Insurance Company (UK) Postcode Risks (Listing In Here)......

[Tone]

Mini Cruiser - thanks for your troubs, Mate - nice one. Helps us all to understand what the hell is going on with these insurers!

[LMB]

Quote:

Originally posted by ZedsDed
That means I've recently moved from an E area to a B area.

.......

I like your thinking, I might just save that chart.:P

oh and by the way...I'm stuck in an E.

[ricardo]

As the rating areas shown are for motorcycles, there's a good chance that they aren't entirely accurate for cars: the bike claim stats will not follow exactly the same pattern as that for cars.

Most UK insurers stopped issuing paper rating guides for private car insurance about 5 years ago because almost all quotations are now calculated using computerised systems. This in turn has meant that insurers can use far more accurate rating with lots of districts. They can even use the last part of the postcode (the inward code) to differentiate between groups of houses. Different companies have a different view of, and consequently different rating areas for postcodes. Which is one of the reasons for such wide variations in quotations.

[smiffy]

F* Its like being back at school

[AntH]

The list may not be 100% accurate, but it should give some guide! Not much use if you've just bought a house, but probably worth thinking about if you are about to move.

Oh, and the Police have crime statistics by Post code. Don't know if these are available to the public, but the Police certainly use them when their staff are looking for somewhere to live. We had 5 police officers living in our old street....

Just thought I'd add my 2p worth...

I've worked in the industry for the past 9 years and its fair to say we get a bad press generally. I've tried to dispel a few of the common misconceptions regarding motor insurance, but I can only speak for our company. Generally, the postcode element of a motor rating calculation represents a very small proportion of the overall pricing.

However, every case will be different, eg. the postcode/district element for a MINI One driven by a mature driver with full no-claims discount in an inner-city ungaraged postcode may represent a higher proportion of the premium than for a Cooper S garaged by a young woman living in a rural location. Ridiculous example I know!

The main big-cost rating factors of car insurance are:

(a) level of cover chosen
(b) age/claims/conviction experience of drivers
(c) car group
(d) district kept overnight

To go back to postcode districts - we've got roughly 1.2 million personal customers and probably the same of business drivers in postcodes throughout the land. Chances are we've got drivers everywhere. IAA made the point earlier that low population areas may be disproportionately penalised for the odd claim - not so.

Where are the lowest postcode rated areas in the UK? Remote rural locations, the Shetland Islands for example. The reason why? (a) there's hardly anyone there and (b) the have very few claims (per head of population).

Conversely, the highest rated districts have always been Inner London and Glasgow - been so for years. Greatest population density, poorest claims experience - high accidents and crime levels are the reasons behind that.

DBK.

[AntH]

Quote:

Originally posted by dietbruking
Just thought I'd add my 2p worth...

I've worked in the industry for the past 9 years and its fair to say we get a bad press generally. I've tried to dispel a few of the common misconceptions regarding motor insurance, but I can only speak for our company. Generally, the postcode element of a motor rating calculation represents a very small proportion of the overall pricing.

However, every case will be different, eg. the postcode/district element for a MINI One driven by a mature driver with full no-claims discount in an inner-city ungaraged postcode may represent a higher proportion of the premium than for a Cooper S garaged by a young woman living in a rural location. Ridiculous example I know!

Very small? I don't call a 55% difference in premium a small difference! Just did a quote for my lil Sis (19) on a basic Punto. My post-code (TF2), quote was £940. Change the post-code to NG11, and the premium jumps to £1470. And that was the cheapest! She is young, in-experienced with no NCB, but still the Postcode makes a HUGE difference. My guess is she will register the car at her home (i.e. not term time) address & save £350 (a third post-code).....

Quote:

Originally posted by AntH
My guess is she will register the car at her home (i.e. not term time) address & save £350 (a third post-code).....

Why not just run the car without insurance and save the lot?

If she's gonna lie on her proposal (giving an incorrect regular overnight postcode is pretty much defrauding the insurer out of the correct premium for the real risk she'll be running, isn't it?) then she might as well not bother.

If her car is stolen overnight, or suffers from vandalism at this term-time address - the claims department will pick up on this discrepancy when she phones in her claim.

