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Insurance

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swill453
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Insurance

#440866

Postby swill453 » September 9th, 2021, 9:12 am

Been getting a bit careless with insurance, letting it automatically renew for a couple of years without shopping around.

I'm currently with Admiral with a joint car and home policy, which is supposed to be cheaper because of that. This renewal time the quote has come in at about £450 (car £285, house £165) so I've had a look at Confused.com.

I can get individual policies, coincidentally both with Churchill, for about £160 and £100 respectively, saving about £190. Terms pretty much the same.

Just shows you, as usual, that loyalty doesn't pay.

Scott.

pje16
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Re: Insurance

#440869

Postby pje16 » September 9th, 2021, 9:25 am

It never pays to auto renew, as you have just found out
They make a lot of money by assuming people won't bother to check
Thanks for the example that others can learn by
I always shop around having got caught out years ago
and have reduced mine by over £200 over the last 2 renewals

Dod101
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Re: Insurance

#440872

Postby Dod101 » September 9th, 2021, 9:33 am

Is this not supposed to be changing? Much of this is of course brought about by discounting for new customers and then once they are hooked, taking advantage of inertia to jack up the cost, with the result that over time we have the situation that the OP has outlined? I must say that I have never found Admiral to be very competitive although my daughter and her family (relatively new drivers) seem to do OK by them.

Dod

pje16
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Re: Insurance

#440876

Postby pje16 » September 9th, 2021, 9:40 am

autorenewal changing?
news to me... can't find anything about it
does anyone else have a link?

Gersemi
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Re: Insurance

#440882

Postby Gersemi » September 9th, 2021, 10:04 am

It's not autorenewal as such which is changing. It is that they won't be able to charge new customers less than existing ones, from January

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57270415

88V8
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Re: Insurance

#440886

Postby 88V8 » September 9th, 2021, 10:17 am

Gersemi wrote:It's not autorenewal as such which is changing. It is that they won't be able to charge new customers less than existing ones, from January

That will overturn a practice that has been routine since... dunno, but certainly long before 1969 when I first joined Commercial Union.

Perhaps it will just end up increasing overall premiums. As an HYP holder of Admiral with their nice special divis, I hope so :)

V8

Dod101
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Re: Insurance

#440887

Postby Dod101 » September 9th, 2021, 10:22 am

Gersemi wrote:It's not autorenewal as such which is changing. It is that they won't be able to charge new customers less than existing ones, from January

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57270415



Yes That was the point that I was referring to. I thought everyone would know about that by now :o . If it is being introduced in January 2022 that would answer my query thank you.

Dod

pje16
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Re: Insurance

#440891

Postby pje16 » September 9th, 2021, 10:29 am

It wasn't clear what you meant
Why would I need to know about it as I change pretty much every year anyway

scrumpyjack
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Re: Insurance

#440898

Postby scrumpyjack » September 9th, 2021, 10:43 am

Terrible insurance tale in our village. Some elderly friends (mid ‘80s, lovely people) live in a listed thatched cottage in our village. It’s semi detached and the other half caught fire due to an electrical fault. Both cottages completely gutted by the fire.

The owner of the other cottage had not had the correct inspections of electrics and chimney so their insurers refused to pay out. Our friends’ insurers paid for their half to be rebuilt (a v. lengthy job as it had to be restored exactly as it was), meanwhile putting them in a mobile home in their garden. The owner of the other cottage would not allow any access so rebuilding has been very difficult and that half is still completely gutted .

This has been going on for 3 years with our friends still in the mobile home. Finally the owner of the other half gave permission for our friends builders to work on the party wall and finish it. The day before this our friend died.

So it isn’t just your own insurance that matters!

PhaseThree

Re: Insurance

#440900

Postby PhaseThree » September 9th, 2021, 10:45 am

pje16 wrote:It wasn't clear what you meant
Why would I need to know about it as I change pretty much every year anyway


You need to know about it because your insurance costs are about to go up.

I switch every year to keep costs down but recognise that I my insurance is effectively being subsidised by those who don't. Every year I switch to another provider to take advantage of their "introductory offers" at a significantly reduced price compared to renewal. These offers will disappear as from 2022. The end result will be that switching will become a lot less lucrative as the switching subsidy is removed.
I am budgeting for a 20% hike in my insurance premiums as from next year.

pje16
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Re: Insurance

#440902

Postby pje16 » September 9th, 2021, 10:54 am

I don't need to know about it - a bit of a cheek to tell me I do
I will choose the cheapest deal that gives me what I need regardless of a renewal or new policy

