Is it a rip off? (Motor Insurance - Comments & Tips)

Name: Graham1956

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Product:	Motor Insurance - Comments & Tips
Date:	21.05.01 (170 review reads)
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Advantages: At leasst you know that if you have an accident, then you will only have to pay out £100

Disadvantages: Can you afford to drive after you have paid for the insurance?

I suppose in one way l was lucky in that until l was 25 years old l drove a motorbike which meant that l didn’t get stung for the exorbitant fees that insurance companies charge younger drivers. I am sure that it is often cheaper for new drivers under 21, to buy a new car that comes with two years 'free' insurance, than to buy a second hand one and pay the insurance themselves.

I often wonder if these charges are justified. Yes there are a small minority of people who set out to impress people with their car, by driving too fast, screeching to a halt, etc.

But, l have a sneaky feeling that car insurance companies use this as an excuse to penalise all young drivers. It would be interesting to see some statistics to show what % profit, these companies make from different groups of drivers. I would suspect that the full no claims, middle aged market, is probably one of their least profitable areas.

As l said earlier, l did not suffer from the age weighting that is applied. Where l did get caught was in making a claim. Several years ago, a tyre blew on my car while l was on the motorway and l had to claim off of my insurance for the repairs. About four weeks after the car was repaired, someone had obviously reversed into it while it was in a pub carpark and then driven off without letting me know. The damage caused cost about £150 to put right and l thought as l had already lost my no-claims bonus, l may as well claim off of the insurance. (Less the excess which was then £30)

I thought no more about this until the policy was due for renewal and l had to pay not only for the loss of my no-claims bonus, but a £200 excess charge as well. If l had known before (yes it was in the small print!!) l would not have bothered claiming. So be warned, it is not just young drivers who can end up paying more.

When l received the notice of the amount that my insurance would cost with the excess of £200, l was at work one Satur
day with very little to do. So l started at 9.00am from A in 'yellow pages', phoning round insurance companies for quotes, by 11.30, l phoned Swinton who were almost exactly £100 cheaper than any other quote. So it is worth being persistent, when you are phoning round. Many companies specialise in a particular area of the market to attract business, but it is not always easy to find them. Brokers often say that they can do this for you, but in my experience it has always been cheaper to go directly to the insurer.

It would be interesting to see the net profit made from the previous year's business by insurers as a whole and broken down into age groups. I suppose that after the train derailments caused by a landrover, insurance companies will say that they have to protect their 'reserves' in case it happens to them.
One last point to bear in mind, is that if you have to make a claim. Some companies are very slow to pay out, Which magazine does an annual guide on this and it is worth bearing in mind before choosing a company to insure with.

One final, final point. If you are prepared to accept larger excess or take an advanced driving test, it can make a substantial difference to the amount that you pay.

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