My CS is insured with AA insurance ( I am not a member), it was <£200 last year, slightly > £200 this year.
Obviously age, ncb, driving record makes a difference to the final quotation.
Agree that individual risk factors or combinations of risk factors can make a big difference to the premium.
A bit of a brain dump below, so apologies for the long post
Insurance companies premium calculation algorithms are so complex these days and they use multiple risk factors - some of which aren’t even directly related to the insurance risk - e.g. pretty much all insurance companies will now also use a person’s credit score / credit rating as a risk factor as their risk stats have shown there’s a strong correlation between the insurance risk and a person’s credit rating and their ability to pay their premium / how they pay (monthly or by a single annual payment).
Insurance companies will be analysing the risk and claims data of their car insurance portfolio on an ongoing basis to identify which types of risk are generating claims, and it could be that desirable hot hatches like the mk7 / mk7.5 Golf GTI / Clubsport or certain policyholder risk profiles are generating a disproportionately high frequency of claims and high average claims costs. If so then an insurer is likely to increase premium rates for all of those types of risk in their portfolio. With supply chain issues affecting the number of new cars being built and long wait times, it’s likely that insurance companies have also seen an increase in thefts of desirable, late date cars.
@rwleigh; IMHO comparing one person’s premium to another person’s is of limited value as it’s highly unlikely any two people will have identical risk profiles, and one difference (e.g. post code, driver age, a person’s credit score etc.) can make a significant difference to the premium. As @Snoopy has suggested, it’s always worth looking at ways to reduce the premium - e.g.
- increasing the excess
- fitting an insurer approved security device (not all insurance companies will offer a discount so worth checking first to establish whether or not they would)
- reviewing your estimated annual mileage driven to see if it can legitimately be reduced
- review any add-ons you currently have under your policy to see if you still need them. If not, delete them and save the cost of paying for them.
There may be others in addition to the above.
As for recommendations on who to try for alternative quotes;
- Get a range of alternative quotes from one of the comparison sites. That will give you a good idea whether or not the premium quoted by LV is broadly in line with most other insurance companies or whether it’s just LV quoting a high price.
- Speak to LV to see if there’s any scope to reduce the premium they’ve quoted - their renewal retention team may have authority to offer a reduction on the price quoted to retain your business.
- Contact a traditional high street insurance broker to search the market for a competitive premium quote; many brokers will have access to insurance companies who aren’t on the comparison sites. They may also have special scheme arrangements with some insurance companies that give them preferential insurance rates.
- Contact insurance companies direct that aren’t on comparison sites - e.g. Direct Line, Aviva (there will be others).
- Try a broker who specialises in cover for high performance cars; try an internet search for ‘Performance car insurance’.
Finally, bear in mind that if you find a really cheap price, it might be cheap for a reason - e.g. poor customer service, poor claims service, low level of cover. IMHO an insurance company with a good reputation for its claims service is worth paying a bit extra for; if you’re unfortunate enough to need to claim, that’s when you want good service.
@rwleigh; please update this post once you’ve found a renewal price you’re happy with.
