Why did my daughter's premium go up when she bought a lower insurance group car?
My daughter is in the process of changing her 2002 Peugeot 206 (group 5 insurance) for a 2009 Citroen C2 (group 1 insurance). The renewal for the 206 had just come through so when she phoned the insurance company (LV) to get cover for the C2 she asked for a figure to insure the C2 expecting a fair reduction in premium. Wrong. It would be the same as the 206 bar a couple of pounds. When my daughter queried this she was told 'we don't use the grouping to assess premiums but go by the number of claims and cost of claims appertaining to each manufacturers model'. It would appear that a lot of the 'quality' insurers work to the same system so what's the point of groups?
Asked on 16 March 2013 by AB, Congresbury
Answered by
Honest John
That is interesting. Most insurers are now on the newer ABI 50 Group system rather than the old 20 Groups. But I guess, like EC fuel economy figures, they are no more than a guide. But perfectly reasonable for them to base their premiums on their own underwriting costs. Another reader's LV renewal premium went down by £60 today, so he was happy.
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