crazy insurance premiums

[Diezel Weazel]

Yeah n the fact ya haven't had a claim... so it still goes up Cos they can


Jess
"Cos short cuts can cost more in the long run"

[Baz94]

Or a bloke called Jim with a thing for heels...

If he does I dont care ,
as he only charges me £120 full comp' for a 3.0 v8





But thats for my Triumph Stag They would'nt insure the Surf

[Sancho]

If he does I dont care ,
as he only charges me £120 full comp' for a 3.0 v8

But thats for my Triumph Stag

That's because they know that it will never be driven for more than 20 minutes before breaking down and going back in the garage

[Baz94]

That's because they know that it will never be driven for more than 20 minutes before breaking down and going back in the garage

Oh ye have little faith

[yoshie]

I paid £240 through Flux, full comp one my fault claim 42yrs old.

Hope it won't go up too much this year, I think it's due in a couple of months.

'O' and classic insurance you got to love, I had a v8 rangey full comp on 2k mile a year for £60

Maybe we should all buy e types or old 280sl mercs

The trade policy sounds ideal for me as I have 3 trucks at the min.
Thanks for the link Ross I might give them a bell an findd out more.

[Sancho]

'O' and classic insurance you got to love, I had a v8 rangey full comp on 2k mile a year for £60

Maybe we should all buy e types or old 280sl mercs

I tried that and (sweet irony having just given Baz94 a hard time) it's in the garage getting fixed still.

[Baz94]

Maybe we should all buy e types or old 280sl mercs

Phew! Thought you was gonna say a 65' Mercedes 220Seb

[Albannach]

Mine is £215 through Flux. Fully comp, all mods declared, off road cover included.

[Sancho]

Maybe we should all buy e types or old 280sl mercs

Phew! Thought you was gonna say a 65' Mercedes 220Seb

Ooooh, it cuts so deep. I'll have you know that as soon as it turns left and changes gear again I'll be unleashing all 120 BHP trying to get the thing to outpace a glacier.

In the meantime, here's 'my' E-Type and 280SL:

[yoshie]

How lovely is that 280!

[Baz94]

On a serious note:
Cracking looking cars there Sancho

[Sancho]

On a serious note:
Cracking looking cars there Sancho

Indeed. I've driven the E-type a couple of times, never had the SL out.

Going back to insurance, I always found Lifesure the cheapest for me. Could work out similarly in Manchester as I live in a 'high risk' postcode and was getting quoted four figures by everyone else.

[Surfer Ross]

I paid £240 through Flux, full comp one my fault claim 42yrs old.

Hope it won't go up too much this year, I think it's due in a couple of months.

'O' and classic insurance you got to love, I had a v8 rangey full comp on 2k mile a year for £60

Maybe we should all buy e types or old 280sl mercs

The trade policy sounds ideal for me as I have 3 trucks at the min.
Thanks for the link Ross I might give them a bell an findd out more.

That's just the one I'm with Brian. There are loads of them about. I can have up to 4 personal vehicles and up to 20 "stock" vehicles. No change in Premium, all you do is log on to their underwriter's site and add the registration of the car you want covered. No restriction on insurance group or on imports.

[J i m s t e r]

I read this today:

The motor insurance industry came under scrutiny yesterday as the House of Commons Transport Select Committee investigated the reasons for the 40pc annual increase in insurance premiums. The second meeting of the inquiry, the committee heard from a panel of industry experts who defended the rising costs. Fraud

Motor insurance fraud now has links to organised crime, a police chief told MPs today.

Fraud has become "highly organised and clearly very profitable", said Chief Superintendent Geraint Anwyl, of the Association of Chief Police Officers' roads policing section.

He said fraudsters were setting up claims management companies where the "doctor", the "solicitor" and the collision "victim" might possibly be members of the same crime family.

Some experts say that staged car accidents, in which fraudsters deliberately crash cars into innocent drivers to win thousands of pounds in compensation, account for £44 from every policy. The accidents used to be confined to inner-city areas, but that is no longer the case as fraudsters realised that insurers had been carrying out postcode checks if their suspicions were aroused.



In fact, these "crash for cash" claims are still so frequent in some parts of the country that drivers in some postcodes in the North West are finding it difficult to buy motor insurance at all.
Mr Anwyl said that these fraudulent offences are occurring "from London right up the spine of England."
The fact that fraudsters moved around made it harder for them to be detected, Mr Anwyl told the MPs.
A recent report by Moneysupermarket.com suggested that one out of every 20 motorists under the age of 35 had deliberately braked in such a way as to cause the following motorist to collide with them, placing the responsibility for meeting the claim on the following driver.


