Shop around, haggle and compare for cheaper insurance
In January, the insurance world introduced rules to protect car and home insurance customers from the “loyalty penalty”.
Previously, the longer you stayed with your insurer, the more you paid, especially if you didn’t haggle each year. New customers, meanwhile, benefited from discounted prices.
Consumer champion Which? has surveyed 14,000 of its members with car or home insurance to find out how much they were paying and how premiums have changed.
While, on average, premiums decreased slightly from May 2021 to June 2022, large numbers of customers still saw their premiums go up when renewing this year.
It was discovered that customers who’d stayed with their existing car or home insurer were more likely to have experienced a hike – 50% were paying more than last year, compared to 31% of those who switched provider.
The watchdog also found that those who negotiated or shopped saved significant amounts.
Jenny Ross, Which? money editor, said: “Doing your research on comparison sites, haggling and switching remain effective ways of bringing down the cost of insurance.”