CHURCHILL INSURANCE RENEWAL PREMIUM UP 40%

williamsmix

williamsmix

Member
Messages
574
My car insurance renewal with Churchill arrived this morning. The premium is up 40% on last year! No explanation for this exponential rise has been offered by them. I've been with them for a few years and I haven't made any claims, so I've no idea why this is. Perhaps I will ask?!

Is this happening elsewhere, and if so, why?
 
M

Mattmaser

Member
Messages
104
They are blaming unavailability of parts for repairs, or long delays , leading to more write offs and long term hire vehicles etc .

My GS is nearly double this year what my 456 was with footman James , despite the 456 been worth substantially more - when I questioned it , they just said “it’s the figure the underwriter has come up with “ ‍♂️
 
Harvey_Tim

Harvey_Tim

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Messages
202
I received the renewal notice yesterday for my wife’s diesel Mini that also includes myself and my 22 yo son as named drivers, again have been with them for years and no claims for any of us on this or any other policy, no endorsements or anything and the premium had gone up 47% !!!

Went on GoCompare and found a suitable alternative (Admiral surprisingly) that matched my original (i.e.last years) premium, needless to say I will be going with them.
 
Erlingtheyounger

Erlingtheyounger

Member
Messages
78
Harvey_Tim said:
I received the renewal notice yesterday for my wife’s diesel Mini that also includes myself and my 22 yo son as named drivers, again have been with them for years and no claims for any of us on this or any other policy, no endorsements or anything and the premium had gone up 47% !!!

Went on GoCompare and found a suitable alternative (Admiral surprisingly) that matched my original (i.e.last years) premium, needless to say I will be going with them.
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I’m with admiral and have been for a few years as their multi car policy suits me really well. They tried for a 25% increase but got it down to about 12% from memory. Now with the QP V and three other cars it’s £1150 per annum cumulative and that’s for a total mileage of 55k and with business use.

Word of warning though, whilst ‘cheap’ they are dreadful if you need to claim. No more so than any of the other mainstream ones I’ve dealt though. I’ve found if you stand your ground at claim stage and don’t accept what you’re being told on values and viability of repairs, they are manageable. Customer service is none existent, but if you want low premiums, I can’t fault them.
 
IanU

IanU

Member
Messages
336
Erlingtheyounger said:
I’m with admiral and have been for a few years as their multi car policy suits me really well. They tried for a 25% increase but got it down to about 12% from memory. Now with the QP V and three other cars it’s £1150 per annum cumulative and that’s for a total mileage of 55k and with business use.

Word of warning though, whilst ‘cheap’ they are dreadful if you need to claim. No more so than any of the other mainstream ones I’ve dealt though. I’ve found if you stand your ground at claim stage and don’t accept what you’re being told on values and viability of repairs, they are manageable. Customer service is none existent, but if you want low premiums, I can’t fault them.
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Conversely, I'm also with Admiral on a multi-car policy. Just renewed 2 of the cars with them as couldn't get them any cheaper like for like. The AA offered a £100 saving over Admiral on my XC90 so switched that across. Suspended the Maser' for the moment until it's back on the road in March - but Admiral were still the best bet. AIB although couldn't get close.
Re claims though, my son had to go through the process just before Christmas and they were excellent. Within a week they had settled and paid out on a total loss outcome. Couldn't fault them there tbh.
 
