Disturbing trend in car insurance for older driver
I have experienced a prime example of AGE DISCRIMINATION. A vendetta by Insurance Companies against car drivers over 85 years old, despite the known fact that such drivers have fewer accidents than drivers under 25 years old.
I attained the age of 86 years in August last year. Despite having driven for more than 60 years, without being involved in an accident, my Car Insurance premium has risen by roughly £160, from £382.70 in March 2018, to £552.49 in March 2019. I queried this massive increase with our Club which acts as brokers and was informed that the Underwriters had been changed. When “shopping around” online, I was dismayed to discover the original Underwriters no longer offered insurance to over 85s. All the other quotes on comparison type websites were unbelievably high. E.g. £1200 to more than £2200.
In May of last year, I towed our caravan up to John O’Groats and drove about 500 miles in the Scottish highlands. The trip from Liverpool and back was about 1,600 miles.
In September of last year, I towed the same caravan down to Land’s End and toured around Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. The return trip was about 1,400 miles.
There was another trip of only about 200 miles in July, around the Lake District. There were no incidents during all the time on the roads of the UK!
This, surely, indicates that the “Insurance World” is bent on pricing the older driver off the road. There can be no justification for such increases after the age of 85.
A friend of mine, aged 71, who lives just two roads away, has a very similar car and pays less than £200 for his car insurance.
Can we not start a petition to the Government to clamp down on such obvious age discrimination?
Moderator Edit:
Moved from the Story Section.
Comments
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I don't think it is age discrimination, the same could be said about charging higher premiums for younger drivers. even with their inexperienced.
I have no doubt based on what you said that you are a safe driver, but it is not about you. It is about the risk that people your age pose as a group.
Premium are worked out based on the risk that your age group poses and this is based on the data gathered from previous years.
To be objective while you are safe I would not expect others in your age to be as safe. Apart from illness reactions slow down, mental agility decreases. Again not you but your age group. If every other single insurance company is charging those high prices then it would seem to be correct. As you have a much lower premium than those at £1000+ it shows that your 'safeness' is being recognised but you are still a higher risk than someone much younger.
I'd just be happy I am still driving and enjoying caravaning and hope I am still at your age.
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Have you searched other insurance sellers cacher? You need to do a good search around, and always question the original quote. Hope you find a better quote.
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I had a similar experience when I changed car from a ford c-max to a korando. I had 3 months left to run on current policy and they wante an extra £300. I rang the club for a quote and was quoted £2100.however I fond insurance for £415 elsewhere. I can only put this down to ageism as I coming up to 81. I personally think this is a subject for investigation by equalities commision and/or thclub as there are frequent reports in the magazine of older club members still enjoying caravanning.
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The issue is insurance. The insurance company pays very clever mathematicians to work out the likelihood of you claiming based on statistical data. Their whole business is based on statistical risk management.
You may be a very good driver but it is a fact that you are a far worse driver than ten years ago, this is biology.
You may be the safest driver on the road but statistically you are not, you are high risk.
As an individual you may be very good, but statistics show that you are not.
Now you may argue that it is unfair that you are grouped with all these crash prone OAPs, but how else can they differentiate?
There was a boom in the market a few years ago for telematics for young drivers so they could be monitored and this may be a marketing plus for the insurance world for older drivers.
I have trained in driving disciplines and even though I am a lot younger than you I have changed my working routine as I recognised that I really was not as good as I used to be particularly doing high mileage.
As you say "This, surely, indicates that the “Insurance World” is bent on pricing the older driver off the road.", yes, this is their exact business model.
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my daughter moved into her new house in January, a walking distance of 1.4 miles into the next number post code. her monthly premiums went up by a few pounds. When she questioned it (nothing else had changed) they said the risk for that area was higher!
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I related a similar experience on here just over a month back, our insurance (VW Touareg) almost doubled from about £415 to £800 odds, this was with AXA, and I am "only" 76.
We did all the comparison sites, and the companies that are not on them, and the best premium we could get was £637 with NFU. LV were next best at around £40 more.
Nothing has changed for us other than we and the car are all 1 year older.
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Not all insurance companies use the same statistical analysis of the same figures. So different insurers will set different consumer premiums for any given risk. This is partly based on "reinsurance" where a given insurance company does not take the full risk of your claim(s) but in turn insures their potential loss in bulk with other insurers - some of which only undertake that sort of insurance.
Very often it is a broker that the customer is dealing with, and each broker has a panel of insurers that they deal with. So two brokers with similar panels will have similar "best" quotes, but neither may be dealing with the insurer that gives the best available premium in the market for your situation.
All of this is done by computers these days, but reading your original post what would concern me is the combination of age and high mileage. An 85 year old doing 500 miles a year is probably quite a low risk - yet you can do three times that mileage in a single trip! As there is probably very little statistical data on that combination, many insurers will be loading the premium out of caution.
You might get a better respose looking at what is offered by a Lloyds Syndicate specialising in your situation.
However, there is an old adage that insurance is all about premium - until you make a claim when claim handling is what really matters.
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I cannot help thinking that the "very clever mathematicians" referred to above, are very short-sighted...they will, one day, reach the age of 85 plus themselves and may then understand what it is like to branded as "high risk", irrespective of their personal driving ability.
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I change between three big company's every year, because the first year they come in low then second year sky high.
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I really don't follow that at all.
So just because something may and/or will happen (anything) to the person writing the algorithms or software that calculates the premiums they should make that premium cheaper?
Ok well they might get burgled so lets make that insurance cheaper?
