Spring clean your home insurance!

New guidelines which came into effect on 1st April will help consumers avoid being overcharged by greedy insurers who bank on their loyalty when their home insurance is due for renewal. Providers are now required to show how much the premium has increased, which is intended to improve transparency and encourage customers to shop around rather than accepting huge rises on policies which often auto-renew.

Many insurance firms offer cheap premiums to new customers and then increase them at each renewal, making huge profits from busy homeowners who don’t question the rises. But shopping around can save you money and it really doesn’t take much time.

Express reader Geoffrey Blow halved his premium by using PayingTooMuch.com. Mr Blow, from Lincolnshire, had been insured with Saga for over 14 years. His renewal premium was £440 but he purchased a policy for less than £200 with PayingTooMuch.com. This is a very common situation and as renewal letters don’t tell you what last year’s premium was, the increases are accepted without question. Mr Blow says “I often use the Express shopping services and I was very happy with the deal I got with PayingTooMuch.com”.

So when your home insurance renewal letter drops through the letterbox don’t accept the premium offered without checking elsewhere. You could save a fortune with a quick phone call to compare prices.