# Car Insurance - Monopoly Fixed Pricing!?



## Trevor (Jul 2, 2002)

Hmmm,

Some very strange happenings in recent times. I'm beginning to notice so many 'brand' names like supermarkets and banks/building societies offering motor insurance... and funny enough they ALL use the same website (minus different graphics) and all quote prices within £50 difference of each other and they are ALL using "Uk Insurance Limited" as their underwriter.... Seems like they are all jumping on the bandwagon...

I got a quote on my GT-R R34 this year for between £1,200 - £1,300 (5yrs NCB, 28 yrs old) tracker + cat 1 fitted, garaged in Cheshire. . . BUT modifications are a *big* no no and just an exhaust can increase policy costs by 20% !

Interestingly I noticed that ALL uk insurance limited car insurance online quote websites, e.g. Tesco, Privilege, Directline and Natwest ask for the last >3< years worth of accident history and >5< years of convictions - all the ones NOT underwritten by Uk insurance limited, e.g. underwritten by Norwich Union, etc. ask for >5< years... 

I also notice some sites ask a lot more snippy questions than the uk insurance sites... Every time I was quoted for the GT-R on a non-uk insurance limited site the quote came in at DOUBLE, e.g. £2000-2500 !!!! (yes with FULL NCD, no accidents, no conviction and no points for a STANDARD car parked in an alarmed locked garaged and with a cat q tracker and cat 1 alarm!! crazy).

Also noticed that MILEAGE seems to make NO DIFFERENCE to prices if its BELOW 10,000 you get no premium discount, but anything above 10,000 increases your premium (10k is seen as average miles by insurers) ! Even if you do 4,000 miles you get none or virtually no discount on policy.

One other STAGGERING OBSERVATION... COST/VALUE OF VEHICLE seems to Make no blind bit of difference whatsoever... Also protecting you NCD seems to add about 20% to the policy cost 

A Ferarri 355 is group 100 out of 100
A Nissan Skyline GT-R is group 89 out of 100 
A Toyota MR2 Turbo is group 87 out of 100

I was quoted £2,500 by some companies (any non uk insurance limited company it seems!!!) for my GT-R (yet last year I paid ~£1,400 with 4 years NCD!!!)... Anyway I was actually quoted £1,800 for the Ferrari 355 vs £2,500 for the GT-R !! And the MR2 Turbo comes in at VIRTUALLY the same price as the R34 GT-R (a few quid difference!)... Yet the 355 was valued at £45K, the GT-R was valued @ £35K and the MR2 Turbo was valued at £12K !

So there you go... save insurance money, buy a Ferrari, crazy, crazy, crazy !


T


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2003)

Did you know that all Tesco insurance policies are administered by Direct Line (who are owned by Royal Bank of Scotland)?

However, Tesco quoted my girlfriend about 15% less than Direct Line.... how do they work that out?

I pay £40 per month to rent a garage a stones throw from my house. That reduces my £1760 direct line policy by £32 per year!!!!


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## Trevor (Jul 2, 2002)

The Rant - Part 2

I hate the treatment you get from insurance companies... the biggest leaches around who take you for a ride at ANY opportunity going.. I remember @ 17 being told premiums will be lower at 21, then at 21 they said oh.. its 25... now at 28 they say its 30 !! No doubt at 30 it will go to 50!!! Truth is they will never be fair because they are pretty much unregulated to do whatever they want and since we've got to have insurance they can basically get away with murder...

The biggest problem with all the insurers following the same identical conditions is that market price fixing becomes epidemic, very rarely can you get a better deal because all the quotes are going to the SAME website quote engine... . 

I also noticed because of this 'branded' insurance all the companies are following the EXACT same policies to the letter. I.e. they flatly refuse of any 'non average' driver requirements so while the policies may be (currently) competative while they establish market traction they are VERY ridgid in what they will and wont offer you. This basically is a real pain for anyone with more than one car, or who likes to drive in Europe for more than 90 days a year (impossible) or who wants to/has done any modifications to their vehicle (take that as almost ALL Skyline's in the UK)...

