Premiums are still rising. The biggest %age rises are still in the urban areas. Slough, Windsor, Reading are all rocketing at the moment. Rural areas are showing more modest increases, some now under 10%. We rarely agree to quote in the big cities now cos our rates aren't competitive.
Be very careful with renewals and seeking new quotes cos a number of insurance companies are looking very closely at claims history using the Claims & Underwriting Exchange. We have just had a client have their new policy declared void from inception due to non disclosure. He does get a refund but is tarnished with the "ever had insurance refused or cancelled" brush.
His crime? He had had 4 non fault accidents in the last 5 years. He had not involved his own insurance company at all but had used a claims management company to recover his uninsured losses. What happens then is that the ins co's he claimed from enter his details onto the Claims & Underwriting Exchange.
English is not this chap's native tounge so I think what it boiled down to was a non fault claim is not a claim. But as we all know, that is not what the question on the form says!
Anyway, the ins co we placed him with voided his policy for not disclosing the 4 non fault claims but went on to say the would not have quoted anyway as they do not offer cover for people with that many claims, regardless of blame.
FYI for anyone insured with Aviva/TFP Schemes, they are checking ALL policies on CUE. The other popular area for non disclosure is spouse/child having an accident in separate private car belonging to the person applying for taxi insurance. To find out more go to
www.cueuk.org. You will see you can apply for your record for £10, a bit like your credit file I guess!