MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

My email-bag has been rapidly pinging with irate consumers reporting huge insurance renewal hikes. The latest stats back up the on-the-ground fury, showing shocking rises compared to this time last year...

- Car insurance is up 41% and more rises are predicted this year & next.
- Home insurance is up 26% and rises are predicted to continue.

These numbers from analyst firm Pearson Ham are the highest so far, others are more measured, but ALL show serious rises. Insurers say it's due to things including rising car repair costs, more subsidence housing claims and overall inflation. Whether that justifies it or not is moot, car insurance is a grudge purchase, you've no choice. So my clarion call is...

Take a few minutes to check if you're overpaying. If you are, even if you're not near renewal, you may be able to lock in a price to forestall future increases for a year.

How to check for best deals at speed
Car insurance
1. Fill in just one questionnaire via our Compare+ tool. It compares and shows your perfect timing, whether to add extra drivers, check other comparisons and more. Kerstin emailed after using it: "Our car insurance renewal was a whopping £1,122. Using the MSE tool, we found a better deal with lower excess for £384, saving £738. Thank you!" 2. More than one car? Check if multicar cover will save you. My general rule is if you're on a multicar policy, check separate policies to see if you can save; if you're on separate, check multicar. Comparisons won't do this though. PS: If you find a cheaper price and aren't at renewal, see our changing mid-policy help. Lots more info in Cheap car insurance.
Home insurance
We don't have a tool, but here are five quick steps worthy of Strictly... 1. Usually only freeholders need buildings cover. If you do, don't overcover, focus on the rebuild value, not market value. 2. Everyone consider a contents policy, but don't undercover. Eg, insure half what your contents is worth, you may only get half a payout, so use a contents calc. 3. Combine comparison sites. Not only as they can cover different insurers & brokers, but also as insurers can price differently on each comparison. Our current order is MoneySup* \| Compare TM* \| Confused* (see how we order). Also see help if struggling to get insurance. 4. Compare against insurers & deals comparisons miss. Biggie Direct Line* doesn't appear on comparisons, and Urban Jungle* is giving a £15 Amazon voucher after 7mths via code MSE_OFFER. 5. Cashback site member? Check a comparison through them and you may get £30+, though do ensure the quoted prices aren't more than in the main comparisons. See cashback help info. Tim followed these steps and emailed: "My renewal had gone up over £250. I checked your site, though wasn't sure I'd get a better quote as our house flooded 3yrs ago. Quote came back for £260 less than my renewal - less than I paid last year! Thanks Martin!" Far more help and options in our Cheap home insurance guide.
Combine car & home cover?
There's no rule as to whether standalone or combined cover is a winner. It's a case of trial and error. So get prices for each via the routes above, then check the multi-cover type policies below. - Admiral's MultiCover* and LV's Multi Cover. You can grab these even if your current policies start at different dates, as you start with one then add the other when it's time. - Aviva, Churchill and Direct Line offer multi-policy discounts (also known as existing-customer discounts), so if you already have a policy with them, it's worth checking their price for other insurance types too. As Richard emailed us: "My in-laws had been quoted £1,400 for car and home insurance. We did a multi-policy quote and saved over £700. It's a precautionary tale for just accepting renewal quotes. Wish we could all get £700 for 30 minutes' work!"

Getting quotes three weeks before renewal may halve costs. We analysed 70m quotes to find the optimum time before you want cover to start to get quotes from new firms. As the graph above shows, it averages at 23 days for car. The pattern is similar but flatter for home insurance, where 21 days before is optimal (though the savings aren't as big). In both cases a few days either side doesn't matter much.

As Krishna emailed: "I was a non-believer till last week. My quote went down from £1,500 one month before insurance expiry to an unbelievable £650 exactly 21 days before. Thanks so much."

Why? Quite simply insurance is priced upon risk, and their actuarial charts show those who renew at the last minute are often a higher risk.

Not at renewal? It's still worth doing a check now. While prices usually get cheaper around three weeks before the sweet spot, there's no harm checking to see if you're currently overpaying.

As Jenny emailed: "OMG! Just saved a whopping £756/yr on my car insurance thanks to MSE! This was switching mid-policy. They even calculated there was no fee and paid me a £17 refund. So chuffed."

