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Insurance Companies - Robbers Or Victims?


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Well the day has finally come where I will soon have to say goodbye to our much loved family LS. I thought petrol prices or some massive repair cost would do the job of removing me from the driving seat but no, it is the thieving gits at insurance companies that have done the job!

The car runs well, just sailed through another MOT so I was looking forward to another year of comfort and smugness then the letter came Your insurance runs out on such and such a date and here is the renewal price.

Several minutes passed whilst I recovered contemplating for a minute whether it was Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis that hit me! I recovered enough to realise that most insurance companies spell loyalty "S.T.U.P.I.D" and if I shopped round I would surely, as I have in the past, find a better deal.

Many hours later I sat at the computer with a sore jaw, not from Tyson or Lewis but from it hitting the desk every time a quote came through. At this point, my better half thought she best take our 2 year old out for a walk as there was a danger she would be learning all sorts of new wonderful words to repeat to Granny next time she saw her!

Now I appreciate that the insurance companies are taking a hit due to the scum bottom feeders that are touting for business re you not watching where you are going and finding someone to blame before your ladder hits the ground! But we are told that those claims push our premiums up by about £40 per annum so an increase is understandable though most of us are not happy as we know that the Insurance companies themselves help fuel the whole blame culture. Makes you wonder how many Claims handling companies are actually owned by insurance companies doesn't it!

Also I understand that 3 points on your license can add another 5 - 10%. Now before everyone says ah well tough you shouldn't have been speeding, I didn't realise I was, as i was driving a hire van who's speed limit is often 10 MPH below the national limit for cars and I was under that, so be warned people double check with the hire company as mine didn't tell me that. I know I should have double checked the law before hand so my bad, hands up, take it on the chin time etc.

Any way having taken these things into account I should expect a rise but...........expletive........more expletives.........a £1000 rise !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year 5 Years NCB £400 as near as dammit,

This year 6 Years NCB £1400 as near as dammit.

Ok add £40 for blame culture

Add 10% for 3 points (still angry about that) another £40

Oh what the hell round it up to an extra £100, so thats about £500 yes? No......£1400, wheres the extra £900 come from, and heres the really annoying thing, they wont tell me why!

Done the rounds of the comparison sites, some companies wont even quote I assume because of the 3 points. It cant be the post code as its a low to medium risk at worst according to their own data.

One company even quoted over £8000 ! another who I have had a previous happy relationship with over a number of years wouldn't quote on the grounds, and get this, "The main driver" ie me as no one else on policy is too young!!!! I'm Forty effing Five, 45 !!!!!!!!

Well even though I've started spending on her recently, oil change, anti freeze, oil and air filters etc and have laid out a chunk of money, I'm not prepared to drop my trousers, bend over and grab my ankles any more. I've had enough of these money grabbing shysters that are no doubt partly or wholey owned by the banks that my hard earned helped bail out. My family is going to miss her but she will have to go, hopefully to someone who can actually afford to insure her.

I hope I will be back one day with another Lex when I'm more flush but until then I would like to thank everyone for the brilliant advice and suggestions since I joined, this is a brilliant club and I will keep logging on to see whats going on.

Cheers

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Not tried saga yet but AA were not cheap at all in fact I've never ever had a good quote from the AA to be honest.

I always do the ring round every year as I believe a few hours work can often and have in the past deliver considerable savings. If you work out the amounts saved sometimes against the hours required to find them you could effectively be paying yourself £30- £40 per hour! Well worth the effort.

I have reluctantly come to this decision but I will try a few more even if only to get more info about the price hike. Fingers crossed for a miracle, failing that its Auto Trader I'm afraid. :(

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I did mine through Sky Insurance last year and managed to get fully comprehensive with a 6000 annual mileage limit and no commuting for £320.00, excess was £250.00 and I have a clean licence with 9 years protected NCB aged 52.

In December the renewal quote arrived from Sky and was £497.00! I did have an accident in June but it was non fault.

