Your car insurance price explained
There are a lot of different factors that can affect your price. Some are specific to you and others are to do with the world around you and what’s happening in the insurance market. We use our expertise to analyse these factors, and how we calculate the cost of insurance to make sure we offer you our most accurate price. Our view of how to price each policy may differ to other insurers. On this page, we’ve explained some of the factors that can affect your price.
Your car insurance renewal
Before your current policy comes to an end, we’ll send you a renewal invitation. It will show two prices – last year’s price and a price for continuing cover for another year.
Your price might be quite different this year because of changes in regulation which affect all insurance providers. As you’re already a customer with us, your price to renew your cover will be the same or lower than the equivalent price for a new customer.
Why isn't last year's price what I paid?
It’s almost certainly because you made a change to your policy during the last 12 months which affected the price of your cover.
Your renewal invite will show how much your current cover would have cost over the whole of the last year if that change had been in place from day one. This gives a better like-for-like comparison between last year’s premium and your new premium.
I haven’t made any changes, why has my premium changed?
Prices don’t always change because of something you have done. For example, the total cost of all claims made during the year, more expensive repair costs or severe weather could have made your price go up. There are also external factors that might mean your insurance costs more or less including inflation and recent change to regulations.
The new regulations means we’ve had to change the way we calculate our prices. As a result, we expect prices for new customers to increase across the industry, and renewal prices to come down overall. This doesn’t necessarily mean your renewal price will be lower than last year’s price, as other factors could also impact your price, such as those mentioned on this page.
Does this price include my no claim discount?
It does, and the more years you have the more discount it gives you. However, the first few years make the biggest difference to your price — after more than five years the impact levels off.
You have the option to protect your no claim discount and reduce the possible impact of a future claim on your next renewal price, and there would be an additional cost for this.
Has my Quotemehappy Connect driving data been used to personalise my renewal price?
Yes, your driving data and how safely you’ve driven is another factor that will affect your price and is automatically applied to your new price.
The safer you drive, the better the potential reduction applied to your renewal price. The potential reduction is automatically applied to the renewal price with your driving data.
Find out more about the FCA Pricing Practice by visiting our Frequently asked questions page
How you affect your price
Explore the features in detail below
Where you live
We’ll take the neighbourhood you live into account when we’re working out our premium. We assess each postcode and address individually, looking at claims, traffic, theft and malicious damage together with the frequency of accidents in your area. More accidents tend to result in more claims, so it could cost more to insure vehicles in those areas.
How old you are
Your age can have an impact on your price. We constantly review claims stats and apply age-related risk factors accordingly.
How far you drive
If you’re on the road more, you’re more likely to make a claim, as you’ll be driving more miles. Also, the nature of your journeys could affect your price. For example, if you use your car to commute to work when traffic is busy, insuring your car may cost more than if you only used your car socially.
The car you drive
The kind of car you drive could lead to a different price. We look at all cars individually, using our industry experience and looking at the make, model, the age of the car, fuel type, transmission and engine size to determine the price you pay.
Who will drive your car
When reviewing your price we consider the drivers age, convictions and claims experience. Statistics show that younger drivers are a higher risk and it is therefore more likely to cost more.
Your previous claims
Before we generate your premium, we look at your claims history, including accidents and/or claims in the last four years. For an additional cost, you can protect your No claim discount (NCD) and reduce the impact that a future claim could have on your next renewal price.
Your driving convictions
We consider your driving convictions to help determine your price. Our experience shows that people with driving convictions are more likely to claim, and this is why your price is likely to increase.
How your car is driven (Quotemehappy Connect customers)
Harsh acceleration, excessive speeding, sudden braking and using your mobile phone whilst driving are just some of the driving behaviours which will impact your driver rating and personalised renewal price. Quotemehappy Connect customers who brake early, stay within legal speeding limits, brake gradually etc can receive a reduction for safe driving to their renewal price.
How the world around you affects the price
Explore the features in detail below
Severe weather
We all know how extreme weather can affect the UK. Prolonged periods of cold weather or rain can increase the amount and severity of claims that we receive. Ice and wet weather can lead to more accidents as people don’t always change their driving behaviour for the conditions. Like other insurers, we regularly review the likely level of future claims costs resulting from severe weather.
Parts and repair costs have gone up
It’s getting more expensive to buy car parts and pay for repairs, which increases the cost of providing insurance and the price you pay.
Change in the nature of claims in the market
If the variety of claims we receive changes, our customers’ prices will also change. For example, the number of personal injury claims, such as whiplash, have risen over the last decade, driving up the cost of car insurance for everyone. We estimate how much we’re likely to pay in claims in the future, before incorporating this cost into customers’ prices. Third party claims also have an effect.
Changes in the law
All insurers have to meet government and industry regulators’ rules. When new laws or regulations are introduced this can sometimes affect the price we charge. For example, in 2021 new whiplash reforms were implemented by the government, removing compensation for minor whiplash, and also commission for lawyers for minor-injury claims, in 2021 we passed on 100% of these savings, from these reforms to our customers.
