Bl***y insurance companies.

Thinking of changing the car to a later model. Obviously worth more - but the version I'm keen on also has a larger engine and more power. So decided to check on insurance costs before going ahead.
Looked on their website - and can change my car details, but not find out how much extra to pay until I do.
So phoned them up. How come the recorded message you have to jump through hoops with speaks perfect English, but the human I eventually get to can't? ;-)
And it seems I can only find out how much extra (if any) by giving them the reg number of the car I intend buying. And given I'm considering several all much the same spec, not easy. ;-)
Go Compare etc absolutely no help. Entering my details and my existing car gets me a quote of about 3 times what I'm actually paying - with my present company. Doing the same with the later car, and they don't even quote.

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Fecking annoying isn’t it?
It not at all uncommon to want to do a “how much would it cost for...” type query prior to buying a car but there seems to be a very deliberate move to make such an obvious query as hard as possible.
Fortunately my children are well past their early years of driving but it would have been useful to browse the make/model market when looking for suitable cars.
Tim

On 23/04/2018 13:43, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
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you can look up the group of a particular model on Parkers. that would give you an idea at least.

On 23/04/2018 13:43, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
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Maybe just give them the reg from an ad?
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That is odd.

On 23/04/2018 17:25, RJH wrote:
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And at least these days they will look it up, so you won't have to go through all the details of the exact model and engine.

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They're often deliberately obscured these days.
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Yes. But when I bought the current car I checked on Go Compare etc for insurance quotes. The company I'm with (MoreThan) quoted on that a lot more than I actually paid by transferring from the old car, and what I paid when it came up for renewal. Perhaps they've finally realised an existing customer with a good track record should get a better deal than new business?

On 24/04/2018 00:32, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
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They are - and if it's a fairly rare model it'll be a problem. Not one that I experience :-)
OOI I just had a quick look for a £20,000 Porsche 911 and Boxster from ad registration details, fully comp, street parked, on moneysupermarket. £450 and £400. Lot less than I'd have thought - £600 excesses though.
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Hopefully. My experience has been ludicrous quotes from my existing company each renewal time. Last time (Feb 2018), the renewal price was £560 (up from £420, Co-op). I paid £340 (AA), no change in circumstances, 2007 Audi S3.
I don't think I've been with the same car insurance company consecutive years for a decade or more.
Home buildings/contents is usually about £100 so I haven't bothered even looking for a good few years.

On 24-Apr-18 7:15 AM, RJH wrote:
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+£140? Seems familiar. Some tanker driver at 8pm on a Sunday night, having gone up a dead end to a deep ford reversed out and backed into my parked car last summer. The road has weight limits so he shouldn't even have been on the road to take the turn down the dead end. Paid out £500 for a cracked number plate £10 and 30 min with a heat gun re-forming the £80 number plate bracket.
Multicar insurance for 3 cars went from £760 to £1180. Like you £140 per car. Got 3 separate policies for £730. 1993 200SX M reg x2, 2002 323F GXI.

On 24/04/2018 07:15, RJH wrote:
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+1 My renewal quote this year from Admiral went from around £220 to £310 (no change in circumstances nor any accidents/claims). Shopping around brought the cost back down to what I originally paid.
The first renewal quote is often a lot higher because they have removed the 30% introductory new customer discount that many/most insurers offer. If you have been with an insurance company some time you may have missed this big hike for the second year and so the increases in subsequent years may appear to be more reasonable as you are already paying 30%+ more than new customers.
Even the insurers who are acting as agents and you may believe are shopping around on your behalf will give an inflated renewal quote rather than giving you the lowest like for like deal they can get for you. These intermediaries will suck you in with a low quote for the first year and then for the renewal suggest a company that gives them the higher commissions.
The other trick they play is that the terms are often not the same for the second or subsequent years in that they raise the excess amounts so that they are taking much less of a risk on paying out for the car. I once had a renewal quote where the excess on the glass had risen to £1000 so effectively they were not insuring a broken windscreen.
In my experience it doesn't pay to be loyal. Shop around each year or a at least enter your details on one of the comparison sites to see it the renewal quote is sensible.
I've found the same to be true with buildings/contents insurance. Also, for my circumstances in a mid terrace house with no priceless works of art that the "one for all" £1million/£500k buildings, £50k contents often works out _much_ cheaper than the quotes based on floor area etc.

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Sometimes this can be because the backend server didn't reply in time. Comparison site fires off quote requests to N insurance companies, waits for replies. It then displays the ones that it gets. Sometimes the insurance company won't reply in time, or some of their underwriters' systems are unavailable (especially overnight). So insurer either gives no quote or a stupidly high quote from the only underwriter they have online.
Repeating the task at another time might tell you if they genuinely can't quote, or if it was a glitch.
Also it can help to make sure the quote can't match your details so it's completely fresh: wrong name, the right postcode but wrong house number, right month of birth but wrong day, etc. That way you can prevent the system from just re-showing you quotes it found before. When you've chosen your insurer, buy direct from them and enter the right details.
Theo

On 23/04/2018 21:55, Theo wrote:
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Also you previous quote detail may already bee available to the web sites in the form of cookies on your own PC so clear the browser's cookies before trying to obtain a new quote.

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Many underwriter systems will run an ID check of name, DOB and address before quoting these days - so using 'false' details can get some silly numbers in return as they can't confirm your ID.