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My renewal has come through from quotemehappy for the Outlander. It's gone up by a third. Is it because I'm 70, or is this a general sort of increase?
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General increase I think. I paid £340 for mine (ID3) in October 22. On checking Go Compare yesterday the cheapest was £410.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 27 Jul 23 at 12:42
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...I'd suspect a bit of both. Mine went up a bit last year at 70, but there have been stories in the media only this week about a general (and in some cases significant) uplift in this year's renewal costs...
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Mine went up by about £150, but then using the comparison websites not only didn't find anything cheaper with any insurer I liked, my own (LV) was about £80 even more as a new quote.
This year's policy also now has an extra £200 if I don't use their preferred repairer, my windscreen excess has gone from £90 to £140, but on the plus side, they have reinstated the "drive any other car from a garage whilst yours is being serviced" as fully comp, which they took away two years back.
It's about £570 now.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Thu 27 Jul 23 at 13:31
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Whichever it is, it seems competitive. Just checked quotes.
QMH renewal is £364, after £20 multicar discount. Best offer on comparethemarket is Churchill at £363. So QMH can carry on.
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Just renewed SWMBOs insurance on an 11 year old Golf.
Churchill last year was £234. Renewal this year was invited at +50%. No claims or other changes. Moved to Darwin at £188. Bizarrely, Darwin is part of Churchill. Go figure.
Last edited by: Mr Moo on Thu 27 Jul 23 at 19:19
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Churchill spent lots of wonga on a cartoon hound for advertising - they need to get their "investment" back.
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I met up with an 80 year old friend last week. He's struggling to get travel insurance at anything like a reasonable price. It's rubbish being the same age as old people.
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With LV for both Car and House + contents - renewals are just 2 weeks apart.
House Insurance went up £50 but the "cheap insurers" basic policies had "poorer overall cover" - LV was just easier so paid up.
Car Insurance went up from £203 to £279 - no changes my end, no accidents, points etc etc
I phoned up and asked the reason - "We put our rates up!"
Was this because I am nearly 77? - "There are many factors in premium calculations"
I then checked comparison sites - Direct Line £606, nobody lower than £300. "Known Insurer names" typically £400 to say £550
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Phone them and ask if they can provide you with a cheaper quote. Prices go up and down every day of the week. Also mention you've had cheaper quotes elsewhere with similar cover.
Some insurance companies just try it on, especially with customers who have auto renew on their policies.
Never pay the first quoted price (unless lower than the previous year obviously :) ).
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>>Thats 3 year old news!
Do leopards change their spots?
Last edited by: zippy on Fri 4 Aug 23 at 23:10
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Pleasantly surprised to ‘ only’ be paying £375 for my soon to be acquired 2019 Vitara SZ5.
Bear in mind that my NCD is on the Yaris and can’t be used on a second vehicle, so starting with zero NCD. I looked into multi car policies, but when paying admin fees to cancel the existing policy on the Yaris and transfer to a single policy covering both cars it was far cheaper just to take out a new stand alone policy.
I added a friend onto the policy, although unlikely she will ever drive it, and that reduced the price by £28.
Last edited by: legacylad on Sat 5 Aug 23 at 08:19
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Big thinks at the moment in the Duncan household.
Joint insurance for E Class and Yaris is up for renewal next month. £900+ for Merc, £300+ for Yaris. Bearing in mind that I shall be 90 next year and insurance cos don't like old drivers, I am expecting a significant increase.
Should I/we go down to one car? Sell Merc and buy another Yaris, or similar. Or something else?
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I suppose it depends on your typical usage Duncan. I can absolutely see the attraction of having a big comfortable car if you often feel the benefits of it on longer runs or have quantities of stuff or people to move on any kind of regular basis. However, if those factors are no longer a high priority, a less luxurious vehicle might be more than fine.
Mentioned elsewhere, but we had to change our plans at the last moment as to which car to take on our trip to the south of France last month, and instead of the E Class estate, we took my wife’s little Renegade. It did us very well on that trip, and sowed a seed of doubt in my mind as to whether I really need such a big complex car for much longer. Of course there are, and will be occasions when such a thing is handy or just nicer, but most of the time it wouldn’t now make a lot of difference to the enjoyment of driving.
Going from two cars to one is a bigger step I’d think. Any occasions we’ve had where that has been the case have always ultimately proven inconvenient at times.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 5 Aug 23 at 10:25
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Our motoring is nearly always such that we could do with one car, yet despite being a reluctant driver SWMBO insists she won't use my car as its too big and wants to keep the Yaris. I did about knocking on for 10k miles last year and hers will probably be less than 1000 between MOTs (Sept). Whenever we go anywhere I drive, in my car (minor exceptions excluded). She hardly ever ventures outside town in hers except maybe once or twice a year a solo 200 mile return journey to see a daughter.
