Car insurance renewals

[Jobbo]

Before buying my Merc I ran a comparison of quotes and they were loads in the £300-400 range. The cheapest was Hastings Direct so, since the renewal is the end of this month, I did a quick quote through their site last week and it came in at £1481. I ran quotes elsewhere too; the Meerkat showed Hastings as the cheapest still but clicking the link didn't give me the Meerkat's price.

So I ran some more quotes directly and was getting premiums in the £800 region. Eventually I found LV stuck to their quote of just over £400 so I've gone for that, but it seems a massive change in the last 2 weeks for them to be the only one quoting the same premiums. Is Coronavirus the reason? Seems utterly bizarre. Anyway, if you're renewing in the near future then shop round early to save some quotes which you may need to go back to.

[NotoriousREV]

I know they ramp up the premium the closer you get to the renewal date when getting quotes, under the guise of yield management (Thank Ryanair for the popularity of that one).

[Matty]

I know this doesn't answer your question as such, but car insurance companies must be doing OK at this point - most still insuring their cars, but significantly less traffic, so by association far less accidents and claims?

As for your increased renewals, insurance tends to get more expensive closer to the renewal date, but that does sound a bit high.

[Jobbo]

I hadn't previously tried changing cars just before renewing and therefore not being able to renew until I'd got the new car - seems to be a recipe for pain. I still think there's something going on beyond the dynamic pricing though. There's nothing to be lost in getting quotes in the bag early if you're renewing, just in case.

ETA: the reason I delayed it a bit was to get my private plate onto the car before I renewed, to avoid the admin fee for changing it

[NotoriousREV]

What have we learned today? Insurance companies are utter cunts

[Jobbo]

Tracked at £45 cashback with LV. Always worth doing a quote then clicking through a cashback site to accept it and buy the policy

[Rich B]

I had similar with the golf. I got a quote and purchased a quote at £400, then got a call saying the car would be delayed, so (on their advice) cancelled the policy. When I got a new quote a few weeks later it was £650 from the same company. The ONLY difference they said was that the first quote was done 3-4 weeks before the date and they ramp up the closer you get to the date.

VW paid the difference in the end because it was their fuck up.

[Zonda_]

I had an email from one offering me a ‘laid up’ policy in light of the current situation!

[nuttinnew]

Just had my renewal through (LV) for next month, £20 more than last year. I guess they haven't tweaked anything yet because if COVID.
I'll knock the mileage down a chunk anyway atm, should get it down a fair bit. The fact it's gone up at all when all I've had another claim free year - and the years I already had are multiples of what they consider for max ncb so effectively wasted - is a moan for another time.

[Jobbo]

I went with LV because they were the only company which hadn’t loaded premiums. You may have been lucky