Car advice

[Empty It]

3 hours ago, Hard Graft said:

Check the small print carefully.  Had similar but when you investigated the cheap quote a lot of add ons were missing and when added brought the quote up high.

Either way there was pretty much every insurer under the sun cheaper than the renewal quote so they'll be getting told to ram it.

[flyingscot]

9 hours ago, Empty It said:

Just had the insurance renewal through for the shared car up from £515 to £960, check compare the market and can get it for about £450, looking forward to the phonecall to tell Hastings to go f**k themselves. 

The fact you can renew cheaper than what you had is pretty decent. My insurance went up a couple hundred this year and went on the comparison sites to find a better deal only for everything to be more expensive than the renewal. 

[Zetterlund]

We've just bought a new (used) car, and for the first time ever our current insurers were the cheapest quote. Switching cars put the premium up from £260 to £370, with all the confused dot meerkats etc giving us around £460.

Another unexpected bonus was that because the car has just passed 5 years old, the £570 annual tax we were expecting turned out to be £180. Chuffed with that.

[TxRover]

21 hours ago, flyingscot said:

The fact you can renew cheaper than what you had is pretty decent. My insurance went up a couple hundred this year and went on the comparison sites to find a better deal only for everything to be more expensive than the renewal. 

The (long term) good news is with all these increases, and people finally shopping ratesbecause of them, some insurers will start offering better rates for new customers to entice them over. Their renewals will slowly creep up, but as long as the customers keep shopping at renewal time, someone will always be trying to attract new customers.

[die hard doonhamer]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

The (long term) good news is with all these increases, and people finally shopping ratesbecause of them, some insurers will start offering better rates for new customers to entice them over. Their renewals will slowly creep up, but as long as the customers keep shopping at renewal time, someone will always be trying to attract new customers.

That’s illegal in the uk now, so no, they won’t. 

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, die hard doonhamer said:

That’s illegal in the uk now, so no, they won’t. 

Really, good for you...although I'll believe that when hell freezes over, they'll find another way.

[strichener]

2 hours ago, die hard doonhamer said:

That’s illegal in the uk now, so no, they won’t. 

 

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

Really, good for you...although I'll believe that when hell freezes over, they'll find another way.

There is already a way round this.  Just check out who owns which brands and how they offer different prices.  Admiral/Elephant for example.

[die hard doonhamer]

1 hour ago, strichener said:

 

There is already a way round this.  Just check out who owns which brands and how they offer different prices.  Admiral/Elephant for example.

Differentiating pricing by channel is not a way round it. Insurers cannot offer a renewal at a higher price than the equivalent new business price for the same product on motor and home insurance. Different brands within the same insurer will have different operating models and expense assumptions, hence the different prices. However, the same new business v renewal pricing rules still apply. 

[strichener]

1 hour ago, die hard doonhamer said:

Differentiating pricing by channel is not a way round it. Insurers cannot offer a renewal at a higher price than the equivalent new business price for the same product on motor and home insurance. Different brands within the same insurer will have different operating models and expense assumptions, hence the different prices. However, the same new business v renewal pricing rules still apply. 

Of course it is a way round it.  The insurer can decline new business under one banner whilst accepting it under another with different pricing.  Anyone that thinks that this does not happen is living in an alternative reality.   The rules only apply to the same quote for the same product on the same day.

Additionally they are still allowed to charge different rates for different sales channels.  So for example you may get a cheaper price on Go.Compare than Confused.  Or if someone went direct to the insurer then they do not have to be offered the same price as someone using a comparison site.

There are so many loopholes that it is close to meaningless. 

Edited March 27 by strichener

[alta-pete]

Phone your insurer, get put through to a call centre in Glasgow (of which there are a fair few); or

phone your insurer and get put through to a call centre in Mumbai (of which there are a fair few). 

which one costs more do you think? 

Insurance is nothing but a burden and only of any utility when you need to claim on it. And it’s only when you need to claim on it that you recognise its value. If you’re lucky, that’ll be never. 

Go with a meaningless Elephant, an RAC branded product or a Shiela’s Wheels, save the £100 or so. 

But when you do need it - which is usually a fairly high stress situation in itself - I reckon the extra premium might well be worth it. 

Edited March 27 by alta-pete

[die hard doonhamer]

8 hours ago, strichener said:

Of course it is a way round it.  The insurer can decline new business under one banner whilst accepting it under another with different pricing.  Anyone that thinks that this does not happen is living in an alternative reality.   The rules only apply to the same quote for the same product on the same day.

Additionally they are still allowed to charge different rates for different sales channels.  So for example you may get a cheaper price on Go.Compare than Confused.  Or if someone went direct to the insurer then they do not have to be offered the same price as someone using a comparison site.

There are so many loopholes that it is close to meaningless. 

They can’t just close off a book to new business and then ramp up the renewal price. If a book is no longer on sale at new business (they define on sale as new business being less than a certain % of the volume which I can’t recall, or 10k sales a year, whichever is lower) then they have to map it to an equivalent on sale product. I work in insurance pricing, I know the stress I went through when the regulation was implemented. It definitely isn’t close to meaningless. 