I sent an email to them asking if the quote was a joke and if they had changed their name to Sky High Insurance but received no reply, then another reminder arrived so I informed them I had renewed with the LOCs latest insurance trader Adrian Flux for £318.00 same cover and with a 5000 mile limit.

I asked AF why my old insurer had increased he premium so much and was told all prices were going up on 1st January 2012 so because I took out a new policy before then I got it at the lower price, why Sky couldn't do the same I don't know as once again I received no response from my email.

I suppose I am lucky in that I have a company vehicle for work travel and the LS only comes out once or twice a week with very low mileage covered hence the lower premium.

They even asked if I used the car at peak commuter times the reason I guess is that you are more likely to have an accident at busy times.

Also bear in mind my car is an grey import and mainstream insurers don't want to know so my choice of insurers is some what limited.

Can you not ask your insurer for a written explanation to justify as to why the premuim has increased so much?

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I also have had no response from emails asking why the hike.

I will try Adrian flux and see what they say.

The info about 1st Jan 2012 price increases tend to reinforce my belief that its just a greedy price hike rather than a reaction to circumstances outside their control. maybe I'm just bitter and twisted about being ripped off all the time.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

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Have you tried the Owners Club insurance which gives us an discount.

heres a link http://www.ownersclubinsurance.co.uk/website/lexus/?utm_source=LexusUK&utm_medium=LOCLaunchEmail&utm_campaign=LOCEmailLaunch

Good luck. Cant belive they can justify such greed, but then they dont give a damn. We are just looked at as the cash cow.

Mike

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Thanks for the info Mike I will check that out.

I know what you mean re us being cash cows, I wish all of us normal folk would just stand up as one and say NO we've had enough stop taking the pee.

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not sure what mileage you cover or even if your car qualifies but give a few classic car companies a go , , ive just insured a BMW 645CI 4.4 litre V8 330bhp value around £10k via classicline for £490 F,comp/2 drivers 5k a year max though ? aged 43 ?

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not sure what mileage you cover or even if your car qualifies but give a few classic car companies a go , , ive just insured a BMW 645CI 4.4 litre V8 330bhp value around £10k via classicline for £490 F,comp/2 drivers 5k a year max though ? aged 43 ?

Someone gave me a tip last year, put your wife on the policy and they will reduce the premium so last year I put her down on the policy and it was reduced by £75. No, there is no logical thinking going on and I dont mean it in away that is having a go a female drivers but if you have two drivers on the policy the car could be on the road alot more.

Their thinking is just crazy.

Mike

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not sure what mileage you cover or even if your car qualifies but give a few classic car companies a go , , ive just insured a BMW 645CI 4.4 litre V8 330bhp value around £10k via classicline for £490 F,comp/2 drivers 5k a year max though ? aged 43 ?

Someone gave me a tip last year, put your wife on the policy and they will reduce the premium so last year I put her down on the policy and it was reduced by £75. No, there is no logical thinking going on and I dont mean it in away that is having a go a female drivers but if you have two drivers on the policy the car could be on the road alot more.

Their thinking is just crazy.

Mike

By adding another named driver the stats show the care will be better cared for, apparently! The other driver doesnt need to be a family member or even someone who lives at the same address

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My LS 400 1998 6K per year aged 64 Max NCB Protected with one non fault accident in the last 4 years non previous to that, clean Licence one named driver £364 it rose £20 on last year with the same insurer. Chaucer Direct.

Mike

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Thanks for all the info guys, its much appreciated.

Mike with regard to that article you posted a link to, that may well explain a few things as i am smack bang in the middle between Manchester and Liverpool. The fact that I could leave my car open at night and it would probably still be there in the morning is probably irrelevant to insurance companies. Every time I see am article or news report about the reason insurance is going up, I just see an Excuse to squeeze more money out of us poor motorists.

