Range Rover drivers’ fury as they are hit by new £1,750 ‘theft excess’ on their insurance policies

Car insurers are imposing tough new penalties on Range Rover owners, despite the manufacturer insisting vehicle thefts are falling.

A Money Mail survey of insurers found that Aviva has introduced a new additional ‘theft allowance’ which applies only to Land Rovers and Range Rovers.

Other insurers, including major brand Direct Line, will not accept new Range Rover customers, while 50-plus-year-old giant Saga refused to offer cover to a 15-year-old customer when his policy came up for renewal.

Aviva’s new theft excess means that if a car is stolen and has a market value of £25,000 or more, an excess equal to 5 per cent of the car’s value will be charged. This is in addition to the standard policy excess. That equates to a £2,500 charge for a £50,000 Range Rover.

This additional excess currently only applies to small business owners who have a commercial fleet policy with Aviva. It has received a mixed reception.

Nigel and Christy Barker from Todmorden in West Yorkshire are not impressed.

They run a workplace supply company, Dennons UK, and recently asked a broker for insurance quotes for their Land Rover Discovery Sport and Mini Electric, cars they use in their family business.

The cheapest cover was from Aviva, but it included the additional theft excess clause. “It irritated me,” Nigel told Money Mail.

‘I love Land Rovers and have had them for 12 years. But this anti-brand insurance tirade is testing my love story to the limit.’

The additional theft excess applies on top of the policy’s £250 excess, and for Nigel it would result in an extra £1,750 if he were to claim.

Some experts believe such excesses could become commonplace as insurers look for ways to continue offering coverage to drivers whose model is targeted by criminals.

Ian Hughes, chief executive of insurance consultancy Consumer Intelligence, said: “Applying additional theft excesses to policies for owners of high-risk vehicles, such as certain Land Rovers and Range Rovers, represents a middle ground.

“It allows insurers to offer reasonable premiums to all drivers while managing the increased risk associated with specific models.”

The way some insurers discriminate against Land Rover and Range Rover drivers has angered the boss of JLR, the company that makes them.

Adrian Mardell said significant reductions in theft last year in his Range Rover models meant there is now “no reason” why insurance companies should do anything other than “happily” insure new vehicles – “zero reason, in fact.” anywhere in this country.”

Data collected by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) shows that thefts of the Range Rover, Sport, Velar and Evoque models fell by 27, 29, 15 and 3 per cent respectively last year.

The only blemish on JLR’s picture was a 15 per cent increase in theft of the Land Rover Discovery Sport, making it one of the top ten most stolen cars in the country (along with the Range Rover Sport and Evoque).

Since the beginning of 2022, JLR says only 11 of 12,800 new Range Rovers and 15 of 14,868 new Range Rover Sports have been stolen.

JLR has also invested in ‘security upgrades’ (physical and digital theft prevention measures) for vehicles manufactured between 2018 and 2022 and has now extended this to 2016 models.

Last night JLR said: “By demonstrating that our new vehicles are resistant to theft and that older vehicles are being upgraded to the same levels of security, we are confident that insurance options and premium competitiveness on the open market will improve.” .

Evidence of improvement is scant, as both our survey and mailbag indicate. We asked insurers what their stance was on Land Rovers and Range Rovers.

Direct Line Group, which covers the Churchill and Privilege car brands, said it continues to offer existing Land Rover and Range Rover customers the opportunity to renew their cover “subject to a review of their individual circumstances”.

Their stance toward new customers is tougher. Although he will cover “select Land Rover makes and models”, he said he would not offer new coverage for Range Rovers.

He added: “We continually review our insurance offering based on the latest available data, taking into account factors such as crime statistics and car safety measures.”

By contrast, Liverpool Victoria (LV) is (on the surface) more welcoming. It insures both Land Rovers and Range Rovers and does not impose additional excesses for theft.

It said: “JLR has improved vehicle security on recent models and has been asking customers to visit its dealerships to improve security on models manufactured between 2018 and 2022 which are more vulnerable to theft.”

“We encourage Money Mail readers to adopt JLR’s security update if they have not already done so.”

Aviva said it was “able” to insure these vehicles, subject to its usual criteria – taking into account the vehicle to be insured, the customer’s driving experience and other factors, including where the vehicle is stored.

He added: “There may be cases where we are unable to offer cover to individual customers.”

LV wanted to increase Simon Conquest’s annual premium for his six-year-old Land Rover Discovery Sport from £295 to £1,358 when he renewed it later this month. said Simon, 67, from Belper, Derbyshire.

‘Nothing has changed: neither accidents nor penalty points. It’s another example of scam insurance for Land Rover and Range Rover owners.’

The retired electrician has now purchased Esure cover for around £435. He also checked JLR’s insurance.

It launched last October and has so far provided 16,000 customers with quotes for an average of £182 a month.

Those eligible for cover include owners of new and used Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar vehicles. For Simon, he was too expensive: £1,085.

‘My fear is that if insurers continue to raise premiums, they will take many drivers off the road. Worse still, it could persuade some to drive without insurance.’

jeff.prestridge@dailymail.co.uk