[strichener]

52 minutes ago, die hard doonhamer said:

They can’t just close off a book to new business and then ramp up the renewal price. If a book is no longer on sale at new business (they define on sale as new business being less than a certain % of the volume which I can’t recall, or 10k sales a year, whichever is lower) then they have to map it to an equivalent on sale product. I work in insurance pricing, I know the stress I went through when the regulation was implemented. It definitely isn’t close to meaningless. 

Yes but they can undercut themselves by ramping the price for renewals (and exact like for like new business) whilst offering lower prices under another banner.  Not only can they do it, it is well known that they actually do it.

Have you any comment on the very specific criteria that must be prices matched?

[RH33]

Car got through MOT but they couldn't get bonnet released. Suggested another garage which said hmmm about three weeks (so guessing that's a f**k that).

 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

7 minutes ago, RH33 said:

Car got through MOT but they couldn't get bonnet released. Suggested another garage which said hmmm about three weeks (so guessing that's a f**k that).

 

*Does it pop but not release?

I had that on a previous car, bonnet popped just enough to get WD40 on the catch, worked loose after some *fiddling about.

 

*go on then.

[RH33]

1 hour ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

*Does it pop but not release?

I had that on a previous car, bonnet popped just enough to get WD40 on the catch, worked loose after some *fiddling about.

 

*go on then.

No, I think cables gone as no resistance from lever.

[TxRover]

On 29/03/2024 at 14:52, RH33 said:

No, I think cables gone as no resistance from lever.

I’d Google your car model and year and “hood release” and “bonnet release”. The means of releasing the trim around the lever should be the same (or mirror image), and if it’s not too difficult, you could do it and see if the cable has simply parted ways with the back of the lever. So called “trim tools” (I’ll wait for the jokes) are available for a few quid. It’s just a series of plastic pry bars with different angles and sizes (ditto), and will usually do the job (a hat trick). Hopefully you walking into the mechanic’s and telling the lazy sod what’s wrong will shame them into assisting.

[RandomGuy.]

6 hours ago, TxRover said:

I’d Google your car model and year and “hood release” and “bonnet release”. The means of releasing the trim around the lever should be the same (or mirror image), and if it’s not too difficult, you could do it and see if the cable has simply parted ways with the back of the lever. So called “trim tools” (I’ll wait for the jokes) are available for a few quid. It’s just a series of plastic pry bars with different angles and sizes (ditto), and will usually do the job (a hat trick). Hopefully you walking into the mechanic’s and telling the lazy sod what’s wrong will shame them into assisting.

Or alternatively you just wait a couple of weeks, don't break trims/clips that don't need broken, then also don't misdiagnose the issue.

As someone who's had "DIY experts" tell them exactly what's wrong with their car, be assured that if you act like a smug twat while telling a mechanic, they will change that part first and charge you for it even if it's clearly the wrong thing needing changed. Then you'll have to wait another few weeks to book it in again.

Edited April 2 by RandomGuy.

[RH33]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Or alternatively you just wait a couple of weeks, don't break trims/clips that don't need broken, then also don't misdiagnose the issue.

As someone who's had "DIY experts" tell them exactly what's wrong with their car, be assured that if you act like a smug twat while telling a mechanic, they will change that part first and charge you for it even if it's clearly the wrong thing needing changed. Then you'll have to wait another few weeks to book it in again.

It's ok I have out resident AI Bot on ignore and have absolutely no intention of DIY! 

[TxRover]

3 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Or alternatively you just wait a couple of weeks, don't break trims/clips that don't need broken, then also don't misdiagnose the issue.

As someone who's had "DIY experts" tell them exactly what's wrong with their car, be assured that if you act like a smug twat while telling a mechanic, they will change that part first and charge you for it even if it's clearly the wrong thing needing changed. Then you'll have to wait another few weeks to book it in again.

Oh, that’s absolutely true, but to be honest, as you well know, auto interiors are built to snap apart/together. Popping a panel to confirm a cable has come loose and advising a mechanic of that hardly falls in that category…and is miles more likely than the cable breaking on a relatively recent vintage car. I’m not suggesting telling your mechanic the ticking noise you hear is  a bad lifter after a 10 second listen.

[RH33]

On 02/04/2024 at 08:03, RandomGuy. said:

Or alternatively you just wait a couple of weeks, don't break trims/clips that don't need broken, then also don't misdiagnose the issue.

As someone who's had "DIY experts" tell them exactly what's wrong with their car, be assured that if you act like a smug twat while telling a mechanic, they will change that part first and charge you for it even if it's clearly the wrong thing needing changed. Then you'll have to wait another few weeks to book it in again.

The car is at the garage today, they may need smash the front grill to get it open. 

It's a 19 plate Kia, it shouldn't have snapped on such a young car imo. However I seem to have a Midas touch with cars.