We are rarely out in different places at the same time, and I don't go away on my own with the car much at all any more. She stills walks fair distances and the local bus service works, albeit infrequently. Once in a while it's handy having a second car - e.g. dropping the the one off at the garage or maybe if one were in for lengthy repairs.
So atm we are keeping two cars. Hers doesn't cost a lot I suppose, zero tax (Yaris hybrid), a few hundred for insurance, and another couple of hundred to maintain. At least she decided to now renew the RAC this month when it came through at something like £250!! We're only 67 but the time might not be far away when we drop back to one car. I'd far sooner it was mine than hers though, so I need to get her driving mine a bit!!
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I’ve heard of this “too big” excuse before. My mother in law claims it about cars my father in law would like to buy, so he has to put up with an Ignis.
My mother couldn’t have cared less about size of vehicles having been an ambulance driver in her youth, and my wife was given a Transit van to drive the day after she passed her test at 17 so she’s not fazed by larger cars either.
My wife has tried to explain to her mother and indeed her sister that it takes about 5 minutes to get used to the dimensions of a vehicle and indeed the type of gearbox it has, but neither of them will even begin to contemplate driving a large or indeed automatic car.
Don’t get it myself, and nor does my wife, but I suppose it is a thing, because I’ve certainly heard of people who have those reservations. Same thing with left hand drive cars in their cases too, again something I can’t really remember ever finding a problem.
Must be something to do with the part of the brain some use to drive I guess because if you stop to think about any of it, none of it should trouble even a mildly experienced driver. You’d think anyway?
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My Mother was reluctant to drive Dad's cars once they got bigger than the Simca 1500 estate he had from 66-69. Mind you he was reluctant to be driven by anyone else at all...
She was only just 5 feet. Before things like adjustable steering wheels and seats that did more than move fore/aft she found a safe and comfortable driving position very difficult to achieve.
Her own Mini was OK but few other cars. The occasion c1976 she HAD to drive Dad's Granada home after he got pickled on brandy at somebody's retirement she really was struggling to see over the wheel.
My Daughter OTOH drove my Xantia Estate with aplomb but she's a bit taller than Grandma and had much more adjustment to play with.
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My mum wasn’t very tall either but she would just sit on a cushion to drive dad’s cars. Of course, modern vehicles would have a much better range of adjustment. She didn’t spook easily behind a wheel, which she mainly put down to having spent her earliest driving years as an ambulance driver in the height of the blitz while being shot at by Germans. Once in such circumstances she had her hair set alight by incendiary gunfire while trying to get injured people to hospital. Her colleague “put her out” and she finished her shift, had an hour off, took some now highly illegal but then prescribed drugs, and then started a day shift as nurse in the same hospital she’d spent the night delivering patients to. She was 19 years old at the time.
Tough old bird.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 5 Aug 23 at 16:33
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The problem with a cushion was that it moved her feet away from the pedals and she was already so far forward that both belly and boobs were too close to the steering wheel.
That said don't want to, indeed I'm not prepared to, get in an argument about whose Mum was the best driver. I'm just saying that I can understand why some people, particularly petite women, have fears about driving larger vehicles.
Different now anyway as there's so much more adjustment.
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>..none of it should trouble even a mildly experienced driver. You’d think anyway?
I think it's probably the width of larger cars that catches inexperienced drivers out. Difficulty judging kerbs etc.
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Yes, they can catch the best of us out those things. ;-)
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>> Yes, they can catch the best of us out those things. ;-)
Dunno why they should, its not like they are moving about
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>> My mother couldn’t have cared less about size of vehicles having been an ambulance driver
>> in her youth, and my wife was given a Transit van to drive the day
>> after she passed her test at 17 so she’s not fazed by larger cars either.
>>
>>
I think that's often the difference, early experience. Bit harder after say 40 years of driving smaller cars.
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Is it though? What’s that old thing about making every day the day you try something you’ve never done before…
And, as for using a fat belly as an excuse, well, solutions are and always were available! ;-)
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 5 Aug 23 at 20:10
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>> Is it though?
I believe it is yes. The older people are, often the harder it is to pick up something new.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sat 5 Aug 23 at 20:56
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>> I believe it is yes. The older people are, often the harder it is to
>> pick up something new.
Out last night with work folks from 20+ years ago. Mucho chat about being 'old'.
That's true with knobs on.
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Seems to me that we now live in a culture of celebrating weakness as opposed to encouragement. So many people seem to have decided to have something wrong with them or have been persuaded that they need pills for something as opposed to grasping hold of their lives and getting on with it.
Hey ho.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 5 Aug 23 at 22:15
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...I don't think that as I get older I find it more difficult to pick things up.....
....I do, however, find it easier to decide there are a lot of things I don't want to pick up....
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We can all strive to be better at something today than we were yesterday and indeed aspire to be better still tomorrow, until of course we run out of tomorrows!
Stop believing that and the end of tomorrows will come much sooner.
;-)
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>> ....I do, however, find it easier to decide there are a lot of things I
>> don't want to pick up....
