A Timeline for Comparing Quotes at Renewal

Key things to know

1. FCA rules require insurers to show last year’s premium on your renewal notice and to encourage you to shop around at every renewal.
2. The cheapest time to gather car insurance quotes is usually 25 to 28 days before renewal; prices tend to climb sharply in the final week.
3. Since 1 January 2022, home and motor renewal quotes cannot be more expensive than the price the same firm offers a new customer.
4. Many policies auto-renew by default. If you cancel auto-renewal, arrange new cover straight away so the policy never lapses.
5. If a better quote appears after you renew, your policy documents set out your right to cancel and any terms that apply, so read them before you act.

Renewal paperwork arrives at an awkward moment, which is why many people file it and forget it. That is a costly habit. The weeks between the notice and the renewal date are exactly when the market is open to you, and a few hours of work in that window tends to produce better results than a scramble on the last day.

Four Weeks Out: Read Your Renewal Notice Properly

Start with the notice itself rather than the headline price. Since 1 April 2017, FCA rules have required firms to disclose last year’s premium on the renewal notice so it can be easily compared with the new price, and to encourage customers to check their cover and shop around. If you have already renewed four or more consecutive times, the firm must also send you an extra message encouraging you to shop around.

The comparison matters. In a trial run by the FCA in 2014 with more than 300,000 consumers, showing last year’s premium prompted between 11% and 18% more people to switch provider or negotiate a lower price when premiums rose sharply. Put the two figures side by side, work out the increase in pounds, then check whether anything else has changed: the excess, the limits, the add-ons or the type of cover. A renewal that looks dearer may simply include something last year’s policy did not, and a cheaper one may have quietly dropped it.

Three Weeks Out: Check the Details Insurers Price You On

Providers usually send renewal notices around three weeks before a policy ends, and auto-renewal notifications typically come at least 21 days before the annual policy ends. That leaves time to correct errors before you quote anywhere else, because wrong details distort every comparison you make.

Work through what insurers price you on:

• The car, home or trip the policy describes, including security and where it is kept
• Annual mileage or the sums insured, matched to how you actually use them
• Who is named on the policy, and whether anyone should be added or removed
• Your occupation and contact details
• Your claims history, and any incidents or penalty points you must disclose

If something changed during the year, correct it now. Quoting on stale details produces prices that were never real.

Two Weeks Out: Gather Like-for-Like Quotes

This is the window that matters. Pricing data suggests the cheapest time to compare car insurance quotes is around 25 to 28 days before your renewal date, with premiums rising sharply in the final week. On the day of renewal itself, average premiums can reach around £983, noticeably more than quotes taken a few weeks earlier. Insurers read last-minute buying as a sign of higher risk, and their pricing responds accordingly.

Gather quotes on identical terms:

• The same cover level as your current policy
• The same excess settings
• The same add-ons, or a note of their absence so you can price them separately
• The corrected details from last week

Worth doing: The cheapest window is 25 to 28 days before renewal. If you are inside it, quote now. If you have already missed it, quote anyway, but expect higher prices than an earlier start would have given you.

Comparison sites speed this up, but they have blind spots. Our guide to using comparison sites without the pitfalls explains what they show, what they leave out and how to fill the gaps.

One Week Out: Compare More Than the Price

By now you should have a shortlist. This is the week to look past the premium, because the cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest policy.

• Add the compulsory and voluntary excess together on each quote. A small premium paired with a steep excess can be poor value overall, since one claim could swallow the money you saved on the price.
• Write down which extras each policy includes and what they cost. A benefit that comes bundled with one quote might be an optional extra on another, so price it separately before you compare.
• Check the cover type itself, particularly for home insurance, where buildings and contents are sometimes bundled in ways that are hard to spot.

Check what each quote total includes as well. Taxes, fees and payment charges can be presented in different ways, and two totals that look similar may not cover the same things.

Finally, phone your current insurer. The FCA has been clear that haggling remains worthwhile, and asking your existing insurer to look at a lower rival quote costs you nothing but a phone call.

The Day Before Renewal: Auto-Renewal and What It Triggers

Many policies are set to auto-renew by default. If you take no action, the cover continues at the insurer’s new price and the payments carry on. Under FCA rules that took effect on 1 January 2022, firms must give most consumers easier ways to cancel automatic renewal.

If you have decided to leave, cancel the auto-renewal before the renewal date. If you have decided to stay, you can let it run, provided the price and the cover still suit you.

One warning applies to car insurance. The law does not allow you to drive uninsured, and a car kept on the road needs a policy. The only exception is a car you have registered as off the road through a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN). If you cancel auto-renewal and still have the car, set a reminder and arrange cover so the old and new policies meet. Our article on what to check when switching car insurance covers the handover, including proof of your no-claims discount.

After Renewal: Check Your Cancellation Rights

If the renewal has gone through and a better quote appears the next day, you are not necessarily stuck. Renewal paperwork is meant to reinforce key messages such as the right to cancel and switch, so look at your policy documents before you assume the decision is final. The terms that apply to cancelling, including how any refund is worked out, are set out there rather than on the renewal notice. Read them before you act, because what you get back depends on those terms.

What the FCA Pricing Rules Mean for Your Timing

Rules that took effect on 1 January 2022 changed the arithmetic for home and motor insurance. Insurers can no longer price walk, which means charging existing customers more each year simply for staying, and a renewal quote cannot be more expensive than the price the same firm would offer a new customer for the same policy. The FCA’s own estimate values the changes at £4.2 billion across ten years, from fairer renewal pricing and a market that works better. The scale of the old problem explains why: in 2018, 6 million loyal home and motor customers were collectively paying around £1.2 billion more than the average price for their level of risk.

Two points for your timeline. First, staying put is no longer automatically the expensive option, so judge the renewal on its merits. Second, the sharpest deals are still aimed at new customers, and the FCA notes that firms may no longer offer unsustainably low prices to some of them, so the gaps between quotes may be narrower than they once were. These rules were introduced for home and motor insurance, so whatever type of policy you hold, an annual check of the alternatives remains worthwhile. Our guide to what the FCA pricing rules mean for you sets out the detail.

Point in the timeline	What to have ready
Four weeks out	The renewal notice, with this year’s premium and last year’s
Three weeks out	Correct personal, vehicle or property details
Two weeks out	Like-for-like quotes from the wider market
One week out	Excess, add-ons and cover level for each option
The day before	A decision, and auto-renewal cancelled or confirmed
After renewal	Policy documents, if you want to check your cancellation rights

Open your most recent renewal notice tonight, put the renewal date in your calendar four weeks ahead, and start with the comparison FCA rules already require your insurer to show you.

Questions answered

When should I start comparing quotes before my renewal?
The best window is 25 to 28 days before your renewal date. Quotes gathered in that period tend to be lower than those taken in the final week, when prices can rise sharply.

What if I miss the cheapest window?
Quote anyway. Prices tend to be higher close to the renewal date, but a late quote is still better than accepting auto-renewal without checking anything.

Can my insurer charge me more for being loyal?
For home and motor insurance, no. Rules that took effect on 1 January 2022 stop firms price walking, so renewal quotes cannot cost more than the price for a new customer.

Can I cancel after renewing?
Renewal paperwork is meant to reinforce key messages such as the right to cancel and switch. The exact terms that apply to your policy are in your policy documents, so read them before you decide.