Scaf

Scaf

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Messages
6,583
I wonder if their is an option to exclude like for like car hire in the event of an accident, and if so what that would do to your premium.
 
williamsmix

williamsmix

Member
Messages
574
Scaf said:
I wonder if their is an option to exclude like for like car hire in the event of an accident, and if so what that would do to your premium.
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Yes, I had a look at that on my policy with Churchill. It reduced the premium by about 5%. However, because of the way they’ve structured the levels of Comprehensive cover - between standard and so called Plus - switching onto standard cuts out Legal cover. If you want that then you’re better off sticking with Plus, which also includes better limits for things like Personal Accident etc. I may try running up some quotes on comparator sites but I know that - having been in the business - you tend to get quotes for poverty spec products on comparator sites due to the price competition. They want to appear to be very competitive but they’re often not, when you’ve looked into what you’re actually getting and worked out the premium with the enhancements you’d prefer …
 
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Nibby

Nibby

Member
Messages
2,089
Saga, two cars with them and my house insurance.
Renewal came through for house insurance, gone up to £150 from £100. Did the Compare website, cheapest was Lloyds at £107. Phoned Saga to cancel as I’ve got a lot cheaper quote and the Saga woman says “As you’ve got two cars also insured with us we can do it for £120”
They’re just chancers seeing what they can get away with. Covid and the war in Ukraine were the previous excuses, it’ll be the floods now for them to ‘take the urine’
 
DLax69

DLax69

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Messages
4,297
Fortunate that this isn't (yet) the case with premiums on mine over here...in fact, at renewal, my premiums were slightly lower...we also have a very active state insurance commissioner...
 
Wack61

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,793
They're trying it on because of auto renewal and people are lazy.

If you use the scraper sites meerkat etc they save all your details so it's just update and get quotes

Postcode plays a big part as well, if car thefts are high in the area you live that bumps it up

Even reporting crime increases premiums, if a minor crime happens that isn't going to be investigated and there's no insurance claim , (vandalism for instance) all reporting it to the police does is increase your premium for house and car insurance as you're in a problem area according to statistics if enough people do it over a year
 
philw696

philw696

Member
Messages
25,468
When I was in the UK I used to use a Broker for my insurance and they were wonderful especially in a claim situation.
A quick Google search and I see they no longer exist.
Most of the time you never need anything other than to know your insured but the time you need help that's when it counts.
Brokers are popular here in France and again very helpful especially for me when buying cars in other Countries and driving them back.
I like dealing with people locally not call centers or automated web sites.
 
Ewan

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,812
philw696 said:
When I was in the UK I used to use a Broker for my insurance and they were wonderful especially in a claim situation.
A quick Google search and I see they no longer exist.
Most of the time you never need anything other than to know your insured but the time you need help that's when it counts.
Brokers are popular here in France and again very helpful especially for me when buying cars in other Countries and driving them back.
I like dealing with people locally not call centers or automated web sites.
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Agreed.
As brokers, I use Footman James for my cars and Period Homes for my house and contents. I’ve had the same contacts at both for years. It’s nice to build a personal relationship and have a name in your mobile to call when needed.
 
zagatoes30

zagatoes30

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Messages
20,945
The comparison sites we have here are very poor, they don't cover enough companies and often can't even quote. There are very few brokers too which means your only option is ring around. Fortunately for the classics there is an AROC member here who use to work in the industry at quite a senior level and he has a magic phone number that he can ring and then someone rings you back with a great quote, I think the majority of Italian classics are insured through his contacts.
 
E

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,501
zagatoes30 said:
The comparison sites we have here are very poor, they don't cover enough companies and often can't even quote. There are very few brokers too which means your only option is ring around. Fortunately for the classics there is an AROC member here who use to work in the industry at quite a senior level and he has a magic phone number that he can ring and then someone rings you back with a great quote, I think the majority of Italian classics are insured through his contacts.
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It seems that there is a huge opportunity to provide a better service in Ireland for so many service orientated things. Why is it so backward compared with the UK?
Eb
 
lifes2short

lifes2short

Member
Messages
5,834
brokers are great for commercial and residential investment properties but cant really compete with all these comparison sites out there now for normal car insurance and owner/occupier residential
 
Roz

Roz

Junior Member
Messages
37
It’s the same for everyone I think! Numerous excuses as to why but as usual shop around. I’ve got mine at the same price as last year by spending an hour or so on the interwebs
 
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