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Comment by calewis | Hacker News Reader

I am a new model 3 owner in the UK and the insurance is astronomical. Despite having a license for more than 9 years (usually the maximum for UK insurers), having no convictions, it being stored on a driveway with CCTV my quote was £2,600 p.a. I do live in London and haven't owned a car for a few years so(no claims discount not being applicable). While I was expecting an expensive premium, I wasn’t expecting something so outrageous! For context I owned a sporty car when I was 19 and had just passed my test my insurance was £1200p.a. I consider myself, and the car, considerably safer and this expected something around this mark. I am hoping next year I will see a significant drop in price. I wonder how ‘real word’ their calculations where?

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I've just had a look at quotes where I am (a couple of hours away from London) and got £900/year. That's quite a lot (I think for a Ford Focus and a Volvo V70 I pay about £200 each) but you're really getting screwed!

I wonder how much is just the sheer value of the car rather than insurers considering them to be particularly risky?

I think its both. Insurers are by nature risk averse. I suspect, from your comment you also have no claims years? Still £900 is a lot.

Ah, managed to miss that bit - yes, I do. In that case I'm surprised your quote wasn't more!

Strangely, I found that insurance on cars over ten years old gets really expensive, to the point where the car is effectively uninsurable. I don't know why - but it was surprising, coming from a place where I insured a '95 Mazda for about $35 a month

Manufacturers stop keeping new parts in stock around that time, so spare mechanical parts and/or body panels begin to become scarce.

There's no point in paying for comprehensive insurance on a car that old. You only need liability.

The values I quoted are for third party insurance (akin to liability in the US)

>no claims discount

While stating your argument you left this as the last one, as if it is the least significant one. In reality it is the most significant one and you should lead with it, otherwise you run the risk of sounding disingenuous.

>license for more than 9 years [...] when I was 19 and had just passed my test my insurance was £1200p.a.

I assume you did not adjust the £1200 value for 2019 according to inflation, GBP purchasing power, et cetera. Nine years is quite a long time for price changes. Have you tried getting a quote for a "sporty car" in the current year?

It's worth noting that without a no claims bonus insurance is high in general.

Ireland (so utterly dysfunctional insurance market) but as a person in my mid-30's with impeccable driving record but no NCB (hadn't owned a car for years) I pay ~€1550 for the cheapest possible insurance on a 10 year old Honda Jazz. It should be under half that with a year of no claims.

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