vauxhallviva.com

Hi
Had to renew my insurance the other day Iam using RH I was surprised to find out it had increased by just over one hundred pounds I did manage to get a few pounds off but still expensive for very low mileage classic cars has anybody else had problems.

Kind Regards Chris.

Sadly everything is going up, ive just renewed with RH and they have agreed on personal valuation aswel, never had to claim but always find they will do what they say.

I can sympathise with you Chris, but unfortunately I can't help. The insurance company I use is a Northern Ireland broker just down the road from me who shop around and place my agreed value insurance with various larger companies. This year I had a £3 increase because I upped the value on one of the cars on the policy by £1000.

Likewise Chris.
I have 3 cars on a multicar policy with admiral, got my renewal through 2 weeks ago. The policy had increased by £550 in one year !
To put it all into context I'm 23. The cars as follows;
09 Mondeo 2 litre Diesel 140bhp 25,000 miles a year
95 rover 620Ti 2 litre petrol 200bhp 5,000 miles a year
75 Vauxhall Viva 1256 petrol feels like 12 bhp 5,000 miles a year
Combined 8 years no claims over the 3 cars.
A literal 8 minute phone call to them saw the price drop by a staggering £400 !!!!!!
Unfortunately still paying £150 more than last year but a lot less than I would have done. It was also set up to auto renew, crafty buggers, so if I had forgotten about it I would have had a shock.
I think it can mostly be attributed to the rising value of second hand cars. My Mondeo 2 years ago with 135,000 miles on the clock was valued at £1200. Just last week it was again valued, might I add with significantly more wear and tear especially to the wheels and bodywork, at £3000 with the clock now reading 183,000 miles. I guess the more supposedly "valuable" the car is the more it costs to replace, therefore the more it costs to insure. People paying silly money for second hand cars are to blame if you ask me. How an almost 14 year old Mondeo that has been 3/4 of the way to the moon is worth £3000 is beyond me.

HC Fairley wrote:I think it can mostly be attributed to the rising value of second hand cars.

I think the majority of your insurance costs are more to do with the damage you can do with the car, rather than your car. Used cars may have gone up in price, but if you drive accidentally into a queue of people at a bus stop, your insurance will have a massive amount of costs to pay.

Mine was renewed in September, it went up by £25. That covers three cars - HPF, Sportshatch and my old Audi coupe restoration project.

Heard recently that insurance companies penalise anyone who has left it to the last minute to get quotes...assume because they believe you are disorganised, therefore a higher risk than someone who asks for quotes say 4 weeks before renewal date....can this be true?

I'm not sure I would be surprised, but I may be being over-cynical. If you're going to shop around it's best to give yourself a decent amount of time because of all the form-filling and photographs that you might need for the new company. I sometimes shop around, but I haven't switched yet because on the odd occasion I get a slightly cheaper quote I think of all the time it's going to take to go through the interminable questions, repeated for each vehicle, then explain that they're not kept at my home address, except on the odd occasion. I probably have lost a few pounds by not swapping, but not enough to cover the hassle.

I don't think they penalise you for renewing late, I think it's more of a case of they take advantage of the possible desperation that late comers might be in. They are betting on you not having shopped around or being willing to shop around.

I think they give early renewers the most attractive deal they can to avoid loosing business because early renewers are more likely to be the type of person who shops around and then moves on.

I've always been an early renewer and find that as soon as you phone up they can find a far better quote than they sent you in the renewal. I once asked why that was the case and was told that their data bases change on an almost daily basis. Being a cynical sort I think change is probably a percentage increase related to how few days left to the renewal date.