You’re paying too much for your car insurance if you’re not doing this one thing

Savings to be made

Car insurance can be a treacherous quagmire for many, especially in the UK where it is illegal to not be insured as a driver.

While insurance can often take up a large chunk of people's paychecks, there is a way of saving a few quid.

This comes as per a new study which found one difference between people paying cheaper car insurance than those paying more.

The survey by Which? found that 65% of customers who haggled with their insurer walked away with a cheaper renewal deal and more than half of them made no changes to their policy.

Motorists paying monthly received an average discount of £21, while those paying annually reported an average saving of £60.

This led to the average annual premium for those who didn't haggle at £503 while those who did were paying on average £443.

Via Sky News, Sam Richardson, editor at Which? Money said: "Far too many of us take our car insurer's renewal quote at face value, when we should really be looking at it as an opening offer.

"Insurers factor price negotiations into their premiums, so if you’re not benefiting from a discount, the unfortunate reality is that you could well be funding someone else's."

This said, success in haggling down an insurer does depend on the insurer in question.

Which? found that Admiral were the most likely to concede to a negotiation with 72% of customers seeing a reduction in premium.

They were followed by Hastings Direct in second at 68%.

Meanwhile, only 52% were successful with Axa .

While Hastings Direct say they don't haggle with customers, they do say that "where customers have shopped around (which we encourage them to do) and found a better price, we are able to consider offering a lower price". 

Meanwhile, Admiral said: "Our renewal prices are based on the information we hold about each customer, alongside our claims and pricing data, to ensure they are fair and accurate."