Introducing Rhys Barker, a young driver, who like many other young drivers struggles to insure his vehicle because of his age and his gender. Whilst Mr Barker did expect his insurance quote to be high, he could not have anticipated receiving an insurance quote of £1.2 million to insure his 10-year old Vauxhall Corsa.
Mr Barker received the astounding quote from Zenith Insurance who told him he didn’t have to pay all at once and he could spread the cost over 12 months at £104,000 per month.
Rhys Barker, 27, of Manchester, could not believe it. Having purchased the car, which is second-hand, in 2003 and paying just £1,400 for the vehicle, Mr Barker was becoming increasingly frustrated with the insurance quotes he was getting, all of which amounted to more than he had paid for the car.
Zenith’s quote however, eclipsed them all, and Mr Barker immediately rang the company assuming that it was a mistake.
In a statement from Mr Barker he said: “I went through all the questions and then the quote came up for £1,165, 977.75. I was convinced it must be a mistake, so I called them up on their helpline. They didn’t even seem to be shocked by it. They checked it for me and then said it was right.â€
Zenith went further still and reassured Mr Barker that if he could not pay all at once, for an additional fee, they would spread the cost over 12 months. The first payment would be £233,000 followed by additional payments of £104,000 per month, for 10 months.
Mr Barker said: “I’m convinced they were just trying to price me out of buying insurance with them but it’s a ridiculous way of doing it. I’d love to know how they would have reacted if I’d just agreed to it – although with a car worth less than £1,500 it was never going to be likely was it?â€
Having passed his practical driving test in 2011, Rhys had previously been paying £2,000 to insure a Ford Fiesta before purchasing his current car, the Vauxhall Corsa, and receiving the extortionate £1.2 million quote to insure it.
Mr Barker, a project analyst for Manchester United said: “This is just another display of how badly young and new drivers are treated by insurance firms. “I’ve got one of the cheapest cars you can get but the criteria for insurance is crazy. If I change a search from living alone to co-habiting, it goes down by £200.â€
He added: “Postcode-based quotes are also unfair, I’m classed as Salford because of the first three figures – why don’t they look at the whole postcode? The way they assess risk makes no sense at all.â€
Rhys has since insured with Bell, a company owned by Admiral Insurance, and his vehicle is now fitted with a Telematics box, which records his standard of driving in a bid to lower his insurance premiums. However, Mr Barker also claims that this system is unfair because certain aspects of driving, such as passing over a speed bump, count against you.
In a statement from Gary Humphreys, an underwriting director for Markerstudy Group, which operates Zenith, he said: “The price Mr Barker was quoted reflects that we have ‘declined’ to provide cover, as we would not expect a customer to pay such a high premium. This is not a case of pricing customers out of the market but quoting on the risks that are within our rating parameters and declining if they are outside.â€
He added: “Without the detail we are unable to tell why Zenith was unable to provide cover at the time. We are aware this website has changed the way it quotes since Mr Barker used it, so that if a quote is over £10,000 it ‘declines’ rather than quotes a high premium.â€
Tags: Car Insurance, Driving Insurance, Young Person Insurance
