I have come to accept that in almost every case, I find it necessary to switch insurance companies almost every year now.
They all appear to offer very competitive prices for the first year, then hit you hard at the time of renewal.
I was with LV for the first year on the Gen1 ZS EV.
at the time of renewal, then tried to increase the policy by £85.
This was in the hight of C19 and with stiff restrictions on travel in Wales !.
Nice try LV - Switched to another company with the same level of cover for £90 less.
Only this week, we received a renewal notice for my wife's Fiat 500 with the RAC.
Again, a 40% increase over last year cost, resulting in a £90 increase this time.
I had plenty of time to shop around, but thought I would give them a call to see if they could improve on this renewal quote, before I started to shop around.
The guy on the phone said, no that's the best we can do sorry !.
He then went on to say, I shop around every year for MY car insurance, as prices WILL jump significantly, unless you switch !.
A quick 20 minute check through one of the comparison sites, found a quote through the A.A. for £100 cheaper than renewing with the RAC !.
Same level of cover without compromising on any features or details.
My motto is this :- Accept you will need to switch, or learn to be shafted on cost !.
They offer NO discounts for your loyalty, very much the opposite.
The same can be said for house insurance.
Cheap quote for the first year, then apply increases to regain the discount.
I also hate the "Auto Renewal" policy these companies are using now, unless you opt out - they will automatically make a request to your bank for payment.
Top Tip :- If you pay for your insurance via your bank card.
Then pay using a card with another person name on the card, so it does NOT match the main policy holders name.
This way, they can not apply for an auto renewal from that card, it has to done manually.
I have just discovered this when I paid for the renewal using MY bank card.
It was the advisor at the A.A. who explained this fact to me.
I am very happy with this situation to be honest.
Auto renewal is the insurance companies biggest friend !.
They write and inform you that your insurance is due renewal in about one months time.
You look at the price of the premium and promise to shop around to try and better it.
A couple of weeks latter and it has slipped your mind, next thing you know, it has auto renewed and your stuck with it for another year.
They love it !.
