Hybrid car insurance refusals

[Bper]

Hi Mike, this has now become a problem for many owners, I think the insurance companies have looked at the high cost of repair or replacement and decided not to take the risk on. No doubt anyone who does quote is going to ask for a high premium. Many articles online about people facing the same insurance problems.

 

[philip42h]

The world does seem to have gone slightly mad about insuring hybrids - my present insurer won't currently provide me with a quote at all ... but others will via Confuse the Wombat etc..

You could try Toyota Motor Insurance ... 

[flash22]

Change your voluntary excess, LV is underwritten by Allianz and has dropped a lot of customers

A brand new car, is very high risk over 65 is another high risk group

Try a broker like Adrian flux, but do it over the phone

[FROSTYBALLS]

Also see:

 

[Bper]

So is this type of insurance cover going to be classed now as specialised, if these companies refuse to cover how are you going to get insured other then paying a fortune.Then what is the future for both the manufacturers and the motorist. Bleak doesn't cover it.🫣

[Leo63]

I have insured my CHR GR SPORT with NFU insurance  for the last 2 years with no problem.

[dannyboy413]

And I have just renewed my Yaris Cross without any problem. The insurance is with Aviva Ireland and I did not have a problem when I changed cover from the Corolla last April.

[philip42h]

We renewed with LV= last October, no problem and decent rates; now they won't provide a quote ... 😉 

[Chas G]

I insured my 2022 Yaris Cross with AIOI Toyota Insurance Services - fully comprehensive, one driver, 20 years no claims bonus protected and it cost £750 which seemed a lot but I am 70 and live in West London with car parked on the road.

[Penfold72]

Mine was £470 last year, they wanted £670 this year!!!  I managed to get the lowest at £605.

This is with 20yrs no claims, 52 year old driver.  I think they make alot of it up!!!

[AndyRC]

19 hours ago, philip42h said:

We renewed with LV= last October, no problem and decent rates; now they won't provide a quote ... 😉 

Just got off the phone to LV my current insurer and they were happy to quote me on swapping insurance from current car to 2024 CHR , the only issue was PE is not on their system yet had everything else from Icon to GR Sport so got a quote on a GR sport for comparison 🤷‍♂️

[philip42h]

21 minutes ago, AndyRC said:

Just got off the phone to LV my current insurer and they were happy to quote me on swapping insurance from current car to 2024 CHR , the only issue was PE is not on their system yet had everything else from Icon to GR Sport so got a quote on a GR sport for comparison 🤷‍♂️

It may be more to do with the comparison sites ... who knows 🤷‍♂️

[AndyRC]

2 minutes ago, philip42h said:

It may be more to do with the comparison sites ... who knows 🤷‍♂️

I’ve been with LV for about 6/7 years on all sorts of cars and never had any issue , they were definitely happy to quote me on the 2024 CHR and sent me written confirmation of prices 🤷‍♂️

[AndyRC]

I’ve had No issues geting a quote from LV for a vehicle change from a Ford to  a 2024 CHR so may be just specific models 🤷‍♂️

[Roger F]

Been with privilege ins for last 8 years. Last year jumped a lot to £409. Just had renewal at £735.
full no claims, 50 years driving, put excess up to a £1000. Came down to £607. Tried all the search engines nothing under £590. Put my son on as a named driver, £480 with Tesco bank. Seems crazy as surely you are increasing the risk with another driver on the policy. Seems to make a big difference to the policy so a lot happier now.

[UncleZen]

I just did a quote via go compare and got plenty of companies offering to insure me and my CHR (most of which I'd never heard of).

Cheapest was with tesco bank, who I'm with anyway £391

 

Admittedly my circumstances may be different to many

[Big_D]

I also had no problem insuring my C-HR. It's insured for business use too.

[AndyRC]

Cheaper insurance on Bitone models apparently as from what I’ve read they look horrible and no one wants one so what’s the point of stealing them 🤷‍♂️  other than parts 😂😂😂

[Big_D]

Thanks @AndyRC. My baby is a bi-tone model. I think she looks really sexy. But, in saying that, I'm glad the thieving bas***ds aren't interested in stealing her.

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.

Please feel free to give us a try for insurance if you haven't done so already.

Regards,

Dan.

[Haliotis]

This business of insurers refusing to cover EV’s, or charging rip-off premiums if they do offer cover, suggests to me another insurance company scam to make excessive profits.

Considering the number of EV’s already on our roads, I don’t think there is a disproportionate occurrence of EV’s giving problems compared to ICE cars.  If the insurers have a genuine reason to disapprove of EV’s, it begs the question of whether the government have allowed these cars onto our roads before the viability of safety and adequate dealership maintenance has been certified.

The government needs to investigate the situation with some urgency, otherwise drivers will revert to ICE cars, and the heavily promoted EV market could easily become relegated to history.  It wouldn’t be the first time a “good idea” has hit the buffers.

[Cyker]

It's mostly down to the big traction Battery.

 

The problem is, with a normal car, if you have a knock, say you get rear-ended, they see what was damaged, say the right light cluster, the bumper and the right rear suspension, exhaust, and replace/repair them.

With an EV, if say, the suspension impacted the Battery casing and dented it a tiny amount, the insurance company is in the hole for a whole new traction Battery.

Ironically it's related to what the right to repair movement is fighting against - With the traction battery in EVs, none of them have a certified repair procedure and there's a lot of hysteria about them - The manufacturers don't want anyone else touching them, and have been complicit in selling the story that any damage to the pack means you and everyone you love will die in a horrible electrical explosion, so if there's even a scratch or a slight dent in e.g. a corner of one, instead of being allowed to repair it, insurers are forced to replace the whole pack otherwise they can't get any certification that it's been repaired to manufacturer specs/standards. This is also why EVs tend to get written off so easily, because the pack can exceed the value of the car after 2-3 years.

I think when we get better batteries, we might see modular units so instead of one big battery, they might have say 4-8 independent modules, so in the scenario above they'd only have to replace 1-2 modules at most rather than the whole thing, which should help. But because current energy density is so bad they have to cram in as many as possible to get half-useful range, and having multiple modular packs would eat into that significantly.

 

It's annoying as the packs in our hybrids are tiny and unlikely to be damaged as they're inside the car, not outside, and even then cost maybe 500-2000, but because of the battery hysteria they're now getting unfairly lumped in with the EVs, despite prior decades of them being proven to be much cheaper and easier to repair.

[Haliotis]

If hybrid batteries are not an impact danger in the way that full EV vehicle batteries seem to be, then the insurance companies should apply a sensible approach - simply including hybrid batteries with full EV batteries is, in my opinion, just taking the easy option to increase their profits.

And I will repeat my previous claim that the government should investigate the situation - their push to force drivers into electric vehicles, supported by the finite time to allow the purchase of new ICE vehicles - requires them to ensure that they are not advocating that drivers should place themselves and/or their families in danger by changing to EV cars.

If EV cars can legitimately be branded as unsafe by the insurers, then these cars should not be allowed on our roads.

[PJR77]

I have been insured with LV= for many years, because of a discount, but they have just refused to renew my 3 month old C-HR because of the 'rise in thefts of this model'. 

I feel like responding with ' I will not be renewing my two other policies because of your action'

[Haliotis]

7 hours ago, PJR77 said:

I have been insured with LV= for many years, because of a discount, but they have just refused to renew my 3 month old C-HR because of the 'rise in thefts of this model'. 

I feel like responding with ' I will not be renewing my two other policies because of your action'

If this attitude spreads across the insurance industry, my C-HR could become a useless and very expensive ornament on my driveway! Not a pleasant outlook.