rising costs

[manco]

bound to have come up in here before, but here goes

insurance costs steadily rising, year after year, with no claims or changes in working practice or amount of work.

im sure many others are the same.

but the cost goes up. 

why? 

is there a sensible reason for us paying more and more every year? or are we simple seen as an easy target?

car insurance pretty much goes down every year, and theres no claims discounts, yet we see none of that in our EL and PL insurances?

should we as an industry just keep accepting it and increase cost to cover it? 

or is it time we as an industry stand up and say theyre taking the piss and refuse to pay till costs come down?

[Retired Climber]

The price of everything goes up. 

I remember when it wasn't particularly easy to get tree work insurance. I doubt insurance companies even want to cover tree work 

Although you can refuse to pay for most insurance, you have to have Employers liability insurance, so can't refuse it, as such. 

There have been some interesting behavioural economics studies on the subject of 'high risk' insurance which explain the problem of such things for insurance companies. 

[GarethM]

Whilst as an industry you could stand up and create your own and be cheaper 

 

Even the NFU business insurance use an outside company as an underwriter and they are huge, it seems unlikely that there would be enough interest and traction.

 

We all moan about the cost and if you rarely ever claim it's understandable, but on the other side when someone drops a tree through the roof of a house in Knightsbridge you kinda see the need.

[htb]

Don't do work in Knightsbridge or cut smaller.

[GarethM]

I was using it as an example.

By the same token, you can argue why a 60k Merc or Tesla can be insured for the same as a Corsa, regardless of the driver it all comes out of the same pot if it's totalled.

[htb]

Its all about choices, we had a large Ash stem to fell last week could maybe of felled it alongside house on top of river bank, could of hit the house only had 8ft to play with, went safe aimed nearer the river and that's where it ended, pain in the arse getting 8-10T out of there but at least no damage to listed building.

With regards to Merc versus Corsa, its all a numbers game, our business is just small fry in comparison.

 

Suck up the increase and pass it onto customers

[Mark Bolam]

I doubt much of it is due to accidents at all.

Probably due more to machinery and tool theft.

[Dan Maynard]

I've seen my engineering business insurance go up, was 2.5k a few years ago and this year renewal looking like 10k. There's always a reason for it to go up but never seems to be a reason for it to go down.

[Squaredy]

9 hours ago, manco said:

bound to have come up in here before, but here goes

insurance costs steadily rising, year after year, with no claims or changes in working practice or amount of work.

im sure many others are the same.

but the cost goes up. 

why? 

is there a sensible reason for us paying more and more every year? or are we simple seen as an easy target?

car insurance pretty much goes down every year, and theres no claims discounts, yet we see none of that in our EL and PL insurances?

should we as an industry just keep accepting it and increase cost to cover it? 

or is it time we as an industry stand up and say theyre taking the piss and refuse to pay till costs come down?

The reason is that the insurance company's costs have in all probability risen massively over the years.  Staff costs are way up, premises costs are way up, energy costs are now up, and most important the likelihood is claims costs are rising fast too.  Why are claims costs rising fast?  Well, because equipment costs are rising, fuel costs are rising, labour costs are rising, etc, etc, etc.  So a claim for a broken boundary fence due to an error by a tree surgeon might cost a lot more to repair now than it would have done ten years ago (for instance).

 

Also one particular reason employer's liability costs may be going up is because taking your employer to court is becoming easier and cheaper and much more common.

 

I'm no fan of insurance companies, but the surprise is not that EL and PL costs have gone up; but that your experience of car insurance is that it is going down.

[Mark Bolam]

Vehicle insurance is pretty predictable.

You get a year or two of a decent quote, then it goes up (with more years no claims and the vehicle worth less) so you go elsewhere and get exactly the same cover for less.

 

You are rewarded for loyalty by being shafted.