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We all know that auto renewals can lead to inflated premiums for the convenience of doing nothing. I get this with my bike insurance and house insurance every year.

Usually saved around £50 on a quote of £250 with my old car and simply went on line with the same insurers, got a like for like quote and saved money.

This year was a classic.

Auto renewal quote of £550 for the Boxster S 987, £500 voluntary excess.

Like for like quote, same insurer, Direct line, £300 with £300 excess.

Ive been with them for over 10 years as they are always competitive, but thats taking the p*ss out of your customers in my view.

There is no loyalty when it comes to money.

When i called them i was asked 'would you like to speak to our loyalty team'?

What? You have one?

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I renewed my insurance last night, we have 5 cars on a multicar policy and I did the same thing I do each year - wait for the renewal., expect a big increase then ring up and discuss. This as with other years reduced the premium by £500.00 to actually a lower level than last with higher levels of person injury. I have only been discussing with a colleague today that the days of customer loyality where we all got better terms the longer we stayed have been completely reversed and now you are penalised.

If we are at an age where we can spend our valuable time challenging these costs then great but I would imagine there is a high proportion of the population who maybe are in a different sitaution who either just accept it or don't have the energy or know how to try. It is a shame.

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Exactly, if they bag one in ten then its an easy earner for basically taking the p*ss.

They also reduce any premium if you name a partner on your policy as a second driver. If only they knew...

The main point i was making was the huge difference in savings. £250!!

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On the other hand, the comparison sites make it very easy to get a good deal so vote with your feet. Back in the day it was much harder work to call round all the insurers or brokers.

also easy to run up a serious amount of credit checks with going on a single comparison site too...whenever I see someones credit file you can see 5, 6, 7 each time they do it

I think the secret is to find an insurer who values custom without the shenanigans (not easy)

I've had Porsche insurance on the Box since 2008, never gone up really and in fact it is now about 50% of what it was in the first few years (with NCD being decent when I first went to them in 2008 so that not being the difference)

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On the other hand, the comparison sites make it very easy to get a good deal so vote with your feet. Back in the day it was much harder work to call round all the insurers or brokers.

also easy to run up a serious amount of credit checks with going on a single comparison site too...whenever I see someones credit file you can see 5, 6, 7 each time they do it

I think the secret is to find an insurer who values custom without the shenanigans (not easy)

I've had Porsche insurance on the Box since 2008, never gone up really and in fact it is now about 50% of what it was in the first few years (with NCD being decent when I first went to them in 2008 so that not being the difference)

Thought those were just id checks not full credit checks so don't impact credit score.

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lenders refer to 'soft footprints' which don't affect credit score etc but would you trust what any bank/building society tells you? I wouldn't...personally I'd minimise any checks of any kind to be sure..

I have one in front of me and it shows

5 searches on the 12/1/2015 for the one client (and others from a week before when he obviously did the same too)

'Lexnexis'

'Aggregatorbrokerquotation'

'Insurance initiatives ltd'

'Insurance initiatives ltd' again same day

'royal and sun alliance'

4 show as 'quotation' and the 5th as 'unrecorded enquiry'

Other searches on his credit file do show as 'ID check' and various other types of check

I think the comparison site does a search then possibly this also results in searches by the insurers too, maybe on click through, hence multiple searches from the one visit (and another set the next time you visit even if the same day).

Maybe the 'quotations' don't affect it...I don't know TBH but I'd not trust anything (comparison websites) that doesn't tell me I would end up with half a dozen searches every time I get a quote on it, just in case. Perhaps for most of us it wouldn't matter anyway but certainly someone with a poor credit history, or lack of one, or someone with too much history/indebtedness, or someone looking to borrow at their limits (or a high percentage loan/mortgage) well then maybe these things could have more impact on being accepted.

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So this is how it ended up:

Direct Line Auto renew offer £550

New Direct Line policy, like for like £318

eSure like for like £187

So went with eSure and sooner than 24 hours into the new policy, Cracked Windscreen from stone chip.

So new screen next week.

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