insurance: it really is worth phoning them to reduce renewal quote saved £350!

[overthemill]

we had a renewal quote for £571 for our 10 year old car. went via moneysupermarket/quidco to find cheaper price and found one quote from existing company at £221 (£10 more than next cheapest with another company).

Called company and asked why on earth new customer quote was so much lower than renewal - they told me they could renew it at the lowest price and would raise it as it was soo much less. But the really nice woman also suggested that I go via quidco to get my £40 new customer cashback by buying on line! So, £350 less plus £40 cashback - almost enough to book a summer camping holiday - will be doing this with each and every insurance from now on!
(took about 2 hours all told)

sorry, 'raise it' as an issue for company...

Good for you!.

We're trying to get DH's parents to swap home insurance.

I had house insurance with Direct Line. When the renewal notice came it had leapt up by about 75% despite having made no claims. A call to Direct Line had no effect.... well, they could reduce it by a fiver but next to useless. Went on a comparison site and got an identical policy saving me about £300

NPower did something similar. Sent a letter announcing my special tariff was ending and putting me on their standard (v expensive) one. That time a call was enough to get a far better deal and now the monthly payments are cheaper than they used to be.

I think what they gamble on is people being lazy ie. not opening the renewal notices or not querying them if they do.