Whiplash plans to 'cut car insurance premiums by £40'

[Crispin]

Just saw this pop up -
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38002662


Call me a cynic but I wonder if we'll see a £40 reduction? Perhaps we just won;t see a £40 increase in the next renewal....

 

[frank rabbets]

In a competitive market we should see a reduction but to some extent if none of them blink first premiums will not go down. On renewal when I get my next quote I bet the premium will go up slightly. When I phone to negotiate, which I always do, perhaps they will come down a bit more than they normally do. They don't like losing customers like me who always pay and never make claims. I'm such an Angel.

 

[Shayne]

Wouldn't it be nice if some of the 1.48 billion all those £40 add up to were used to fund a team of independent investigators who while armed with the criteria insurers supposedly use to price policies could randomly contact customers to check they have not been overcharged .

Punitive compensation in favour of the customer set at 10 times the premiums worth would be even better

 

[fbnss]

It's been on the radio all day. Insurance companies are paying out 1 billion pounds a year on fraudulent claims for whiplash. If they know they are fraudulent then why are they paying it out?

 

[MarkW]

They said the same wh n whiplash claims. Became a fixed payout. Premiums never went down thoug

 

[Dave_S]

I work in the industry - this is genuinely complex... chasing every claim is expensive beyond the value of the claim, hence a few years back many companies introduced "free" limits. The scumbags sussed this quickly and started to stage variation on the whiplash (flash to crash) gag. Then normally honest punters got in on the act... "I've had a bang, I'll claim for whiplash". This is the pendulum swinging back. If its enforced it should see a % reduction in premiums. Whether that's £40 a head is complete bollocks - we won't know until the changes start becoming effective...

 

[Shayne]

Complex my ass bank robbers complaining about shoplifters

 

[clivehorridge]

Complex my ass bank robbers complaining about shoplifters

Why don't you get straight to the point Shayne?

 

[Dave_S]

Trying to make a sensible input, but whatever, clearly you know better Shane, I'll leave you to it on this one then.

 

[Shayne]

Wasn't aimed at you Dave just insurers in general .

As you work in the industry i would be interested to know why moving from a 1.6 petrol engine to a 3.0 diesel with lower performance figures results in a 100% increase in insurance costs ?

 

[Dave_S]

Short version - performance is only one metric. Vehicle value, typical repair cost per claim, theft and vandalism profile, where its parked, modifications, ownership profiles, all impact the risk associated with the vehicle. Most of this is driven from big data analytics these days - in real terms I would assume your new vehicle is either more likely to incur a claim, or the claim amount will be significantly higher than that of the old car.

 

[Shayne]

In this case the answers would be same same same same not to mention both cars are of a value they would likely be wrote off by insurance if a bumper was bent anyway , and there's pro's to balance the con's such as better all round view , better handling , less prone to carpark damage being smaller and taller than the car it replaced , does that stuff make it onto the the data profiles ?

Again not getting at you Dave i'm sure you do the best you can with the criteria you have to work to , i just wish things were more black and white .

It will cost double "because we said so" doesn't exactly promote consumer confidence .

The cars i mention belong to the mrs , i dare not ask her how long but the mrs has been driving well over 30 years and has never made a claim . Twice someone has driven into her parked car and both times she was punished by insurance for no reason at all .

 

[Dave_S]

Yeah, sorry can't help beyond generalities, Shane - when I say in the trade, I mean insurance more widely, not explicitly car insurance. But the general comments above hold. TBH in that instance I would explicitly ask your insurer or agent why there has been a rate increase, they should be able to explain it (even if you may not like the ultimate answer).

 

[Shayne]

Full circle Dave i am bound by law to be honest with them so where's the law that bounds them to be honest with me ?

Forced to think deeper about the compensation culture (which of course is frowned upon by all) , is it not insurance companies themselves that promote it .

Many years ago i was knocked off my bike by another bike , i did 3 backflips but luckily landed on my head so no harm done Police were actually following the bike that hit me because it was traveling far too fast for conditions . Cops knew me so i was able to convince them to let me continue my journey . I popped into insurance office just to let them know and telling them i'm not interested as i have the parts i need to fix and i'm late for work .

Almost a year later i received a letter the other riders insurers were claiming against me

Maybe 2 years after many ignored letters they basically said they must proceed to court because the matter cannot be settled unless i give them a list of damages to my vehicle and visit a medical examiner . So i did explaining the bike has long since been repaired and sold .

Apparently during the accident i had snapped a muscle in my neck which is gone never to return , split a muscle sheath in my leg that can never repair itself and suffered concussion . The bike was deemed unfit for economical repair and i got a cheque in the post

Who was the driving force behind all that nonsense ?

 

[clivehorridge]

I could never understand why in the old days, the cost of TP only (not fire and theft) cover was related to vehicle value.

To my mind, it was the only number that was totally irrelevant.

Here I can't get comprehensive cover at all because my car is more than 10 years old.

It makes no sense at all, because as the value of the car decreases, the premium should get less and more available.

I'd understand it if they refused new cars, as a right-off at 6 months old would be a high risk of a significant amount.