TOT car insurance

[alan_m]

I received the renewal quote for my car insurance today and went on line to find that I can get equivalent for approx 25% less from more than one well known name insurers. Approx 33% less if I accept more of the risk with a voluntary excess of £250.

Helpfully the renewal quote told me what I paid last year and makes the increase in premium seem "reasonable" at 7%. However the figure included a one off fixed fee for changing the insurance details and a bumped up additional premium for a different car half way through the policy and not the necessarily the premium I would have paid if I had insured the new car for the whole of the previous year.

This just confirms yet again that you have to shop around every year.

[Roger Mills]

Indeed. It's a rip-off. The excessive premiums paid by loyal customers simply fund the commission paid to these so-called "comparison site" parasites.

It's worth speaking to your current insurer, armed with all the competitive quotes. You can often get the price down considerably.

I always have to do that with my insurer, and they invariably magic up some discounts which then make it not worth the hassle of switching. I just resent having to do it - I've got better things to do with my time!

[Chris Bartram]

Yep.

[F]

Check premiums through the comparison sites and then take their commission for yourself by buying the insurance through TopCashBack

- referral link) if it's still cheaper than buying direct.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Roger Mills formulated the question :

Mine is a broker and every year for the first few years I told them I could do better, would they requote it. Each time the requoted it much cheaper, now they must reqoute each year - because is always the cheapest deal they offer come renewal time.

[ARW]

It's worth checking everything.

My Dad asked me about getting charged for exceeding his data limit[1] on Broadband. Turned out that he was on a 6 year old plan and paying through the nose for it. One phone call and the broadband was cheaper, faster and had no limits.

[1] Only when the Grandkids had been on the computer

Same for car breakdown cover. I always called the AA just before the annual renewal to say that if they could not drop the price to that of a new member then cancel my membership.

[Terry Casey]

I've just renewed my insurance with the same insurer that I've used for four years or more.

This was the first year that I found any cheaper quotes but when I investigated and modified the quote to get exactly the same cover as I already have, the difference was less than £10 so better the devil you know, etcetera ...

I later changed the cover as a precaution because I can't get the car into the garage and the moment and park it on the drive but I also reduced the car's value to account for its increased age and the premium went up by elevenpence!