Moving house to a 'lower risk area' - insurance down from approx £380 to £300 per year.
Anyone else have experience of this?
Or the opposite, eg moving to say Inner City Manchester, which is said to be the Car Crime Capital of Europe
Alex
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Completely normal, although frequently a little abitrary.
And it isn't simply related to the likelihood of theft or vandalism of a car.
It is related, in its purest form, to claims experience by post code. This can include theft and vandalism, in can also be affected by a postcode which has a lot of busy, fast, chaotic roads, or an area with a lot of young people, or indeed with a lot of older people.
The abitrariness (either that's not a word, or that isn't how you spell it) comes in at the more detailed splits.
You can have one company will rate, for example, XX1 to XX9 as high and XX10 to XX19 as slightly lower where another might split at XX1 to XX8 & XX9 - XX15.
It is not unknown for it to be for less "proper" reasons as well - such as negotiation between an Insurance Company and a Council.
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There's a wider issue here, as some insurers now use the full postcode to rate at a more detailed level. This can mean that one side of the street is a lower area than the other, and taken to its extreme some Insurers will refuse certain postcodes because of claims experience (although its more common to do this by simply loading by a large amount).
Best idea is still to shop around as what will be high with one insurer COULD be lower with another.
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My Son, starting motoring again after a few years absence, found that his London SE1 address brings an insurance premium of around £900. Shortly afterwards, he decided to move to rural Kent and the insurance Co tell him to expect a reduction of around £350 on his next premium.
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Factor in (or should in be out) increase in NCD as well . . .
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Same thing happens with credit applications. Wrong post code, no loan.
That was the case with the company I worked for.
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If you ever feel bad about your insurance quote, for a laugh input a N.Ireland post code such as BT9 6AJ (number 155 is Reids florists from yell.co.uk) You will feel much better when you see what it spits out.
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yes, a massive drop from £480 per annum for Fully comp in south Bristol, to £360 fully comp in Canterbury City centre Kent, basically no cars are allowed here and CCTV is everywhere!!! For good or for bad.
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What major factors affect your insurance;
Age
Accidents
Driving Restrictions
Car Group
Convictions
Insurance Cover
"Add-ons" (Rugs & clothing, glass, etc. etc.)
Excess
Usage
Number of years claim free driving (NOT NCD, NOT Accident Free)
Geography
Insurer's claims experience ( car, age, area, etc. etc.)
Insurer's target risk
Insurer's agreements with councils, manufacturers and other services
Broker's Commission
Broker's relationships
Broker's target market
Broker's commercial weight (how much business)
What can be treated differently between two different insurers ?
All of them.
Shop around. Every year. Don't trust your broker to do it. If your premium has gone down, it may go down still more elsewhere.
If ANY of the risk factors changes, shop around.
However, when assessing premiums it is only the bottom line that matters; don't get seduced by large discounts, it doesn't mean that the net is better.
Bottom line $ for exactly what cover ?
And also don't forget, the cheapest quote from an insurer is within its target market. If you move outside that target, even if the risk has actually IMPROVED, they will probably be uncompetitive.
And don't try to economise the wrong way - e.g. you will regret asking for SD&P if it is possible that you will use the car for business
Believe nothing verbal. Believe nothing in writing with respect to cover or Ts & Cs unless it is on the INSURER'S headed paper, the broker is insufficient.
Changing conditions mid-year is expensive and uneconomic. .
$500 premium, Company A, You & spouse driving
$600 permium, Company B, You & spouse driving
But Company A might charge you $200 for your offspring to drive for two weeks at Christmas, whereas Company B would have charged $50. It would have been better to take the more expensive quote.
Ditto changing cars. If you will change car mid-year, get quotes on a likely candidate. I have seen people whitefaced at being told what it would cost to change cars to another which, to them at least, doesn't seem that different.
However, you might find that it costs $100 to add him for a year from company x, or $10 per week from company y. Well, if he's only going to drive it for two weeks at Christmas....
Ditto address
Ditto Use
Ditto Cover
Think about Excesses. What is the cost of a shunt ? $500 ? Do you do the type of driving where most likely accident is a shunt, and not a major ? In which case, Insurance with an Excess of $500 would be worthless to you. Consider TPF&T instead, or a lower excess.
Consider your NCD. You might decide that loss of claim free driving years would cost you $1000 in change in premiums. You may therefore realise that you will not claim unless the accident is more than $1000. You may therefore believe that you might as well have an Excess of $1000.
Maybe. But consider; if an increase in premium would cost you $1000 in the event of a claim, and if you take a $1000 excess, then that means an accident of $2000 minimum before it is worthwhile claiming. And that's a lot of money to lose, and you would lose that $2000 however big your claim was.
It would also suggest that Accidental Damage cover on a car of less than $2000 is worthless, even for a driver who can afford the premium.
And consider write-off values, not what you paid Bloggs Garages for the car.
A car you buy for $3000 can get written off and you could get an offer of $2000. However, cost to replace $3000. So, $1000 cost to replace, $1000 Excess, $1000 loss of claim free years. Now is it worth comprehensive cover ?
