# The Good Old Days



## Shiny

I started my insurance career waaaay back in 1986.

Everything was done by hand, cover notes, premium calculations etc.

If you were really struck on a quote, the Boss had a Quotel machine in his office which you had to enter as numbers on a keyboard (00 male 01 female etc), ending up in loads of numbers and if you typed one wrong then the whole quote was wrong. Got used about 4 times a year as it was so expensive and everyone was too scared to ask the boss to use it!

Back then rating was simple. I used to know the Pegaus and Hermes base rates off by heart, all the area ratings, vehicle groups (there were only 7) and all the discounts.

How things have changed, rating is fine tuned, now your shoe size and how many takeaways you have a week seems to make a difference. I still don't get the idea of new business rates being cheaper than a renewal!

Anyhooo, the reason for this post, sorting out some things today, i came across a renewal invite from 1997, good old Hermes at Lloyds. By now IPT was a thing but only 4%, but you get the idea on how ratings were still quite simple. The basic would have been proposer age, post code area and vehicle group on a chart. A flat £10 for windscreen and 15% loyalty discount!


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## LeeH

My first car policy in 96 was with the Co Op. I guy in a suit came around with a big book to calculate the policy then issued it with carbon copy pad.


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## Christian6984

Haha way back then... i was born in 1986 :lol: my car insurance started in 2003 and remember using the phone with direct line as my first insurer, so easy its all online these days. Been lucky that i think my most expensive years insurance was £750 which i consider myself lucky when i speak to the kids at work an find out what some of them pay these days


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## beambeam

Very interesting Shiny! I remember talk of being insured by some bloke on the high street or the broker coming round the house but like Christian I started driving when calling up was an option... god the rubbish I tried to spout such as carefully worded job titles!


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## Shiny

I've been in high street broking since day one. Didn't do home visits, but i remember Saturday mornings in the late 80's/early 90's where people used to queue outside the office door and half way up the street to sort out their car insurance.

Those were the days when you had to ask your boss to use the phone to call the doctor, nobody would dare phone during work time to sort their insurance out, so people used to take a day off to trawl the streets visting Brokers or do it on a Saturday morning.

Things have changed so much, I haven't worked on a Saturday for years!


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## Bulkhead

My first insurance policy was in 1985 - again, all paper-based and you had to physically go into the insurance agency/broker to get the quote. This was not too arduous though as there were only about four or five to choose from! Only third party fire and theft too as back then, as most of us could only afford rot-boxes! It's a bit different now. My nephew recently got his first car - a brand new Corsa. I think his insurance costs more than the car!


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## Andy from Sandy

I don't think I have ever paid that much for car insurance.


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## PugIain

I'm 40, never claimed in 20 years and have zero points. I still pay too much in my opinion :lol:


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## Christian6984

PugIain said:


> I'm 40, never claimed in 20 years and have zero points. I still pay too much in my opinion :lol:


Im 34 and have one claim in 2018 due to an uninsured driver hitting me, both my cars are around the £3-400 mark currently. Wish it was a bit cheaper but prob good that have other things in my favour such as a low risk postcode


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## pt1

My first was with performance direct, Way back in 1998. I think i paid around £1000 to insure my nova gsi, was maybe more.the most i paid was £1600 for a sapphire rs cosworth which was through the rs owners club i think

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk


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## Bill58

My first insurance was back in 1976 for a Sunbeam Alpine which I used to rally in. My insurance was from month to month at £30 a time.


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## SteveW

First thing I insured was a Suzuki GP100 in 1989. I remember having to go into the insurance brokers and they just looked down the list of engine capacity - nothing else was taken into consideration at all.

Anything 100cc or lower was £68 a year for a 17 year old. A 125 fell in the next bracket of anything up to 225cc and that was (if my memory serves me well) around £150 per year.

The first car I insured was in approximately 1991, after driving around on my parents' insurance for a couple of years, and that was a 2.0 Cortina Crusader. Cost me £280 per year aged 19...... 

They were indeed good old days as far as insurance goes


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## Darlofan

My first was for my Viva back in 1988. Had to go into brokers, can't remember the cost but was third party, fire and theft and I remember thinking how cheap it was.


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## Shiny

SteveW said:


> First thing I insured was a Suzuki GP100 in 1989. I remember having to go into the insurance brokers and they just looked down the list of engine capacity - nothing else was taken into consideration at all.
> 
> Anything 100cc or lower was £68 a year for a 17 year old. A 125 fell in the next bracket of anything up to 225cc and that was (if my memory serves me well) around £150 per year.


Rider policy, Norwich Union was the king. You could ride any bike up to the selected cc, whether it was yours or your mates, it didn't matter. I knew someone who had 30+ bikes, all insured under the one rider policy, you didn't need to even mention the reg number. Norwich Union cut back their rider policy to 4 or 5 specified bikes eventually.

The main change came about when the Suzuki RG250 came out, it fitted in the 225cc to 350cc range and was cheap as chips to insure, but outperformed many much bigger bikes. Rider policies based on cc had to be reviewed to reflect the risk, so it all went specified like car policies.


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## SteveW

Shiny said:


> Rider policy, Norwich Union was the king. You could ride any bike up to the selected cc, whether it was yours or your mates, it didn't matter. I knew someone who had 30+ bikes, all insured under the one rider policy, you didn't need to even mention the reg number. Norwich Union cut back their rider policy to 4 or 5 specified bikes eventually.
> 
> The main change came about when the Suzuki RG250 came out, it fitted in the 225cc to 350cc range and was cheap as chips to insure, but outperformed many much bigger bikes. Rider policies based on cc had to be reviewed to reflect the risk, so it all went specified like car policies.


Yep, you have a good memory and clearly know/remember your stuff 

It was a Norwich Union Rider policy. We all had them so we could switch bikes all the time without worrying. Although obviously only having the 100cc one I couldn't (legally  ) ride any of my mates' 125s....


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