UKH

I've just woken up to a email from my insurance company.  Yes I have sleeping issues. 

Your car insurance is up for renewal.

Oh great, just at Christmas time and especially after spending 200 quid already this month on discs and pads on the thing.   Arse candles, lve been too preoccupied with other stuff to plan for this.

Better get ebaying some camping gear off methinks.  

Anyway I had to pinch myself.

They have actually lowered my car insurance this year .   Not increased it and made me phone them and haggle to get a deal that's just a slight increase that I could cope with but actually lowered it in the first offer by about 30 quid.  

This has never happened , in all my 25 years of driving, never. 

What's going on ?  

Lowered, no fighting ,no haggling.  

I'm suspicious.  Is this the end of days ?  

Still gonna shop around and check everyone else's price  but I really had to pinch myself.  

Mind blown !!!

My automatic renewal has come in over £40 cheaper for my car this month and in the last few years our home insurance renewal quotes have been lower or very close to previous years.

I'm wondering if there's now a secret database of people who are willing to shop around every year for better deals and if you're on the list the insurance companies have finally learnt they can't get away with big annual price hikes for these people?

There has been a general push across the industry to change practises, but also depending on vehicle, incident rates are falling with newer tech (especially front impact avoidance) starts to take effect

Maybe they heard you just put new discs and pads on the car and they are more confident you will stop in time

The insurance industry could claw back some useful cash if they stopped adopting a laissez-faire attitude to drivers who hot up their cars and don't inform the insurer. Living on the edge of a Lancashire mill town our nights are often disturbed by some muppet racing round the nearby ring road or occassionally down our narrow road, the shockingly loud exhaust banging and popping on the overrun and a blast of un-muffled energy rattling the house. The cars are always German saloons and I'd be willing to bet that not one of the drivers has telephoned his insurer and informed them about the modification.

The industry's attitude seems to be that if the car crashes the Police will find out about the mods and they can refuse cover but I doubt this happens. I wish insurers would demand inspections and verification that the car really is producing the power specified by the manufacturer.

It's a welcome change from having to mess about doing the insurance dance on the phone calling them and negotiating . 

Seems like the best deal from what I've checked myself this morning.  The only cheaper deal is with their economy insurance by 30 quid over the year.  

I'll let them renew it and take it as a small victory 

I get a renewal invitation from current insurer for £450 - wtf

... Goes and checks same company as a new policy. £187.

... Gets new insurance cover with different company with all bells and whistles thrown in for just over £200.

I don't think the insurance industry is causing, or responsible for solving, the issue you're complaining about here. Are you saying every car should be inspected every year to get insurance?! Setting aside the hassle and expense, I don't think that would even solve the actual problem which is the nobs driving those cars.

I renewed mine a fortnight ago. I also (having forgot to update my address when I moved back to London from Newcastle in April) changed my address. Plumbed the relevant details into Go Compare, and the cheapest I could find was £400 more expensive than last year. Coincidentally it was also from my then current insurer.

I called my insurer up to discuss renewing, gave them my new address, and he puts it all into the magic RNG machine. Comes back with a price £60 cheaper than my previous premium. £460 cheaper than (the same insurer) from Go Compare.

I've never had that happen before.

Obviously driving standards are far worse in Newcastle.

I had exactly the same thing and then when I rang them up to confirm they knocked an extra £50 for just for the sake of it. 

Oh , that might be worth a punt.

I share your frustration, however these modifications would need to have a significant impact on the cars performance, and generally when we come across these type of mods they are not material to the cause of the accident. e.g. a noisey car doesn't crash more often than a quiet one, and even if it did the noise wouldn't have made a difference. (Although you could say a driver with a noisey car is likely to be more right footed).

Generally the claim will still be paid and an additional premium charged.  Even if we were to throw out rude boys' claims based on modifications we would still be liable for the third party costs (which will be significantly higher)

Average Speed in London <10Mph.  Average accident at 10MPH is very cheap.  I'm sure there are areas of Newcastle that are just as slow, but drivers living there will have much more chances to go quickly more often.