has anyones car insurance ever gone down?

[bednobs]

As above - my car insurance renewal has just come up, and even with looking around it is much more expensive this year despite the fact my accident and sp30 from five years ago have now "fallen off" in terms of the fact i dont have to declare them now, and my car itself is worth less than it was last year. Why is this?

[sara3]

we're paying the price for all the un-insured drivers out there, and all the artificially bumped-up claims that are made :o(

[rnchugg]

Hi like you im also in the same boat, having just changed my car for a older one (due to the fact i bought a diesel and sold a petrol) my insurance company you know the make me happy one quoted me an extre �127. After a large row with them I put the question to why ever year for the last 7 years I have an extra no claims but my premium has gone up. the reply was something along the lines of

"Sorry sir but due to the higher number than normal this year of un-insured drivers claims and higher accident claims, as wll as the inflation rate going up we where forced to put up your premium"

My answer was what aload of dogs do-da's. So I went on the comparison websites and got a better deal. One word of advice dispite the "claimed" quote I would STRONGLY suggest that you ring individual companies as they can offer a better deal as you can disuss your situation rather than a generalised quote. Good luck anyway.

[dot.hawkes]

Mine seems to go down a little bit every year, maybe not because of anything I have done except get older and have no claims, but i avoid the extras they add on and that helps, sometimes these companies don;t tell you that you are paying extra charges, they just add them in and give you the renewal notice.

[craft1948]

I insured through the AA and one year was expecting my insurance to be lowered. When the renewal came it had gone up tremendously. I queried this with the AA who maintained it was still the best I could get.. When I rang the insurance company direct they gave me a much better price and said the AA had chosen the wrong deal for my personal circumstances!!

[bednobs]

it's completely sh!t though, isn't it - why dont they slap huge fines on those caught driving without insurance? and use that money to bring nsurance premiums down? as things go at the moment, i am payign twice - i would have to pay if an uninsured driver ran into me, plus i am paying more on MY premium because THEY are uninsured! It just seems barmy

[bednobs]

and what makes it worse is that even the "accident" that i have been declaring for the last 5 years was when some uninsured (i presume) idiot drove into my car parked outside my own house at 3 o clock in the morning and then drove off. GGGGRRRRRRR! I have never bumped into anything or to my knowledge caused any accidents

[woozer]

Bless you bedknobs - do you really think that the idiots with no insurance would pay the fines ?

[bednobs]

sell their cars! or their children, or their spouses! or their flat screen tellys, or their sky subsciptions

[mrs_overall]

I've been with Budget for a couple of years. Last year (as usual) I trawled through a price comparison website. My Budget renewal was �220 and I found a cheaper policy for �165. When I rang Budget to cancel my renewal, to my surprise they offered to beat the other quote.
I now pay �160 for fully comp on a 1.8L Mondeo.

It pays to shop around AND haggle.

[Billy-Hunt]

i get quoted something like 30% less for insurance than the mrs . It's marvelous how they know who the better driver is isn't it!

[gouldc]

Bednobs, agree with you totally. I sadly get to deal with bent claims all day long, but it is pleasurable when we boot them out - nearly �500000 of claims kicked out by yours truly last year - drink driving but pretending cars is stolen, fraudulent (staged) accidents.

Good luck getting police prosecutions (blame the CPS) for insurance fraud - no-one is interested.

Equally, the amount you pay to cover the numpties who drive uninsured or illegally is proportioned (I believe) by the ABI or the Government (in the form of a tax on insurance). Insurers have no control over whether this goes up or down.

It often amazes me that these idiots drive high powered and expensive cars, but don't MOT, tax, insure them, or just blatantly lie. it's people like me who try to keep your premiums down due to actions caused by fraudsters, but uninsured drivers are nightmares to do much about.

As an aside, it's worth noting that most insurers make losses year on year (ie cost of claims exceed premium), so they have to keep upping the premium year on year - personally, I blame this on the ambulance chaser solicitors who add a minimum of �4000 per personal injury claim.

Just imagine how much extra we have to pay when a people carrier in Bradford/Bolton/Birmingham/Luton (you get the picture), hits another people carrier, each full of people - bent solicitors, bent accident management company, bent hire company, bent repairers, bent claimants - makes me very angry, but gives me a smile when I boot the claim out on it's backside. Sadly, you have to pay my wages in the form of your premium.