HIC renewal not as low as I'd hoped...

[Mooby]

I've received the blurb from HIC for my renewal, and they recon it'll be £604.

when I first took out the policy it was for a Mk3 VR6 and was £1200 (no no claims, licence held for around 18 months), then at first renewal (a year's no claims, licence held for 2 and a half years) it was down to £720...  Because I recently sold the VR6, and now have an unmodified Passat 1.8T "Sport", I amended the policy a couple of months ago and was told that the new premium for the passat (based on previous renewal) was £680. 

So now I come to renew again, and the price quoted is £604.  To be honest, now I've held my licence for over three years, and have 2 years no-claims, I would've expected the price to drop more than this. ok, it does include a £25 renewal fee, but that's still £580...  a drop of only £100 (14%) whereas the first renewal dropped by over £400 (some 35% or so)

I did a quote on Tesco and I had a quote come back for £460, and a few others at or below £500.

So:
1) If I 'phone HIC, am I likely to be able to get this any lower?  no change of circumstances applies apart from being older, had licence longer, and more no claims. (no points, same address, same job)
2) Is this because the car is currently unmodified - will I get a better quote if I just tint the windows or something  )
3) Is it likely that I may as well move away from HIC because the car is unmodified (will remain that way, no money to do anything for the forseeable future )

Any thoughts?  Martin?

[topher]

I'm sure Martin will do his best to get as close to your other quotes as possible. Forget Tesco and the like though, they offer a great price for new customers, then it actually goes up at renewal (anything to claw in fresh blood).

After your first year the discounts for NCB don't really make a huge difference until you have max. no claims.

[Llewellyn]

With your first years ncb you get quite a discount, but you cant expect it to drop by the same amount each year, it drops off quicky at first but then slows down as the 3rd and 4th years come.

[Mooby]

With your first years ncb you get quite a discount, but you cant expect it to drop by the same amount each year, it drops off quicky at first but then slows down as the 3rd and 4th years come.

I accept this, but it just wasn't as much as I'd hoped for.  I'm quite strapped for cash at the mo so an extra £100 is a lot to me. 

I'm sure Martin will do his best to get as close to your other quotes as possible. Forget Tesco and the like though, they offer a great price for new customers, then it actually goes up at renewal (anything to claw in fresh blood).

I was going to 'phone them anyway and see.  I was just expecting it to drop to somewhere around £500-ish.  I wasn't expecting it to go stupidly low.    I just thought that maybe since the car is unmodified they have certain underwriters who won't insure it because they specialise in modified cars only... 

[martinb]

Hello mate,

as Toph & Jimothy (cheers guys) have correctly pointed out the discount you get for your 1st years no claims bonus is much bigger than for subsequent years (it varys but approx 35% 1st year, 40% 2nd, 50% 3rd) and often peoples renewals do not drop by as much as they are expecting as the cost of inusrance in general is rising every year.

That said, i believe our renewals dept currently garauntee to match or beat any quotes you get (subject to not having claimed etc) for like for like cover (eg wont match 10month quotes etc) so if you wanna send me your policy number and contact number i will pass the details to our renewals manager to look into for you.

As regards to mods, we do have certain schemes/underwriters that will only insure modified cars, some who will only insure standard and some who will do it either way so if its standard at the mo but you are planning to mod please mention it so you font get stuck with one that does not take mods 

Martin 

[Mooby]

Hello mate,

as Toph & Jimothy (cheers guys) have correctly pointed out the discount you get for your 1st years no claims bonus is much bigger than for subsequent years (it varys but approx 35% 1st year, 40% 2nd, 50% 3rd) and often peoples renewals do not drop by as much as they are expecting as the cost of inusrance in general is rising every year.

That said, i believe our renewals dept currently garauntee to match or beat any quotes you get (subject to not having claimed etc) for like for like cover (eg wont match 10month quotes etc) so if you wanna send me your policy number and contact number i will pass the details to our renewals manager to look into for you.

As regards to mods, we do have certain schemes/underwriters that will only insure modified cars, some who will only insure standard and some who will do it either way so if its standard at the mo but you are planning to mod please mention it so you font get stuck with one that does not take mods 

Martin 

cheers Mate, I'll PM that stuff to you when I get home later.  I haven't got a definite quote, just went through the Tesco website to see what it would say, and gave it all the same info (including a couple of prangs I had many moons ago :embarassed:)  My Windows do have tints (front only slightly, rears fairly dark), but have no idea whether this is standard or not?  I suspect not, to be honest, just not something I'd thought about until now, renewal time...

[Mooby]

Well I never did PM you Martin, but I just 'phoned up anyway, and you guys said you'd match the quote!  Well pleased.

The top tesco search quote was with Lloyds and I think their compulsory Excess was better than HIC (£100 Vs £250), but with HIC I get third party on other cars which I think swings it fairly easily.

Obviously it's mildly irritating that if you can insure me for £460 why was the renewal initially £604... but hey, business is business I suppose.  Just goes to show that you should never just settle for your renewal quote straight away

Still wish I hadn't had to sell the VR6 though... a passat on stock springs and cheap tyres just seems to be an oil tanker on an ice lake by comparison

[martinb]

Well I never did PM you Martin, but I just 'phoned up anyway, and you guys said you'd match the quote!  Well pleased.

The top tesco search quote was with Lloyds and I think their compulsory Excess was better than HIC (£100 Vs £250), but with HIC I get third party on other cars which I think swings it fairly easily.

Obviously it's mildly irritating that if you can insure me for £460 why was the renewal initially £604... but hey, business is business I suppose.  Just goes to show that you should never just settle for your renewal quote straight away

Still wish I hadn't had to sell the VR6 though... a passat on stock springs and cheap tyres just seems to be an oil tanker on an ice lake by comparison

Glad you got a good deal in the end mate. 

your right about the fact its always worth ringing round on renewal. Just to explain how it works: as we are a broker when your policy comes up for renewal your existing insurer will issue us with the rate they would like to renew the policy at, if there are no cheaper alternatives with any of the other underwriters we use then this is the rate we send out to you. By getting a cheaper rate it gives us the ammunition we need to go back to them and arrange a better rate for you to try and keep your custom