Martin's rule of obtaining car insurance quote 26 days before renewal

millennial

Hello,

I've heard Martin mention that the best time to get insurance quotes is 26 days before your renewal date. My question is: since most insurers only send out their renewal offer about two weeks before the renewal date, how can I effectively compare quotes from comparison sites with what my current insurer will eventually offer?

Sorry if this has been asked before. 

Thanks!

DullGreyGuy

Look to see how long the quote is valid for... traditionally they were valid for 21-28 days but some intermediaries these days only hold them valid for the day provided.  

You could ask your current insurer if they can provide it early, though many cannot as its an overnight batch process which the contact centre cannot just trigger at will. 

If its valid for 1 day only and your insurer cannot provide your renewal early then its up to you to accept the quote or take a punt on the renewal. Obviously this site being owned by a comparison site probably prefers you do one over the other. 

Ayr_Rage

During my last renewal in March, the best quote from a month out until I purchased (13 days ahead of renewal date) was with a company that said their quote was only valid until tomorrow, this was on Topcashbackcompare.

It only changed by a few pence each day, both up and down and reappeared every day.

The so-called 26 day sweet spot did not appear to be evident this time around.

facade

Both cars are with Aviva Zero, and both renewal invites appeared 28 days before expiry, including the day of issue.

Presumably Aviva are confident that they are competitive amongst the insurers that don't sit right at the bottom of the barrel.

Incidentally, both renewals were near enough 20% below last years price, as people seem to be saying is now the case generally.

chrisw

If you get quotes on the comparison sites, click through to the insurers site and then you can usually save the quote for around 30 days. Otherwise the comparison site tends to rerun the quotes next time you log on which could be better or worse.

forgotmyname

I have had good quotes 28 days before the renewal and good quotes the day of the renewal.  Find one example where 26 days
is the sweet spot for the renewal and you can probably find 999 where it was not the sweet spot.