'I saved £120 on my car insurance with one 40-minute phone call'

Man holding mobile phone and choosing credit card for internet banking
-Credit: (Image: Getty)


It's that time of year - for me at least - when I have to call up my insurance company and pretend I want to cancel my policy.

I'm pretty savvy with money. I switch bank accounts regularly, I have a good ISA, I have high interest savings accounts, and a cashback credit card for my monthly shopping which I pay off 'IIIIIIIIIIN FULL' as Martin Lewis would say. So when it comes to insurance - and the yearly grind of getting a good deal - I'm used to this process. But surely it shouldn't be this hard.

This is probably the one area where I'm not as clever as I could be - but to be honest I can't be doing with the hassle of switching provider. I'm with Admiral and I have generally found them to be good. We also had the huge misfotune of having both our cars nicked a couple of years ago - and I got to witness first hand how helpful the staff were at there, compared to my partner's insurers.

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After that, I switched onto their multi-car insurance and also added in home insurance last year - for which you get a discount. I do feel some loyalty towards them - and I know that should the worst happen again with our cars or home - then I'll be dealing with the same company.

But I do still get frustrated at this annual game we all have to play - where you ring up and say you want to cancel then they give you a better price. And this year I noticed they're making it even harder.

I had been to the trouble of finding some better quotes online through a comparison site before my call. Some of the better quotes were even from Admiral. But when I brought this up, they started asking my for quote reference numbers - which I didn't have - just an email from Compare the Market with the headline figures.

I rejected Admiral's "best price" from the first call handler - and so she put me through to another team. They were then able to ask me a few questions, tell me that they "may not have up to date information" and then see if that alters the renewal price for my policy. I won't keep you in suspense any longer. It did, and the price came down. It's actually now lower than last year which is a bonus, considering their first offer was around £100 more. The final price was lowered by £120 from the original quote.

My policy for two cars and home insurance is still costlier than a couple of years ago - there was a particularly big leap in 2023 due to inflation at the time - but I'm pleased it's sorted. The next thing I have to do is scrabble around to find the cash to pay the full lot in a couple of weeks , because as we all know, it's more expensive to pay monthly - now don't get me started on that.

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