Ask Honest John

Honest John Ask Honest John » Why has our insurance gone up to over £5000 after disclosing a historic traffic offence?
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Why has our insurance gone up to over £5000 after disclosing a historic traffic offence?

Over the weekend my wife and I were given an insurance quote of £1525 on a new car we were thinking of buying. I'd forgotten that she had three points on her licence (code TS10) from when she went through a red light, her only offence in thirty years of motoring, so I called back to disclose this and ask for a re-quote. I expected the premium to go up but was staggered when told it would now be £5500. And "no, it isn't a mistake," I was told very firmly. Is this sort of increase normal?

Asked on 8 June 2013 by NB, Manchester

Answered by Honest John
No. And it's a very good reason to use a decent broker such as www.primoplc.com/. Remember, most 'price comparison sites' are not what they say they are. They are really just brokers working on simplified quoting criteria with a fixed panel of underwriters. The standard broker commission of 10 per cent seems to have gone out of the window, so you could find yourself paying the broker £500 for insurance for which the underwriter charges £250.

We give you the low down on how to save on insurance, little-known tricks and tips, what insurance groups mean and how to use insurance aggregators to beat insurers.

Insurance group finder and how to save on insurance
Similar questions
I got a red light fine but I went to a speed awareness course so assumed I didn't need to declare it to my insurer (Admiral). But they found out and want to charge me £320. What can I do now?
What's the position where you are 'forced' across a red light with camera by a police car? It happened to someone in the lane next to me yesterday and could have been me. The police car came up behind...
I was driving into London on a section of road with three lanes when the traffic bunched up just before a set of lights. There was a slow moving London Bus on my left, completely hiding the traffic light,...