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#10441 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:06 am
by Ant
I haven't had a car in 13 years. Yesterday my mother in law asked if we wanted her old citroen Picasso as she is getting a newer car and the citroen is 17 years old so is worth more as scrap than as a car. Looked at insurance for it and burst out laughing.....

2700 quid. Bare third party.
Now I worked in the car insurance industry for almost a decade and know how it was likely to be rated, how I was likely to be rated, the area would be rated et cetera, so I was expecting it to cost a fair bit but in the 2 years since I finished something seems to have happened in the industry to whack prices up. Probably personal injury claims and the repair costs that have skyrocketed, they are the usual drivers for increases in price. Replacing a damaged mirror on a BMW or some such after a car park bump could potentially cost an insurer a grand these days in parts and labour and in investigation and administrative costs

But that price is rediculous

Nope, shan't be having it. Even if it is a free car.......

#10442 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:21 am
by shane
Have you tried shopping around? Last year a nice man in in a huge lorry decided to write off my Honda Civic. Direct Line then decided it was knock for knock and upped my premium from £750 to about £1000. Half an hour on the internet had me signed up with LV for £350! And yes, I did tell them about the write-off.

#10443 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:46 am
by chris661
Ant wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:06 am
But that price is rediculous

Nope, shan't be having it. Even if it is a free car.......
Try quotes for fully comp. I've actually found those to be cheaper than just 3rd party. There's probably some twisted logic behind it, but I can't fathom that.

Chris

#10444 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:22 am
by ed
telephone sanitisers spring to mind here....

from experience:

the car hire companies seem to have muscled in on the deal by managing claims and providing replacement cars...there sometimes isn't any way to circumvent this practice....This adds significantly to the claim costs

vehicle repairers(assigned by the insurance companies) are all to keen to write-off a damaged vehicle..e,g the MemSahib had a shunt in the rear, only slight, no structural damage, just the rear hatch was dented where the number plate fixes. Car value £4000..written off...I couldn't ignore the procedure and the repair shop said the car no longer belonged to me and I couldn't get it back. I raised hell with the insurance company and they let me buy the car back for £400 as damaged repairable. I bought a new tailgate door from a scrapper for £50 and it's now good as new. It was category C or D damaged so is perfectly legal and good as new....go figure.......there is a paper loss of £3600 somewhere, who pays for that!!!

If I wanted to sell that car I would have to explain this to a prospective buyer, which might deter some.

#10445 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:44 am
by Ant
It's a risk averse quote, a' do not want to insure' quote as we used to call them. The underwriting algorithm adds a massive load to the premium to dissuade the person from insuring that car with that company because they don't want to take on the risk.
Comp being cheaper sometimes is logical to the company as it demonstrates more 'care' is likely from the driver, and a higher proportion of the pool of vehicles insured as tpo or tpft have accidents. When I did the basic underwriting course so I could be made up to acting TL for covering teams I saw the tables in the course material that showed procedure and statistical info on older cars. Loadings are gradually applied as the cars value decreases because it has less financial value to the driver who is less and less likely to take care with it if they have less money in it. And that is just one loading. There are dozens and dozens that can be applied. That citroen is worth bugger all, somebody hits it, their insurer pays virtually nothing as it would be immediately written off and is worth about 10p. It hits something, there is a high chance it will cost the insurer huge amounts to settle.
I saw claims that cost millions to settle even though they looked relatively innocuous
The cost of personal injury settlements and repair costs is astronomical these days

#10446 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 12:28 pm
by jack
Agreed. They don't want the business.

Unless you have a truly awful claims record or do a bazillion miles a year,then a car like that should be around the GBP 300 mark or less.

#10447 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 12:32 pm
by pre65
I'm needing to get quotes for my Honda CRV as the insurance runs out soon.

I usually go to a comparison web site then check Direct Line and see how they compare.

Ant, have you tried a good old fashioned Insurance broker ?