If you are switching mid-year, provided you haven't claimed this year, you can usually just cancel your policy and get a pro-rata refund if you paid upfront, minus a usually £30 to £50 admin fee (do factor that in). The main negative is you won't earn this year's no-claims bonus.

With prices likely to escalate, some may even consider if they can get a quote mid-year even only a touch less than currently, then to prevent possibly heavy price hikes, it's worth switching to lock for longer.

Check the policy is right and know your rights

As with any insurance, check the policy details, and read exactly what's covered before signing up. Do also ensure the insurer is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

That means if you feel you've been treated unfairly, or that your claim has been unfairly rejected (or the payout is too small), you have a right to take 'em to the free Financial Ombudsman.

You may think that as since January 2022 car and home insurers have been banned from charging renewing customers more than they charge new customers, all this checking is a bit flaccid.

The rule changed to end the annual 'price-walk' of pushing up prices at each renewal, so that by year five you paid a massive loyalty premium. Yet while that's gone, auto-renewing is still likely to cost more...

- Some firms have simply boosted prices for all.
- The 'same price for both' rule is channel specific. Eg, if you got insurance direct, your renewal must cost the same as it would if you were a new direct customer. Yet they can charge you more than they would as a new customer via a comparison site (& can price each comparison differently).
- Pricing varies hugely by firm & by customer type they want to recruit.
- Many firms own more than one brand. They may aim to win new business via new brands, leaving existing brands at higher prices.

Of course, of the millions of readers of this email, some will find their renewal is cheapest. If so, fab. Yet the key is to never assume your renewal is the winner without checking.

If you can find a cheaper quote elsewhere, but like your current insurer, take your cheapest quote to your insurer and ask it to match it. There's full help in Car & home insurance haggling tips. Here's a few to start:

- Do it close to renewal so the threat of losing your custom is stronger.
- Get an actual quote as a benchmark to ask them to beat/match.
- Use charm, chutzpah, cheek & a smile (never aggression).
- Don't get rushed in to accepting the first offer.

As Alan emailed: "I saved £240 with your hints and tips when haggling with Direct Line. I've always been with them and they upped my car insurance to £570. Using your tips, I haggled them to £330!! Thanks :-)"

DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads
Lots of scam ads litter social media and even newspaper websites - some of these lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning.

Newest phone, schmooest phone!
The iPhone 15's launched... so you can now get the cheapest iPhone 14 deal we've ever seen. Or better, keep your handset and get a 30GB/mth Sim for under a fiver

As first adopters around the world dash to splash big cash for the latest handset launch, even if they'll only see small or negligible improvements - MoneySavers hold back, or even see it as an opportunity. When a new handset launches, the last models (the brightest, shiniest tech just days ago) can drop in price. Or better still, if their old phone still does the job, MoneySavers take advantage of huge falls in cheap Sims to pay far less.

While it used to be usually cheapest to buy a new phone outright and get a cheap Sim, now contracts through resellers or small providers (like all the deals below) often smash that, sometimes cheaper than even the handset cost alone, never mind 50GB+ data worth at least £9/mth.

CHEAPEST HOT HANDSETS (all deals unlimited minutes and texts) For more choice, use our Cheap Handset Finder or Best handset on my budget tools
	Top deal including data, unlimited minutes & texts	Handset-only cost
Samsung S23 (128GB)	Cheapest ever. This Samsung S23 deal's £26.99/mth on iD Mobile (uses Three's network) with 50GB/mth of data. So that's £648 over the two-year contract.	£849 from Samsung
iPhone 13 (128GB)	Cheapest ever. This iPhone 13 deal on Three with 100GB/mth of data is £27/mth, which means you'd pay £648 over the two-year contract.	£599 from Apple
iPhone 14 (128GB)	Cheapest ever. This iPhone 14 deal on O2 with 100GB/mth of data is £79 upfront, then it's £29/mth, which means you'd pay £775 over the two-year contract.	£699 from Apple
New. iPhone 15 (128 GB)	This iPhone 15 deal is £149 upfront, then £29.99/mth on iD Mobile with 100GB/mth data (uses Three's network). But you can get £5 off (use code CASH5 at the basket stage), so it's £864 over the two-year contract.	£799 from Apple
Or smash the cost by buying a REFURB handset outright. Often they're simply unused returns from those who've changed their mind, eg, we found a "pristine" refurb iPhone 12 64GB for £315 vs £499 new. Our handset tool can find 'em for you.

