Car insurance, have you payed in more than you have claimed

Car insurance, have you payed in more than you have claimed

Author
Discussion

BGarside

1,564 posts

138 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Car insurance in the UK is a total rip-off.

You pay years of inflated premiums then, if you do dare claim, there's a large excess then an inflated renewal quote, even with protected NCB. Don't protect NCB and no doubt there's an even bigger increase.

It's a massive incentive not to claim, unless it's for major work, i.e: not to use the insurance for the purpose it is intended. When I damaged the bumper of my SEAT parking I didn't use the insurance for fear of losing hundreds in excess and increased premium - it's just not worth it.

At the age of 42, full no claims, safe area, I'm still paying around £350 to insure a 10-year old SEAT worth about £1500, and a further £250 to insure a 21-year old BMW 3-series for 4000 miles a year.

£600 a year for no obvious benefit.

When I lived in New Zealand the premiums were almost laughably low by comparison, despite worse road safety stats and bad driving being rife over there.


TwigtheWonderkid

43,599 posts

151 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
BGarside said:
Car insurance in the UK is a total rip-off.

You pay years of inflated premiums then, if you do dare claim, there's a large excess
But you know the excess when you take out the policy. Assume you can pay more premium up front for a smaller excess.

People seem genuinely miffed that they've had less out than they've paid in. Do they apply that same logic to their life insurance for themselves and their partners???

J4CKO

Original Poster:

41,725 posts

201 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
J4CKO said:
As per the title,

How much have you claimed versus how much you have paid in ?
I'm not convinced that somebody understands why insurers get out of bed in a morning. It's not for charitable reasons, right, Loon?
Did I complain about paying ? did I object to them making a profit ? purely a thread to stimulate debate and see who had payed in what and who had effectively taken back out more than that.

I have never paid all that much for insurance in the scheme of things, was just pondering whether I was negative or positive in terms of a risk.

Goody13

52 posts

117 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
I think it's a pretty sad state of affairs why people would 'want' to get back more than they put in. The whole point of insurance is to provide protection for when something you don't want to happen, happens.

Whilst I appreciate that motor insurance is compulsory, do people who insure their houses and possessions worry about getting back more than they put in? I suspect not, as you buy your home insurance purely for peace of mind, and you don't actually want anything to happen.

fatjon

2,251 posts

214 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Been paying in since 1987 and never claimed anything.

Defcon5

6,194 posts

192 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
I might just be in profit - two total loss claims totalling about 10k vs 10 years of premiums

RB Will

9,673 posts

241 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
I'm well out. If you take my household for the last 12 years We must have paid out at least £30k. had 2 windscreens out of it

Daston

6,081 posts

204 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Ohh this will be fun

Year 1: £880
Year 2: £1100
Year 3: £900
Year 4: £400
Year 5: £850
Year 6: £1050
Year 7: £800
Year 8: £880
Year 9: £420
Year 10:£380
Year 11: £380
Year 12: £520

Total = £8,560
Claimed £0

Dog Star

16,167 posts

169 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Goody13 said:
I think it's a pretty sad state of affairs why people would 'want' to get back more than they put in.
Not me; I'm quite well aware of how it works. What really grates though is that after almost 3 decades (see my post up above - 2nd one?) of multi-vehicle ownership with zero claims I have *ONE* claim as a result of a burglary in which my bike was taken (I lost tens of thousands of pounds worth of other stuff (not covered either, a lot of it)) and I am back to square one, absolutely getting screwed sideways. If you saw the increase in security that I've put in place you'd put the crown jewels in my garage.

The insurance company paid out, no problem, very pronptly. But I feel that after 2/3 of a lifetime of being careful and responsible that I'm getting seriously short-changed.

tim-b

1,279 posts

211 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
BGarside said:
Car insurance in the UK is a total rip-off.

You pay years of inflated premiums then, if you do dare claim, there's a large excess
But you know the excess when you take out the policy. Assume you can pay more premium up front for a smaller excess.

People seem genuinely miffed that they've had less out than they've paid in. Do they apply that same logic to their life insurance for themselves and their partners???
It's more about the premiums and loss of NCB than the excess though. I've probably paid well over 10k in premiums and the only time I needed to claim (for ~£400 worth), I didn't because it would cost me less to just cough up. That's not a system that works well for the consumer...

dsuk

135 posts

125 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
When I had an internship at a general insurance company in Paris a few years ago, they told me that they paid out 105% of insurance premium.

The profit was made through investments.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,599 posts

151 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
tim-b said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
BGarside said:
Car insurance in the UK is a total rip-off.

You pay years of inflated premiums then, if you do dare claim, there's a large excess
But you know the excess when you take out the policy. Assume you can pay more premium up front for a smaller excess.

