Save money on house insurance!

sanwhi

For several years,I have saved money on car insurance by cancelling at renewal time, and taking out a new policy on-line, with the same company. My husband, however, usually just renews the house insurance, so last week when the quote for 2008 arrived, for £490, I thought I'd look at moneysupermarket.com to see if we could do better. Lo and behold, the second cheapest quote which came up, was with our current insurer (one of the well known big-boys) for £245 less than the posted renewal quote!! I expected to save a few pounds, but £245 is ridiculous! My husband double-checked himself, came up with the same figure, and so rang our insurer, who was acutely embarassed, and could offer no explanation for such a vastly different quote. Clearly they value their new customers more than their loyal ones, who rarely claim. We established that the new cover is as good as, if not better, than our current cover, and we would lose no benefit if we cancelled and started again, so that is exactly what we did - saving ourselves £245!! So please, please, everyone, if you want to save money, do shop around when your insurance renewals arrive, and don't just pay up because it's less hassle - that is what the insurance companies rely on!!

wornoutmumoftwo

I plan to do that in April when the Car insurance is up for renewal, we're with Direct Line and automatically renew every year, this year i'm going to have a good hunt around and see what we can save.

Ian_W

You should also consider joining QUIDCO as quite a few insurers give large cashback amounts [eg LTSB £120, More Than £75 etc] via the site. This year I got £197 cashback for two car and one household insurance in addition to really competitive prices.

shelly

I shop around every year for 3 vehicle policies and both buildings and contents. I think the buildings/contents is the only policy that we have stayed with for any length of time as they are excellent at matching any cheaper quotes I get. The 2 cars and 1 bike insurers aren't interested in price matching usually so we change co's for them every year.

Iv'e bugged my Dad for years to shop around for his van insurance. I think last renewal was the first time he's ever done it and was amazed at the saving he made by switching co's.

Oh and don't forget that some insurers policies are auto renew. If you plan on switching at renewal you should call them and tell them.

Sam_Bam

sanwhi wrote: »

For several years,I have saved money on car insurance by cancelling at renewal time, and taking out a new policy on-line, with the same company. My husband, however, usually just renews the house insurance, so last week when the quote for 2008 arrived, for £490, I thought I'd look at moneysupermarket.com to see if we could do better. Lo and behold, the second cheapest quote which came up, was with our current insurer (one of the well known big-boys) for £245 less than the posted renewal quote!! I expected to save a few pounds, but £245 is ridiculous! My husband double-checked himself, came up with the same figure, and so rang our insurer, who was acutely embarassed, and could offer no explanation for such a vastly different quote. Clearly they value their new customers more than their loyal ones, who rarely claim. We established that the new cover is as good as, if not better, than our current cover, and we would lose no benefit if we cancelled and started again, so that is exactly what we did - saving ourselves £245!! So please, please, everyone, if you want to save money, do shop around when your insurance renewals arrive, and don't just pay up because it's less hassle - that is what the insurance companies rely on!!

Hi Sanwhi
I've just had exactly the same experience. BIG insurance company quoted me £326 for my renewal, and £190 as a new customer. Not sure how to deal with it. Do you take the new quote then cancel the old insurance and tell the cancellation department why you're cancelling - I assume they can't decline to offer you the new quote once they know you're an existing customer???

Thursdays_child_3

My building insurance is due for renewal. We have been with the same company for 9 years and never claimed, so I would like to get some more quotes.

Thank you for any help you might be able to give.

shelly

Thursdays_child wrote: »

My building insurance is due for renewal. We have been with the same company for 9 years and never claimed, so I would like to get some more quotes.

Thank you for any help you might be able to give.

Not really sure what help you are expecting but the best advice is if possible get an online quote from your current insurer and compare it to your renewal. Also shop around for quotes from other companies.