Out last night in London with former colleagues most but not all now retired
What you say was true for loads of us.
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>> Out last night in London with former colleagues most but not all now retired
I wear glasses, when I meet up with old colleagues for a curry I'm the only one wearing them. When the menus come out, so do all their specs - vanity!
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I don’t need glasses to read a curry shop menu....lamb lumbini or chicken shashlik, pilau rice, peshwari naan. Medium hot. No lager, only tap water please.
Several pints beforehand.
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I can't say I'd noticed anyone celebrating weakness. I suppose it depends what people consider that to be.
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>> Our motoring is nearly always such that we could do with one car, yet despite
>> being a reluctant driver SWMBO insists she won't use my car as its too big
>> and wants to keep the Yaris. I did about knocking on for 10k miles last
>> year and hers will probably be less than 1000 between MOTs (Sept). Whenever we go
>> anywhere I drive, in my car (minor exceptions excluded). She hardly ever ventures outside town
>> in hers except maybe once or twice a year a solo 200 mile return journey
>> to see a daughter.
Your first paragraph just about sums us up, except that my wife doesn't do the solo trips any more, certainly not more than 20 miles on her own.
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Once anybody becomes nervous about driving or won’t venture outside a known area it’s time for them to give up driving. If you can no longer cope with the unexpected when driving then you are unsafe and pose a real risk to other road users.
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>> Once anybody becomes nervous about driving or won’t venture outside a known area it’s time
>> for them to give up driving.
A bit harsh but I see where you’re coming from.
A close family member has never driven her husbands car in 35 years of marriage...it’s not even particularly large, and the most recent, now 7yo, has parking sensors front and rear, a reversing camera, and all the latest safety features. And is an auto.
She won’t drive at night, on motorways, and avoids dual carriageways wherever possible. Her own dinky toy car will be run into the ground until it costs too much to repair or fails it’s MOT big time. Drives at a snails pace causing tail backs on fast A roads, and consequently potentially dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. Refuses to have lessons to boost her confidence, either with a driving instructor or IAM observer. Far too late to change now. It is what it is.
OTOH my ex’s liked driving...one in particular disliked small cars. In sales, still drives 35k miles + a year...previous company cars were Mondeo, Passat, Passat CC, Insignia, C Class Merc,, currently some type of Jaguar SUV. Used to tow a boat with a Frontera many years ago. And she doesn’t hang around on the open road. My kinda girl.
Last edited by: legacylad on Sun 6 Aug 23 at 12:01
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>> She won’t drive at night, on motorways, and avoids dual carriageways wherever possible. Her own
>> dinky toy car will be run into the ground until it costs too much to
>> repair or fails it’s MOT big time. Drives at a snails pace causing tail backs
>> on fast A roads, and consequently potentially dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. Refuses to have lessons to
>> boost her confidence, either with a driving instructor or IAM observer. Far too late to
>> change now. It is what it is.
She shouldn’t be driving. How is she going to react in an emergency? We all need to know when it’s time to give up.
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>> Once anybody becomes nervous about driving or won’t venture outside a known area it’s time
>> for them to give up driving. If you can no longer cope with the unexpected
>> when driving then you are unsafe and pose a real risk to other road users.
My Mum, for last couple of years of near 50 year driving history got like that.
At first, after Dad died, she's drive from Leeds to us in Northampton. That stopped and she'd come by train. She'd still drive to Scarbados or the Lakes - familiar routes. After moving nearer she used private hire, mostly a friend who did that as a sideline in retirement.
Wouldn't go the three miles to Fosse Park as the gyratory was too much but still toddled off to Waitrose on her own.
Gave up at around 85 giving her car to my sister.
Provided you recognise your limitations I think it's pretty harsh to stop old ladies driving to the shops.
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>> Once anybody becomes nervous about driving or won’t venture outside a known area it’s time
>> for them to give up driving.
...with the standard of driving I regularly see, I think anyone who hasn't become at least slightly more nervous about driving over the years is possibly missing something.
One of my best friend's wife was hit on a pedestrian crossing in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago. She had a mild stroke years ago, which caused some balance problems, but for some years she's used a trike (standard, not invalid) to get around. She crossed the main road at lights on the way back from Waitrose, where all the traffic in one lane stopped, but the front car in the second didn't. Demolished her trike and shattered her leg. Driver's excuse was that the amber was flashing when he went through :-/
Her husband says that, given how he drives around checking who's on the 'phone, who looks like they're drunk/high, etc. such that he can avoid them, he's quite likely to be the cause of the next accident. ;-) (I know it's Birmingham, but.....)
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At your stage in life Duncan, I think you should just do whatever you most want to do. If you like your current car and don’t especially need the money it costs for anything else, then just enjoy it.
If though, you feel that you’d be better redeploying those costs into other channels then a good but less expensive car wouldn’t hurt.
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Insurance - CGNorwich
