Car insurance renewal -raging!

It was Direct Line that sent both my H ,when he was driving, and my S , hopping mad and and looking elsewhere.
They rely on inertia from their customers, it is immoral.

Sadly, no such thing as customer loyalty paying dividends anymore Jane10

we go on line before the renewal every year, tell who we are with what the best deal is out there and surprise, surprise, rather than lose our custom they always match it!

Direct Line are no different from any insurance company, in my experience. Like Urmstongran I take a little time to check out other quotes and then if the renewal is more than I expect I'll inform the insurers and give them a chance to match it. They usually do, although I've left Bank of Scotland for home insurance as they refused to budge on an outrageous renewal.

Not car insurance, but a power company.
We were shopping one day during the summer and were stopped by a young lady asking if we would like to switch energy companies.
We listened, and struck a much better deal than we currently had, so set the switch in motion there and then.

Once things had started moving , our existing energy company (Scottish Power) phoned, offering to better the deal we had with the other company.
The outcome being that we have stayed with SP and are happy with the deal.

If they can do this when we threaten to leave, why can't they offer better deals when the renewal date arrives?

I doubt Direct Line would suddenly offer s discount of £100+. Even if they suddenly did I don't want to have dealings with a company who would quite happily rip me off like that. Their loss.

It beggars belief that neither of you, one with a car business, bothered to do due diligence regarding vehicle insurance, instead, relying on your then current provider to recognise your loyalty.
There is no such a thing as loyalty nowadays.
You have to ask and ask again.

But Gabriella- we did which is how we found much better cover and rates.

Mr.Gravys car insurance came through £300 more than last year, he rang round managed to get it £320 cheaper, rang original insurance company and that matched it straight away.

All insurance companies rely on you to automatically renew, its how they make their money.

Even if direct line do try to match it I'm finished with them. I'll use a broker from now on. Simpler and much cheaper.

I'm not loyal to any company now. I shop around for the best electricity/gas, home insurance, car insurance, mobile 'phone and broadband, I get the best deal I can.

After many years with DL.

Jane10 - both our cars are with DL. My new quote was reduced by £80 when I threatened to leave. Mr i's new quote just arrived, up by £200 - he's found another reliable company 400 less so DL are losing him. Our house insurance is with them, I moved it four years ago for half the price and when I came back was given a very good deal.
I heard on the radio recently that insurance companies are to be stopped from penalising customers who stay with them. How this can happen I don't know but I wish it would

For many year DL offered the best deal. No longer it seems.

It drives me crazy that I have to spend time end energy searching for deals, otherwise companies quite cynically rip us off by simply staying with them. When you live alone, there's no second opinion; no one to say 'on balance we'd be better with ...'.

I hate that time of year when they nearly all come up for renewal at the same time.

Me too, Ginny.
Apart from the living alone bit, that is, but I might as well be for all the help i get from him in that respect!
And since my dad died a couple of years ago, i have to sort this type of thing out for my mum too. I hate it.

The irony is that it must cost companies more to sign up a new customer than to retain an existing one, but they still do it because the majority of customers are suckers that don’t change.
It’s energy companies that annoy me most I have 4 supplies to negotiate. This year one company was offering new customers a discount, whereas I was expected to pay 3p a KW more as an existing customer, so they lost a customer.
Energy companies deliberately try to confuse customers by offering many different tariffs, as many as 20 by some which makes it very difficult to find the best value.

Weird as my quote from Direct Line this year was a few pounds cheaper than the previous year.

All insurance companies do this, not just Direct Line. My car insurance was with RAC who wanted an extra £150 to cover me this year. I shopped around and got insurance with another insurer for less than I had been paying for the past year. Telephoned RAC and all they say is we can't match that! So they lost custom from me.
Also have the same each year with home insurance, they increase quote, so I go elsewhere,

It doesn't pay to stick with the same insurer, they don't value loyal customers.

I think all insurance companies work the same way as our AA renewal was over £100 more this year. Despite no claims, so I checked around and afterwards rang AA to say I was leaving. They immediately matched the reduced quote, but when later I was asked online to complete an AA survey of satisfaction I let rip about this unacceptable practice. I know, I know, I should have moved anyway because of this, but I had too much on and took the lazy option.
Beware also that most will automatically reinsure you fir the following year at the increased rate, unless you object.

Not all. I’ve just said mine, which oddly is Direct Line too, did not.

We have this every year! Renewal letter - phone call - lower offer.
DH likes the sport I just get angry.
Years ago I remember insurance going down if you hadn’t made a claim..

This paying extra for'no claims bonus protection' is like an insurance on insurance! What a racket it all seems.

I believe that nobody knows how good their insurance company is until they have to make a claim.
I was so impressed with the way A.A. handled my claim that I decided I wanted to stay with them.

However, renewal quotes were too high so I did Compare the Market online, got good quotes from reliable providers like R.A.C., then made one phone call to A.A. to say that I was delighted with their service and wanted to stay with them, but, as a retired person could not afford the renewal quote. I told them what I could see online, and they did their best to match it. If they could not match it exactly price wise, they offered me an M and S voucher to make up the difference.

So, one search, one phone call, you can stay with your chosen provider.

I don't want to stay with a provider who cynically tries to rip me off to such an extent. They're bandits!