Why has our insurance gone up to over £5000 after disclosing a historic traffic offence?

Over the weekend my wife and I were given an insurance quote of £1525 on a new car we were thinking of buying. I'd forgotten that she had three points on her licence (code TS10) from when she went through a red light, her only offence in thirty years of motoring, so I called back to disclose this and ask for a re-quote. I expected the premium to go up but was staggered when told it would now be £5500. And "no, it isn't a mistake," I was told very firmly. Is this sort of increase normal?

Asked on 7 June 2013 by NB, Manchester

Answered by Honest John
No. And it's a very good reason to use a decent broker such as www.primoplc.com/. Remember, most 'price comparison sites' are not what they say they are. They are really just brokers working on simplified quoting criteria with a fixed panel of underwriters. The standard broker commission of 10 per cent seems to have gone out of the window, so you could find yourself paying the broker £500 for insurance for which the underwriter charges £250.
Similar questions
I got a red light fine but I went to a speed awareness course so assumed I didn't need to declare it to my insurer (Admiral). But they found out and want to charge me £320. What can I do now?
I was driving into London on a section of road with three lanes when the traffic bunched up just before a set of lights. There was a slow moving London Bus on my left, completely hiding the traffic light,...
What's the position where you are 'forced' across a red light with camera by a police car? It happened to someone in the lane next to me yesterday and could have been me. The police car came up behind...
 

Ask Honest John

Value my car

Save £75 on Warranty using code HJ75

with MotorEasy

Get a warranty quote

Save 10% on GAP Insurance

Use HJ10 to save on an ALA policy

See offer