MONEY SAVER
Martin Lewis urges Brits to take six steps to save £100s on car insurance – including ‘optimum time’ to get a quote
The lowdown on comparison sites & how they might not find you the best rates
MARTIN Lewis has urged Brits to take six simple steps to save hundreds on their car including the "optimum time" to get a quote.
The personal finance guru shared his top tips as premiums hit a near-unprecedented average of over £1,000 a year.
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In a post on the website, Martin explained that prices are being pushed up by a combination of "inflation, increasing car repair costs...and having to pay out more for written-off cars as used car values have risen".
Thankfully, he was able to come up with six tricks that could knock a few zeroes off your latest bill.
First of all, his most important piece of advice was to never simply allow your policy to renew automatically.
Insurers were banned from charging existing customers more than new customers in 2022 but, according to Martin, allowing companies to just roll your coverage over for another year is still often more expensive.
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This is often because this rule is "channel specific", meaning that your renewal quote only has to be the same as the price for new customers who bought their insurance through the same method as you.
So if you got your policy directly from your insurer, but can find the same one for cheaper on a comparison site, there is no obligation to provide that lower rate.
That dovetails neatly into Martin's second recommendation - using comparison sites to find the best rates.
These sites allow you to take in a range of different options, including from the often cheaper, smaller providers, as well as controlling variables like your job title and parking options (within reason) which can help reduce costs.
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Indeed, you can even use Money Saving Expert's free tool, Compare+, to compare options, as well as check whether buying at a different time or adding extra drivers to the policy could make it cheaper.
However, comparison sites can't always find the best rates because, as Martin explained, they only examine single-car policies.
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If you have more than one car at home, he said, multi-car cover could see you receiving a better rate.
Likewise, you could look at combining your car and home insurance under "all-in-one policies".
Just be careful as this isn't always cheaper so Martin recommended getting prices separately first then checking out combined cover.
Next, Martin advised that even if you want to stick with your current insurer, you can still bring down our price by haggling.
He wrote: "If you can find a cheaper quote elsewhere, but like your current insurer's service, then ask it to match your cheapest quote.
"Do it close to renewal so the polite threat of losing your custom is stronger.
"Get an actual quote as a benchmark to ask it to beat/match.
"Don't get rushed into accepting the first offer."
Most expensive second hand cars in 2023
1. Vauxhall Corsa (£1,136 to £2,197, up 93%)
2. Vauxhall Astra (£1,069 to £1,998, up 87%)
3. Renault Megane (£1,043 to £1,882, up 80%)
4. Ford Focus (£1,066 to £1,863, up 75%)
5. Peugeot 307 (£979 to £1,678, up 71%)
6. Ford Mondeo (£1,544 to £2,298, up 49%)
7. Ford Fiesta (£1,171 to £1,707, up 46%)
8. VW Golf (£1,766 to £2,434, up 38%)
Finally, he revealed the "optimum time" to renew your policy to get the best deal.
He joked: "Insurance is like comedy [pause] - timing is everything."
MSE's analysis of over 70 million quotes found that renewing between 20 and 26 days before your deadline could save you over £400.
To be exact, 23 days out is the precise date when the best rates are available on average.
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Martin added: "Leave it later and quotes can almost double.
"This is because insurance is priced on risk, and providers' 'actuarial charts' apparently show those who renew last minute are often a higher risk."
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