The great big insurance rip off

[Gomev]

I tried Flow Insurance and they say they can't insure me.

The cheapest I've found on GoComppare is esure @ £1069.

Ditto with Flow. I was with them on my last but one policy with my ZS EV, but switched to Aviva for the 5.
My renewal figure with Aviva in January is the best quote I've had by a small margin and with a smaller excess (only £200) at £620. (up from £370 last year )

 

[Les burrows]

I'm sorry but I'm getting a little confused now ...maybe it's my age or the flu . The topic of the thread is " The great big insurance rip off "
Every time I look for updates we seem to be talking about chargers

​

I totally agree can someone in control of this forum get this thread back on track thank you, Ho and a merry Christmas to you all.

So here’s my insurance tale from this last week, last year I got my insurance for my MG5 Trophy facelift model via Compare the Market you know the meerkat one and I paid £433 for it with Churchill fully comp, myself and my wife as named drivers with legal assistance included, £200 compulsory excess and £200 voluntary excess so it is due again on the 13 January so i decided to see what it was going to cost this year, so 24 days before it is due I went on line to Compare the market and the best quote they give me was with the same company Churchill at £580

so I looked at a few others direct line £820 I think that was, LV £1900 yes £1900, both for the exact same cover anyhow two days later my renewal notice from Churchill dropped on the mat I open it up to find it’s for £648

but remember compare the market for exactly the same cover is £580 with the same company, so I decided to ring Churchill and ask why, didn’t really get an answer but the chap on the phone said can I run trough your details which we did at the end he came back with the figure of £518.53p needless to say I paid it right away.


So yeh you need to shop around a bit but when you have your renewal phone them up and check that’s the very best they can do.
So around £80 increase from last year I’m ok with that for todays rumoured insurance hikes don’t think I can do much better.
Les.

 

[maskull]

I totally agree can someone in control of this forum get this thread back on track thank you, Ho and a merry Christmas to you all.

So here’s my insurance tale from this last week, last year I got my insurance for my MG5 Trophy facelift model via Compare the Market you know the meerkat one and I paid £433 for it with Churchill fully comp, myself and my wife as named drivers with legal assistance included, £200 compulsory excess and £200 voluntary excess so it is due again on the 13 January so i decided to see what it was going to cost this year, so 24 days before it is due I went on line to Compare the market and the best quote they give me was with the same company Churchill at £580
View attachment 22426
so I looked at a few others direct line £820 I think that was, LV £1900 yes £1900, both for the exact same cover anyhow two days later my renewal notice from Churchill dropped on the mat I open it up to find it’s for £648
View attachment 22425
but remember compare the market for exactly the same cover is £580 with the same company, so I decided to ring Churchill and ask why, didn’t really get an answer but the chap on the phone said can I run trough your details which we did at the end he came back with the figure of £518.53p needless to say I paid it right away.
View attachment 22424

So yeh you need to shop around a bit but when you have your renewal phone them up and check that’s the very best they can do.
So around £80 increase from last year I’m ok with that for todays rumoured insurance hikes don’t think I can do much better.
Les.

My renewal went from £320 ish to £900 ish with Churchill . Phoned them and they said they could knock £50 off . Asked if I wanted to renew and I told them to go forth and multiply . I went with Flow for £350 which I can live with .
It seems to me that insurance companies are acting like disreputable market traders at the moment .

 

[Les burrows]

Well I had never heard of Flow insurance until it’s been mentioned here by 1/2 members so I have just done a quote for the exact same cover £670 so not for me lm afraid I will stick with what I have but it just goes to prove everyone is different and with different circumstances hence the difference in prices so shop around it’s all you can do.
Les.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

I do not want to defend the insurance cartels but there are a couple of YT videos concerning MGs but will also include most modern cars no matter what the drive modes. One, is where a MG4 is having new airbags and seatbelts replaced after an undisclosed accident which deployed them. The amount of work/time/ expertise needed to achieve this is phenomenal, include the parts new dash ,steering wheel etc and the costs mount up.
The second is an Australian guy who is turning a Porsche into an electric car and using a 5000 dollar write off MGzs as a donor car. The MG is practically brand new and has limited front end damage which would be repairable but again airbags ,ECU disabling the car, means the insurance company has given up on it , OK for the owner but everyone else picks up the tab.
Modern car design and the the safety features built in but rarely accessible mean its cheaper ( especially when adding in storage, expertise assessments , time delays and hire car arrangements ) to write off vehicles and pass on the resultant costs , if a particular car is deemed to be to expensive to repair perhaps thats a reason to up that cars premium. There is probably a case for manufacturers to go back to drawing board to design reparability into their vehicles, but then again one wrote off car could mean another one sold so some hope of that. Guess who,s stuck in the middle?

