Insurance again!

[SRGTD]

@monkeyhanger; Yes, it’s speculation on my part - I did say incidences of vandalism and theft may increase - not that they would. Just throwing some possibles out there that might account for or contribute to increases in premium levels - and also that other non-lockdown factors such as winter floods may have influenced insurers rating actions as well.

At the end of the day, insurance companies are in business to make money and deliver profits for their members or their shareholders (and - so it seems from what you’ve said - if it’s Aviva, to meet the bonus expectations of their senior managers / directors ), so they’ll continue to increase premiums year on year whether we like it or not. For anyone who’s unhappy with premium their current insurer is asking for at renewal, then they’re free to vote with their feet and shop the market via price comparison websites or even use the services of a traditional insurance broker to get a better (cheaper) premium.

[wolly440]

Read a report a few weeks back that insurance companies have pocketed £1bn over the last 4 months due to the reduction in insurance claims during lockdown. It's obvious that same companies are manipulating data to justify increases, they will always find some excuse to increase your premium. Always shop around because loyalty is a dirty word to these parasites.

[monkeyhanger]

Read a report a few weeks back that insurance companies have pocketed £1bn over the last 4 months due to the reduction in insurance claims during lockdown. It's obvious that same companies are manipulating data to justify increases, they will always find some excuse to increase your premium. Always shop around because loyalty is a dirty word to these parasites.

The worry is that the insurance companies and their share holders get normalised to this level of income, rather than seeing it as a one time windfall.

Hopefully if their profit levels do step up significantly, the government (or the EU, before we leave properly) or an ombudsman will take them to task on the matter.

[Guzzle]

Read a report a few weeks back that insurance companies have pocketed £1bn over the last 4 months due to the reduction in insurance claims during lockdown. It's obvious that same companies are manipulating data to justify increases, they will always find some excuse to increase your premium. Always shop around because loyalty is a dirty word to these parasites.

The worry is that the insurance companies and their share holders get normalised to this level of income, rather than seeing it as a one time windfall.

Hopefully if their profit levels do step up significantly, the government (or the EU, before we leave properly) or an ombudsman will take them to task on the matter.

In fairness to shareholders, most of them have had NO income this year. The BoE has already seen to that

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52214789?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cdl8n2edxj7t/aviva&link_location=live-reporting-story

[monkeyhanger]

Read a report a few weeks back that insurance companies have pocketed £1bn over the last 4 months due to the reduction in insurance claims during lockdown. It's obvious that same companies are manipulating data to justify increases, they will always find some excuse to increase your premium. Always shop around because loyalty is a dirty word to these parasites.

The worry is that the insurance companies and their share holders get normalised to this level of income, rather than seeing it as a one time windfall.

Hopefully if their profit levels do step up significantly, the government (or the EU, before we leave properly) or an ombudsman will take them to task on the matter.

In fairness to shareholders, most of them have had NO income this year. The BoE has already seen to that

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52214789?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cdl8n2edxj7t/aviva&link_location=live-reporting-story

They'll get double next year if there are no unforeseen knock-ons. I think that the government/BoE just wanted to avoid the insurance companies paying out on dividends and then pleading poverty and potentially sticking its hands in the Governments pockets by furloughing staff and scoring for 80% of their wage bill from the government in the short term when they're financially stable.

[Guzzle]

Withholding dividend payments is to retain capital and protect their solvency from unknown risks that lie ahead. That's not the same as being 'in clover'.

As i'm sure you know, insurance premiums aren't simply set based on what was paid out in the last year, they also look ahead to potential risks in the next 12 months. It cannot be straightforward identifying risk in an unprecedented situation.

Insurance companies have already said they have seen increases in claims from business interruption and travel policies. Not everyone buys their travel policy annually, they are often bought at the time a holiday is booked. No bookings = less policy sales. So i don't buy your argument that insurers are doing well out of travel insurance.

Fortunately most insurance companies are run prudently, as modern regulations dictate that they must be. As we saw back in 2008, nobody benefits from financial institutions that overstretch themselves. Hence they will probably cope better with this crisis than they did in the last one. But even if shareholders do get 'double next year', that still only puts them back to square one.

Is your mate at Aviva a senior manager? If so i hope he wasn't counting on that big bonus

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk/news/breaking-news/aviva-reveals-pay-freeze-for-bosses-219918.aspx

[monkeyhanger]

Withholding dividend payments is to retain capital and protect their solvency from unknown risks that lie ahead. That's not the same as being 'in clover'.

As i'm sure you know, insurance premiums aren't simply set based on what was paid out in the last year, they also look ahead to potential risks in the next 12 months. It cannot be straightforward identifying risk in an unprecedented situation.

Insurance companies have already said they have seen increases in claims from business interruption and travel policies. Not everyone buys their travel policy annually, they are often bought at the time a holiday is booked. No bookings = less policy sales. So i don't buy your argument that insurers are doing well out of travel insurance.

Fortunately most insurance companies are run prudently, as modern regulations dictate that they must be. As we saw back in 2008, nobody benefits from financial institutions that overstretch themselves. Hence they will probably cope better with this crisis than they did in the last one. But even if shareholders do get 'double next year', that still only puts them back to square one.

Is your mate at Aviva a senior manager? If so i hope he wasn't counting on that big bonus

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk/news/breaking-news/aviva-reveals-pay-freeze-for-bosses-219918.aspx

I would say he's upper middle management on site (not company wide) and on about £85k plus a bonus that generally approaches 50% of this salary. Not bad for someone who never went to college/Uni (I went and got a Chemistry degree instead, what a mug!).

The renumeration he's on for the level he's at would be ridiculous in almost any other industry. Still don't think insurance companies are raking it on to support wages like that?

If he misses out on his bonus this year, he'll have to retire at 56 instead of 55, what a hardship for Nige! He puts the full £40k allowance into his pension fund every year.

With all that money, you'd think he'd be first to buy a round when he usually pulls in more from his bonus than his mates earn all in? 

[WD-40]

Just had my renewal and it's come in at only a £4 increase. First time in living memory the renewal is actually sensible and I might renew with the same insurer (I also ran a comparison site search and renewal was cheaper than the comparison site).

A-Plan insurance broker. I think they said generally increases were 12% in the industry but they'd managed to keep cost increases down with their underwriter

[Paul70]

Just received my renewal through from LV and the increase equates to 4% so very happy after reading the recent posts.

[mcmaddy]

I've just changed over insurance to new TCR for Wednesday and had to pay £17.91 on top of the £200 odd quid I paid back in March.