Huge hike in Hastings premium for moving 62 yds down the road

[Not-so-spikey Mum]

Hello and greetings to all at CAG,

 

 

I moved eight doors down the same road (upsizing) and Hastings have upped my annual premium by £131.82.

 

 

When I queried this I was told that the underwriter (Advantage) take into consideration additional risk factors,

such as flood risk, proximity to main roads, crime levels etc, hence the increase.

 

 

I consider this increase to be out of proportion because there is no difference risk-wise to the part of the road I previously parked in.

 

 

The only difference is, in fact, one letter at the end of my postcode.

I feel I have been stung by some generalised,

presumably out-of-thin-air statistic generating at the hands of Advantage/Hastings Direct.

 

My partner's car insurance premium (Aviva) did not increase at all so where does the 'increased risk statistics' come from exactly?

 

 

I refute the increase entirely and don't see why I should be penalised for moving 62 yards,

same side of the road, from xxxx 2AW to xxxx 2AN.

 

I have written several emails to Hastings Direct and have escalated my query to a complaint;

which has decidedly fallen of deaf ears because I received the same, generalised reply regarding risk-factors.

 

Short of demanding a Hastings rep come to my road to see there is no difference

re: risk between location of house A to location of house B,

 

 

I've hit a brick wall. If anyone could tell me what else I could try I would be super grateful.

[dx100uk]

we have a hastings rep here that i'm sure he can help

 

 

dx

[Conniff]

The Financial Ombudsman deals with insurance companies - http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

 

Make a complaint to them and they will look into it.

[unclebulgaria67]

When Insurers do a change of address on a car policy, the premium is recalculated based on the rates applicable at the time. This can mean a premium increase, even when moving a few doors down the road. Then add on top the admin fee that they charge.

 

It may have nothing to do with additional risk factors, unless anything has changed e.g car was garaged and is now kept on driveway or new house is near river or on a main road.

 

I doubt any complaint will get anywhere, as the FOS don't normally involve themselves in telling Insurers how they calculate their premiums.

 

Remember that this additional premium is the extra required until renewal. If you can shop around for new Insurance and it is cheaper after cancellation costs to move your Insurance elsewhere, then that is something to consider. This is provided you are not losing any no claims discount increase, by not going the full year with the current policy.

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi,

 

Thanks for getting touch and posting your experience, I'm sorry that you're not happy with the additional premium. As you've had explained already, each insurer has trusted research which determines a postcode's risk rating and will take this into account when deciding to apply a charge or not. Some insurers will absorb the cost or ignore the data and others will adjust the premium accordingly to ensure that a potential future claim has been appropriately covered. If you have received a final response letter from the customer relations team and are still unhappy, the letter also gives you details of how you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service within. If you want to email your details to [email protected] I can help you determine if this is indeed the case.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Joe

[Old Cogger]

get onto the the Ombudsman, that is trash , all insurance quotes etc have been increased at renewal by £100-150 per year unless of course you look elsewhere, but be aware the following year the pattern emergies again, this has gone on for decades, the last 2 years has been more noticeable, they are taking Joe public for a ride and getting away with it, took miy 1st policy out in 1966 (company went bust during a claim in 1967 (non fault to me), every year since increases, the time clock on insurance companies is now ticking and their draconian methods.

[unclebulgaria67]

What people should realise is that many Insurance intermediaries buy the underwriting on a wholesale basis and the wholesale rate is only part of the premium they are paying. Hastings will know whether or by how much the wholesale rate has changed for this particular risk and therefore is the driver behind the increased premium. It might be the case that the amount Hastings has added on top is the main factor and it is at the discretion of Hastings whether they waive any of the increase.

 

It is pretty common in the Insurance industry these days for existing customers to be the focus of premium increases due to mid term changes, as the customer is captive. They are part way into a contract, so they have cancellation issues to deal with, if they decided to move business elsewhere and/or they face missing out on a period in regard to NCD increasing. By using existing customers to extract more money out of them, it means that they can continue to offer discounted premiums to new customers.

 

The FOS will not be interested in dealing with a complaint about how any Insurers calculate their premiums. If people want to complain about the practice of their Insurers, they should write a letter or email to the CEO of the Insurers and send a copy to their local MP's. A parliament select committee has continuously been investingating practice of Insurers and if enough people complain about these issues, then something may eventually be done.

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Already viewed this thread...no response:roll:

 

Hi Andy,

 

Can you confirm that post #5 in this thread is viewable to all please?

 

Kind regards,

 

Joe

[AndyOrch]

Hi Andy,

 

Can you confirm that post #5 in this thread is viewable to all please?

 

Kind regards,

 

Joe

 

Apologies Joe I didn't see your post...

[ericsbrother]

the algorithms they use arent fit for purpose and generally they dont understand how they are applied so when they give a quote it is just a black box telling them and they follow along blindly. Other silly examples are high flood risk if you live within 500m of water. Many people are caught out by this because the insurance model looks at a flat map and not a countour one to see if that house that is 400m away from a river is actually 100m above the watercourse. The person you speak to has no input on how the price is arrived at and with car insurance you have no choice but to buy some.

A change in postcode is a common one, a chap in Victorian times did socio-economic maps of London and other big cities and these are still used today by insurers to calculate your premiums. Well, Brixton went from rural poor to middle class to working class and back to middle class in 120 years but the insurers map hasnt really noticed the changes of the last 20 years.

They also dont seem to notice the changes in the type of crime that affects the losses in motor insurance with "hot" burglary being common. They want to refuse to pay out on carjackings because you left the keys in the ignition when you were pulled from the car at gunpoint.

So, what to do? Shop around when you renew and let your current insurer know that they definitely wont be getting your business.

[nosnibor]

What people should realise is that many Insurance intermediaries buy the underwriting on a wholesale basis and the wholesale rate is only part of the premium they are paying. Hastings will know whether or by how much the wholesale rate has changed for this particular risk and therefore is the driver behind the increased premium. It might be the case that the amount Hastings has added on top is the main factor and it is at the discretion of Hastings whether they waive any of the increase.

 

It is pretty common in the Insurance industry these days for existing customers to be the focus of premium increases due to mid term changes, as the customer is captive. They are part way into a contract, so they have cancellation issues to deal with, if they decided to move business elsewhere and/or they face missing out on a period in regard to NCD increasing. By using existing customers to extract more money out of them, it means that they can continue to offer discounted premiums to new customers.

 

This seems grossly unfair surely if a customer is faced with a substantial premium increase midterm they should at least have the option to go elsewhere without incurring cancelation charges?

 

The FOS will not be interested in dealing with a complaint about how any Insurers calculate their premiums. If people want to complain about the practice of their Insurers, they should write a letter or email to the CEO of the Insurers and send a copy to their local MP's. A parliament select committee has continuously been investingating practice of Insurers and if enough people complain about these issues, then something may eventually be done.

 

Nosnibor