 

[Pebble]

£396 last year for new FL5, 72 plate, January 2023 reg. Renewal a few days ago, £412. So asked if they could do it for £400 and include this time around, protected NCD and Legal Protection.
Broker agreed, so happy days.
Maybe worth others trying A-Plan, often overlooked, what's to lose? Ok, has to be done on phone but heh ho.
FWIW, my local branch was in Shrewsbury, 01743.455900, ask for Alasdair.
Oh, and actual policy is an LV one.

 

[Les burrows]

Well pebble thanks for your information and the contact details LV direct quoted me £1900 without NCP for the same car it just unbelievable what is happening with insurance at the moment and has been for the last couple of years when I got this car I struggled to get any insurance on it at first even MG would not give me get you home cover had to leave the car at the dealership for a couple of days until I sorted something out. I agree nothing to lose just what I did with Churchill. Might give yours a go has I’m in a 14day cooling off period.
Les.

 

[Ruislip Resident]

£396 last year for new FL5, 72 plate, January 2023 reg. Renewal a few days ago, £412. So asked if they could do it for £400 and include this time around, protected NCD and Legal Protection.
Broker agreed, so happy days.
Maybe worth others trying A-Plan, often overlooked, what's to lose? Ok, has to be done on phone but heh ho.
FWIW, my local branch was in Shrewsbury, 01743.455900, ask for Alasdair.
Oh, and actual policy is an LV one.

Maybe it was due to using a broker. They generally have access to far more products than you can find yourself on the Internet.

 

[Cocijo]

I doubt if the traditional ‘broker’ has access to more insurers than the aggregators on the internet. That’s why their numbers dwindled. The LV policy mentioned through a broker will be available online direct from LV, and I’m pretty sure that the cost will not be cheaper by using a broker.

 

[siteguru]

You wouldn't think so, given that the broker will be drawing a commission from the transaction so the insurer's "profit" will be reduced.

 

[Ian Key]

I have used a broker for a number of years mainly because to start with they would find the best deals which included fully comprehensive travel in Europe whereas most policies only cover you third party.

Recently that has not been the case as I no longer drive abroad and have found cheaper quotes through comparison sites. They have matched the quote by cutting their commission and handling fees often by nearly £100.

I'm now in a quandary.
Do I continue using the broker but have to do the work for them to find the best quote on a comparison sites and get them to match it or just go through the comparison site?
One advantage of using a broker is that they should deal with the insurance company on your behalf but is that any better than doing it yourself?

 

[Pebble]

I doubt if the traditional ‘broker’ has access to more insurers than the aggregators on the internet. That’s why their numbers dwindled. The LV policy mentioned through a broker will be available online direct from LV, and I’m pretty sure that the cost will not be cheaper by using a broker.

The LV policy via A-Plan says, on the top of the insurance certificate, "LV Broker" and underwritten by Highway Insurance Co. Ltd.. I would think Brokers get a better deal than us mere mortals and depends then how much they can give back on the premium, how much they want your business and still make a profit. A few additional things to note when using a broker or A-Plan:
With most Brokers, there's an admin fee but A-Plan are transparent and show it in the breakdown of the premium. On renewal, they reduced this figure to almost zero.
Like others, going direct to LV (or via comparison sites), yielded a much higher premium.
I only went to A-Plan when the car was new as we were having trouble finding someone who would cover the newly launched FL5.
Using a Broker may not always be the cheapest but in our case, we weighed up the pros (able to pop into the branch office if we need to, eg. claim and talk to someone, being able to negotiate directly with someone who knows what they're doing)) and cons (could be more expensive, other on-line quotes were slightly cheaper at renewal).
So yes, we all agree it pays to shop around these days, but don't rule out the Broker route thinking it MUST be more expensive.

 

[Gadget Geek]

The "insurers" on the comparison sites are brokers for the underwriters, who are the true insurers with all the money.

