drive, that the only real business model they can apply is to provide the cheapest quote for the most features, with so many companies including supermarkets and banks in this market, that it is so hard to find good cheap and competitive motor insurance.
In a time where we are all facing challenging financial times, I am surprised the motor insurance industry is so blasé bearing in mind the amount of marketing and advertising they are doing, when word of mouth is the cheapest and most cost effective way of getting business.
If I get a good motor insurance deal I am going to tell everyone!!!!
As for my motor insurance problem?
I am still looking for that elusive deal…. | 