Credit Hire costs

Another factor in rocketing premiums comes from credit car hire firms. Over the past 10-15 years, credit hire firms have entered the motor claims market, offering replacement vehicles to motorists whose vehicles have been damaged in an accident. In the event that the motorist successfully brings a claim against the party at fault, he can recover the costs of the car hire from the other party's insurer.
According to Lloyds Market Association (LMA), which submitted evidence to the committee, while an element of this process is legitimate, in that many people do need a replacement vehicle if theirs is off the road – the reality this market is extremely dysfunctional.
The LMA explained that this creates significantly inflated costs for insurers, which must ultimately be recovered from customers via higher premiums which can be as much as 2.4 times higher than the average cost.
The key issue is that the credit hire firms are commercial firms, naturally seeking to maximise profits, but the customer using their service is not the person paying the bill. The bill is paid by the other party's insurer, who is not part of the hire agreement, and so is not able to exert control over the hire to apply normal market efficiencies.


Uninsured drivers

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Penning announced that from this spring, it will be an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, rather than just to drive when uninsured.
Mr Penning said: "Uninsured drivers push up premiums for other motorists and often drive with no regard for other road users, so it is vital that we do everything we can to keep them off the roads.
"More than 400 uninsured vehicles are already being seized by the police every day but it is simply not possible to catch every uninsured driver in this way. That is why we are bringing in these new powers which will help us to take targeted action while freeing up police time to deal with the hard core of offenders."
The new system, called Continuous Insurance Enforcement, will compare the DVLA registered keepers database with the MID and contact uninsured drivers so that they obtain insurance by an escalating system of penalties. However, some industry experts say this new system will merely be a "slap on the wrist" as those caught will face a fixed penalty of just £100 – which can be reduced to £50 by early repayment and will only target drivers who have obeyed laws by registering their vehicles with the DVLA.
Currently every responsible motorist pays an average £30 each year within their premiums to cover crashes involving uninsured and untraced drivers. It is also estimated that uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year.
Figures by the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) show that uninsured drivers are five times more likely to be involved in road collisions, to fail to comply with other road traffic requirements, and to be engaged in other criminal activity. Recent research shows one in five uninsured drivers fail to stop at a the scene of an accident they have been involved in – leaving their victims a greater risk.


Years of unprofitable trading

Despite the cost of cover being bumped up year after year, motor insurers claim that they have not made a profit for 16 years. According to Fitch Ratings, the insurance industry pays out £123 in claims for every £100 in premiums collected. This is because of uninsured drivers, fraudulent claims and a steep rise in the number of whiplash claims by motorists enlisting the help of personal injury lawyers.
David Powell, underwriting manager at Lloyds Market Association, said he expected motor insurance premiums would continue to increase due to the loss-making years.
Both he and former Association of British Insurers director Mark Boleat told MPs that the recent sharp rise in premiums was a "correction" by the insurance industry.
Tony Baker, director general of the Credit Hire Organisation, said: "Premiums have gone up in the last few months because the motor insurance industry has lost so much money in the last few years that they reached a stage where they could not afford to keep premiums at the existing level."


"Ambulance chasers"

With aggressive television marketing campaigns, the number of companies offering claims management services and no-win, no-fee representation has almost doubled in the last year – and the effect these companies have on premiums is staggering.
For instance, according to the British Insurance Brokers Association, insurer Esure has reported a sudden 300pc increase in personal injury claims in the B31 postcode area, despite there being no increase in accidental damage claims. This means that for every £1 Esure collects in premiums, it is now paying out £3 in personal injury claims in parts of Birmingham.
Mike Penning, said that the claims culture "which we have inherited from America, is quite frightening."
"From a personal point of view I find it abhorrent, they are ambulance chasers," he said.
"We are going to be in a situation like in America, if we are not careful, where you get lawyers turning up at road traffic accidents."
Claims companies even run loyalty schemes designed to allow their members to refer friends and relatives requiring personal injury or replacement car services, earning points or up to £150 for each referral.
Personal injury claims have increased insurers' costs by at least 30pc a year, while figures from the Association of British Insurers show that motorists are now paying 10pc of their policy premium to meet the cost of personal injury claim lawyers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...-sky-high.html

[Apache]

Did I read that right? If you 'keep' a vehicle, it must be insured? Even if it's SORN?

Does that mean if I was to rebuild a classic, build a kitcar, or even just park up a vehicle on my land as a parts source, I have to have valid insurance even though its not on the road? Surely they jest!