Total number of claims
More claims overall in the market can lead to an increase in our costs, and therefore lead to higher prices in general.
Rising taxes and other costs
In 2017, the Government raised Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) from 10% to 12%, forcing up prices across the market. Your price will also include costs for covering the service available to you, such as our UK based claims team, and online customer support, as well as investment in future products and services.
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Your home insurance price explained
There are a lot of different factors that can affect your price. Some are specific to you and others are to do with the world around you and what’s happening in the insurance market. We use our expertise to analyse these factors, and how we calculate the cost of insurance to make sure we offer you our most accurate price. Our view of how to price each policy may differ to other insurers. On this page, we’ve explained some of the factors that can affect your price.
Your home insurance renewal
Before your current policy comes to an end, we’ll send you a renewal invitation. It will show two prices – last year’s price and a price for continuing cover for another year.
Your price might be quite different this year because of changes in regulation which affect all insurance providers. As you’re already a customer with us, your price to renew your cover will be the same or lower than the equivalent price for a new customer.
Why isn't last year's price what I paid?
It’s almost certainly because you made a change to your policy during the last 12 months which affected the price of your cover.
Your renewal invite will show how much your current cover would have cost over the whole of the last year if that change had been in place from day one. This gives a better like-for-like comparison between last year’s premium and your new premium.
I haven’t made any changes, why has my premium changed?
Prices don’t always change because of something you have done. For example, the total cost of all claims made during the year, more expensive repair costs or severe weather could have made your price go up. There are also external factors that might mean your insurance costs more or less including inflation and recent change to regulations.
The new regulations means we’ve had to change the way we calculate our prices. As a result, we expect prices for new customers to increase across the industry, and renewal prices to come down overall. This doesn’t necessarily mean your renewal price will be lower than last year’s price, as other factors could also impact your price, such as those mentioned on this page.
Does this price include my no claim discount?
It does, and the more years you have the more discount it gives you. However, the first few years make the biggest difference to your price — after more than five years the impact levels off.
You have the option to protect your no claim discount and reduce the possible impact of a future claim on your next renewal price, and there would be an additional cost for this.
Find out more about the FCA Pricing Practice by visiting our Frequently asked questions page
How you affect your price
Explore the features in detail below
Where you live
We rate each postcode and address individually and this will reflect the price you pay. Several factors are taken into consideration including the average claims costs together with the future claims we expect to see in your area. Increased claims will mean that it may cost more to insure your home in particular areas.
Number of bathrooms
‘Escape of water’ is one of the biggest types of household claims. More bathrooms mean more pipework. More pipework means a greater chance of something going wrong – it is also more difficult and costly to trace where an escape of water originates from within your home.
How secure is your home
An alarm doesn’t always lead to a lower price; even if it’s a condition of your cover. So, depending on the crime levels where you live or if you want to insure your home for a large sum; we may ask about alarms and locks, but this might not result in any further reductions in the price.
How busy is your home
Someone’s in during the day.
Being at home more during the day might put you at a lower risk of theft. However, it does mean there’s more chance of other claims,
such as accidental loss or damage, fire, or plumbing problems – which could increase your price.
Household numbers
The number of people living in your house has a big impact on prices, as more people means more belongings and more potential claims.
Your previous claims
To generate your price we take in to consideration your claims history which includes accidents, claims and/or losses in the last five years.
Type of building
We assess detached, semi and terraced houses differently, just as we do flats and other types of homes.
There are lots of reasons why. For example, terraced houses suffer less subsidence, so may cost less to insure than a semidetached one in a high risk subsidence area, regardless of its size or value.
Building materials
The way your property’s been built is likely to affect your price. Mainly, it comes down to the fire risk. As a result, timber framed and slate roofs will see higher prices based on their potential fire risk.
How the world around you affects the price
Explore the features in detail below
Severe weather
We all know how extreme weather can affect the UK. Prolonged periods of cold weather or rain can damage homes – most often resulting in burst pipes. However, it’s flooding claims that have really risen over the past few decades and, like other insurers, we regularly review the likelihood of future claims resulting from it.
The Government works with insurers to make sure residents in flood areas can get their homes insured. This has been driven by the Flood Re initiative.
Repair costs have gone up
From TVs to tablets, state-of-the-art kitchens to lighting, the products in your home are getting evermore expensive. Naturally, it’s also getting more expensive to fix them, which increases the cost of providing insurance and the price you pay.
Change in the nature of claims in the market
If the variety of claims we receive changes, our prices will also change. We estimate how much we are likely to pay in future claims, and factor this into the cost of your premium. For example escape of water claims make up a large part, costing an average of £3,378 in 2020.
Number of claims
If the number of claims increases significantly, for example due to extreme weather events, such as floods, this can lead to higher prices. Our claims lines are available 24/7 and we’re proud to accept over 93% of claims.
Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) increase
Every price includes an Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). In 2016 the Government announced a rise in IPT from 9.5% to 10%, so all prices went up accordingly. A further IPT increase to 12% was implemented in June 2017.
Other costs
The price our customers pay includes some costs which go towards providing the services available, such as our UK based claims team, and online customer support, as well as investing in future products and services.
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