Where do YOU rank in the Premium League of insurance price hikes?

The country’s Premier League is awash in cash, as evidenced by its £815 million spending frenzy on new footballers during last month’s transfer window.

But these days Money Mail is producing its own version of the Premier League – the Premium League, a table that should embarrass some of the country’s biggest insurance companies and fuel the perception that these companies are using the inflationary backdrop to charge lewd premiums. raise amounts.

In Money Mail, it’s clear they’re making a profit at the expense of customers already struggling with skyrocketing utility bills and ever-increasing food costs.

Our table lists 20 of the largest premium increases car owners and households have been asked to pay when their car and contents insurance policies have had to be renewed in recent months.

Our league consists of 20 men, because that’s how many football teams make up the Premier League.

The table was created on the back cover of correspondence sent in by hundreds of readers who responded to our coverage of rising insurance costs.

Most of the biggest premium increases have been requested from the elderly, some of whom don’t have access to the internet, which could leave them seeking coverage.

While a handful of insurance customers have seen their premiums drop at renewal, the vast majority have been asked to pay between 40 and 50 percent more than they did last year.

These numbers indicate that car and home premiums are rising faster than forecasters predicted.

For example, at the end of last year, research by management consultancy EY suggested that car and home premiums would rise by an average of 15 and 30 percent respectively this year.

These numbers now look on the low side, although it could be argued that our analysis is biased as dissatisfied customers are more likely to contact Money Mail.

Significantly, our mailbag supports EY’s view that premium inflation is most prevalent in the home insurance market – a result of rising subsidence claims due to last year’s hot summer.

As our table shows, some policyholders have received renewal premiums that are three times what they were a year ago.

In all 20 cases, Money Mail has been told by customers that the increases are not due to a recent claim.

If the renewal premium increases requested from customers who filed a claim in the past year were included, the resulting table would indeed be more Super Premium than Premium.

For example, two readers – 85-year-old Rita Parker, from Sidcup in Kent, and Alan Paice, from Marham, Norfolk – were hit with increases in home coverage renewal premiums of 314 and 215 percent, respectively, after they lost their hearing aids.

These increases would have put them in the top five of our Premium League.

“Last year I paid an extra premium for my hearing aids, which brought the cost of my cover with RIAS to just under £242,” says Rita.

‘When I lost one of them after staying with my daughter after surgery I made a claim for £1,973 which was paid.

My reward? A renewal premium of £1,001. When I requested the increase, RIAS gave me no explanation. Twenty years of loyalty to the insurer and I will be rewarded with an increase of 314 percent.’

Rita has now switched to Saga and has paid £467 for her cover.

In most cases – though not all – those stung by Premium League increases have successfully looked around for more competitive coverage.

This confirms our message from last month that when it comes to buying coverage, it always pays to shop around instead of sticking with one insurance company.

This advice, despite rules introduced by the country’s financial regulator early last year, is designed to ensure loyal customers don’t pay higher premiums than someone buying identical coverage from the same insurer.

While the Financial Conduct Authority promised that ending the loyalty penalty would save long-time customers £4.2bn in premiums over the next decade, looking around – rather than sitting around – is still the best way to take pounds off premiums.

Understandably, some people who were asked to pay triple-digit increases are furious.

None other than Michael Herson, from Middlesex, who received a renewal notice from Saga for his home cover stating that the premium would rise from £715 to £3,688 – an astonishing 416 per cent increase. He has had his Saga insurance for 19 years.

“I’ve lived in the same house for 24 years, my records have stayed the same, and I’ve had no claims for five years,” he says.

Despite lengthy correspondence with Saga, the insurer has not budged.

Michael says the only explanations he can think of for the increase are a subsidence claim he made more than 12 years ago (which only related to the garage) – and the insurer’s desire to “get rid of old customers.”

He is now looking for alternative coverage and has received quotes that are half of Saga’s renewal demand. Pauline Davidson – like many in the table – has managed to avoid a major renewal hike by shopping around.

Last year she paid £223 to Performance Direct for annual coverage of her Jeep Patriot. This year they wanted £592 – a 165 per cent increase.

Pauline, an 82-year-old retired teacher from Maidenhead, Berkshire, says: ‘I drive less than 5,000 miles a year.

I’ve never had an accident – or made a claim. But when I challenged Performance Direct on the walk, it refused to back down.”

She looked at other options through a price comparison website and switched to Swiftcover for £328.

The last word goes to Maura Evans, a 67-year-old retired university teacher from Cheltenham. The renewal premium for her home cover with Saga was £782, up 194 per cent on the previous year.

“What kind of insurance market thinks it’s right to demand such an increase in customers,” she says. “I have never filed a claim in over 30 years.

“I thought the city regulator had acted to stop insurance company scam tactics — not to exacerbate them.”

Well said. This is a Premium League table that puts the insurance industry to shame.

Yesterday, both Ageas (owner of Rias) and Saga blamed higher premiums for rising claims costs.