Got my renewal through from M&S. Phoned them up for a spot of haggling.

It turns out that if I increase my voluntary excess by £100 it reduces the premium by more than £100.

No understand.

Insurers like higher excesses because it stops lots of many small claims.

The cost to the insurer of a small claim will be the repair or replacement of an item plus some sort of claims handling charge.

In this instance the cost of the above is more than £100 and hence they can offer you a smaller final premium.

Sometimes the excess can double up.

For example if an outhouse is broken into and a bike is stolen then repairs to the building would require one excess and the bike would have another excess deducted.

In reality however it is stupid.

Got my renewal through from M&S. Phoned them up for a spot of haggling.

It turns out that if I increase my voluntary excess by £100 it reduces the premium by more than £100.

No understand.

That’s interesting, I’ve just been on to them about my renewal and the price has gone up this year due to the new bike value rules.
I’ll have to see what the difference is if I increase the excess.