People seem genuinely miffed that they've had less out than they've paid in. Do they apply that same logic to their life insurance for themselves and their partners???
It's more about the premiums and loss of NCB than the excess though. I've probably paid well over 10k in premiums and the only time I needed to claim (for ~£400 worth), I didn't because it would cost me less to just cough up. That's not a system that works well for the consumer...
It works fine for the consumer. If it was viable to claim for small amounts, more would do it, premiums would increase, and you would have paid far more than £10K in premiums.

ant leigh

714 posts

144 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Dog Star said:
Not me; I'm quite well aware of how it works. What really grates though is that after almost 3 decades (see my post up above - 2nd one?) of multi-vehicle ownership with zero claims I have *ONE* claim as a result of a burglary in which my bike was taken (I lost tens of thousands of pounds worth of other stuff (not covered either, a lot of it)) and I am back to square one, absolutely getting screwed sideways. If you saw the increase in security that I've put in place you'd put the crown jewels in my garage.

The insurance company paid out, no problem, very pronptly. But I feel that after 2/3 of a lifetime of being careful and responsible that I'm getting seriously short-changed.
This is the one area of insurance that does grate on me. Same story, 30 years of no accident/no claim motoring until last year I had a house burglary and a car stolen as a consequence.
Insurance company was great paying out, no complaints there, but all my insurance has pretty much doubled plus the extra cost due to loss of no claims. One company, I think the Co-op, refused to insure me at all.
I think causing an accident would be less damaging to premiums than having a car stolen.

thatdude

2,655 posts

128 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
I've paid in a fair amount, but not as much as some of you because my motorcycle insurance is cheap (8 eyars of bike insurance was cheaper than 2 years of car insurance!)

However, owing to an incident a few years ago, the thrid party insurers had to pay for a hire bike for 2 months, which came to £6000! Plus £800 to me to fix my bike, plus whatever other legal fees etc etc etc because it was all the thrid party's fault


The bike I had on hire was a bandit 650, not sure what they are new but i dont think its more than £6000/ I ragged the arse off it because it felt really tight. By the time i was done with it it rode really well

amancalledrob

1,248 posts

135 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Daston said:
Ohh this will be fun

Year 1: £880
Year 2: £1100
Year 3: £900
Year 4: £400
Year 5: £850
Year 6: £1050
Year 7: £800
Year 8: £880
Year 9: £420
Year 10:£380
Year 11: £380
Year 12: £520

Total = £8,560
Claimed £0
You're quite right. That was thrilling

TwigtheWonderkid

43,599 posts

151 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
amancalledrob said:
Daston said:
Ohh this will be fun

Year 1: £880
Year 2: £1100
Year 3: £900
Year 4: £400
Year 5: £850
Year 6: £1050
Year 7: £800
Year 8: £880
Year 9: £420
Year 10:£380
Year 11: £380
Year 12: £520

Total = £8,560
Claimed £0
You're quite right. That was thrilling
rofl

redtwin

7,518 posts

183 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Over the past 27 years about £15K paid in premiums and only claimed about £1200.

FWIW, I have had damages that I could have claimed on, but didn't due to loss of no-claims and increase in premiums. The £1200 above included a claim from another motorist when I was at fault in an accident. Had it been a single vehicle accident, I would have just paid for my own damages out of pocket rather than claim.

uuf361

3,154 posts

223 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
I've no idea how much I've paid in premiums over the last 22 years (I don't think I'd like to know either!)......but having never made a proper claim (other than 1 windscreen and one side window), it's safe to say I'm not in profit!

qube_TA

8,402 posts

246 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Not sure if this counts -

6 weeks into owning my first car I had a crash that killed my 1988 XR2 (well I couldn't afford to fix it so part-ex'ed it, the garage that bought it sold it on as a different model when they replaced the front end). Cable TV contractors were digging up a narrow road and had installed a temporary traffic light that was broken, green light on both ends. A Mercedes came through on a blind corner and we hit each other head on, fun. I was only 3rd party insured but had 'legal protection'. The lawyers must have spent every penny of the £50k cover over the next few years to decide that it couldn't be proven despite both drivers claiming the lights weren't working properly. I didn't get anything back from it. frown

Bought a Nova SRi afterwards, had some serious Pioneer ICE too! cool






Driver101

14,376 posts

122 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
My younger days I can remember paying £2200 for insurance. My insurance is now £170 for the 335i.

I think in total I've paid in around £15,000 in 18 years.

I've had a chipped windscreen repaired and had a claim against someone else when they hit the back of me when sitting stationary. The bumper needed replaced.

So yes, I've put it way more than I've taken out.