Just looking at car insurance comparisons through moneyupermarket.com.

Lowest prices are ranging from £150 to £182 with Chaucer Direct, KwikFit, RAC.

Big brands are £188 to £255 with Admiral, Axa and Sheila’s Wheels(?!?).

Current supplier premium is going up to £314.

What’s the difference between them all? Why would I not just go with the lowest?

read the reviews.

the cheapest for me had atrocious reviews.

I went with privilege for about £20 more

I went with Chaucer too – but then it is a relatively low value car and I can cope without a vehicle for a bit in the event of something happening.

I *think* Chaucer had some good reviews though, but I looked at so many I forget.

Don’t forget to buy via Quidco too – Chaucer are members.

Phone you current insurer up with the quotes above and watch you £314 renewal come down in price.

Then decide whether to shift or not.

Update…

Sent through the proof of no claims last week and just had a text and email to confirm all is in order and no need to do anything else.

I like that sort of simple service.

Phone you current insurer up with the quotes above and watch you £314 renewal come down in price.

I did this.

Was with Direct Line, have been for years, plus used them for home insurance.

Phoned them to add my wife to the policy. Their quote was almost double what I could get with another insurer.

They refused to budge on the premium. I cancelled and went elsewhere.

I’ve also cancelled the home insurance as I’ve got a much better price elsewhere.

Seems Direct Line are not at all interested in retaining customers 😀

Friend of mine went with Norwich Union (Aviva) as she didn’t trust the lesser known companies.
She then found out the hard way that she didn’t have windscreen cover.

Moral: read the small print.

I’m currently with an insurer that doesn’t have the best reputation for handling claims, but then they are cheap and I am friends with the person in charge of claims.

You’ve surely read the excesses and cover limitations? That’ll probably be where the biggest differences lie.

The outliers (eg the chap above adding his wife) will probably be for business that they really don’t want as it doesn’t fit their desired risk profile, so rather than refuse to quote they give a very high price.

We had our car nicked as part of a burglary. The house insurers (Marks & Spencer) were great to deal with. Very fair, straightforward etc etc.

The car however was with ESure. What a disaster! They treated me like I was trying to defraud them from the outset. The car was recovered but the repairs took 5 weeks (Locks change only). They refused to meet the cost of a replacement car (small print wriggle out).

It depends why you’re buying insurnace – to be road legal, or as a risk management tool (that you may need to call on one day).

I’ll certainly be reading feedback score/ reviews etc when I renew.

Having been once insured with and had to make a claim through Norwich Union (Aviva) I would highly recommend not using them unless you are very bored and would like to have your time filled by being messed around endlessly.

My old man used aviva and had endless trouble with them. I would rather make sure that it covered everything [health etc] rather than just the minimum of my car and or the other. Pay a little extra but it’s not normally through the roof.

Phone you current insurer up with the quotes above and watch you £314 renewal come down in price.
I did this.

Was with Direct Line, have been for years, plus used them for home insurance.

Phoned them to add my wife to the policy. Their quote was almost double what I could get with another insurer.

They refused to budge on the premium. I cancelled and went elsewhere.

I’ve also cancelled the home insurance as I’ve got a much better price elsewhere.

Seems Direct Line are not at all interested in retaining customers
Similar here – we had been with Ford Direct for years but their price was double pretty much anything online and they could only offer a tiny (ie a couple of ££s) reduction so we moved.