On 29/05/2015 14:50, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Renewal came in from my house insurer that I've been with for perhaps 25
years. Never made a claim of any sort.

I'm happy enough to chop and change insurers with the cars - but do prefer
to have a history with something as valuable as a house. I could replace
the car if it got totalled and no insurance, but not the house.

I'd noted down what I paid last year - both the original amount and the
actual premium after getting their 'loyalty' discount. Which was
substantial.

This renewal was some 8% higher than last year's full amount.

So I phones them up. Asked the very pleasant bloke to look at what I'd
paid last year. And the figure he had was the high quote - not the amount
I'd actually paid after discount.

After simply saying their price was way out of line with all of the
comparison sites, he reduced the premium by over a third to almost exactly
what I'd paid last year. Still quite a bit higher than I could have paid
with a different company, but I decided on balance to stay with them.

I've just done the same with car insurance - querying the quote and
mentioning a few alternatives saved about 10%. It seems that making a
call is worthwhile for any renewal (especially the AA!)