I've had loads of quotes now and none have got down to what I consider a reasonable amount so I'm going to call it quits on the Lex for the time being. I'm going back to taxi driving so I will have a vehicle of sorts to get about and I think I will take this opportunity to save up for a later model a 99 or 2000 maybe a 430. She who must be obeyed is right, a lot of people are making sacrifices at the moment and things should eventually pick up enough for me to have another LS and I will for I have been bitten by the bug. Never have I completed long journeys with no fatigue before, once getting in with a bad back and getting out with the bad back gone!!

I will have to go and try and work out how much she's worth now as i really hadn't been intending to sell this at all. Any suggestions always gladly received. She's taxed for another 4 months I think and MOT'd till mid November later this year and just had a service. 97 P reg I think the number plate may well be worth a few quid to someone.

A sad day for me, but I will be back.

Pete

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How true what I was told many years ago: " a licence to sell insurance is a licence to print money..."... No doubt in my mind that we are all being taken advantage of... I passed the 12 year NCB some years back (various insurance companies have told me they stop counting at 9. Why?), I don't live in a war zone, not a teenager, involved in motor sports, etc., but it is still cheaper for me to insure my Porsche than my LS400!!! You might want to try Tesco insurance - cheapest I could find just under £500. Whereas with the Porsche I have an agreed value policy (agreed between the ins. co. and myself based on valuation) the LS400 is valued by Tesco at between £0-£30000! I suppose that means the premium is for a £30K car and payout in case of accident will be £0! Have tried many, many others - including the one recommended by LOC (the very helpful guy who ran the quote apologized that he couldn't do better than a premium in excess of £2K!). Guess we do need to start our own insurance company...

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I have always found that phoning is more effective than email on insurance renewals. My premium has gone up the last 2 years but on calling and complaining my premiums have been reduced by quite a lot on my car ins, home/contents ins & wife's car ins. Wife had fault accident 2.5 yrs ago so both hers and my ins is increased. Currently £386 (renewal quoted £430+ by them) for my GS430 fully comp.£200 excess which they said would have been £320 without wife's claim which was on HER car ins. All mine with Churchill who seem to have a good retentions dept..........they, incidentally, would not quote on comparison site!!!!!!

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Hi - although I no longer have my LS400,I have just gone to 'Gocompare' and they have quoted me £294,fully comp,no points,no claims,aged 54,wife included,5000 miles annually,using my old 1995 LS details. That was with Swinton. I now have a 2000 Saab 93 2 litre turbo 185bhp that I got insured with Marks and Sparks via 'Gocompare' for £192.

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Well I know its obvious I'm hacked off but I assume I'm not the only one who feels violated by these thieves. At least in Turpins time they had the decency to wear a mask and admit they were thieves!

Its not just the insurance companies hiding behind lots of legal mumbo jumbo, the banks are as bad if not worse. Never mind the journalists, it should be insurance companies and bankers that are dragged by their meat and veg to stand trial for blatant theft. It seems that since the recession started they think we haven't noticed that the have jacked the prices up way more than any of their excuses, sorry reasons explain. The bankers were given even more money after the bail out to lend out to people which of course they have snatched from the tax payer and added into their balance sheets without making the loans and told share holders "look how much lovely money we have earned, time for a lovely big bonus for me please" it makes me sick.

You cant beat a good rant can you.

I have been phoning round and none of them can explain the massive price hike in my case. I have made no claims the cars value isn't that much and its not a bad postcode.

I reckon some of the false claims being made by people for whiplash after a staged accident is just purely an effort to be able to afford next years insurance quote by getting a few grand compo !!!!

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I don't know if it is nationwide but the price of fuel has again crept up 2-3 pence a litre round our way dispite crude prices remaining at a constant level.

Another sneaky move in my opinion is the "Continuous Insurance Requirement" introduced recently by the DVLA which means if you decide to take your car off the road for a period and cancel or suspend your insurance cover you have to return your tax disc and declare SORN.

When my LS was accident damaged I bought another car (Lexus of course) but had to transfer the insurance cover from the LS to the GS this meant I had to SORN the LS. When the car was repaired I moved the cover back to the LS and then had to reapply for road tax.