Modifications? VERY EXPENSIVE (I was quoted a ludicrious 20% extra weighting on the premium just for a non factory fitted exhaust!).

Bonus matching on a 2nd car? No, so if you buy a 2nd car you start from 0% again. Again, blatent profiteering, in many European countries your NCD is on the PERSON and not the car so this circumstance never happens. In Uk its especially unfair because if you've spent 5 years+ of careful driving and then you buy a 2nd car, that car starts at 0% bonus.. An absolutely con!

90 day max greencard? Extra charge, a lot of policies used to throw in green cards 'for free' as part of the preimums but in a quest to increase their profit margins now its an extra charge item. Don't even talk about annual Greencard insurance, its not possible, and if you exceed the 90 days by even 1 day your not covered at all, regardless of how much you offer to pay.. they just say your on your own.. another insurance nasty!

NCD Protection ... This is a % (eh?) of the premium not a fixed cost. How bloody unfair! Surely it should be a fixed (maxium) of about £100. I found that if you drive a low grouped car, (regardless of the COST of the car to replace) your cost of NCD protection costs next to nothing but for a a high grouped car, (even if the car cost you £50) the NCD bonus is £££, usually upto 15% of the premium.. A discrace considering that even if you do protect your NCD your premium will STILL go up the next year anyway, regardless of the accident fault!

Insurance has become an unregulated way of ripping people off with high performance cars (regardless of ther cars value) by between £50-£500 per month depending on criteria thats not even been fairly established.

E.g. Take my area code as an example of 'bias'. My new home is located a new postcode (just been built in the last few months) on greenfield farmers field site... hence they decided the area was a 'high risk' !!!! (And the justification?) No historical data was available.. I.e. Guilty until proven innocent.... I thought the uk had Innocent until proven Guilty? Hmmmmmm......

T


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## Meister (Mar 21, 2003)

*It's taking the *****

When I took out my insurance I was told I needed alarm and tracker etc. So I got my alarm but not yet the tracker just to now find out that I am not even covered for break-in or attempted theft!!!! In what way does a tracker make a difference to someone smashing a window and nicking your stereo?

So I am paying £1600 a year and am covered for ... accidents ... NOT EVEN FIRE & THEFT. So .. I asked to cancel my policy as this was not what I purchased just to be told that there would be a cancelation fee of 15%. Obviously I am going to look for alternative insurance and will simply not pay this insurance in which case THEY will cancel my policy and no fee is to pay. What a load of bullshit.

Meister


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## swishboy (Nov 20, 2002)

*insurance*

Marco who you insured with mate..that sounds awful!
I had the unfortunate luck a year back to get insurance through a company called C.I.A and they really stuffed me. 
They were so cheap they had actually taken a loan out in my name from some finance company. So when i had to cancel half way through they actually told me that i couldn't and would have to wait until the full years insurance was paid by direct debit before they would refund any premium.
Then they took ages getting my proof of no claims back which was quite bad at the time as tesco were on the verge of cancelling my policy on the skyline.
Tesco are pretty good really although i do think they make a lot of money through amendments.


P.s That rallynuts website is really looking good now marco 
regards

Jonathon


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## Trevor (Jul 2, 2002)

All in all I think UK Insurance Limited 'spin off companies' (i.e. read as all the main 'banks/build societies and loan providers' with a brand name) who have entered the insurance market recently are offering fair VFM on _non modified_ GT-R's. I only hope there 'keen' prices aren't just for market acceptance purposes and thus tempory...

The trouble is insurance companies don't realise or really care that the GT-R is a special case car where you'll struggle to find one that has the standard exhaust. (or perhaps they do?). Its a car designed with the expectation that parts will be changed during the course of its life. 

I also serously doubt that 'risk' as a whole on the GT-R can be statistically quantified as a significant increase by the addition of a sports exhaust to the car. Its even more unlikely when you consider that these companies are loading policies by as much as 20% (!) for such a trivial modification. I'd hate to see their response to a 600 bhp conversion!


T


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## Meister (Mar 21, 2003)

*Re: insurance*



swishboy said:


> *Marco who you insured with mate..that sounds awful!
> 
> P.s That rallynuts website is really looking good now marco
> regards
> ...



