One would assume, and certainly hope, that there will always at least one firm out there chasing sales and offering a sensible price. The age old problem is that so many people don't chase quotes come renewal time, and just accpet their current insurers' hiked-up offer! So the big firms can get away with agreeing between themselves ( though never officially, of course!) to whack up their rates. But the smaller independant outfits will hopefully remain sensibe. If there is a massive hike I doubt anything will be achieved as there will simply be a subsequent surge in the number of people who just won't bother getting covered, and presumably more cases of dodgy claims which take time and money to investigate.

"I do the lazy bit and let a broker do it for me every year."

I've done this in the past, and would like to again, but my otherwise excellent broker, who does all our other insurance, doesn't have some companies on their system such as Tesco and the AA, who respectively now insure my Octavia and Z3, as their quotes are much cheaper than anything the broker could find.

As ever - shop around. Renewal was £150 more -So I shopped around - Elephant came up £40 less. Difference £190 exactly the same coverage. If you have a non standard car then it's even more important. I tried two comparison sites, three direct insurers and a Broker. One of the comparison sites came up trumps. Watch the details though as to beat your quote some of the tricky companies alter your details eg say you've got a 2 litre not a 2.5 litre, then when you ring them up to correct it they hit you with a huge additional payment to fix their mistake, claiming that you told them the wrong info. Been there, seen that, told them to stuf...er cancel it. I always renew two weeks early so I have plenty of time to shop around. So plan early and shop around, take your time. Pay in one instalment too.

All the companies have different underwriting criteria and different targets. Often a high quote is their way of saying - we really don't want to insure you. I work in a differnt sector of the industry (25years) and Motor insurers are still a mystery to me.

We are all paying the extra for those uninsured drivers and the ones who cancel after just one payment. Criminals. The average fine for driving with no insurance is what a £150? when the average premium is £300 it's no deterrent is it.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 19/10/2010 at 15:03

Agree with Lucy. Done that...