...Happy with your handset? 30GB/mth data '£4.62'

If you're out of contract (check by texting 'INFO' to 85075 for free), keep your handset and switch Sim card for big savings.

Top-pick cheap Sims (all unlimited minutes and texts) For far more choice, use our Cheap Mobile Finder tool
Lebara (uses Vodafone's signal) Customer service poll: 4.1 / 5	12GB for '£3.57/mth': Pay £6.90/mth, and you can claim a £40 Amazon, M&S etc voucher. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £3.57/mth over a year on a one-month rolling contract.
TalkMobile (Vodafone) Service poll: 4 / 5	30GB for '£4.62/mth': Pay £7.95/mth, and you can CLAIM a £40 Amazon voucher. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £4.62/mth over the 12-month contract.
Ends Thu. iD Mobile (Three) Service poll: 3.7 / 5	UNLIMITED data for '£11.09/mth': Pay £8/mth for three months, then £16/mth for nine months, and you can claim a £35 Amazon / Currys voucher. Factor that all in and it's equivalent to £11.09/mth over the 12-month contract.
Need to keep same signal?	There are only four UK networks - Vodafone, O2, EE and Three. All others piggyback on their signals. Our Cheap Sims tool lets you filter by network.

- To keep your number, just text 'PAC' to 65075, then give the code you get to your new provider.
- Unlock your phone for free. If your phone's locked to your network, see How to unlock it.
- Don't want to switch? Haggle. Mobile firms are among the easiest to haggle with.
- Planning overseas trips? See our Cheap mobile roaming guide.
- Can you get cashback on top? Cashback sites may undercut deals elsewhere. Do check it's like for like though.

FREE National Trust family day pass (normally £30ish). These free pass offers have proved massively popular with MoneySavers, now there's another one (though it excludes National Trust Scotland sites). Family days out

Stop press. TWO new free-cash bank-switch deals launch - up to £210 FREE. Last week, we worried because all but one new customer switch offers had disappeared. Not now... TSB's new FREE £150 plus £10/mth for 6mths* (you get the £10/mth if you make 20+ monthly debit card payments) joins First Direct's FREE £175, top service, 7% regular saver, cheap spending abroad* and a 0% £250 overdraft for many. Also new is Club Lloyds FREE £175 plus rewards, eg, Disney+, though it has a £3/mth fee unless you've £2,000+/mth going in. Full info & eligibility criteria: Best bank accounts. PS: More may be coming, so full rundown next week.

Urgent trick to get 30% off all Boots No7 beauty. You need to do it by 11.59pm on Wed. See No7 trick.

E.on customer? A way to guarantee you pay less than the Price Cap. E.on's launched a new fixed-term (not fixed-rate) tariff that promises to track £50 below the Price Cap for a typical user, so roughly a 3% discount. See E.on analysis

243 spring bulbs £15 delivered. MSE Blagged. 7,500 available (not in NI or parts of Scotland). Thompson & Morgan

In council tax band A to D (& E in Scot & Wales)? You may now be eligible for free insulation. If your home's energy performance certificate rating is D or below, check if you're due free insulation. In Northern Ireland? See NI energy grants.

BAH HUMBUG! The Martin Lewis Podcast... Make £100s in time for Christmas (& boost state pension). How to prep to ease the pressure, incl grab £300+ of free cash, ban unnecessary presents etc. Plus how to boost your state pension. It's all in The Martin Lewis Podcast - listen via BBC Sounds | Spotify | Apple Podcasts & more.

BLAGGED FOR MSE

- 243 spring bulbs for £15 delivered 7,500 available
- 10% off code for 'best before' grocery store Ends Wed 27 Sept
- Quidco £25 cashback when you spend £5+ Ends Thu
- Holland & Barrett 20% off code Ends Mon

DID YOU MISS?

