Huge hike in car insurance?

I ended up paying £20 short of £600 for the privilege of driving in London. I have never had so much as a parking ticket- most is down to my health.

Hmm. You tried an on line search silverlining? Our recent car insurance quote from our current insurer was £220 more than the lowest provided via the Moneysupermarket web site. We didn't go for the cheapest but have secured an equivalent policy for £130 less than our current insurer who would only reduce their quote by £50. Insurance renewal is almost at the top of my things I dislike list.

My car insurance renewal quote went up by about 20% this year. I phoned them and said I was thinking of going elsewhere and they managed to 'have another look' at the quotation. I ended up paying just 12p more than last year!

My son had quote from his existing insurance company, a fair bit higher than last year. So the comparison sites were hunted, he ended up getting a new quote from the same company on one of them for a hundred pounds cheaper! Also helped by not having breakdown cover through them, much cheaper doing it separately.
Such a daft game you have to go through these days.

Thanks, I will be back on the case today. I read on the martin lewis site that car insurance has gone up 13% this year and not the close to 100% my new premium demands.

Well I won't upset anyone by saying what I have just paid but I refused my existing insurers renewal quote as it almost doubled from last year . Shopped around and found direct line to be brilliant .

Thanks for the clue gilly. Will check it out. How do they think its ok to double a premium for no reason when the annual increase is 'only' 13% i just dont know. Well i do know, they rely on apathy.

Dry Saga. Search online

I have an old car , worth nothing, but it runs beautifully,, looks good - and I love it. Any kind of knock and it would be written off instantly; I have made no claims but my insurance went up by 20% this year. I rang the insurer and had a mild rant, and suddenly they were able to reduce it to about two pounds more than the previous year.

I have just spent a week on and of line searching for the right car insurance for me and have also come to the conclusion that buying breakdown separate is a lot cheaper
So here goes my last search before I buy.
Fingers crossed I'll get a very good buy

MIL has just needed to renew and her current insurer quoted an additional 100 (last year's was 350 - this year 457. No claims, 20+ years NCB; I always check with PCS and got 335, which she was happy with. When two days before expiry date current co asked her to phone them because they were sure they could quote her a better price, I was hopping mad! Didn't bother. I used to work in the insurance business and am glad I'm out of the game. They try every dirty trick and I particularly hate the "automatic renewal unless you deliberately advise them that you are changing" policy.

I have found LV very good, and they don't penalise customers who stay with them.

You do need to be careful when shopping around on the internet, some of them offer cheaper cover but with large excesses, OK if you don't have an accident but if you do your excess could be more than you save.

I have stopped being loyal to any insurance company (car, house etc) as every year the fee rises. It is nothing more than extortion... hoping that we are loyal or can't be bothered to shop around... I feel they have mug written on your notes if you are with them for more than a year... that thought usually prompts me to research. Just beware of the excess charge.

I shop around every year now for insurance and utilities as I have found loyalty to one company doesn't mean the best deal, quite the reverse in fact.

A friend was telling me yesterday that she phoned her insurer at renewal to point out her car was a year older and therefore worth less, her mileage had dropped as she has been unwell and she had no intention of paying what they asked. After a few minutes her premium was reduced to less than she paid last year. I'm pleased for her but angry that we need to do this.

We were renewing our house insurance yesterday and I went onto (Saint) Martin Lewis's website for advice. I guess the same reasoning applies to all forms of insurance. He recommends checking 2 or 3 comparison websites as not all insurance companies are quoted on every website. Then, having collated some quotes, check the big companies like Aviva and Directline who are never included in the comparisons. We went from £2800 to £400+. Result!

It is very underhand that the insurance companies try to slip a high premium under the wire, but instantly reduce it when challenged - this seems immoral and I am surprised that it is legal.

I am waiting to see what mine come up with as I made a claim last year, which was treated as "knock for knock" as there were no witnesses over the age of 8! - in fact it was not my fault - quite the opposite, I saved everyone's lives. We are with NFU which we feel has always treated us fairly and there is a local office where we know people. But if they try it on, I will be straight to the internet!

We always get ours through Quidco, similar to a comparison site, so they find the best rate,and a good lump sum back in cashback after a few months.

Try NFU, good policy and reasonable price

We use the comparison sites for all our insurances each year. So long as you compare like for like there shouldn't be a problem and these sites make it very easy by requiring you to enter all your details only once. If you register with them (the comparison sites) your details are stored for the subsequent years as well and only need updating at renewal time.
Companies who really raise their renewal quotes anger me when they offer to reduce a quote to match a lower quote - why didn't they offer that in the first place. I always refuse to accept them so that's a customer they have lost.

I change everything every twelve months. Never renew. When I get my renewal notices, I phone and say is this your best price? They usually come down then if you say you are going elsewhere. It annoys me that renewal prices are always higher than buying a new policy from the same company. I have no loyalty to any of them and use all the comparison sites for car and house insurance, car breakdown, gas & electric etc etc. We have just changed from British Gas to Octopus and in 12 months time no doubt will be switching again. So easy to do as well via Martin Lewis and cash back. If you let it go for years, you will be much worse off, whether for car or anything else.

Most insurers take the chance that the hassle associated with changing your insurance once the renewal notice goes out will mean you'll accept the increase. Easiest way is to contact insurers about a month before it's due and get quotes done. When renewal comes through, can then argue (with figures in front of you) for a discount or you'll go elsewhere. If that doesn't work, then change to one of the quotes given.

I go on the comparison sites a month before insurance expires,it can be time consuming but it definitely saves you lots of money.Google them there are a few.