Quick insurance question...

[Derwins Revenge]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me if the insurance group of a car is the be all and end all of the price you are offered? So, say my current car is 36 and my new one is 31 (according to Parkers), as long as none of the other details change, should the new car come out cheaper? Maybe there are other considerations?

At the moment, the car that has a lower insurance group is coming out £250 more a year than the higher group and I'm slightly irritated/confused by it.

Do any insurance industry types or other PHers have any thoughts on this?

Thanks

[Snowboy]

Generally speaking the premium will go up and down with the insurance category.

But some cars buck that trend if they are particularly prone to crashing or theft – or of they are particularly safe and secure.

The only way to know for sure is to ask the insurer for a quote, or jump on a price comparison website and try a few options.

[farrendahl]

Although insurance grouping does have some effect on the premium overiding factors like the repair costs, parts supply, amount of claims paid out on said car model have a vastly bigger effect than the group in a lot of cases.

For example even on a standard policy my MG ZT-T 190 would cost me about £300 a year less than my partners Merc A class to insure workign on me being the owner and sole driver of either

[kambites]

Insurance groups are a guide only. They are far from the only consideration.

What you describe sounds fairly normal to me.

[Derwins Revenge]

Thanks for the quick replies and info. I guess I shouldn't be so annoyed with my current firm then, I was just expecting the insurance to go down when moving from a Golf GTI to 320D.

Guess it's time to bend over and take what's coming Ouchy

[Quinnaay]

Im also led to believe emissions etc are a big factor in insurance too. Not that i know the difference between the two vehicles.

[Derwins Revenge]

I wish emmissions were a factor, I'd be laughing all the way to the bank going from 179 to 120. Alas, based on the quotes I've had, it doesn't seem to be the case, or at least doesn't make a noticeable difference to premiums when everything else is considered.

[sinizter]

Quinnaay said:

Im also led to believe emissions etc are a big factor in insurance too. Not that i know the difference between the two vehicles.

Surely not. The emissions are an indication of performance, which is a big indicator, so you may imagine seeing a correlation. But I am sure they couldn't care less about emissions.

[B4rker]

Is it the same year of manufacture as your old one as this will also have an effect on the premium?

Group rating's are just a small factor of how your premium is calculated.

Another possibility is that because the vehicle is new to you the insurer may be loading the policy. I know of one insurer who loads the premium by as much as 20%.

[Derwins Revenge]

No it's two years newer (an F30 - company car being built right now, but that's for another thread ). I know there will be quite a difference in what it's worth if I write it off or it gets stolen, but I would imagine that they would expect that to be a much more likely thing to happen to the GTI, so I was imagining it may all balance out. If only life was that simple...

[kambites]

Indeed. Even if insurance groups were a good indication of risk, they would only really apply to third part insurance. As soon as you want comprehensive or theft insurance insurance, other factors such as vehicle value come strongly into play.