Insured with Tesco at the moment m8. But not for much longer!!!

Glad you like the site ... it's slowly getting there. rnuts reduced a shit load of prices recently as well. Have you had a look at those CryO2 kits? I will be getting one of them soon!

Cheers,
Marco


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## swishboy (Nov 20, 2002)

Trevor,
I to have noticed that many of these companies are underwritten by UK insurance and use the same quote engine. The do offer great value for money for Young drivers on high performance cars however, at what cost?
I think in the event of a claim they may become very nit picky on any technicality to void polices. If you ever want to change your car while a policy is still running they will whack on a big administration charge, as i found out changing from my old car too the skyline. 
I was getting quotes online for about £1400 however as i changed in the middle of a policy it turned out to be £1800 a fair bit more.
Basically i think if you own a standard car no one can beat their cover but if your modified it may be worth going elsewhere paying more in the knowledge you will get a fair payout in a claim.

Marco,
Yes i did see the CryO2 kit and was really impressed with it as I had never heard of it before, was thinking on posting a link in the tuning section as i think quite a few people on here would be interested.
Concerning not having a tracker i was under the impression that tesco would not give cover if i didn't have one so budgeted for it.
Cost me £520 fitted including one years subscription @ turnbulls truro. Although the muppets there don't know s**t about real cars it is local and i feel a little safer having one..and reduced the premium by quite a bit, probably pay for its self in 2 yrs.

Hows the web development going? Still freelance? I know head2head are looking for web developers at the moment?
If your interested let me know mate and i'll make some enquires p.s the boss likes skylines  always an advantage

Cheers

Jonathon


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## Meister (Mar 21, 2003)

Cheers jonathon

make some enquiries then m8  ... I'd send in my CV but need to re-write it and it's going to take me forever.

Marco


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## mattb (Feb 12, 2002)

You also may notice come claim time that their service is awful. I had a policy with Tesco and it took their bodyshp 3 months to fix the car, then they did it badly. The wait wouldn't have been so bad but their call centre was useless they never returned calls, updated the bodyshop or talked to the relavent 3rd parties. It turns out their Call Centre is just a front and they actually have no back office, all of the information you give/request has to be passed on to the "proper" insurance company i.e UK Insurance Ltd, Privelege or Direct Line depending on which person you actually want to talk to... bastards

In the end I had to get the car reassessed by the underwriter as the repairs were so bad. He came out and haggled with me over how much he would pay and then to cap it off told me I was lucky I was getting anything as my policy stated that I could not request a reinspection of my car regardless of the quality of work. Needless to say the guy nearly ended up in hospital. In the end I phoned the MD of Tesco and shouted at him, funnily enough I got the thing all sorted within a day and compensation.

Matt


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## kenan (Apr 29, 2003)

But the so called specialist insurance companys give stupid quotes. I had a 1.6 205 gti standard appart from back box and air filter £840 with Adrian Flux. This was was writen off when some muppet used it to stop at traffic lights. Then with the money I got back (and lots lots more) I built my current 205 1.9 gti. I'v done most things to it resulting in 142bhp @ wheels (the 1.6 would of been 75-85ish). Then armed with being 6months older, no more NCD, no different address, job etc and the wanted £780 ??? work that out ???

Now trying to get quotes for me Skyline the want £1800 with wheel, suspension, filter, exhaust but it goes upto £2500 it I wanna keep my uprated ECU  

Theving gits !!!!

But what really ****es me off is all thei "No win no fee" I was a passenger in a 10MPH crash and need £3000 whiplash. Y don't the lazy feckers get a job like the rest of us ???

Sorry to rant on a different tangent but I just couldn't help it


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## mattb (Feb 12, 2002)

depends on the time of year you ask for a quote. Rear wheel drive and November is a bad time as there is more risk you smash the car up due to inexperience, rain and ice. It also depends on what the company have been selling previously. If you hear that x company is giving good deals 10-1 two months later they will be the most expensive. They can only take on a certian amount of high risk cars before they have to start knocking you back.


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