I’m always up for the fight when it comes to our household finances. I rarely cut corners and if there is a better deal to be had, and it ticks the right boxes, I’m ready to barter.
It’s part of the mantra of This is Money – we’re always looking to help you find the best deal.
So in January 2023 and 2024, when absurdly high car insurance renewal letters arrived, I was on full attack mode, ready to bring down the cost and phone customer service staff to ask, like an annoying toddler… ‘why?’
Last year, that rise was a monster truck sized 46.5 per cent with an insurer my wife and I had been with for a decade.
However, the haggle dance was frustrating in 2024 compared to 2023.
There was hardly any wiggle room from the insurer in question and as a result, we headed to a comparison website and still ended up with an annual car insurance cost far higher than at any other time of our car ownership, albeit lower than the auto-renewal.
We’re a good barometer for where insurance prices are heading for the rest of the year. Our car insurance is always up in the first week of January.
Finally: After two years of chunky car insurance renewal quotes, we’ve seen a huge dip to cover our Skoda Karoq (stock image)
We drive a non-flashy car (a Skoda Karoq, six-years-old, from new), cover an average amount of miles and have a fair few years no-claims – that’s why it was so baffling to see our insurance costs go up.
As well as the no-claims, there is the fact the car is depreciating with every thousand miles clocked up.
And when those high insurance costs landed on the doormat in the past two Januarys, I warned readers what was coming – and it rung true.
The majority faced baffling higher insurance costs and were largely told the same thing: repair costs were up, your postcode is pricier to cover thanks to thefts.
That’s not to mention a personal bugbear of mine – Insurance Premium Tax – now at a huge 12.5 per cent and raking in billions for the Treasury.
When the latest auto-renewal quote was in my hands recently, I was once again shocked… but this time, in a good way.
Not only was our renewal quote from Churchill lower, but sizeably lower. A meaty 23.1 per cent, or nearly £100 – from £422.47 to £324.54 – for the same cover.
Now that’s more like it.
Finally, our cheapest annual car insurance cost since having the car delivered brand new at the start of 2019.
Instead of grappling a comparison website, tweaking mileage and excesses to try and bring the cost down, and also calling the insurer to have a good old-fashioned back and forth trying to find out what’s behind a large rise, we’d been offered a fair deal without lifting a finger.
Here’s what I did: I read the letter. I smiled at the letter. I put the letter down. I realised that not only was I saving £97.93, I was saving a couple of hours of my precious, precious time by not going into battle.
Has our loyalty paid off? I doubt it’s a factor. But regardless, 2025 will go down as the year I didn’t have to faff about with one of the most boring tasks known to man – sorting out insurance.
I’ve noticed in the past few weeks a few people on X saying they’ve had a similar experience, shocked their auto-renewal cost is down.
Should I have shopped around for an even better deal? Possibly, but I couldn’t imagine much more of a saving, so we just did nothing. And it felt good.
As a bellwether of where car insurance costs are going, it could be a rare piece of household finance good news for you – as long as your situation hasn’t changed, and you had a careful 2024 of driving.
If you do get a car insurance shock in a bad way, don’t fret: Here’s how to save money on car cover – ten top tips to cut the cost in just a few minutes.
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