Odd insurance price change

[tight fart]

Here’s an odd one, I bought a non running convertible Mini Cooper S as a bit of a project, no mot. But now with 4 women in the family they decided we keep it as a spare / summer car.
So I thought I’d better insure it.
No ncd as they all insure their own cars.
Comparison site came back £217 f comp. Ins starting Saturday.
So I follow the link, check everything to pay and then think it may as well start today, that changes the quote to £255, I think it’s not going anywhere for a week or two so I change it back, but in error I put Sundays date, it then changed it to £210!

[Opapayer]

Why is weird? It’s well known that insurance is dearer the closer the payment date it is to the date you initiate it and vice versa. Your example demonstrates this perfectly.

[alscar]

Yup quite normal according to how their systems / algorithms / rating matrix works.
Pretty cheap too !

[mcflurry]

IIRC their algo has more claims from people who buy insurance at the last minute vs those who plan in advance.
MSE believe the price sweet spot is somewhere 2-3 weeks ahead of renewal..

[alscar]

mcflurry said:

IIRC their algo has more claims from people who buy insurance at the last minute vs those who plan in advance.
MSE believe the price sweet spot is somewhere 2-3 weeks ahead of renewal..

Indeed - it’s all driven from each Insurers own data plus a sprinkling of clever actuarial input.

[LuS1fer]

Damned nuisance when you're buying a car and trying to select a pick-up date.
You start off with one premium and it goes up with every day nearer so you try to delay it but the seller wants it picked up.

Just have to bite the bullet.

[Richard-D]

Odd one I had recently, increasing the voluntary excess actually increased the premium too . No idea why that would be, just another thing I'll have to play around with whenever I start a new policy.

[alscar]

Richard-D said:

Odd one I had recently, increasing the voluntary excess actually increased the premium too . No idea why that would be, just another thing I'll have to play around with whenever I start a new policy.

Again it's all to do with whatever the Insurers data is and how the actuaries input their own extrapolation which in some cases means both premium and excess increases.
If the risk generically fits within their underwriting strategy then using both avoids too excessive use of premium hikes.

[Opapayer]

LuS1fer said:

Damned nuisance when you're buying a car and trying to select a pick-up date.
You start off with one premium and it goes up with every day nearer so you try to delay it but the seller wants it picked up.

Just have to bite the bullet.

Insure it as soon as you know that you re buying it. You’ll lose a few days where you re paying for cover but unable to drive the car, as you haven t picked it up yet, or wait don’t waste days, but pay a bit more. I’m struggling to see the problem, the amount of money being discussed and the frequency of this happening to any individual is likely irrelevant.

[_Rodders_]

About 3 weeks is the sweet spot IIRC.

[Kinky]

The sweet spot for insurance is 23 days (and 21 days for house insurance).

[vikingaero]

_Rodders_ said:

About 3 weeks is the sweet spot IIRC.

Definitely. When I log into Compare/MoneySupermarket/Confused and get quotes 3 weeks before renewal the cheapest prices are then and there. I don't go for the cheapest cover per se, but the cheapest with a known insurer, with quality cover - hire car plus, windscreen, protected no-claims, legal if it's free, PA if it's free, breakdown if it's free etc.

If I don't accept then and there, and log back in a few days later, the prices increase a little, and a lot more closer to renewal. Some of the time limited offers disappear too. And sometimes the comparison sites give up a little commission and fund some of the offers and they disappear too.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Opapayer said:

Insure it as soon as you know that you re buying it. You ll lose a few days where you re paying for cover but unable to drive the car, as you haven t picked it up yet,

Don't do that. You don't want it down to you on the Motor Insurance Database when the previous owner is still driving it.

[bergclimber34]

Another example of how ruthless and money grab most insurance companies are sadly.

Truly ruthless awful industry.

[davek_964]

bergclimber34 said:

Another example of how ruthless and money grab most insurance companies are sadly.

Truly ruthless awful industry.

I crashed, they paid.

That worked for me.

[Opapayer]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Don't do that. You don't want it down to you on the Motor Insurance Database when the previous owner is still driving it.

Your scenario is to cover off a situation where the current owner crashes the car, whilst no being insured in the couple of days overlap between you starting up the insurance and collecting the car. I’m sure it could happen, but then it could also be hit by a meteorite, the frequency of this happening to any individual is likely irrelevant.

In any case the person I replied to was given options, what if he chooses to insure it only when he collects it, but the car has incurred damage between him paying a deposit and collecting the/ paying in full? What happens to his deposit? Who is on the hook for that? We’re talking ridiculous scenarios, so why haven’t you advised him of this as well?

[LuS1fer]

Richard-D said:

Odd one I had recently, increasing the voluntary excess actually increased the premium too . No idea why that would be, just another thing I'll have to play around with whenever I start a new policy.

Had that too. 250 to 400 reduced the premium but upping it to 500 increased it.

I went for 400 because Aviva Zero were far lower than every other quote foisting 650 on me as standard. Go Compare also give you a 250 Excess Policy Cover.

[Richard-D]

LuS1fer said:

Richard-D said:

Odd one I had recently, increasing the voluntary excess actually increased the premium too . No idea why that would be, just another thing I'll have to play around with whenever I start a new policy.

Had that too. 250 to 400 reduced the premium but upping it to 500 increased it.

I went for 400 because Aviva Zero were far lower than every other quote foisting 650 on me as standard. Go Compare also give you a 250 Excess Policy Cover.

£400 to £500 was also the point where it caused my premium to increase. Possibly a coincidence of course.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

bergclimber34 said:

Another example of how ruthless and money grab most insurance companies are sadly.

Truly ruthless awful industry.

How so? They are reducing the price for those that buy in advance, one would think because they have stats to show people who buy in advance cost them less in claims. What's the problem with that?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Opapayer said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Don't do that. You don't want it down to you on the Motor Insurance Database when the previous owner is still driving it.

Your scenario is to cover off a situation where the current owner crashes the car, whilst no being insured in the couple of days overlap between you starting up the insurance and collecting the car. I m sure it could happen, but then it could also be hit by a meteorite, the frequency of this happening to any individual is likely irrelevant.

In any case the person I replied to was given options, what if he chooses to insure it only when he collects it, but the car has incurred damage between him paying a deposit and collecting the/ paying in full? What happens to his deposit? Who is on the hook for that? We re talking ridiculous scenarios, so why haven t you advised him of this as well?

I think insuring a car you haven't actually bought yet and the previous owner is still driving is a crap idea. And I was saying so. I don't have to give a list of all the other things i think are a crap idea. If people wish to ignore me and do it anyway, to save a bit of money, I won't be in the least offended