Bennett's insurance pricing makes no sense at all!

[Londoner2015]

I got a quote from Bennett to insure an 800 bike for £ 661.93. This was after filling in all the details from their website.

Increasing the excess by £ 100 brings the premium... up to £701!

Leaving the excess as it was by default and adding an Abus Granite Extreme plus 59 U-lock brings the premium... up to... £ 668!

I understand insurers will try every trick in the book to squeeze every possible penny of profit out of us.
I understand an insurer may quote £ 400 while another £ 1,000.
I understand some insurers may give no credit to gps trackers or other security measures.

But how can the premium possibly increase if I add a u-lock? At the very worst it should stay the same!
How can it increase if I increase the excess??

It seems to me these are examples of algorithms gone nuts, like when Amazon priced a biology book at more than $2 million.

I called Bennetts to complain, but the guy on the other end of the line was utterly useless and could only repeat the usual the-computer-says-so script.

Is there any way to complain? The Financial Ombudsman? The Office of Fair Trading?

[Ste]

I would assume that statistically, those with u locks declared cost insurance companies more than riders who don't.

Same deal with increasing the excess.

Not declaring the U lock doesn't mean you can't use, if they want to charge you less for not declaring it then that's a good thing isn't it?

What exactly are you complaining about?

[Londoner2015]

[Ste]

If people who have a £500 excess cost them in total £10 million in claims each year whilst people who have a £100 excess cost them £5 million in claims each year, you can see why people with a £100 excess would have cheaper insurance prices.

And

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/policy/help-advice/faq/#faq28

"You may be able to lower your insurance premium by choosing to add a voluntary excess"

Anyway, what's the problem, you get cheaper insurance price for not declaring the lock and for having a lower excess, could you be more specific in which part of that you don't like?

[Londoner2015]

[Ste]

"Two people looking at the same data can easily reach very different conclusions. "

Of course, that's why different insurance companies give different prices.

"Well, I'm not a big fan of being hostage to badly programmed black box algorithms. If an insurer doesn't want to give credit to, say, a GPS tracker fine, it's its right to do so. But if an insurer applies different prices for no apparently logical reason at all, it makes me feel it's taking me for a ride and pricing my risk randomly, not fairly."



Does the higher excess -> lower premiums caption also have an asterisk or something similar?

Go to a different insurance company if you don't like them offering you a cheaper price when not having the u-lock and with a lower excess.

https://i.imgur.com/EUnFNgQ.gif

[Itchy]

Insurance isn't supposed to make sense.

It's designed to obfuscate and be as opaque as possible.
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Llama-Farmer]

Insurance is statistics-based magical 8 ball nonsense.


Like Ste said, people with u-locks have probably cost Bennetts more PER POLICY on average than people without. Same with the higher excess.

It makes no sense if you don't understand insurance pricing, i.e. it makes no sense, and its not fair, but it is what it is.


At one point it cost £300 more per year to keep my car in the garage than on the street. Maybe someone's car once caught fire in the middle of the night and burnt the house down so it skewed the payout statistics, or maybe people tend to keep more expensive cars in the garage and cheaper ones on the street.
____________________
Current Bike: 1999 Honda CB600 FX Hornet
Next Bike: I want a CBR-RR. And I want an F800 GS-A. And a VFR 800. Can I have all 3?
Dream Bikes: Honda VFR750R RC30, Honda NSR500, Ducati 996 R

[bamt]

Similarly, as a low-risk customer (older, good driving record, low crime area) it can be cheaper to insure TPFT than TP, or FC rather than TPFT. You'd think otherwise (the insured risk would appear lower), but presumably on a statistical level more people in that otherwise low-risk bracket who insure TPFT make claims than those who go FC.

[ScaredyCat]

One thing to note about Bennetts quote page is that if you get a quote with a low voluntary excess, then increase it and click recalculate, then set it back to what it was originally, the price will go up.

I did this the other day, £179.57 at first going to £182.06 - ok it's not much in this instance, although it's still an increase with exactly the same data, but the result may be different if you're younger or the bike is more powerful etc.. ( quote was for a CB1300S )
____________________
Honda CBF125 ➝ NC700X
Honda CBF125 ↳ Speed Triple

[Rogerborg]

[monkeybiker]

[Rogerborg]

[rubyhorse2]

I once got cheaper insurance parking the bike on the main road rather than in a locked garage...go figure

got to love insurance

[.Chris.]

Seems a bit odd but it's probably the same sort of reasoning that sees third party insurance sometimes being more expensive than fully comp - i.e. the sort of person who takes out a third party policy is more likely to make a claim. In this case it could be that inexperienced riders, or those with some other reason why their insurance costs are high, use a voluntary excess in the hope of a lower premium, leading to higher losses amongst those with a large voluntary excess. Once people get wind of this, you'd think the phenomenon would disappear, but public perception can take a long time to catch up with reality, and meanwhile there's money to be made...

In the case of a security chain, maybe those who use them tend to have insecure parking arrangements or have some other (well founded) reason to be especially concerned about theft.

Without speaking to their actuaries you won't find a concrete answer.
____________________
Chris
1985 Kawasaki Z550F

[Pie-Roe]

[chris-red]

For the last few years fully comp on my car has been cheaper than TP and TPFT
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[Itchy]

[MCN]

Insurance fackin' Rocks. When it Pays out.


Why the Butt hurt when we buy it?


I was paid out £6350 for a bike that went missing about 12 years ago.

That's 12 X a £500/year premium. (Although my premiums are not half that.)
____________________
Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[MCN]

[Yorkshire Geek]

[lihp]

[Ste]

Cars are stolen with the keys, bike are just chucked in the back of a van.

[Rogerborg]

[lihp]