Just had an email from car insurance warning me renewal is on it way.

[PassingStranger]

As above, but also warning me the cost has risen.
They have tried to explain why.
Now have to wait to get it in the post.
They just wanted to prepare me it seems?
How did you deal with the rise, did you phone them and try and get it down?
Do they expect you to ring them?

You’re just making your life harder by doing this. You have to go through the whole faff with a new company. It’s so much easier to stay with your existing insurer, and just get them to drop the price (which they always will).

And you can’t say you want to avoid a company who are greedy arseholes, because all of them do the exact same thing!

Same here. I don't see how a bank/credit card company could give car insurance. Simply too many variables.

Mine went from £400 to £800 this year. I found one with comparable cover for £450. Insurance has gone through the roof the pas two years.

This has happened pretty much every year for past 5 years or so.

I've just moved to someone cheaper.

There's no loyalty benefits these days.

Do you not call the insurer you've been with for a long time first, see if they will reduce?

I find the cheapest quote on a comparison website then ring them up and see if they can match it. They usually do and then it saves actually switching insurers. Last time they didn't match it though so I left and went with new quote

No, I'm not - I always check every year which is the best price for me, its not a hardship to get new insurance

I went onto Money Supermarket and got quotes. They advise doing this 3 weeks before renewal as this is when you get the best price. My insurer sent through a renewal pack and it had increased by £100. I called them and said I'd found a much more competitive quote (which was actually less than the previous year) and they matched it so they kept my business.

No. Get your alternative quotes first so they know what they have to beat.

It's standard practice to move insurers every year is it not?

We always do a price comparison first , then you can talk to them armed with this information. They usually come down a bit but with the right information you can make a decision there and then .

For as long as I can remember I've gone on the comparison sites which always give me something cheaper. I then ring my provider and ask if they can match it, and they always have done. My initial quote this year from them was £250 more than what I eventually negotiated.

We are all with Direct Line , I checked with a comparison site before the quotes arrived , we also had the email about increases . When the renewals came in mine had only gone up about £10 , husbands £30 and our adult sons had gone down by £70 and all were competitive or better than on the comparison sites .

They were willing the reduce mine by £10 for ‘goodwill’

the renewal quote was £500 more than I was paying …. I got it somewhere else for less than I was paying before. It’s literally daylight robbery those renewals !

I always use a cashback site to compare insurance. I never stay with the company I was with the previous year.

I've got around £40 to £65 cashback doing it this way, plus much cheaper premiums.

Mine must be the only one unaffected. I was preparing for a huge increase that didn’t happen. Swapped insurers anyway and it wasn’t any higher than last time.

Martin Lewis is your friend.

Absolutely not. Find out what others are offering first. If you then want to call your current insurer you have ammunition to use to get their best price.

I was complaining about our renewal coming in at £150 more and my friend laughed as hers had gone from £350 ish to EIGHT THOUSAND pounds!! She had phoned and queried it but that's what the computer said, so she went somewhere else and paid something like £300.

Mine was due to renew a couple of weeks ago. My 'then' insurer sent me their renewal quote - it had gone up from £295 a year (tiny car, 15+ years NCD, rural location) to £725!!Madness! That's a 146% increase - how is that EVER a justifiable increase?

I rang them and they wouldn't budge, even though I'd already gone online and got many quotes for around the £300-£350 price range (and actually better cover!)

Obviously I cancelled and went with someone else. I just don't understand why insurance companies do this! The guy even explained that if I'd been a new customer I'd get a better rate...makes no sense at all, they are just losing business.

Just been through this. They were going to put it up by £100. Im happy with my insurance so I checked price comparison then called them and said, I can get it cheaper elsewhere, can you match. She said no problem and brought it down to cheaper than the year before. Wasn't tricky, she didn't take offence or hard sell, so easy.

A lot seems to depend on the type of car. Mine is a hybrid and in the last two years the renewals have increased a lot. I've managed to keep it down as far as possible but even the cheapest quotes are increases over the year before.

Full EVs are even worse. Friends with EVs have all complained and one is even selling his 8 year old Tesla as the cheapest quote he got was over £2k! We're all middle aged, had driving licences for years etc.

It's doubled, so I guess I'm online today for a comparison.

My insurance tried this, doubled my insurance, I went on compare the market and got insurance for just £30 a year more than the year before. I changed insurers obviously. Churchill currently but quite willing to switch in 3, if the renewal is silly

The insurance company I'd been with for 10 years wouldn't budge with a cheaper quote when my renewal was due last month - I was paying £300/year, the renewal quote was £1200/year! Best I could get on a comparison site was £400/year despite no claims, etc.

This happened to us.
They sent us a reminder with a message that costs would be rising.
Ds is on as second driver and the car has a black box fitted. So we hoped that his second year with excellent scores on the black box would be cheaper.
We stayed with the same company because although it was more expensive than last year it was the cheapest quote we could find.
Hopefully next year when he's 21 there'll be more companies who will insure him so more choice.

I had this last year, though I had no warning - just the shocking renewal increasing my £475 premium to £950! That was with Tesco.

I did a comparison on one of the comparison sites and found lots cheaper but with insurers I didn't know and with bad reviews. The "cheapest" decent insurer was about £650 so still more than last year, but a lot cheaper than Tesco.

I always do a comparison and almost every time I've done it before my current insurer matches the deal. The lady at Tesco just said "OK - I've processed the cancellation for you".

I wouldn't mind so much, but I've been driving for 27 years and have never had any points or accidents. Literally the only thing I've ever claimed for is 2 windscreens in 27 years!

Unfortunately since my last renewal we've had a load of car thefts in our close vicinity, so I'm dreading this year's renewal, even though all the cars stolen have been keyless entry, and mine isn't.