Insurance industry needs to change up

COMMENT

THERE’S a really difficult balance to be struck between the need to make sure you’re getting a good deal for all of your insurance polices and the need to spend all day every day online to make sure you’re getting a good deal.

Switching is a good idea. It is necessary not just to make sure you’re getting a competitive premium for all of the insurances you buy, but also to make sure you are managing to keep a policy that is up-to-date, relevant and does what you need it to do.

It seems that some of our insurers are falling behind with at least some of these issues.

It means that millions of us may be paying over the odds because insurers still seem to want to give the best deals to new customers rather than rewarding customers who renew their policies automatically and without looking around the market for a more competitive quote, or up-to-date policy.

While we as consumers can help by ensuring we shop around for a good deal, insurers have to remember that not everyone has the confidence or capability with money to be able to haggle and negotiate a better deal for themselves.

In addition, not everyone has the time to sit online for hours wading through comparison sites to make sure they are getting the best deal.

It’s good to see the insurance industry seem to recognise that this is a problem.

It’s also good to see that the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, has said that things need to change, and that the industry needs to get better at making sure renewing customers get a better deal.

There are a number of things it could do to improve things.

These include banning insurers from increasing premiums to consumers renewing their polices, or ensuring that insurers move their customers on to the best available deal when they renew, rather than just renewing their existing policy automatically.

Let’s hope that insurers get to grips with this before the FCA has to force these changes on them.