If your car insurance is due for renewal, and the price is either higher or almost the same as the previous year, making you feel that the price isn't fair, absolutely never just let cooling-off period come and go and start a new year without phoning your insurance company first. You could always get a new quotation online from one of the many websites offering such a service (confused.com, comparethemarket.com etc), but if you don't want all the hassle of changing insurers it can be a smart move to ask your current insurer if they can negotiate on the renewal price.
Practically every year without fail, I have phoned up my insurance company and managed to get a discount of several hundred pounds, simply by telling them that I'm not happy with the renewal price. They don't want you to leave, so most of the time they are willing to bring the premium down to keep you as a customer.
You may have to explain yourself a bit and point out why you think your premium should be cheaper. Things like - I only drive a small engine car (if you do), I have x amount of years of no claim's bonus, been a loyal customer for quite a few years, it's more than it was last year etc. And also let them know that you are considering leaving them, but if the price is lowered you would rather stay.
Basically, say whatever you feel fits your situation, that's truthful, which you can leverage to your advantage to make a case of why it should be cheaper.
Has anything changed that could naturally lower the price of your premium. Such as, safer overnight parking, driving fewer miles annually, working fewer hours at your job., or even working from home.
For many people, due to the situation at the moment, they genuinely are driving less and are either working from home or doing fewer hours at work. So these are great things to mention that will definitely affect how much you pay, or in our case, get discounted. Furthermore, car insurance companies know many people are struggling right now and will lower the price of your premium on that aspect alone. All you have to do is mention that you are short of cash due to the current situation and this should help in getting the price down.
If you mention all these things, and they still won't budge on the price (not likely), ask to speak to someone higher up the chain. Explain yourself, mentioning all the points that you feel should help in lowering your insurance. I have done this exact procedure year after year, and I always get my insurance lowered. For example: This year (2020) my renewal came through and was a few pounds higher than last year.
I rang my up my insurance company, mentioning the current situation and how times are hard, working hours are less, I'm driving less etc, and I managed to literally get £250 off my renewal price. Needless to say, I thought that was fair, so I accepted the new premium.
Moral of the story: Don't be afraid to phone up your auto insurance company and do exactly what this article talks about to get a cheaper premium. Especially now. They are expecting calls such as this, and are ready to negotiate and drop the price.
If they don't budge on the price whatsoever, or the discount is ridiculously small, I would recommend either changing insurers, or, at the very least, shopping around by doing some quotes online. Then, if you get some good quotes, but don't really want to change insurers, ring your current insurer again and let them know about the low quotes you have received and ask them to match it.
A quick heads up: If you tell your insurance company that you have done some new quotes online, I believe they may have access to that information and be able to see the data that you have entered into the quotation form. If that doesn't match the information that you have on file with them they will most probably want to know why. If your answers do not satisfy your current insurers concerns, this could lead to the cancellation of your current insurance policy.
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