You can change the figures, but do work it out and think about it. And of course you can argue about the offer they make you in the event of a total loss. And all your mates will tell you about how they got the offer increased when it happened to them.
The tendency is to believe that an Excess is only relevant when the accident is less than the amount of excess, but don't forget it will be deducted from ALL claims.
Do you drive a car with expensive glass or not ?
Do you have expensive audio equipment ?
Do you leave rugs and clothing in your car ?
If no, then why pay to insure against anything happening to them ?
Don't go to, or leave, an insurer because of your own, or anyone else's claim process experience with that company. It isn't relevant and will change every time you make a claim. Your worry is usually which inspector it is rather than which insurer.
On that point, when a claim is takign a long time, chase the inspector, that's normally where the hang-up is - it may not be his fault, he may be waiting for something, but that's always the place to start.
More later as I think of it, assuming anyone is interested...........
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Many thanks for a clear and well written description of the insurance process
Ian
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Agreed!
But surely all this complication means the overheads must be very great.
Thank goodness Toad-san with clib membership counts as a classic!
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Sorry, club. Looking at the keyboard again, I see u is next to i.
I generally type with right middle finger, until it gets sore, what's yours?
Much more dextrous in the car. At my age, I'm referring to driving!
Cheers, Tomo
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Bloody hell (reprised). Even better than the previous explanation! You're my hero...
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Mark
Agree with nearly everyting you say, except about the claims experience. Its well known in the industry that some insurers have better claims handling processes than others.
Generally, and there will always be an exception, you are better insuring your pride and joy with a well known brand. I for example, would never use a Lloyds syndicate for a Comprehensive motor policy. If you only have TP cover then its doesn't really matter who you insure with.
At the end of the day, the purpose of Insurance is to pay claims.
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>>But surely all this complication means the overheads must be very great.
Huge. But it is quite a good system. Pretty much the only improvements have been computerisation, the theory has been the same for years. Difficult to see another way, at least as long as people have to separately buy their own insurance.
I guess targetting started getting more acute in the 70s & 80s, but other than that....
It should mean that the premiums are well balanced to the higher risk. This is a nice theory, and is more or less true, but there are a billion exceptions.
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"there are a billion exceptions."
Like Prudence (Proton GTi); measly, nowadays, 133 horses, but Group 16; the trouble is, it says "Handling by Lotus" on the back, hence stiff amenity charge!
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>except about the claims experience. Its well known in the industry that some insurers have better claims handling processes than others.
Very true. But look at what actually delays claims - usually the administrative procedures of the insurer are not on the critical path. Usually it is the communication between Insurer <-> Inspector <-> repairer.
The hold up and critical path is normally between inspector and repairer. Company Inspectors are becoming rarer and rarer and are much more usually independent. This has many advantages to insurers, one of which is the possiblity of detecting multiple claims.
Since many insurers use the same inspector, or inspection company, this typically means that your claim is much more subject to quality at that point, then it is at any other.
If you know a good inspector, and you use an insurance company which contracts them, then all well and good - but the best claims service, from the best composite will still not outweigh the effect of slow or inefficient, or overly critical, inspection.
Even where the inspector isn not the cause, he is usually the one who knows exactly who is.
>Generally, and there will always be an exception, you are better insuring
> your pride and joy with a well known brand. I for example, would never use
>a Lloyds syndicate for a Comprehensive motor policy.
Given that Syndicates frequently offer ADTPF&T which everybody calls comprehensive, but isn't, I would tend to agree. But on the other hand some of them are very good.
The problem with insurers tends to be the generosity or pedantic-ness with which they interpret their Ts&Cs; and clearly for this the Composites are better.
But it depends what you want - an additional young driver with, say Swan or Leadenhall may be sufficiently cheaper than with one of the composites, that for someone with time on thier hands, it may well make the better option.
>If you only have TP cover then its doesn't really matter who you insure with.
Now that is true. Totally. If you have TPO just go for the cheapest no matter what. Of course, take care in the year that you will upgrade your car to avoid additional premium shocks.
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Don't disagree that the Inspector is an important link in the chain, but the better insurers will have strict SLAs with TP suppliers, and they manage these aggressively.
Comes back to the E2E process and the better insurers will mapped and manage it. Poor insurers will wait for the customer to call before they chase.
By the way, its very difficult to find out what an Insurers attitude will be to changes in car, drivers, location before it actually happens and then you need to take into account the overall cost to change.
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>By the way, its very difficult to find out what an Insurers attitude will be to
>changes in car, drivers, location before it actually happens and then you
>need to take into account the overall cost to change
If you are considering a policy with an insurer, then you can always ask for a quote for the new conditions before taking out the policy. Agreed its not definite - but its a fairly good way of knowing.
Much better than assuming its ok.
And the overall cost to change is usually horrible, and that's why its better to have half an eye on expected or possible changes when arranging the thing in the first place.
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When we moved last year my wifes insurance co. gave her a rebate, mine wonted £20 more and the company insuring my elderly Land Rover kept the premium the same.
I've given up trying to suss them out.
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