Escalating Car Insurance premiums

IRL72D

Registered User
Messages
4
Folks,

My insurance is up for renewal in March 2015. I asked my current insurer to quote me for renewal of my policy. I am a 42 year old male, driving with a full licence since I was 18. I have not had any accidents.

The premium that I was quoted was 33% increase on last year! I questioned this and they came back with one that was 25% higher than last year. I tried quotes from other insurers and their quotes were as bad if not worse.

With euro zone inflation hovering around 0% what is driving this premium inflation?
 
There's also the fact that they are making less money on their investments, so need to bring in more from premiums.
 
THe AA pointed out recently that most car insurance companies have been price cutting for a few years now and have let their reserves run low and have to build them up. As seagull has pointed out, the return on the money they have in the markets isn't great.

Car insurance prices have a tendency to be cyclical.

Mine has gone up too, but only by 10% and from a very low base last year after 4 years of dropping.
 
Did you get an unusually good quote last year or have you upgraded your car since?

My quote last year was competitive, it was not the cheapest quote I was offered (123.ie I think provided the cheapest quote) but I went with it because it was AXA (who have a good name). I did not change my car or any other aspect of my insurance. I asked AXA to re-quote me for the same vehicle with exactly the same policy details... they came back with a premium the 33% higher. I asked why it had jumped and was told that "premiums were up across the board" !
 
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