Do you know what you paid for your insurance last year?

Just got my partners’ renewal. Never made a claim in over 30 years. Been with AA for 5 years. Renewal £543.41 up over £100. Gone with AXA for £220. Like for like policy. Saved £323.41.

My car insurance with LV was due for renewal in December 2013. The quote was £431 which seemed high. I checked comparison sites and then phoned LV. They reduced the quote from £431 to £131. This is a reduction of 70%. Can anyone beat this? I think it is appalling that they overcharged me by so much for so many years.

Saved around £70 haggling with existing home insurance provider and complaining about the renewal cost!

When I asked AXA to match another insurance quote last year, they said they were unable to. As I had left it a little late in the day I just agreed to renew with them, but had to update my debit card details.The next day as I had some time free, I decided to check my e-mails (I don’t always have time & very often only do it twice a week), much to my horror there was an e-mail saying how sorry AXA were, that I had chosen NOT to renew my insurance with them!
Luckily I had taken details the previous evening when I had been on the phone with their representative, & was able to prove that I had as far as I was concerned renewed my cover.
I pointed out that I had because of their incompetence driven to work completely unaware that I was NOT covered, & had indeed narrowly missed being involved in an accident involving 3 vehicles (including a colleague of mine), & if I had been I would have given insurance details only to find I had none! It would appear that in updating my card details they had accidentally cancelled my policy! Due to this error, I was able to at least insist that as compensation they now match the other quote I had found. It did not occur to me to ask for anything else, although my brother-in-law said I let them off too easily, & should have asked for the whole year free!
Anyway, the moral of the story is, just BE CAREFUL when changing/amending or updating any insurance details/policies. I could have been in all sorts of trouble if I hadn’t happened to check my e-mails that day!

I have never haggled with insurance companies, tyre fitters, holiday companies or anyone else that offers to price match. I always compare companies and choose the one that offers the best deal on the day. (Not cheapest, but best deal, I do also take other factors into consideration.)
My rational being to give my custom to the one that offers the deal. Not find the best deal to go back to the first (or bigger name) just because they said they would price match. If the first one wants my custom all they need to do is offer a good deal and not think that I wont walk somewhere else.

After reading your article on car insurance I went online and got quotes.
I was paying extra for breakdown cover with Churchill.
When I compared prices I found that I could get breakdown for less plus cheaper car insurance.
For new customers Churchill was offering free breakdown.
I called them and they came back with a cheaper price when I pointed out that new customers got free breakdown and that I was a long standing customer with my house insurance plus my husbands car insured with them, he match the internet price.
Would have paid £253.34 plus £146.28 breakdown.
My price now is £183 .38.for the year including free breakdown.
I can’t thank you enough for the tip.

I don’t get stressed when my policies come up for renewal – I merely treat the proposed premium as the first step in the negotiation process. First step is to check what I paid last year. If I feel the premium is unjustly high(er), I challenge the company and so far, when I’ve needed to do that, I’ve always been offered a price which is very acceptable. If that ever proved insufficient, I’d then shop around, taking into account Which? recommendations, since I place a great deal of emphasis on customer service (if you ever need to claim, you really, really, don’t want a company that messes you around at a very stressful time).

I agree with others though – there should be legislation to force companies to include previous year’s premium with the renewal quote.

I think we have to come to terms with the fact there is no such thing as loyalty anymore.

Insurers rely on people (mainly more mature policyholders) to renew. These people tend to stick with the same provider out of loyalty, but tend to be paying over the odds for their insurance.

My wife is insured with a well known insurer. Every year she switches and gets a better price than the renewal. Now here’s the crazy bit. She switches but is still insured with the same insurer but through a different broker.

Just renewed my car insurance with Sheila’s Wheels and was surprised that after 18 years and 74% no claims the quote was £3.44 higher than last year at 17 years and 73% no claims. As to why I was told this was because the ratings of the post code had changed but the insurer does not disclose this rating to the general public. I asked for a quote if I was a new customer, it was higher. However, in the process of working out this quote it showed up that the insurer had my car as first registered on 1 January 2009 when in fact it was first registered on 10 March 2009 as the Registration Number shows, being LG09…. The recalculation then showed the price of £192.48 whilst the original quote was £209.10. A saving of £16.62 which I accepted.
E Ferris

I did not get a chance to haggle. Insured with Tesco Bank, renewal on my car became due on the 26th March and I duly received a renewal notice for £262.45, an increase to last year. . As I was sitting down on the 18th March to deal with this a knock on the door tells me that my husband is unjurt but has had an accident with the car. Tesco Bank Insurance duly writes the car off and pay me their offer price. Quickly settled. I then receive a letter on the 27th March to tell me that Tescos Bank have taken £326.29 out of my bank automactically as I had not instructed them otherwise. So they knew there had been an accident, uploaded the premium and took the money from my account for a car that they had written off and was no longer in existence. I had to phone and argue with them. They now say they are sorry and will return the money but it will take at least one week, although banks can make payments same day. I am not haggleing with them for my new car I am going somewhere else.