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The Renewal After 70: Why It Is the One to Compare
Insurers' age factors begin to diverge around 70. The renewal after that birthday is when comparing starts to pay again.
By Margaret Hale · Editor
Published
Answer in brief
Between 55 and 69 most insurers price similarly and loyalty costs little. After 70, their age bands move at different ages and by different amounts, and the same driver can see quotes several hundred dollars apart.
For most of mid-life, comparing car insurance every year is sensible but not urgent; the market is competitive and factors are similar. Around 70 that changes, for a specific reason.
Age bands diverge
Some insurers begin raising factors at 65, some at 70, some at 75. Some raise them gently, some steeply. Between 70 and 80 the same clean-record driver can be priced within a few percent of the mid-fifties low by one insurer and 30% above it by another. Nothing about your record has changed—only the company's table.
What to do
Compare at the renewal after 70 with your real mileage and the mature-driver course certificate in hand, and again at 75 and 80. The age guide has the curve; how to compare has the method.
Guides referenced in this post
Guide
How Age Affects Car Insurance After 60
Why car insurance is cheapest in the fifties and sixties, why it begins rising around 70, what the data says about older drivers, and how insurers rate it.
Guide
How to Compare Car Insurance as a Senior
A comparison method for older drivers: accurate mileage, fixed coverage, mature-driver and bundling discounts, three to five quotes, and the questions to ask about age factors.