Check your renewal, challenge it – and then reap the rewards

CHALLENGING a renewal premium, especially if there has been a sharp increase from last year, always makes sense.

Often identical cover can be bought from the same insurer at a cheaper price – as a new customer. This is because insurers discount premiums to attract new business.

A number of insurers surveyed by The Mail on Sunday confirmed that if a customer could find a cheaper equivalent quote from them online, they would charge the lower price. Jeff and Christine Jerram, from Manchester, recently challenged a car renewal quote from More Than. The cover, for Christine’s Vauxhall Meriva, was offered originally at £533. But a call to More Than resulted in it being reduced to £466. Yet by shopping around, the Jerrams managed to get near identical cover from Churchill for £350.

Jeff, who does voluntary work helping the homeless, says: ‘Loyalty, sadly, counts for nothing in the insurance world.’