#10448 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 12:48 pm
by simon
Talking of claims that turned into millions this story is extraordinary really. Amey failed to replace two bollards for over a year and Birmingham City Council fined them under the terms of their contract over £50m. There's a lot more about Amey if you can be bothered to look but their owners, Ferrovial, had them up for sale at over £600m IIRC (might have been £800m) - last I heard it was down to £60m. The world's a crazy place.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/m ... l-16064141

#10449 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 12:59 pm
by Ant
Nope, I know how some of them (one of them particularly) operate and how much they can load premiums. I worked for one in the early 2000s and had huge row with the manager after they told me to load a premium up by a significant amount for someone simply to grab a load of profit out of it. If they ever ask what you have been quoted already don't tell them or they will take the piss. I set it up without the load and locked it in for 12 months, then after getting into another argument about it I left that job and went to another company.
The broker who insured the old man's car was completely and utterly useless when someone whacked his car while parked, and I ended up dealing with it by going directly to the insurer. Once they knew that I worked in the industry and knew the procedures, the actual insurer had a car ready to pick up within 24 hours and the car repaired in a week. They had not even had a notification from the broker claims department that the car was damaged after almost a week.......
Some brokers are probably fine, but having been on the inside, I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole.
for comparison sites, always go to the company directly. If the comparison site says say a grand for example, don't buy through the site, go to that company directly and there's a good chance it will be cheaper. The comparison sites get a commission for policies sold through them too

#10450 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 1:04 pm
by Ant
Oh yes I am rather jaded by the insurance industry

#10451 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 1:48 pm
by Mike H
chris661 wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:46 am Try quotes for fully comp. I've actually found those to be cheaper than just 3rd party. There's probably some twisted logic behind it, but I can't fathom that.

Chris
I know the answer. Used to use TPFT a long time (old motorbikes), went to renew at some time latterly, seemed even more expensive, the lady on the phone said don't do that, go fully comp, TPFT will cost more because the insurance company will think that you think that you are a risk and not be able to get fully comp if you ask for it. :D

Another time, I queried why is it so high for a > 10 years old car, the answer was, I'm not actually the owner, my mother was, altho she doesn't drive. So I says on the phone, "OK then suppose I tell you she's just sold it to me for a pound?" - "Yep! That'll do." Price dropped a hundred quid. :D

#10452 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:40 am
by chris661
I've gone over to the dark side and bought a commercial HiFi amp. I wanted a few things:

- USB input from a laptop
- Plenty of power
- Remote control
- A few spare analogue and digital inputs
- Pre & sub outs for future expansion
- Sounds transparent enough to not worry about it.
... all in one box that looks okay.

A Cambridge Audio CXA80 fit the bill nicely. Found one on eBay, mint, for sensible money, and it arrived today.

I've put the little black Fostex monitors in for now - the crossover parts for the new speakers haven't arrived yet. Sounding good. Looking forward to having the new speakers up and running.

Chris

#10453 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:49 am
by jack
chris661 wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:40 am ...A Cambridge Audio CXA80 fit the bill nicely. Found one on eBay, mint, for sensible money, and it arrived today.
Really nice amp...

#10454 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:54 am
by pre65
chris661 wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:40 am
A Cambridge Audio CXA80 fit the bill nicely. Found one on eBay, mint, for sensible money, and it arrived today.

Chris
I read a review of the CXA80 and it seems impressive. :)

#10455 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 12:12 pm
by chris661
pre65 wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:54 am
chris661 wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:40 am
A Cambridge Audio CXA80 fit the bill nicely. Found one on eBay, mint, for sensible money, and it arrived today.

Chris
I read a review of the CXA80 and it seems impressive. :)
Well, the transformer is a tiddler compared to the ones in the Crown amp, but it seems to do the job.

I've got Barclay James Harvest's Concert for the People on vinyl playing at the moment. A (stock) GL75 and a NAD PP1 round out the line-up. I'm still amazed that you can drag a needle along a circle of plastic and it'll sound like music.

Chris