Insurance fightback

WHEN it comes to your home or car insurance, there is absolutely no reward for loyalty. The firms that flog this vital cover don’t even understand the meaning of the word.

It took years of campaigning by Money Mail just to get insurers to print last year’s premium on the renewal forms they post to you each year.

This simple act of honesty, finally introduced this month, means it should be clear when your price has been hiked.

But that’s only scratching the surface of a total swindle. The figure on your renewal notice won’t seem that shocking.

For instance, annual car premiums average £462 — up from £429 a year ago, according to the Association of British Insurers. That’s a rise of £33 in a year, which, annoying as it is, wouldn’t make me leap with rage.

Most of us have so little spare time, we shrug and sign on the dotted line rather than find out if we could do better elsewhere.

But over time, these ‘small’ price hikes add up. At £33 a year, your premium would almost double in a decade.

I suspect millions of people who haven’t switched for a while are paying £800 or more for policies that should cost nearer £300.

Privately, bosses of the banks and insurers that are selling this cover admit the market is totally, utterly broken.

They claim competition is so strong on price comparison websites that they have to charge their long-standing policyholders higher rates to afford the cheap deals they use to lure in new customers.

That means two things: they will try to whack you every year without even trying to justify it; and the rip-off is getting worse.

When you hear insurance executives bleating about stealth taxes, bogus whiplash claims and soaring repair bills, you can bet they are preparing the ground for big price hikes this year.

It’s high time this nasty practice was stopped, and the first step is exposing the insurers most guilty of taking you for a ride.

So next time your car or home cover comes up for renewal, shop around. When you know how much you can save, write to me by email at d.hyde@dailymail.co.uk or by post to Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB.

With your help, we might convince one or two insurance bosses to promise to keep prices low for all customers, every year. Now that really would be worth our loyalty.

Duty U-turn

READERS’ voices have been heard on the disastrous plan for a new death tax south of the Border. Many people wrote to MPs and Money Mail, enraged by measures to increase probate fees from £215 to as much as £20,000.

For weeks, we called on the Government to perform a U-turn — and at last it has obliged.

MPs say the Government realised the policy was causing a stink and wanted the chance to review it. The forthcoming election proved the perfect excuse.

Now let’s hope ministers finally see sense and ditch the idiotic idea entirely.

Fone farce

NO WONDER they’ve had so many customer service problems at Vodafone. When we tried to arrange an interview with chief executive Nick Jeffery to discuss this very matter, we went back and forth for months. Why?

Finally all became clear. Vodafone’s spokesman had become convinced we’d asked to see the company’s call centre in Stoke rather than talk to the top dog.

Vodafone often gets the wrong end of the stick, as its customers will testify. Many have had to battle for months to get the simplest of complaints resolved.

Luckily, the suave Mr Jeffery sounded serious when he said he was ‘hell-bent’ on resolving the service nightmare for customers. Do email him at nick.jeffery@vodafone.com if you keep having troubles. If he receives as many emails about dodgy Vodafone service as our letters editor, Tony Hazell, does, he is less likely to take his foot off the gas.