Car insurance quote goes up big time

[Nipple Clamp]

Standard industry practice, unfortunately (I'm currently contracting at a large insurance company). They know that only about 20% can be bothered to shop around at renewal time, so they hike up the premiums knowing that 80% will pay up. Think of it as a sort of tax on the lazy and the stupid.

Or, for the lazy but not so stupid, go with an insurance broker like Budget who shop around on your behalf each year (or claim they do). I wrote off my jag earlier this year; but luckily had 5 years' no claims and a "free claim", so my annual premium is still only £600 and I now have a jag several years newer. What a Result!

[Alf W]

Is that one of those 'Jags' that is just a Mondeo with a different body shell on it?

[VectraMan]

Or, for the lazy but not so stupid, go with an insurance broker like Budget who shop around on your behalf each year (or claim they do).

No broker shops around on your behalf. That's just what they say in their adverts to attract the gullible. They have maybe 3 or 4 different insurers at best, and whilst you will get the cheapest of those it doesn't make it the cheapest by a long shot. Confused.com is worth a try as their web search searches lots of other insurer's online quote systems, but the best ones are usually missing.

The only way to do this is to get as many quotes as possible. And just because somebody else of similar age/area/car as you gets a good quote off one company doesn't mean they'll give you one too.

[Ardesco]

Isn't confused.com owned by one of the big insurance companies? Admiral or Norwich Union I think?

[CaribbeanPirate]

Isn't confused.com owned by one of the big insurance companies? Admiral or Norwich Union I think?

Admiral

[Andyw]

Ardesco's in ! he's made it after his 3 hour commute !

[Andyw]

Isn't confused.com owned by one of the big insurance companies? Admiral or Norwich Union I think?

Next you'll be telling us that PCWorld is owned by Dixons !!!

[CaribbeanPirate]

Next you'll be telling us that PCWorld is owned by Dixons !!!

DSG International actually.

[IR35 Avoider]

Confused.com is owned by Admiral, but I am impressed by it - will use it next time.

My renewal from Tesco was £475, I switched to Virgin who front-end the same insurance company for £456. Then I tried the confused.com web site who took my details then got me 80-odd quotes (OK I don't remember how many) within a few minutes by screen-scraping everyones web-site. They showed that I could have got RAC insurance for £440 and if I raised my excess I could have got it down to £360.

[martinb]

Had my car insurance renewal quote from existing insurer. As usual, had quick look around the internet for better deals (moneysupermarket.com, confused.com etc) and found the same cover about £55 cheaper. Called my current insurers, told them the best quote I had and they matched it, no questions asked. They called it a "loyalty bonus". Well worth trying this trick - saves the hassle of having to switch, provide evidence of NCB etc etc