PhaseThree

Re: Insurance

#440910

Postby PhaseThree » September 9th, 2021, 11:12 am

pje16 wrote:I don't need to know about it - a bit of a cheek to tell me I do
I will choose the cheapest deal that gives me what I need regardless of a renewal or new policy


I answered your question "Why would I need to know about it as I change pretty much every year anyway"
If you don't want answers then please don't ask questions.

pje16
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Re: Insurance

#440912

Postby pje16 » September 9th, 2021, 11:13 am

Rhetorical

Dod101
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Re: Insurance

#440922

Postby Dod101 » September 9th, 2021, 11:30 am

pje16 wrote:I don't need to know about it - a bit of a cheek to tell me I do
I will choose the cheapest deal that gives me what I need regardless of a renewal or new policy


It must be Covid or something but why is everyone so uptight about things these days? There has been a lot of discussion in the press over the last year or two on this subject, and the regulators have been involved to remove the practice of introductory offers on insurance deals. As has been said on this thread the practice tends to penalise the long standing customers in favour of new customers and encourages the practice that evidently you and many others use. In the end of course the annual switching just increases costs all round, although it is a perfectly rational thing to do at the moment.

What real difference it makes remains to be seen.

Dod

Dod101
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Re: Insurance

#440924

Postby Dod101 » September 9th, 2021, 11:37 am

scrumpyjack wrote:Terrible insurance tale in our village. Some elderly friends (mid ‘80s, lovely people) live in a listed thatched cottage in our village. It’s semi detached and the other half caught fire due to an electrical fault. Both cottages completely gutted by the fire.

The owner of the other cottage had not had the correct inspections of electrics and chimney so their insurers refused to pay out. Our friends’ insurers paid for their half to be rebuilt (a v. lengthy job as it had to be restored exactly as it was), meanwhile putting them in a mobile home in their garden. The owner of the other cottage would not allow any access so rebuilding has been very difficult and that half is still completely gutted .

This has been going on for 3 years with our friends still in the mobile home. Finally the owner of the other half gave permission for our friends builders to work on the party wall and finish it. The day before this our friend died.

So it isn’t just your own insurance that matters!


That is a sad tale and not the way I guess that your friends would want to end their life. It seems particularly unfair that the one party is effectively penalised by the shortcomings of their neighbour. Fortunately I live in a detached house so should never have that problem. Presumably, since both properties are listed, the neighbour will be obliged to reinstate anyway, irrespective of the insurance position?

Dod

scrumpyjack
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Re: Insurance

#440930

Postby scrumpyjack » September 9th, 2021, 11:58 am

Dod101 wrote:
scrumpyjack wrote:Terrible insurance tale in our village. Some elderly friends (mid ‘80s, lovely people) live in a listed thatched cottage in our village. It’s semi detached and the other half caught fire due to an electrical fault. Both cottages completely gutted by the fire.

The owner of the other cottage had not had the correct inspections of electrics and chimney so their insurers refused to pay out. Our friends’ insurers paid for their half to be rebuilt (a v. lengthy job as it had to be restored exactly as it was), meanwhile putting them in a mobile home in their garden. The owner of the other cottage would not allow any access so rebuilding has been very difficult and that half is still completely gutted .

This has been going on for 3 years with our friends still in the mobile home. Finally the owner of the other half gave permission for our friends builders to work on the party wall and finish it. The day before this our friend died.

So it isn’t just your own insurance that matters!


That is a sad tale and not the way I guess that your friends would want to end their life. It seems particularly unfair that the one party is effectively penalised by the shortcomings of their neighbour. Fortunately I live in a detached house so should never have that problem. Presumably, since both properties are listed, the neighbour will be obliged to reinstate anyway, irrespective of the insurance position?

Dod


One would have thought so but presumably she has no money and I'm not aware that the authorities have done anything about it yet. I don't know whether they can in effect order it to be sold so it is rebuilt.

didds
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Re: Insurance

#441180

Postby didds » September 10th, 2021, 9:29 am

Gersemi wrote:It's not autorenewal as such which is changing. It is that they won't be able to charge new customers less than existing ones, from January

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57270415



<cynical>

which whilst being noble will end up meaning premiums for existing customers wont go down necessarily, but premiums for new custoimers will probably therefore rise.

88V8
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Re: Insurance

#441244

Postby 88V8 » September 10th, 2021, 12:36 pm

didds wrote:...whilst being noble will end up meaning premiums for existing customers wont go down necessarily, but premiums for new custoimers will probably therefore rise.

Yes, I imagine insurers are pretty happy about it. Not one of the regulator's better efforts, I suspect.

I wonder how it will affect the income of the Switching sites.

V8 (Admiral shareholder, as already mentioned)


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