Should I switch insurer?

divastrop

Hi. I have been driving for just over a year and have been insured with Tesco as they gave me the best price initially on my first car- around £750. When I got a bigger car in April this year my monthly payments went up from £78 to £120 which was understandable for a new driver driving a 1.6 zafira. As I am a social work student and was going on placement, I had to change my cover to business use in August and my payments then went down to £110. I got a renewal letter in November and it said my premium for the upcoming year would be £1215 with monthly payments of £113, which I thought was a bit steep but assumed it was due to the business cover. I did not have time to contact them or shop around then and just allowed it to auto renew.
I have just contacted Tesco to inform them that my placement has ended and I will be going back to being just a student. When the business use was removed from my policy the premium was brought down by only £48, and monthly payments reduced to £108.
I have put my details in a couple of comparison sites and am getting quotes of £600-£650. Would I be better off cancelling my policy with Tesco and going with a different insurer? I know they have a cancellation charge of £30. If I decided to do this how would I go about it? Do I arrange insurance with somebody else then cancel my current policy?
I am very confused.

Captain_Flack.

When you did a comparison what no claims did you use?

Remember you won't have this years to use. But if it's half the price and a £30 cancelation fee I'd do it.

funkycoldribena

divastrop wrote: »

. I did not have time to contact them or shop around then and just allowed it to auto renew.

You havent got 10 mins spare in your life??? These companies love people like you.

arcon5

It would almost certainly be worth changing if the saving is £600 !!!! Especially since it sounds like your only a short whole in to the policy

divastrop

I used a year NCD from current and previous car, I'm assuming that's correct ?

And no, I did not have ten minutes to spare at that time. Now I have finished I have time to look into this sort of thing.

So if I change insurer, do I set up a new policy first before cancelling the current one?

arcon5

At renewal of the policy it would have stated years ncb - that's what you use. The current policy is being cancelled so no ncb earned. Cancel
Your current policy then enter in to the new one - usually policies can start immediately. Although its my understanding most insurers will allow a couple of days overlap

McKneff

And be careful, although there is a cancellation charge, there could also be an admin charge. I would ring them and check first.

forgotmyname

Paying monthly could be costly. Been doing some quotes myself and although i pay yearly i do see what the monthly fee would be.

Some charge little extra when paying monthly but others charge a lot.
I think Aviva were about £45 more expensive where Hastings were over £230 extra..

Aviva seem keen to get my business this year. 1st time they have ever come up near the top of the cheapest.

divastrop

It states one year NCD. I think in the grand scheme of things losing a month on this policy would be worth it for saving £600.
There is an admin charge of £15, I don't know if you have to pay that on top but it would still be worth it.
The cheapest monthly payment was £55 over ten months with a £180 ish deposit. I think the cheapest quote I got was AVIVA funnily enough. I was getting quotes of £2k on my corsa from them last year!

Quentin

Before you cancel ask them to confirm in writing the total cost of cancelling, including all charges and premium due.

(Assuming you are outside of the first 14 days of the new policy, it won't be cheap to cancel, and if you are paying on the drip, expect early termination charges for the credit side of this)

If you decide to cancel, then comply with any conditions quickly (many insurers won't process a cancellation till you return the certificate - if that is the case, use recorded delivery to send it back).

Get your new policy to start as soon as the current one ends (Not before, as then your 1 year NCD won't be available to you to use on the new policy as it is in use with the current policy)

funkycoldribena

divastrop wrote: »

And no, I did not have ten minutes to spare at that time. Now I have finished I have time to look into this sort of thing.
?

If the local garage had put its fuel up to 6 quid a litre would you not have gone 10 mins out your way to get it cheaper?