The insurance companies are saying that premiums keep going up not only due to personal injury claims but also uninsured drivers. If I am correct the set penalty for driving without insurance is a £200.00 fine and 6 points so basically if you get away with no insurance for a year it's cheaper than actually having to pay the premium.

What they should do when the police catch an uninsured driver is get an insurance quote for the car being driven taking into account the driver's history after the 6 points have been taken into account ( plus any others already on the licence) then fine them the full amount of the proposed premium, let's add the excess on top for good measure then the £200.00 fine. If the points take you to disqualification so be it and of course the car is crushed without appeal.

To me having to be made to pay a part of my insurance premium into a fund to cover damage caused by uninsured drivers means I am supporting criminal activity.

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Yes I've noticed the prices creeping up round here too. lets face it greedy companies are just that, greedy.

The tax is on petrol far too high, I've spoken to American friends who are gob smacked at the price we pay for fuel and want to know why we don't have our own revolution!

I hope the domestic energy companies don't think we haven't noticed that they put up gas and electric prices by 15% just in time for a cold winter and trumpet that they are dropping them by 5% just in time for the warm weather! Whoopi doo! Just how arrogant are these people!

If I hear one more well off person tell me we are all in it together , I will scream!

I know we have drifted off topic but somehow it feels like its all connected.

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Anyway, if anyone knows someone looking for 97 model please feel free to pm me. I know it sounds strange but I would feel better knowing it was going to a good home so to speak.

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Yes I've noticed the prices creeping up round here too. lets face it greedy companies are just that, greedy.

The tax is on petrol far too high, I've spoken to American friends who are gob smacked at the price we pay for fuel and want to know why we don't have our own revolution!

I hope the domestic energy companies don't think we haven't noticed that they put up gas and electric prices by 15% just in time for a cold winter and trumpet that they are dropping them by 5% just in time for the warm weather! Whoopi doo! Just how arrogant are these people!

If I hear one more well off person tell me we are all in it together , I will scream!

I know we have drifted off topic but somehow it feels like its all connected.

It was nice to see that Tescos turnover and profits were down over the Christmas period.

The week before that Noel "Bob" Robbins, the UK chief operating officer, sold 50,000 shares on January 4, at 404.51p, netting around £202,000.

By selling last week, rather than today – when the shares had fallen to 316.8p – Mr Robbins was £44,000 better off.

Its called Insider Trading and it is illegal but will anything happen to them? Of course not.

If however you put the wrong piece of rubbish in the wrong bin you will be fined.

If you fail to pay your TV licence you could end up in prison.

If you clobber the burglar thats just hit your poor granny over the head and stolen the last 50p in her purse its you that will end up in court and possible prison and the burglar will have the weight of the law behind him to sue the arse off you for damages incurred during the burglary of your home.

Thats the two tier system that we now live under in this country that my poor old dad and probobly yours fought and laid their lives down to live in an country that was free and fair.

Enough said I think.

Mike

I need a cup of tea and a darkened room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Yes surely that is insider trading even the news reports hinted at it.

It hacks me off that ridiculous insurance prices are causing me to have to sell my car and people like the tescos lot are making huge profits they denied the rest of their shareholders.

Hopefully someone decent and with a good postcode will give my LS a new home. Fingers crossed they get a realistic insurance demand.

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Yes surely that is insider trading even the news reports hinted at it.

It hacks me off that ridiculous insurance prices are causing me to have to sell my car and people like the tescos lot are making huge profits they denied the rest of their shareholders.

Hopefully someone decent and with a good postcode will give my LS a new home. Fingers crossed they get a realistic insurance demand.

Its always the honest and hardest working that suffer in our now broken and sick society.

Keep my fingers crossed you find an solution before you have to part with her.

Mike

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Well she is off the road as of next Thursday when the current policy runs out and I've decided as I will have 24/7 use of the taxi Im going to rent I will let my LS go to a new home if I get an offer I can live with.

I will just have to save up and get another one next year.

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