Car Insurance

[BobD]

This has absolutely nothing to do with AF but I thought it worth mentioning in case it may help A N Other.

I suspect that like me most people sleep walk through their car insurance renewal and accept the new premium on the basis that last year when you checked you got a pretty good deal.

Well this year mine had gone up by about £60 so I decided to ask the meerkat for some quotes (Other price comparison sites exist). It must have taken me about an hour to navigate my way round all the variations and work out what I was prepared to accept and another 3/4 an hour to actually phone my current provider and cancel plus agree a new policy with a new company.

Result is a saving of approx £190 which ain't bad for two hours work.

Bob

[rosyG]

that's very good going! I have found that if I ring and protest about increases with my provider they put it down by about £30-£40. Not as good as your £190!!

[Frances123]

I’ve done something similar with my house insurance. When I got renewal in I then checked online and found the same insurance with same company was a lot less. When I rang and queried why I was told that same policy online is always cheaper. I saved nearly £100 by cancelling present policy but then buying it back again online. Well, to be completely honest the lady at the company (late WW11 prime minister🐶) took pity on me and wasn’t busy so she did it.

Frances xxx

[Hidden]

I had similar reduction recently. Worth the effort !

[Hidden]

Always pays to check, I got £50 nocked off a new policy on Saturday simply by telling them their original quote was outrageous. Do the same thing with BT too renew my account every year. A bit of a pain but it does save money.

[jonjub]

I learnt this lesson a few years ago when out of curiosity i too called on the Meerkat. The disappointing shock was that the biggest saving was with my existing insurer. Armed with this info i presented the evidence of the huge savings to my insurer who after a bit of waffle and marketing excuses agreed to the lower on-line quote. Saving of just under £200. With my details saved on-site I now look every renewal and usually acheive a better premium.

[BobD Volunteer]

I would only ever go with a reputable company. Had I wished to just save money I could have saved an extra £100 on the cheapest quote. Truth be told the company my Bank put me with last year I had never heard of!

[pottypete1]

Totally agree and well worth the exercise.

One word of caution.

I heard on the radio yesterday that some of the online insurance quotes on comparison sites are only for 10 months not 12.

Pete

[Hidden]

I recently took £90 off our car insurance.

The original insurance company phoned to ask why we were leaving, they could match the price from their competitor. I just told them that they should reward customer loyalty and not take the pee at renewal time.

End of conversation

[irene75359]

I totally agree that savings can be made but the day an insurance/energy company guarantees to keep their prices competitive and not reward longtime customers with eyewatering price hikes at renewal they will have my business and loyalty. I find researching so time-consuming and such a pain! And renewals always seem to come when I am too busy with other things.