My motor premium DOUBLED in a year
OF aLL the fiddly bits of personal admin that need doing each year, renewing your car insurance must rate as the most tedious.
almost without fail, your current provider will be in touch to say your cover is going up, leaving you to hunt around on price comparison websites to find another deal.
I can’t stand price comparison sites. They always seem to be trying to sell something I’m not even looking for, bombarding me with intrusive emails weeks after I’ve visited their site.
and the questions! They just go on for ever. how many miles do you drive each year? how many years no claims do you have? Is your car fitted with an industry-approved tracker/disabler/James Bond- issue ejector seat? Don’t know, don’t care.
In fact, it’s such a faff that if the cost of my renewal quote with sainsbury’s Bank was only a few pounds more than what it was charging last year, I’d have been tempted to just accept it.
so imagine my shock when I checked to see the price it was quoting had jumped from £417 a year to a whopping £1,361.
at first, I assumed this was some sort of systems error. That perhaps it thought I’d switched from a modest 2-litre Mercedes to owning a McLaren F1. But after ringing sainsbury’s, it assured me everything was in order and that was price.
When I went to go and check out my other options online, I was also in for a nasty surprise. The cheapest deal available was around £800. Far better than what sainbury’s was offering. But still double what I had recently been paying.
None of this makes any sense. I am (or at least should) be a poster boy for the insurance industry.
as a Londoner, I hardly drive much and when I do, the speedometer needle barely gets much of a workout. In the 27 years I’ve been on the road I have never sought so much as a bean in claims.
The only conclusion is this was part of the giant financial squeeze we’re having to swallow. another blow to the household finances. and those plans to own a Ferrari are beginning to look more remote than ever.