Car stuff
Another year, another massive expenditure on keeping my car on the road.
Insurance. I'm currently with an insurer that cannot be found on any price comparison site. Going direct, they say, is cheaper. Still - I thought I'd give a couple of the more prominent price comparison sites a whirl and see what they could churn up.
None of them could come close to my existing insurance, and most of the policies returned were a good £300 more! Not entirely sure the point in these sites if they are unable to compare the decent priced policies.
It still helps to shop around. In the end, I've had my excess halved, and my premium cut by £100, plus some extra addons I didn't have before. By going through an old-fashioned broker.
A colleague at work also pointed me toward Auto Aid. A pay-as-you-go roadside breakdown assistance. They use local garages (like Green Flag, and as I've found more recently, the RAC). The difference is, you pay for any work etc., and then claim it back. Not ideal for everybody, but my car is reasonably reliable (i.e. it's never not worked, yet) and I'm rarely completely skint. It's £37, and compares to a product that would cost you over £100 with the AA or RAC.
Insurance. I'm currently with an insurer that cannot be found on any price comparison site. Going direct, they say, is cheaper. Still - I thought I'd give a couple of the more prominent price comparison sites a whirl and see what they could churn up.
None of them could come close to my existing insurance, and most of the policies returned were a good £300 more! Not entirely sure the point in these sites if they are unable to compare the decent priced policies.
It still helps to shop around. In the end, I've had my excess halved, and my premium cut by £100, plus some extra addons I didn't have before. By going through an old-fashioned broker.
A colleague at work also pointed me toward Auto Aid. A pay-as-you-go roadside breakdown assistance. They use local garages (like Green Flag, and as I've found more recently, the RAC). The difference is, you pay for any work etc., and then claim it back. Not ideal for everybody, but my car is reasonably reliable (i.e. it's never not worked, yet) and I'm rarely completely skint. It's £37, and compares to a product that would cost you over £100 with the AA or RAC.