If you are due to move home in the coming weeks or months and it’s also time to renew your car insurance, you could save hundreds of pounds by checking the cost of cover at your new address.
Use your existing address if you are still there when your policy starts but notify your insurer when you move.
The insurance company will adjust the cost of your policy for the area you have moved to based on factors such as the rate of car crime in that area.
Depending on the insurer the difference could be quite considerable.
Comparison
I had to renew my car insurance one month before I was due to move and I shopped around for the best deal on price comparison sites.
I don’t always go for the cheapest as it’s important for me that my policy has additional features such as Protected No Claims Discount, Legal Cover or a lower excess.
Having found a competitive insurer I went ahead with the policy but when it was time to update the policy with my new address the insurer wanted to charge an extra 65 per cent.
The original policy cost £350 and after just one month of having cover they wanted more than £230 extra to continue the cover at my new address - a grand total of £580 for the year.
Switching cover
I wanted to cancel the cover but I would have been charged an admin fee of £75 to cancel the policy early and I would only get back 11 months of the total premium which came to about £320.
That meant I had to take a hit of £75 + £30 - approx 1 month of cover - a total of £105, and then find cover for less than £475 to make cancelling worthwhile.
I went back to the price comparison sites and fortunately I was able to find cover at my new address for £10 less than the original policy!
Needless to say I cancelled like a shot and took out the new policy but the whole exercise cost me about £95 that could have been better spent.
If I find myself in a similar position I will most certainly be checking the cost of car insurance at both my current and future addresses before applying.
Tim Day works in financial services and has been contributing to the personal finance blog UKMoneyPot since 2007, writing about personal experiences and observations within the finance industry.
For my part, I reviewed my car insurance during the flood the flood in Maine. Turned out that my car insurance did not cover floods.
Posted by: ppi claims | 12/07/2011 at 06:20 AM
Like with most things it is better to shop around. It wouldn't surprise me if some companies charged an excessive fee to change your address just because they can.
Posted by: Charlie M | 12/13/2011 at 09:29 AM
wow great post i like ths post ..
Posted by: Stock Market | 12/28/2011 at 08:07 AM
This is good information.
thanks
Posted by: Megan Dog | 02/22/2012 at 03:02 AM