As it happens, Compare the market was cheapest for me when I renewed/jumped ship at the beginning of July.

Bizarrely, it involved cancelling the auto-reinsure with MoreThan and taking out a new policy... with MoreThan.

I use Confused.com as they appear to have the least end-user issues with privacy (I think that recommendation was from that consumer chappie from ITV), which many screenscraper websites apparently still have (passing on details to third parties for marketing purposes, sometimes leading to customers receiving unwanted calls from ambulance chasers and other undesirables in the 'trade').

Up until 2 years ago, I always managed to do as Andrew-T recommends to beat down my existing provider (esure back then) to lower prices, but used it when that wasn't possible in 2020 (the price rise by 10% if I recall) to find an equivalent level of cover at around 1/4 - 1/3 off the price, and stayed with them (quotemehappy) this year when their renewal quote came in even cheaper than 2020.

I also got the offer with free £10 vouchers (one for car and one for home insurance as I changed both in 2020) to spend at a certain well-known motoring retail outlet towards a cycle helmet.

The problem with car insurance is that often what works (price and claims experience) well for one person doesn't for another, except for a few (often expensive, but that have excellent customer service) providers such as NFU Mutual.

Just avoid the Meerkat one, they bump up the prices, probably to cover the £18 million fine they got.

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/19/compareth...g

For the past three years I've used the main three comparison sites for prices and also got quotes direct from the top results they came back with.

All the quotes for certain companies were within a few quid of each other. Except for Meerkat who was £60 dearer.

Never read such nonesense in my life. I always use the comparison websites for the best deals and they all quote the same for the same companies on a like for like quote. I then use Topcashback to see which insurance company is giving a decent discount, just remember to clear your cache before using the TCB site else the offer may not be awarded as they may say you've previously visited the site.

When you click through to the actual insurance company, it is they who then sometimes give you a higher quote than what the comparison site gave, irrespective of which one you used.

In April this year, my insurance quote fully comp with wifey as named driver was £132 then £40 TCB.

When you consider the advertising budgets of the price comparison companies - and their huge profits (approx >25% of turnover) then you realise how expensive insurance used to be and how prices are still inflated..

2020 - Aviva bumps premium from under £200 to almost £300 - no changes claim etc Moved to LV for £194 and £70 voucher via Money Saving Expert

2021 - LV renewal £217. LV on comparison site £187 - all name companies roughly the same +/- £10. Phoned LV & renewed at £187

2021 - Green Flag up breakdown cover from £58 to £73. New customer price check £58. Phoned and £58 agreed.

So 2 calls in 2 weeks for a total of15/20 mins on phone saves £45

Indeed - most of them rely on the "I can't be bovvered to change" customer for their profits. Thos who lost my business won't likely be in the running for it anytime soon. At least the RAC bothered to both lower their quote and give 3 months extra breakdown cover to me for that price to keep me from switching to Green Flag (cheaper by £3 by only for 12 months' cover).

I'm now paying £100pa less than the 2020 esure quote (which they wouldn't lower at all) for my car insurance, despite being loyal to them for around 15 years. Perhaps there comes a point when they believe I'm just 'crying Wolf!' and only threaten to leave, thus they put their prices up and refuse to budge. Well, their loss.

The daft thing is that they probably end up losing money because they spend more on call centres and eventually pee off customers enough so they leave anyway.

That's modern day customer service for you - only caring about your next customer and not the existing ones, which can save a fortune on marketing/sales through spreading goodwill and recommendations by word of mouth/internet forums like this. No wonder some that ignore loyal customers go out of business.