 

[Cocijo]

The LV policy via A-Plan says, on the top of the insurance certificate, "LV Broker" and underwritten by Highway Insurance Co. Ltd.. I would think Brokers get a better deal than us mere mortals and depends then how much they can give back on the premium, how much they want your business and still make a profit. A few additional things to note when using a broker or A-Plan:
With most Brokers, there's an admin fee but A-Plan are transparent and show it in the breakdown of the premium. On renewal, they reduced this figure to almost zero.
Like others, going direct to LV (or via comparison sites), yielded a much higher premium.
I only went to A-Plan when the car was new as we were having trouble finding someone who would cover the newly launched FL5.
Using a Broker may not always be the cheapest but in our case, we weighed up the pros (able to pop into the branch office if we need to, eg. claim and talk to someone, being able to negotiate directly with someone who knows what they're doing)) and cons (could be more expensive, other on-line quotes were slightly cheaper at renewal).
So yes, we all agree it pays to shop around these days, but don't rule out the Broker route thinking it MUST be more expensive.

Interesting points. You’ll find that your policy is with Highway Insurance, whose brand is owned by LV.
The car insurance revolution that Direct Line Insurance started in the 90’s was all about cutting out the middle man (brokers) and going direct, and it had a profound effect on the market. All major Insurers followed and operated the direct model. They had to in order to compete on price.
I don’t See why Insurers would offer brokers better premiums than if a customer went direct to them, but as always i‘m happy to learn why this may be.
I still can’t see how there can be a better premium than if you cut out the middle man and go direct to the insurer.
Of course, as you mention, if you’re the type of person who likes to call in and have a face to face chat, then the broker might work better for you - but you pay for it.

 

[Cocijo]

Just a quick update. I obtained a small reduction in premium when I called my current Insurer and I decided to go with them for the car cover only.
I also looked at add-ons for the policy and removed these. By getting alternative quotes I got these reduced too. For example I got £500 policy XS protection and breakdown cover for 12 Months via Gocompare for £30.
I'm still paying a lot more than last Year but there’s not much else I can do about that I’m afraid.

 

[Severnless]

Why are you getting breakdown cover? You have that from MG via AA, so long as you get the car serviced at MG it’s renewed every year.
so remove that and drop the premium a bit more.

edit to add…. It’s home start as well as breakdown relay cover, plus you get a hire car for 4 days, if yours needs recovering, all from the AA (don’t ask how I know!! will Start a new thread when I can be…….)

 

[Cocijo]

Why are you getting breakdown cover? You have that from MG via AA, so long as you get the car serviced at MG it’s renewed every year.
so remove that and drop the premium a bit more.

edit to add…. It’s home start as well as breakdown relay cover, plus you get a hire car for 4 days, if yours needs recovering, all from the AA (don’t ask how I know!! will Start a new thread when I can be…….)

Thanks for the suggestion. Alas, I no longer run one of Morris Garages finest at the moment.

 

[Severnless]

Whoops, sorry about that, but it will teach me to read all posts!

 

[Les burrows]

£396 last year for new FL5, 72 plate, January 2023 reg. Renewal a few days ago, £412. So asked if they could do it for £400 and include this time around, protected NCD and Legal Protection.
Broker agreed, so happy days.
Maybe worth others trying A-Plan, often overlooked, what's to lose? Ok, has to be done on phone but heh ho.
FWIW, my local branch was in Shrewsbury, 01743.455900, ask for Alasdair.
Oh, and actual policy is an LV one.

Hi Pebble
Well yesterday Tuesday I rang the chap above Alasdair at Howdens insurance in Shrewsbury and ask for a quote he came back to me today about 3:30pm and said he could get anywhere near the price I had paid to Churchill all he could do was with a company called Ace plus I think he said, i have never heard of them, he said they where a subsidiary company to LV, I would need to pay more in excess £100 but they would supply a hire car in the avent of an accident, something I don’t really need being a 2 car family so it got to a price which was over £831 so I said thanks but no thanks to which he agreed I was better of with Churchill for this next year.
So thanks again but it did not work for me as I have said before it is almost impossible to compare insurance there are far too many variables even if it’s the same car which ours are but different post codes age the list goes on make for different figures.
Les

 

[Cocijo]