Bit pointless paying for insurance that won't pay out...

DBK.

[AntH]

...but if it's stolen from home during the hols or one of many visits, then its also not at its correct address! I'd say she could argue that the car spends approx 50% of its time at each location, so she picked her PERMANENT address to insure the car at. If the insurance companies can't model their customers properly, they should expect to get defrauded! After all, they would otherwise be ripping her off for 6 months of the year....

Quote:

Originally posted by AntH
... I'd say she could argue that the car spends approx 50% of its time at each location, so she picked her PERMANENT address to insure the car at.

So why not tell the Insurance company the truth before taking out the policy?

Tell them that she spends an equal amount at each location - let them decide what postcode to rate it on. Give them the chance to make an informed decision, to model their customers properly as you put it...

Always get the name, telephone number and department of the person you spoke to. Small point, but this way you're completely clear with them - and there's no worries or come-back in the event of a claim.

At the end of the day, it's your regular overnight postcode they are interested in - sure you can visit as many friends/relatives overnight as you want, but don't lie on the proposal - it's ultimately pointless.

DBK.

[AntH]

Fair comment. But if they know your a student, surely they should ask for both addresses?

And putting false info down isn't completely pointless - it depends how good you are at keeping up the story (or how clever the claims investigator is!)

I am not condoning this activity - I believe in being straight with insurance companies, as they always try to find fault. But a colleague has his car insured at his Mum's address, even though he has a mortgage in a property 70 miles away. He managed to get his claim for a total loss met, and he was less than 2 miles from home, on a Saturday morning at 2am....

While the penalties for mis-/not insuring cars are so trivial, and the potential savings so high, people will continue to cheat the system, putting prices up, causing (forcing?) more people .....

[FONTAL]

Still doesn't explain why my insurance company charged me an extra £100 to move my adress 30feet across the main road, the car is better hidden from passing vehicles but is now parked out side my house under a street light and all my neighbours sitting room windows looks out at the car so it is now safer than before.

Yeah, there's always examples where people have bent the rules and cheated the system.

I remember a guy totalling his Impreza Turbo and when our engineer went to assess the damage, noticed about £9k worth of mods (I tipped him off to look for them just on the off-chance). The application form asks for any changes to the manafucturers spec, and he'd clearly said "None". In the end, we paid out - as he argued that Prodrive mods were no different to standard manufacturer options... A crap argument, but our claims manager didn't fancy appearing in court arguing the point. So for political reasons it was paid. Shocking, but true. Ironically, at renewal his premium when up to about £5,500 plus tax - and he paid it, 'cause no-one else in the insurance market would touch him with a barge-pole.

Fontal I can't believe you pay more than £100 in Shetland!!!

DBK.

[FONTAL]

Quote:

Originally posted by dietbruking


Fontal I can't believe you pay more than £100 in Shetland!!!

DBK. [/b]

I was paying around £400 but it went up to over £500 when I moved across the road (a two lane road).
Young driver (under 25) and a bad driving history.
Fontal

Quote:

Originally posted by FONTAL
I was paying around £400 but it went up to over £500 when I moved across the road (a two lane road).
Young driver (under 25) and a bad driving history.
Fontal

... and presumably your age/history and mods were the reasons it was £400 to start with? Going up £100 for just crossing the road is ridiculous and you should have kicked up a storm. Get the name of the person you spoke to, ask for their supervisor. Get their name, explain the unreasonableness of it and tell them your not wearing it. Speak to the manager etc etc... Don't lose your cool or be offensive, just say you'll take the complaint to the Insurance Ombudsman. They'll see sense, 'cause it'll cost them most time, money and hassle to respond to a formal complaint.

However, I have heard of some insurance schemes, such as those operated by Adrian Flux (who specialise in performance and modified cars) and they tell you upfront that it'll cost you a MINIMUM £X to get a duplicate certificate, £Y for a cover-note and £Z for a mid-term policy endorsement etc etc. There's not much profit margin in these high risk schemes, and maybe that's why they are a little more strict with charges than most mainstream insurance companies.

DBK.