Shop around for car insurance

I got an early christmas preset  – my car insurance came up for renewal.  Guess what, the car insurance quote I got from my existing insurer was a lot higher than last year. And guess what… I couldn’t find anywhere tat was charging quite as much.

Once again an insurance company was determined to lose my custom, though I have yet to make a claim. In other words I am free money. So why is car insurance so expensive?

One reason simply has to be the constant advertisements on television. But apparently another is the rise in the number of injury claims – many of which of course a fraudulent. That doesn’t explain why insurance companies put such huge store by grabbing new customers – only to lose them a year later.

I don’t have much sympathy with car insurers. If injuries are now such an issue, why do they always offer you legal protection… a helpful hint that all those personal injury claims lawyers are lurking by the phone to help you get some free money in an accident, no matter how trivial.

In point of fact, if you are thinking of having an injury, you might be interested to know that some techy whiz has provided a natty personal injury calculator – just so you can see how much a particular injury might be worth.

I suppose we shouldn’t blame the legal profession too much. In this recession, their easy money for pushing a bit of paperwork around at the pace of an arthritic tortoise (conveyancing) has more or less dried up – so a bit of ambulance chasing is needed to fill the void.

However, the bottom line is the same in 2010 as it was in every year of the last decade. Never, ever accept a renewal. You simply have to shop around for a car insurance quote - and don’t forget to let your previous insurers know why you are leaving them. One day the penny may drop.