I
opened my e-mail this morning and actually laughed out loud.
Swiftcover had just sent me a renewal quote for my car insurance.
I
am selling my car before I go to Uni, but I was interested to have a nose at how much they would offer now that I have a full year of No Claims Discount (I was always
named on my parents' insurance previously).
Instead of the fairly
awful £56 a month I was paying for the past year, I was quoted
a massive £71 a month! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!
They were kind enough to offer an automatic renewal too, so if I sat
back and did nothing they would graciously add another 26% to my
monthly payments!
Please
beware of insurers! Almost all
the younger people I've spoken to have found that insurers whack
the prices up after a year and
most of us have to change insurers annually for a better quote.
My
Dad thought that perhaps the increased price was because of the
recent EU ruling to stop insurers charging women lower premiums (which, by the way, is
hilarious because age discrimination
is still perfectly legal in insurance. Some of the younger people at
my work are paying
thousands a year just to
insure their tiny cars.).
I
decided to prove father wrong and went to a price comparison website.
Instead of £71 a month, I was quoted £36 a month!!
Literally half the price! On
the other hand, my Dad always finds that going directly to a “we're
not on price comparison websites” insurer works better for him, so
maybe those companies have better deals for the more “mature”
driver... :D
Another Way to Get a Better Deal
There
is a lot of advice out there about how to lower your car insurance
premiums (click here for the Money Saving Expert guide), so I won't profess to be an expert.
I
do, however, know one
way for you to save a
bundle: pay
annually. Most insurers add a massive
chunk of interest onto your bill if you choose pay monthly. Some add
over 30% APR.
When I bought my car I needed it to get to work and earn back some
money, so I didn't have the £600 to pay all in one go.
That's probably the same for a lot of young people, but consider
saving up to pay it all in one go next time. You could save
yourself hundreds of pounds.
For
example:
My
cheap(er) insurance quote was £36.95 a month for 11 months,
with a £114.03 deposit. This worked out to be a total
of £520.48 for paying monthly.
They also offered me a one-off annual payment of £447.64. Paying
annually would save me £72.84!
Two Ways to Save
My (pretty basic) advice is therefore to never accept a renewal quote without
checking out some alternatives, and pay annually rather than
monthly if at all possible!
Have
you ever had a laugh at your renewal quote? My insurer changes every
year – no company loyalty here! :D
4 comments:
I agree with you, my family friend and adopted aunt, has just been quoted £571 on renewal. She is 63 has a clean driving record-not even a bump or scratch!! So i will be looking around for her.
It’s the same headache for me every year. I get my renewal and BAM! it shot up once again. I had SwiftCover this year as well and my renewal went up by about £250 plus they knocked off all the extras I had. If I had been a bit slack and let them automatically renew then I would have been paying a lot more for a lot less.
Being a young driver is really hard now. I remember starting out and paying £1100 a year just to be on my own insurance, and that was on third party only for a small 1.0ltr Corsa. People can say it’s because of reckless young drivers blah, blah, blah but these when considered in the whole make up a small minority and there’s a big difference between actual requirement to put the price up because of this and using this as an excuse to.
Insurance companies should be ashamed of themselves because they’re all going straight to hell.
Car insurance is my absolute killer, I barely get any change from £1000 :( I make sure I pay annually though so they don't get another penny outta me! I do shop around every time as some of my renewal quotes have been worth more than the value of my car...ridiculous!
I'm with you on paying your insurance annually! First of all, it lessens the stress that you need to deal with every month, from the budgeting to the payment itself. Also, it lessens the paperwork that you'll receive from the insurance company. And yes, don't forget the discounts too! :)
Regards,
Fe
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