Car Insurance...

[F.O.F.]

So our renewal letter came today. My dad's never made any sort of a claim in about twenty years of driving and I've been running (claim free) as a name driver on his policy for nearly four years now, I'm 21 and I've had a full licence 2 and a half years... So the insurance company, in its infinite wisdom, has raised the premium a little more than 15% to over a thousand euro!

Now, unfortunately they happen to be the cheapest insurance company on this backwards little isle by a country mile, yet still, this severely aggravates me. Apparently because of the economy (blah blah etc..) more people are claiming for minor stuff, where before they would have just reached into their pocket and kept their no-claims, and it's because of that that we have to fork out more.

So is this actually quite common and it's just my relative inexperience at being shafted by the corporate world that's got me all red, or does this smell fishy to anybody?


p.s. sorry for the rant

[EvilPumpkin]

That's partly true - however, the squeezing out of Quinn in the insurance market has contributed to this as well.

The administrator is now setting Quinn prices - and as they are no longer as low as they were, the other insurance companies are free to raise their prices again.

You might get a better price through a broker - you'll also find that if you DO get a cheaper quote elsewhere, your current insurer will, in all probability, suddenly find that they can match it.

If that doesn't work, tell them you want the reason for the rise in writing - clearly outlining any weighting that has been done on the policy.

[F.O.F.]

I hadn't considered the Quinn thing, thanks for the advice! I was thinking about asking for a reason in writing but wasn't to sure what they would say. Strangely Axa have lowered their (previously insane) price but it still only matches our current one. I think we're stuck with it...

[Benny1664]

Car insurance has gone up by 15% all over for 2 main reasons... firstly, there were so many claims over the Winter with people crashing due to the snow/ice, etc. Secondly, since car makers are selling less cars, they are putting up costs of parts and work done on cars to cover their losses that way so repair bills are higher now..