Have insurance prices gone mad?

[Mr Tidy]

I got a silly renewal price in 2025 for my Cat N 2005 BMW 330i SE from Saga so I went with Aviva for £207.89.

The only changes this year were that I'm divorced rather than separated and have an SP50 so 3 points for an FPN, but they wanted £373.39!

The meerkats couldn't come up with anything less than £300 and their cheapest offerings were from firms I had never heard of but Saga managed to beat those, so by accepting a daft excess of £575 (it is a Cat N after all) I managed to get a premium just below £300.

Just wondering if others are encountering similar increases as renewal on my fun car will be coming up in June!

[GasEngineer]

Opposite in my case My Aviva premium went down this year with no changes other than me (old fart) and the car being a year older.

I tried the comparison sites and got another £100 off by switching to the AA.

[LastPoster]

My two renewals both went down this year. 2017 BMW and 2012 Porsche

Since cost of renewal surprised you before as well, maybe you just hit Aviva at a sweet spot (for you) and really the pricing has been about right all along

[Blib]

Churchill's renewal for our 2015 Forester last month was over £600. We went with an equivalent Direct Line policy which was less than £250.

I wonder why Churchill's quote was so high? We've not moved from our extremely rural Suffolk location, and we've not made any claims.

I'd like to know the rationale behind renewal valuations.

[the-norseman]

99.9% of the time renewals are more, thats how they make ££££ by catching the lazy people out who cant be bothered to shop around and just do auto renewal.

OP, when I got a SP50 it made no difference to my insurance but you seemed shocked its gone up when you have been caught? I was expecting mine to go up.

[J4CKO]

I knocked my posh road bike off the house premium as I sold it having decided I preferred riding my older one, premium went from a renewal of £1366 to £893, £473 to insure a sodding push bike, which is more than the £420 for a Jaguar XJ !

[ARH]

Blib said:

Churchill's renewal for our 2015 Forester last month was over £600. We went with an equivalent Direct Line policy which was less than £250.

I wonder why Churchill's quote was so high? We've not moved from our extremely rural Suffolk location, and we've not made any claims.

I'd like to know the rationale behind renewal valuations.

The reason is first year they give you a decent price to get your business.
Second year as they know you are the sort to change if the price is high they give a price the same as last year with maybe inflation added on.
Third year they think you won't change so add 35% to the price.

Even though regs say the should not do this they do. It has always been like this, it is the same with many things in life, form broadband to TV subscriptions.

[nickfrog]

I am down to £310 on the M2, since last month. But obviously I switch every year. So cheap.

[Nicetobenice]

Blib said:

Churchill's renewal for our 2015 Forester last month was over £600. We went with an equivalent Direct Line policy which was less than £250.

I wonder why Churchill's quote was so high? We've not moved from our extremely rural Suffolk location, and we've not made any claims.

I'd like to know the rationale behind renewal valuations.

Particularly difficult to fathom that one as Churchill and Direct Line are different brands of the same company.

[kambites]

My Elise's insurance renewal has just come through at £156 down from £166 last year. My wife's MG4 insurance was down this year too, but a claim fault had passed the five year threshold for her so it potentially doesn't mean much.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Mr Tidy said:

I got a silly renewal price in 2025 for my Cat N 2005 BMW 330i SE from Saga so I went with Aviva for £207.89.

The only changes this year were that I'm divorced rather than separated and have an SP50 so 3 points for an FPN, but they wanted £373.39!

OMFG!!! They actually wanted £1/day to cover unlimited third party injury damage, £50,000,000 third party property damage, and cover for your own pretty high performance car. I don't know how they sleep at night. Luckily someone more sensible could do it for 56p/day.

I keep saying it on here but it never sinks in. Car insurance prices for most people in the UK are so ridiculously low, that even intelligent people have lost all sense of perspective. They now get annoyed that their existing insurance price came throw stupidly low, but fortunately someone else was able to do it at an insanely low price, so the original quote was clearly an attempt at extortion.

You're all fking bonkers.

And.....breathe.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

kambites said:

My Elise's insurance renewal has just come through at £156

Rip off Britain.

[catso]

GasEngineer said:

Opposite in my case My Aviva premium went down this year with no changes other than me (old fart) and the car being a year older.

One of the few benefits of being an old fart is cheaper insurance though, my insurance company usually send me a renewal invitation that is slightly higher than the previous year and so I call them, we do the 'dance' to end up with a similar deal to the previous year.

This year however, the renewal was actually less than last year so no tango required.

The downside of course is I must be getting old...

[itcaptainslow]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Mr Tidy said:

I got a silly renewal price in 2025 for my Cat N 2005 BMW 330i SE from Saga so I went with Aviva for £207.89.

The only changes this year were that I'm divorced rather than separated and have an SP50 so 3 points for an FPN, but they wanted £373.39!

OMFG!!! They actually wanted £1/day to cover unlimited third party injury damage, £50,000,000 third party property damage, and cover for your own pretty high performance car. I don't know how they sleep at night. Luckily someone more sensible could do it for 56p/day.

I keep saying it on here but it never sinks in. Car insurance prices for most people in the UK are so ridiculously low, that even intelligent people have lost all sense of perspective. They now get annoyed that their existing insurance price came throw stupidly low, but fortunately someone else was able to do it at an insanely low price, so the original quote was clearly an attempt at extortion.

You're all fking bonkers.

And.....breathe.

How dare someone switch to a company offering (assuming similar policy T&C’s and cover) the same product at almost half the price…

[CoolHands]

Try 850 for a mini, zero points. And that best price was actually renewal. Madness

[sixor8]

My renewal for 3 weeks time was £331 v £380 last year (Honda eNy1). When I declared an accident (in a different car) last June, they re-quoted £390.

Quotes om meerkat and confused were £470 to £500! It seems that 'no discount to new customers.' DID apply in my case. Curiously, First Alternative (part of esure) would not quote me with or without the claim as a new customer anyway, but are content to renew as a standing customer. Must not want to widen their customer base.

Generally speaking, insurance costs fell this year, I've read somewhere.

[TikTak]

Oh no, both companies quote well below the national average amount and one of them quoted quite a lot under 50% of the national average.

Scoundrels.

[Phateuk]

Did mine yesterday last year £670 this year £480

[_Rodders_]

For the first time ever I didn't bother searching for a better deal come renewal.

It's with Allianz and only £200 and something. It either went up or down by about a tenner but I can remember thinking there's no way it's worth spending any time quibbling about it.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

itcaptainslow said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Mr Tidy said:

I got a silly renewal price in 2025 for my Cat N 2005 BMW 330i SE from Saga so I went with Aviva for £207.89.

The only changes this year were that I'm divorced rather than separated and have an SP50 so 3 points for an FPN, but they wanted £373.39!

OMFG!!! They actually wanted £1/day to cover unlimited third party injury damage, £50,000,000 third party property damage, and cover for your own pretty high performance car. I don't know how they sleep at night. Luckily someone more sensible could do it for 56p/day.

I keep saying it on here but it never sinks in. Car insurance prices for most people in the UK are so ridiculously low, that even intelligent people have lost all sense of perspective. They now get annoyed that their existing insurance price came throw stupidly low, but fortunately someone else was able to do it at an insanely low price, so the original quote was clearly an attempt at extortion.

You're all fking bonkers.

And.....breathe.

How dare someone switch to a company offering (assuming similar policy T&C s and cover) the same product at almost half the price

Good for them. I'd switch too. But if I posted about it, it would be along the lines of

"my insurance renewal was really cheap, but I them managed to find another provider who was even cheaper, just crazily cheap".