Insurance - is there ANY logic?

the short answer is - pretty much, no. General insurance industry practice seems to be licking a finger and holding it in the air :-(

What does it matter if you loose a years no claims bonus? The whole point of no claims is that it makes it cheaper but if you can get if cheaper sooner that's a bonus. Just change you policy and pay less.

feel for you mate

i"m 45 , have ALWAYS run classics up until 3 years ago ( sans Merc C240 ) , when i went to insure said Merc was told i could not transfer ANY of my Classic insurance and had to start from scratch !
mmm, 45 yrs old , c class Merc....that"ll be 1300 of your pounds please !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Car only cost me £1500 ffs !!!!

Even this year it had only gone down 150 quid , hence , back to Classic policy and welcome to the mk2 Granny ! Oh , by the way....thats only £164 fully comp , agreed value and with alloys

Like your man says , looose the no claims and start again...it"ll be worth it in the long run ;D

Thanks for the input.
Theft risk I can understand, but the car is alarmed, and was declared as such, so that risk is minimised.
And while I can see the logic re the lost year's no-claims, it just seems to be another example of the insurance company working against the client, just because someone wants to change their car.
As for my colleague, I know him well, and he's not the kind of person to tell fibs. He's also a Special Constable, so keeps his nose very clean.

It all seems to be academic now anyway, as the listing for the Escort now appears to be a Morris Oxford!

My 3.2 Jag XJ40 was 4 times CHEAPER to insure than my current Volvo 940 2.3 turbo, despite both cars being very close in age and value, the Jag can go on a cherished car policy but the Volvo can't.

Insurance companies are mostly crooked as far as I can tell, how they justify that a Volvo is 4 times as likely to cost them money as a jag is I don't know?

I'm wondering why a 1.8 Austin Princess is almost as much to insure annually as my lightly modified (lowered, alloys) 1.05 Polo is to insure monthly.

some years ago a mate had to identical cars except one had cruise & boot release. one was £200 a year the other £700, insurers excuse was you've only got one ncb.

Unbelievably, I think you'll find that insurance is one of the most competitive finance industries... the prices have gone up because of all the personal injury claims and people claiming for things that didn't actually get broken/stolen.

They have to cover their costs, and if the risks to them are greater, then the costs have to rise. I don't like it (nor do I work in insurance!) but it seems like they assess the risks fairly well. My 135bhp saab 900 cost the same to insure when I was 18 as my previous car, a 1994 1.2 clio. However I can believe that far less 18 year olds crash saab 900's than crash 1.2 clios - hence the on paper risk is less and thus despite the car being faster etc. this price increase is offset by the lower risk bringing the price to about the same.

I'd much rather they base it on statistics than conjecture - which is why I was annoyed when they said they were making policies less gender discriminate. If on paper women cost insurance companies less, then they should pay less... simple!

Just my 2p

I'm not sure I understand the OP. You were looking to change from a 1.3 fiesta to a top of the range 1.6 escort and the price went up... Isn't that what you'd expect?

970 quid sounds about right for a 22 yo with points on a polo gti too, assuming 4 or 5 years NBC.

With insurers you're best ringing around until you get a reasonable offer, your current provider will only screw you over because they have a chance of getting away with it.