Can't choose not to have car insurance though (other than by not having a car). I always check for best prices before contacting my current insurer when it's due for renewal. Often their own price for a new customer (with all the same details) is a lot less than what they quote me for renewal, which really makes me grumpy. If they can't bring the price down I go elsewhere, but lots of people must just pay up or they wouldn't do it.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I'm a bit lazy about checking. So long as it hasn't gone up more than a couple of quid, I leave it. Same with house insurance. I checked carefully before I got them the first time and have , in the past, cancelled with companies that have refused to reconsider the hike. I remember who they are and will not use them again.
I know, my OH is a Which? subscriber and has been for many years. I don't think the insurance companies will completely stop doing it until either they're forced to, or many more people get wise to it and find the time to shop around. Same with the mobile phone companies - you have to ask what they can do to bring the price down, tell them you're thinking of buying a handset elsewhere or going to another network, etc, not just take what's on offer on their website.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I'm more annoyed with myself than the ripoff seed supplier. I didn't check what a 1_kilogram bag looked like and find that I have paid more than double what the last lot cost from the local garden centre. I probably could've got them delivered from there if I'd thought of it😠
Esure sent me a renewal quote for my car which seemed pretty good. I checked the comparison websites and no one could beat it including Esure themselves for some reason. They've now sent me a letter saying I should contact them to see if they can reduce my premium if I'm driving less due to lockdowns. They'll even forgo the admin fees to amend the policy. Hopefully this is the start of an ethics war between the companies. Pet insurance might follow but it's not looking promising. I've also given up on it and put a monthly premium aside in a 'just in case we break the dog' fund.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
We're sad today because we've just heard that the local community has lost the fight to have a local strip of woodland by a brook designated as a 'village green'. The developers are already in there this morning with a huge digger tearing all the smaller trees down and clearing the ground. A big old rotten cedar will be demolished by the end of today. We just hope they don't get planning permission to build - it's a most unsuitable site and the brook often floods. We heard the developer paid £240,000 for it.
I recently did a comparison for my Buildings and Contents insurance and initially it seemed I could save a lot by switching. This after doing a search on price comparison sites. However, once I drilled down and made as close a match as possible to my current insurer there was only about 10 quid difference. I stayed with the current insurer. I also checked a couple who don't appear on price comparison sites and they came out much the same too.
Check your mileage when renewing. I had always left my estimated mileage to what it was a few years back. Now with changes in circumstances and lockdown, my mileage is next to nothing - and even leaving it at 7,500 miles p.a., it made a £30+ diff on the premium.
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