Is it any wonder people dont have car insurance?

He's 18 and, like we all were at that age, craving his social independence.

No change there over the years then. He wants his own car too. Again no change - except for just how much it's costing him (or rather his mother).....

He now owns an 8 year old VW Polo. I don't know how much it cost but lets say it was about £2000.

So he now has a car.

Next step - insurance.

It's at this point that we step from this world onto another planet entirely.

As I say he is 18 years old. So the moment you mention that sort of age to an insurance company it seems that they start smiling broadly, shaking their head sadly, wringing their hands but packing the corporate travel case for yet another holiday in Barbados.

He now has 10 months insurance. yes 10 months not a year.

It's 3rd party only.

It's with Admiral.

He earns NO no claims until after 10 months.

It was the CHEAPEST quote they received.

and it cost..........

£3100 ! !

Yes, you read that right. £3100 was the cheapest quote they could get after trying 20 insurance companies.

The whinging insurances are claiming that they've had to put insurance up by 40% in the last year alone. What utter cobblers. What they mean is that they feel the need to make as much fast profit as possible out of the people who can afford it least.

And then they wonder why people don't bother to insure their cars. At the moment it was estimated in 2009 that 1,700,000 people don't insure their cars. And if you get caught you can incur a - wait for it - £200 fine ( I understand this is finally under review) and have your car impounded and crushed (Why crush it? - Why not sell it? Hey ho). But what are the chances of getting caught if you don't have an accident? Pretty damn slim I'd say.

Of course there's a vicious circle here.
Without a no claims discount, prices stay high.
To earn a no claims discount you need insurance in the first place.
With no insurance you can't earn a discount (and forget aged based discount as I'll come to that) So the circle goes round again and people stay uninsured hoping against hope that they don't get caught.
So perhaps it's time that the insurance companies were made to have low cost, even just 3rd party only insurance.
Perhaps it should carry the drivers photograph to prove they were the insured driver of the vehicle concerned.
Of course I realise that this and any changes to the system will lead to the insurers saying they need more money which they'll then claim they need to pass on to us drivers in higher charges.
However until this uninsured circle is broken by whatever means drivers, younger ones especially will continue to be screwed.

Then of course there are people like myself. Knocking on a bit and who certain companies claim are a far better risk and therefore earn discount due to our age.
Utter twonk!
I have tried getting quotes from several of these 'silver haired' aimed companies.
Their prices were, bar none HIGHER than any of the high street, telephone and web based company's quotes.
The worst of the lot was SAGA, a concern who are there ostensibly for the older person; there to help us with good money saving deals.
Like I say - what twonk.
When I went to them for a quote to insure my Suzuki Vitara they were £295 more expensive than my existing insurers and with a lower level of cover. They even had the nerve to assure me that I'd not find a better quote. I actually didn't find a more expensive one!

So I guess that basically insurance premiums can be summed up as follows.

If you're young - you're screwed.

If you're old - you're screwed.

If you're middle aged and want to use your car to drive to work - you're screwed ( What? You mean you haven't told you're insurance company that you commute in it - oh you are in for a shock aren't you?)

It was summed up many years ago in a two Ronnies sketch. One was an insurance agent and one was a potential customer. It went thus.
Customer:So tell me how this insurance works?
Agent: Well you give us lots of money.
Customer:And what happens then?
Agent: Nothing. Every year you just continue to give us lots of money.

Ain't that the truth?

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