Lets face it, there would be people who wouldnt pay if it where a £100 a year but putting these a side, I wonder how muchof a part the insidious Insurance Premium Tax has played in these figures ? To have some thing that is compulsory by law then to introduce a tax on it is wrong in my opinion.

Channel Four desptaches exposed the insurance scam and calculated that the UK motor industry was ripping the British public off to the tune of £200,000,000 a year through "authorised dealers" and the inflated prices they use when doing insurance deals.
Chartwells in Derby tried to charge my insurer £580 for reading the faults from memory.
They also quoted my insurer £5000 to repair my rear bumper. But I traded the car in and the didnt need the work doing because the garage that bought it polished out the damage in less than 1 minute.

The Office of Fair Trading submitted a report to the Competition Commission some time ago on the UK Motor Insurance Industry claiming it was an “entirely dysfunctional” industry mainly because of the extreme levels of corruption and dishonesty in how they conduct themselves. The Competition Commission was due to publish its findings this year. They said it was a "criminal industry". Unfortunately for the public, the OFT was closed as part of austerity measures, and the CMA who should have picked up the report were just "too busy" to do anything with the findings, and so it got lost in the process.

Disgusting industry. As are the banks. At least the bankers keep ending up in court and prison.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/the-ca...ng-racket/

Oh yes, I’ve has those calls telling me that I’m entitled to compensation money, that it’s already been put aside for me and that these are the symptoms that I need to look out for and if I haven’t felt them yet, I probably will - in just a few days, when they will be phoning me back.

How many must be tempted? But they are being tempted into committing insurance fraud? Many could very easily be tempted into a very dark place

What a load of rubbish.

I agree, IPT is a pain in the arse, but Insurers don't like it either.

Examples above of how Insurance is dodgy seem to just suggest that some garages take the mick, which we all knew already. Why anyone would think that it's in an insurers interest to let a garage charge them more than your yearly premium for basic diagnostics, so the only person in the process making a loss is the insurer is beyond me.

Not a clue where you've been Sausagecreature, but the Competition Commission report was produced about 5 years ago, didn't call the industry any of the things you've said, and passed the findings to the CMA. The CMA produced a report which said the only real issues were in relation to calculation and visibility of no claims discount, and stopped the industry offering discounts to certain online comparison sites. These orders came into force in 2015/16 and haven't been an issue.

Also linking a rubbish article because the author has a bee in his bonnet isn't evidence of anything.

Completely agree with your points Merle, but I'd say that those calls aren't driven by the industry, and insurers have put an awful lot of money into trying to stop them, they cost us a fortune, there are whole teams dedicated to stamping them out.

I get that not everybody has had great service from certain insurers, but as someone who's entire job is governance of insurance, everything above is either not decided by Insurers (IPT, cold-callers etc) or utter bo***cks.

IPT was a tax introduced to maintain tax revenues when other taxes were reduced/removed. Air Passenger Duty is the same. From HM Treasury’s point of view its a no brainer; a tax on ‘discretionary’ purchase ( in their minds, you don’t have to have a car.....) so easy to identify and collect - like VAT you even get someone else to collect it. If you want to blame someone then look to the dishonest politicians. Yes the rate of income tax has been reduced, but for Mr or Mrs Average, the overall tax take has gone up with all these weasel taxes on consumption. For those of us who through hard work and enterprise have managed to make a few quid, its even worse.

As for the price of insurance, well I’ve just renewed with NFU Mutual. £684 fully comp max NCD and business use for a fatty kept on the street in an affluent town in SE. All the on line quotes were MUCH higher, LR insurance quoted double!

Banks are the problem. Pretty much all insurance companies are underwritten by banks even if not directly. Banking is legalized fraud.
Bills of exchange act, promissary notes and other negotiable instuments along with fractional reserve banking equals fraud.
Rest assured if you or I tried to do business the way banks do, we'd be in pokey. 2007 Vogue TDV8 in Zermatt Silver with Charcoal

gj88 wrote:

What a load of rubbish.

.... as someone who's entire job is governance of insurance, everything above is either not decided by Insurers (IPT, cold-callers etc) or utter bo***cks.

Wifes had a no fault claim its added £75 quid to her renewal max protected ncd as well tossers

1- For the same reason as every other industry, Sky, energy etc. Insurers literally write to you every year, tell you your price and tell you that you'll likely get a better deal elsewhere. No company is obliged to offer their services at the price you want to pay, if you don't like it, move.

2- It protects your level of discount, not your price, that's why its discount protection and not a price guarantee. It seems you can't read a policy

3- What's your genius solution to this problem? Either every car is inspected before going on cover to ascertain a value, or insurers just pay whatever pie in the sky figure a customer comes up with at the point of claim? Or, we leave the completely reasonable current process in place

4- From an insurer who pays over 99% of all claims, and deals with approaching 40% of claims in their entirety on the first call, it's not an experience I've seen. No idea why you'd think brokers would be an insurers fault, we don't like or want them either. If you're annoyed by brokers, don't place your business through a broker. Also, cold calls are nothing to do with us.

It really feels like you're quite angry about about a bad experience you've had and now you're randomly complaining on the internet.

Because you don't understand quite basic insurance principles such as NCDs or simple pricing, or who Brokers work for, it's most likely that your issues arise by not having the foggiest idea what your policy says. The attention to detail of moaning on a months old dead thread probably backs that up

Further to that, why is it a car needs to be insured when its clearly the driver. If the car was insured then why do you have name drivers on the policy. Does the car earn no claims bonus, no! If it is the car thats insured then why does it cost more for new driver compared to an experienced one. I can only drive one car at a time yet I have to insure each one separately. The evidence suggests its the driver that is insured and not the car. Why is it done this way. Money. Its a scam and the banks are yet again at the heart of it. 2007 Vogue TDV8 in Zermatt Silver with Charcoal

Don't disagree with some of that Grofus, but again, it's a mandatory class of insurance, almost all foundational points regarding how it works is set by governmental policy, not insurers. Maybe I get too frustrated with these threads sometimes, but I guess it's like most industries, most people have only a rudimentary understanding (why would you need more) and don't appreciate there's an awful lot of stuff we don't decide

The problem is the government were advised by insurance company executives on how best to implement mandatory car insurance.
One of the main points of contract law is full disclosure. Another is equal consideration. Two points insurance companies fall well short on.
There are much fairer ways to cover drivers liabilities but its not nearly as profitable. Its a bit like asking banks to self regulate then wondering how we got dropped in the sh!te. Again!
There isnt a politician alive that is prepared to take them on so they get away with it. Its not right 2007 Vogue TDV8 in Zermatt Silver with Charcoal

Well on most of that I don't agree, but it feels like a thread to let die.... for the second time!

gj88 wrote:

It really feels like you're quite angry about about a bad experience you've had and now you're randomly complaining on the internet.

Because you don't understand quite basic insurance principles such as NCDs or simple pricing, or who Brokers work for, it's most likely that your issues arise by not having the foggiest idea what your policy says. The attention to detail of moaning on a months old dead thread probably backs that up