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Premiums in the auto insurance market are stabilizing. Rampant premium inflation, sometimes similar to that in Latin America, is over. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The tellers’ figures paint a good picture. Average premiums are falling sharply (15 percent, according to Pearson Ham), falling slightly (1.1 percent, Consumer Intelligence) or rising modestly (4 percent, Go Compare).
To put these numbers in context, Consumer Intelligence says average quoted auto premiums have increased 117 percent – or more than doubled – since October 2013, when it began collecting data.
However, averages don’t tell the whole story, as reader Tony Anderson points out.
He contacted me after receiving his renewal notice from the AA, a supplier he has been working with since December 2021, when he purchased a new Volkswagen ID3 electric car.
For Tony, there was no 15 percent decrease, no 1.1 percent price drop, and no 4 percent increase. The AA wanted him to pay £1,079 to renew, 43 per cent more than last year and triple the £309 he paid three years ago.
Disoriented: Average premiums for listed cars have increased 117 percent (that’s more than double) since October 2013.
Understandably, Tony, a retired CEO of a forklift company, is not very happy.
“I’ve had a driving license since I was 17,” says the 83-year-old from Crowthorne, Berkshire.
‘I haven’t made a claim for at least 25 years and I have no penalty points. The only thing that’s changed is that I’m a year older.’
Like any smart consumer, Tony looked for alternative cover and found a policy with Ageas costing just over £600.
It says: ‘I now have almost identical cover to what I had last year, but 44 per cent cheaper than the price AA wanted me to renew at. It’s also 20 per cent lower than the price I renewed this time last year.’
Tony, not one to be scorned, will also refuse to renew his breakdown cover next year, ending a 40-year relationship with AA. “You would have thought loyalty would count for something,” he says, “but it doesn’t.” AA thought I would pay whatever they asked for. Well, I’ve already figured it out.
Anyone who just received a renewal notice from their insurer demanding a double-digit price increase should do what Tony did and shop around.
Additionally, please email me a copy of your renewal notice to: jeff.prestridge@mailonsunday.co.uk.
Don’t let lethargy take over your bottom
As their name implies, investment trusts are designed to generate returns for investors.
They are listed on the stock market and are easy to buy and sell, and investors (whether institutional or private) become shareholders. Although not everyone wins, they can provide very long-term returns, comprising a combination of regular income and share price gains. I’m a fan.
The structure of your company means that investors can attend annual general meetings (I have attended a few in my time) and ask questions of the board and managers (I have asked a few). They also get the right to vote. All very democratic.
However, like all publicly traded companies, investment trusts can attract the attention of predators, especially when their share prices are cheap. And boy, many investment trusts are as cheap as chips, and share prices are heavily discounted compared to the value of their underlying assets.
The biggest predator in town is the American fund manager Saba Capital, led by financier Boaz Weinstein. It has acquired stakes in seven trusts in the hope of taking them over: Baillie Gifford funds Edinburgh Worldwide, Keystone Positive Change and US Growth; Janus Henderson believes in European small businesses and opportunities; CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income; and Herald.
Early next year, shareholders in each of these trusts will be asked to vote in favor of appointing Saba-supporting directors to the board. If voted, these newbies will push for Saba to take over the existing investment contract before attempting to merge the seven trusts. Other trusts (he has disclosable stakes in 24) could also be targeted.
The hurdle for Saba is low. All that is needed to start forcing change is a simple majority of voting shareholders in individual trusts to say yes to the new directors.
With Saba relying on the lethargy of private investors to get its way, the message to shareholders is loud and clear. Use it (i.e. your vote) or lose it (the trust you’re actually quite happy with, despite what Saba says).
The railway unions have left us rudderless
Based on my experience, there is just as much chance that any train you need to take in the coming days will be on time (or even running) as there is that the Government will reach its annual target of 600,000 heat pump installations by 2028. Close to nothing.
Two weeks ago I gave up trying to get home from London Paddington because the majority of GWR staff seemed to be refusing to work, perhaps preferring instead to gorge themselves on the generous backdated pay awards handed to them by the Government.
Off the rails: Unable to return home from London Paddington, Jeff cycled to a crowded Waterloo, above
Instead, I hopped on a bike to Waterloo, where I caught an SWR train that stopped at every station imaginable between London and my hometown of Wokingham. I stewed it like one of my late mother’s hot pots.
Last weekend was no different, with huge gaps on services running from Reading to Paddington. When a train finally appeared, most people couldn’t get on it. Those who did it felt like human sardines.
The sad reality is that our railways are not fit for purpose, in either public or private hands.
They are a disgrace, run by unions for the good of their members. A farce.
Time may be up to ruin Starmer
Victimizing older people has become the hallmark of this Government. First, it cruelly eliminated winter fuel payments for more than 10 million pensioners.
Then this month it dealt a blow to 3.6 million women now aged between 60 and 70 by refusing to pay compensation for not giving them enough time to prepare for a sharp rise in their state pension age.
The Government’s decision is wrong on two levels. Firstly, it goes against a recommendation this year from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Concluding that the Department for Work and Pensions was guilty of “maladministration” for failing to effectively communicate the change to the state pension age, it recommended that affected women receive up to £2,950.
What is the point of the Ombudsman if the Government can ignore his independent decisions?
Secondly, it makes hypocrites of all those Labor ministers who in opposition backed ‘Waspi’ (women against state pension inequality) to the hilt, only now to give them the proverbial two fingers.
Revolt is in the air with a Commons vote on Waspi compensation likely in the New Year. Although the Government will win it, the reaction of Labor MPs will be stronger than that of winter fuel.
With the economy besieged by rising corporate taxes, the Government is shakier than my late mother’s jellies.
Happy New Year, readers. A new prime minister by this time next year? Don’t rule it out.
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