Car insurance renewal time

[Accy cyclist]

My car insurance renewal is due in 7 days time. I'm insured with Hastings Direct. My insurance went up last year from the 2023 price of £238 to £278. This year the same insurers wanted £501, which is a hell of an increase seeing as I never claim for anything on my insurance. I was quoted £291 by an insurance company called Beam, so without reading their small print I decided to cancel my insurance with Hastings Direct and go with this unknown Beam company. I went into my bank today to ask them to cancel the forthcoming £501 debit to Hastings Direct, but they said they couldn't do as I had to phone them to cancel it myself. With having a speech problem I asked a friend if she'd phone them for me, which she did. They asked her how much I'd been quoted with this Beam insurance firm, even down to the last penny, also asking If I'd read the small print about excess (which they said could be a whopping £2,000!!) courtesy cars, even saying there could be a compulsory black box needed if I was to go with 'Beam'. Hastings Direct then said they'd match the 'Beam' price and also offer me free windscreen replacement, a courtesy car and excess of £45, which is far better then their last year's excess price of £300. I'm just glad my bank said they couldn't cancel my forthcoming payment to Hastings Direct as If they had I would've bought the 'Beam' offer which was probably a case of pay £291 and then be unable to claim if I had to, due to ridiculous excess charges!!

 

[Drago]

Don't go near Hastings. They were useless verging on incompetent inm2023 when some prat drove into my parked Mini.

 

[johnnyb47]

My insurance has dropped like a stone this year for some strange reason.
I've done the usual searches on go compare and I got mine for £140.
A welcome relief considering everything else seems to be going through the roof

 

[OldShep]

Agree car insurance has dropped this year. Renewed mine 2 weeks ago £120 less than last year. 😀

 

[DCLane]

Agree car insurance has dropped this year. Renewed mine 2 weeks ago £120 less than last year. 😀

Yours might have, as did son no. 2's and my Vauxhall's. The insurance for the hybrid Honda CR-V has gone up.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

My car insurance renewal is due in 7 days time

Apparently the sweet spot for insurance renewal is 21 days beforehand. Shorter notice than that, you start to see the premium increase

 

[Accy cyclist]

Apparently the sweet spot for insurance renewal is 21 days beforehand. Shorter notice than that, you start to see the premium increase

Funnily enough many of the quotes I received when inquiring about a month ago were more than those I've received in the last fortnight. 🤔 Though I have heard folk say it's best to renew in good time, rather than leaving it till the last day or so. I remember receiving a letter from the AA must be 6 weeks ago, who I was insured with up till swapping to Hastings Direct, offering me insurance 'from' £500!!!

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Funnily enough many of the quotes I received when inquiring about a month ago were more than those I've received in the last fortnight. 🤔 Though I have heard folk say it's best to renew in good time, rather than leaving it till the last day or so. I remember receiving a letter from the AA must be 6 weeks ago, who I was insured with up till swapping to Hastings Direct, offering me insurance 'from' £500!!!

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I was a wee bit out. The best time is between 20 and 27 days before renewal.

Have a read at this from moneysavingexpert.com :

The best time to buy car insurance quotes is 20 to 27 days before you need the policy to start​

Your renewal notice from your insurer will show the new price for next year (and the price you paid last year). It's typically sent around 28 days before your current policy ends. If you do nothing, it'll usually automatically renew at that new price, so always have your renewal date in your diary to take action. ​

The cheapest time to get quotes is 26 days ahead of your renewal date – making it the best time to get a quote as your cover becomes more expensive the closer you get.

Our analysis of over one million quotes from January to April 2024 from MoneySupermarket showed a policy costs an average of £2,277 a year on renewal day. But 26 days earlier the average is just £906 a year, a MASSIVE £1,371 less.​

In general, the closer to your renewal date you get quotes, the higher risk you're deemed to be (we've heard that it can show insurers you're a bit disorganised). But getting quotes too early, for example, 28+ days out, can also push the average price up – likely as fewer insurers will provide quotes that early.​

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'll try to make an effort to do the 20 to 27 days before it's due next year, but as it is I'm happy with the price and the excess, courtesy car and windscreen cover I've paid for. Maybe the cost of the new policy is the one they might've offered if I'd paid for it in those 20 to 27 days and the £501 was the current price, but on phoning them they offered me the former policy. 🤔

 

[Accy cyclist]

Don't go near Hastings. They were useless verging on incompetent inm2023 when some prat drove into my parked Mini.

Aren't they all the same Drago when it comes to paying out! 🧐 It must be the early 90's since I last claimed off a car insurer, when I had my Fiesta XR2 nicked. The MOT ran out in the period between it being stolen and recovered 9 months later. The insurers paid me out as they say, but not for the full amount it was insured for because the MOT ran out in the time it was missing. They gave me about 75 percent, saying at the time it was recovered it didn't have a current MOT, so although by law they didn't have to compensate me, they were giving me 75 percent of the car's policy value as an act of goodwill!! I kept telling the insurers that it had a full MOT when stolen, so whatever happened after wasn't my fault or any of my doing, but taking them to court for about £2,000 in today's money wasn't worth the hassle and potential court costs!

 

[Drago]

It wasn't the paying out bit, because ultimately it's the other drivers insurance thst was paying. It was their woeful management of the whole affair.

Insisting, against my legal rights, that my car goes to their repairer whereas I wanted a BMW repairer as the car was under warranty.

They dragged it out for two months and it took the involvement of solicitors via my AA legal cover to get them to finally start moving.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Avoid Hastings and Admiral like the plague. Both can and will refuse to pay out anything if you have ANY alcohol in your blood. You can be comfortably be below the legal limit and therefore not committed a motoring offence, but they use their own definition of unfit to drive.

 

[OldShep]

Yours might have, as did son no. 2's and my Vauxhall's. The insurance for the hybrid Honda CR-V has gone up.

I did read that claims for vehicles with batteries are a lot higher. This now reflected in your premium.

 

[Drago]

I did read that claims for vehicles with batteries are a lot higher. This now reflected in your premium.

Indeed. Insurers have formed the habit of simply writing them off as being "too difficult", but that's hurting their bottom line so they wre less inclined to write perfectly repairable e cars off out of hand now and price recovering as a consequence.

Honestly, the consumer pays a price determined by the industry's incompetence. These people are as bad as politicians.

 

[bikingdad90]

I renewed with Tesco insurance this year. They claim to offer you the best price on renewal, let’s see if that holds true in 12 months time.

Admiral did the same and then when I chose not to renew they miraculously knocked another £50 off the premium. If you are going to mess me about, it’s already too late!

There are a couple of things I need to look for:

Car seat cover - I’ve got kids who need car seats at the moment and in the event of a crash I’d want them to be included in the settlement.

Tow bar - my tow bar was fitted as an aftermarket item rather than from the factory so I always make sure it is declared as a modification.

Business class 1 for both main and named drivers as we both occasionally drive for work, some policies only cover the main driver.