That old chestnut again

General Discussion Forums Car Talk
#1

So, it’s that time of year coming up, insurance renewals! :frowning_face:

First off, the Audi. Previous car written off in July last year, paid out, bought another one, substituting new car on existing policy (£28 more + £28 admin fee!) Mrs B was driving, on a large gyratory near our house. Traffic light controlled, they were out and had been for several hours. Mrs B proceeding ON the roundabout slowly, having gone through several sets of inoperative lights already, guy comes straight through the non working lights across the path of our car (did not give way to his right on entering the roundabout and wrote our car off, taking approximately 150 yards to come to a stop after the collision. Our car stopped in less than 3’ feet. Fast forward a few months and now it’s going to court as the other parties insurers say 50/50? Anyway as this has not been resolved yet, our insurance have reduced our NCD by 5 years, down to 3 years, renewal quote reflects this and is now more than double last years at £1150. Having spoke with them, I asked why they were bothering to take the other party to court? They must feel confident in our favour? Regardless, we are guilty until proven innocent, to renew with them ,we must pay the increased premium, no refund will be given if subsequently judged in our favour but they will look at the premium going forward and ‘possibly’ adjust to reflect the judgement! This is Co-Op insurance. Got like for like renewal quotes based on the facts as described with unsettled claim, from e-sure and Sheilas wheels at £650, go figure.

My mx5 due also end of month. Will have to declare this incident to them, Lancaster this time. Rang to ask where my renewal quote is ( 3 weeks from expiration) they don’t send it out more than 3 weeks prior to renewal. Waiting to see what this turns in at. Due to COVID, very little miles done, <1500 in the year but nothing offered from Lancaster to reflect this, unlike some other companies that have. So, potentially a double whammy for me. Co-Op, I asked them to report on progress of the court proceedings, other party are not responding now so who knows how that will turn out. I hate this renewal malarkey, even without this claim ongoing as premiums vary so much each year.

Barrie

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#2

It sounds complicated Barrie especially the no reduction if they found your wife not at fault.
My daughter had two accidents a couple of years ago, 1) someone hit her car whilst parked so that put her NCD down she is building up. 2) she was moving in the nearside lane at a two lane junction, traffic in both lanes. Comes to an island and the truck with trailer came across half into her lane and catches her OS front wing. they said 50/50 at fault. She sent dash cam footage, still 50/50 fault. So she loses more NCD on that one. Still she stayed with Admiral, not too bad with the renewals, I’m with them too.

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#3

Hi.
If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.

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#4

The same happened to me , a huge branch broke off in high winds and damaged the front of my vehicle , me being stupid notified the insurance company but decided to repair it myself as my excess was more than a second hand front fender and grill but my premium still increased as I am now classed as being my likely to claim

#5

Thanks Dan, was with you for my mk1 supercharged beauty. Will see how things pan out (before the end of the month).
Thanks
Barrie

#6

Received my renewal for the 5, based on no changes. Exactly the same price as last year! However, this isn’t based on the claim outstanding on the Audi at the moment as I’ve not spoken to Lancaster about that.
I’m seriously considering not renewing insurance on the 5 (or the tax) until possibly Easter? Could just leave it alone in the garage, sorned, which is pretty much been the case over the last 12 months anyway! I will still have access to the Audi if I do need a car.
Barrie

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#7

I leave mine insured Barrie, it is part of multi car and home insurance though. I suppose if I cancelled it would increase the price on the others (discount for having multiple policies) and of course if in the garage should anything happen to it in there, it could still get stolen I guess.

We don’t know how long it’s going to be until we can get using them again (for leisure/pleasure purposes) at least a good chunk of that £305 VED has been saved over the last 12 months, only £30 to keep my daily driver on the road per year.

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#8

Yes Mick, my wife’s Audi is only £30 p.a. too. My thinking also is both insurances are due at the same time, this would stagger them by a few months. VED and insurance is roughly £45 /month on the 5 so a three month break would see me better off by £135. This would probably offset any increase in premium. :+1:

Barrie

#9

Interesting, just spoke with Lancaster, explained the issue relating to the unsettled Audi claim etc. After talking with underwriters, they came back with no increase in premium :+1:

As I only did 1500 miles in the last year, I asked if a reduction in declared mileage might help on the renewal premium. Quote came back for 3k miles rather than the current 5k and premium reduces to £222, so might be staying with Lancaster after all. Fully comp, me and Mrs to drive :+1: Removed auto renewal just in case :grin:.
I asked them to quote for the Audi too but although they guarantee to beat my renewal quote, unfortunately, that had doubled so a quote from a different insurer didn’t count :thinking:
Anyway, that stopped that conversation! Not unhappy at all with my own renewal though.
Barrie

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#10

Good result then Barrie :+1:

I reduced my mileage too on both cars, from 5k to 4k, they knocked £40 off in total. I also tried after explaining my NC is usually Sorned and garaged between beginning of December and the beginning of March, they seemed to side step any further reduction for that. Fair do’s I didn’t expect any further discount, worth a try, in fairness they did issue a refund during the earlier lockdown of £50.:+1:

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#11

Yes and I didn’t get anything from Lancaster, irrespective of using less than a third of the mileage agreed. (in that year):thinking:
Barrie