What happens when there isn't enough money to pay out for a claim because the money coming in isn't enough to match the money going out on claims?
You are in a high risk group, live with it. I won't winge when it's my turn. I'll just be happy I can still drive and caravan
I wonder what Prince Philip paid?
Or that 84 year old who drove down the motorway the wrong way? Actually I heard that her son phoned her (on her hands free set) to warn her there was one idiot driving down the motor way the wrong way, she answered: one? there's hundreds
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Remember one does not legally require to purchase insurance to take a motor vehicle onto the public highway.
There is an alternative arrangement whereby a bond is lodged by the user to cover potential claims for damage. I can't remember what the amount was the last time I looked, but it was well outside what most road users could afford to put up. But not so for the Royal Family perhaps.
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Here is a good example of how unrealistic quotes can be. I have just requested a quote from a well-known insurance company online. I receive a quote for £2170.66 for Fully Comprehensive cover. I amended the request to "third party, fire and theft" cover to see if there would be a very reduced premium and the quote went UP to £2515.83!!!
Is there a petition I can sign about Injustice to the more mature and safer driver? Anyone know of any?
In the meantime, I'll stick to my original renewal quote of £554, which was a 44% increase on last year.
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I had my renewal notice last December from Tesco insurance, £525, now that was up £75 blimming quid on last year, so just out of curiosity I went on one of the well known compare sites and I got it for £430, and who was it with, yep Tesco now how does that work.
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Is there a petition I can sign about Injustice to the more mature and safer driver?
But statistically you are not.
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Not quite. Definitely statistically more mature.
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Cornersteady...I once heard a quotation, apparently by Benjamin Disraeli who said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics". Using statistics to produce insurance premiums, completely ignores the ability of the individual; putting everyone into the same category as the 84 year old driver who, you quote, stupidly drove on the wrong carriageway of a motorway. Such people should not be driving. When I heard of this story, it was a joke. I have heard of such incidents though.
I'd be quite happy if all 85+ drivers were retested, perhaps every year or two, and their individual premiums reflected their driving standard.
I undertook a voluntary re-assessment of my driving last year over a two-hour test over various road systems in peak hour on a weekday. The qualified instructor was quite happy to say I was a "safe driver". Using "statistics", as you say, I'm "high-risk".
I'd be quite happy to pay for a re-assessment test every year, if the premium reflected the true situation, thus avoiding the highly inflated cost of insurance.
With respect, you appear to side with the system adopted by the "Insurance World". Are you, perchance, part of that "World"?
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Cacher, did you offer evidence of your driving re-assessment to the insurance companies? Also, have you contacted those who specialise in dealing with more mature motorists? SAGA immediately springs to mind.
I think we all have sympathy with your situation but are realistic in our understanding of the way the insurance industry works.
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I'd be quite happy if all 85+ drivers were retested, perhaps every year or two, and their individual premiums reflected their driving standard.
Me, I think that should apply to ALL drivers of ANY age. And cyclists.
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no I am not, I just trust statistics more than you.
Why are the premiums so high? Why are some insurance companies refusing to insure people like yourself? Sorry I just do not buy that they want you off the road, I rather believe that insuring you is a high risk and they will lose money on you should you claim.
You cannot base insurance decisions based on an individual nor on their responses and your driving instructor's view has no legal standing what so ever, indeed why should the insurance company trust it? It could be your best friend?
As I have said, just be happy you can still drive
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One of the things I read is the longer injury recovery and hospitalisation for older folk involved in accidents. All the reasons are out there about the way actuaries work out the various insurance factors and as previously said if you want insurance the pot has to be big enough to pay out for most eventualities. By the way I had a maths teacher friend and her Mum was an actuary and both were impressive mathematicians who took their work very seriously. I think most of us would want it that way.
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We had been with AXA for two years as they had the best quote the second year too, normally we do tend to change every year if it is advantageous.
In fact, the second year premium was lower than the first year as we put our daughter on the policy too.
Most of the other quotes we got were about the £800+ too, but one was £2500.
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I was unable to mention re-assessment (or Advanced Driving Test) in any of my online quotation attempts as the opportunity wasn't allowed for in the questions.
In reply to the comment that "the instructor could have been my friend"; he wasn't. The driving re-assessment was done through the local authority Road Safety Scheme...the instructor came from 20 miles away from my home and I didn't know him from Adam.
I cannot agree with you that statistics are the "be all and end all". I think they are a lazy way of arriving at a decision without the extra work needed to investigate the subject (person) in question.
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Cacher, I'm surprised you haven’t picked up the phone and spoken to people and I suggest you do that. Online quotes are rarely all encompassing in that they don't tend to take account of non-standard (in their eyes) circumstances. Ask call centre staff to check with their underwriters.
The other comments were not made by me.
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We can have an individual quote arranged for you, Cacher, but you won't like it.
All the pertinent questions, plus the points you want to raise in mitigation. Medical, driving assessment, psychological testing. Then a premium tailored to your current situation. No statistics, just a risk assessment of your own risk. Of course, you will have to pay in advance for all this work, which I estimate will cost you about £3,500. And then your permium will have to go into a pot with many others to provide the funds to pay claims, so we will need you to line up lots and lots of others to join this scheme.
It's like chosing between a bespoke pair of hand made trousers or a £12 pair from Sainsburys.
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You can badger down quotes every time if you try hard enough. I got my Dad’s house insurance down from £250 to £120 one year, and on top of that, they sent him bonus cheque of £50 if he didn’t make a claim within first three months!
Always, always give them a hard time, change companies to get the best deals, but they need to be good when it comes to paying out as well.
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