Don't touch that renewal notice, because you could save a fortune on car and home insurance with this easy-to-use, yet powerful, search!
One of the most dangerous letters to arrive through your letterbox (apart from the never-ending offers for credit cards and loans) is an insurance renewal notice.
I make this statement for several reasons. First, renewal notices never show last year's premium or the latest premium increase, and most of us can't remember how much we paid for home, motor or travel insurance a year ago. Second, whether you've made a claim in the previous twelve months or not, your premium is sure to increase, because only a company run by lunatics would send you a lower quote than last year's!
Hence, receiving an insurance renewal is the same as getting a bill which reads, "Please pay us more than you did a year ago!" Then again, it's all-too-convenient to renew your insurance without thinking, isn't it, especially when you have all the paperwork in front of you? Also, this year's premium will be collected automatically, so you need to contact your insurer or broker if you don't want this cover, which is a hassle in itself.
Thus, you can see how renewal notices lure consumers into instinctively renewing their cover without stopping to think. Alas, this is always a huge mistake, because, as an existing policyholder, you get taken for a ride, while your insurer reserves its best quotes to attract new customers!
Indeed, according to The AA's British Insurance Premium Index, shopping around for just two common policies -- home and motor insurance -- can save you serious sums. For example, The AA found that the typical combined premium for buildings and contents insurance is £360 a year. However, The AA's Shoparound premium (the average of the three lowest quotes) is just £227, which is a saving of £133 a year.
For motor insurance, the savings are even more impressive. The AA's latest quarterly survey found that the average annual premium for comprehensive car insurance is £758, compared to £464 for its Shoparound premium. Thus, finding cheaper car cover could save you around £294 a year, which would pay for a weekend break for two. For non-comprehensive car insurance, the savings are enormous: an average annual premium of £957, versus a Shoparound price of £546, or a staggering difference of £411 a year!
So, finding the best quotes for these two everyday policies could save you close to £50 a month, which helps to offset the cost of rising council tax, domestic energy and car fuel bills, etc. However, the idea of phoning around or going online to amass dozens of different quotes deters many people from seizing these savings.
Happily, The Motley Fool has teamed up with leading insurance website Confused to offer our readers superb deals on home, motor and travel insurance. All you need to do is take less than five minutes to fill in an online form, and then our brand-new search engine checks 96% of car insurance providers on the Internet to find you great-value cover.
So, next time your home or car insurance renewal drops on your doormat, remember that it's nothing but a reminder to check the Fool's new, improved insurance search service. If you don't, you could be losing out on a saving of £400 to £550 a year, every year!
More: Use the Fool to compare insurance quotes, compare personal loans and compare credit cards!