- £37 Ted Baker specs or sunnies (normally £135)
- Fuse Energy's elec-only tariff now 13% lower than Price Cap
- Ends Wed. 3 months' Disney+ for £6 (normally £24)
- Up to 6% BOOST on Christmas supermarket spending

Twelve deals, discounts, codes and tips to cut your grocery bills
Walkers 9p, 'free' KitKat, £5 off Asda, 1% cashback & more

Food price inflation has been pretty horrid for many over the last year or more. It's left some on low incomes struggling to pay for even the basics. We can't fix that, it's for politicians to do. Yet shopping more efficiently and arming yourself with a few tricks can help cut bills at the checkout, and avoid food waste too. We've 37 supermarket shopping tips in our guide, but here's our current pick of the crop:

10% off code for already-reduced, past 'best befores': 9p Walkers, 23p Diet Coke & more. MSE Blagged. Bag cheap groceries near or past 'best before' dates (NOT past 'use by' dates, which are about health). Minimum spend £22.50. Approved Food.
'Free' £1 KitKat, 'free' £3 vegan chicken, £1.50 off teabags & more via supermarket coupons. Check out our 60+ September coupons round-up to save you a packet, whether shopping in store or online.
Cashback every time you buy groceries (or owt else). The app-based Chase current account* gives 1% cashback on most debit card spending (max £15/mth). You don't need to switch bank to get it, and it only does an ID not a credit check, so is easy to get. It's also a top card for spending overseas. Full info's in our Chase review.
Do a one-off shop where you don't usually go and get £12 off Sainsbury's, 25% off Ocado or £10 off £11 at Getir. Supermarkets offer discounts to those shopping online with them for the first time, and currently there are SEVEN big money-off codes, including Sainsbury's £12 off £60 | Ocado 25% off £60 | Iceland £5 off £45, so if you've not used them before, try it. For small orders, the urban 10 to 15-minute delivery firms have big discounts, such as Getir £10 off £11, Snappy Shopper £10 off £12 or Gopuff 40% off.
Speedily find the cheapest supermarket for your items. Handy comparison tool Trolley lets you compare major supermarkets' prices. You can also get alerts when the cost of your favourite goodies drop.
Asda Rewards app newbies can get £5 off your shop (no min). If you've not used its app, see Asda £5.
Get 5kg fruit and veg for £1.50 with Lidl's food waste boxes. The boxes contain 'edible but not perfect' fruit and veg. See Lidl 'Too Good To Waste' boxes. Sainsbury's offers similar fruit and veg boxes for £2 each.
Try Martin's Downshift Challenge - can you slash 30% off your grocery bill? One of Martin's early MoneySaving tips, as useful today as it was then - if you've not already done it! The Downshift Challenge is where you drop from, eg, branded to supermarket's own. If you can't taste the difference, stick with the cheaper one. Dropping one brand level can cut your trolley cost by up to 30%.
Up to 80% off herbs, spices, tinned goods & more. Find HIDDEN discounts in supermarkets' world food aisles.
Are you keeping the RIGHT food in the fridge? Check where you should keep bread, fruit, veg and more.
Over 60? Get 10% off at Iceland. Use it every Tuesday when you show valid ID and your Iceland Bonus card.
Money off nutritious food through the Healthy Start scheme. If you're on certain benefits, Healthy Start cards give up to £8.50/wk (or Best Start in Scotland up to £9.90/wk) to help buy healthy food, milk & vitamins.

PS: Struggling to afford food? Don't go hungry. Check if you live near a social supermarket or community shop for those on low incomes. Foodbanks can also help - find a foodbank near you. Related: If you can afford to donate, see MSE Laura's donating to foodbanks tips.

Paying interest on credit card debt? Check NOW if you can shift it to 0%. A reminder, we're concerned more top deals will be pulled. Many have already gone, please read our urgent balance transfer warning from last week.

Ends Thu. Get £25 cashback when you spend £5+. MSE Blagged. A no-brainer if you're new to cashback site Quidco - spend £5+ via its site, and you get £25 back (on top of any normal cashback). Full info in Quidco £25.

Holland & Barrett 20% off code. MSE Blagged. Online only. Ends Mon. Holland & Barrett

'We got £3,200 council tax back after being in the wrong band - we didn't accept being rejected.' Our success of the week comes from Helen, who used our council tax check 'n' challenge system: "I always thought the council tax was a bit high, so went to your site. I claimed, it was rejected, I emailed with further evidence. Then I discovered (following MSE's instructions) that the much larger house next door was in the same band. Eventually they agreed to reassess. I'd say to anyone trying, don't accept the first rejection. We're now £3,177 better off - hurrah!! Thanks Martin and team." If we've helped you save or earn (on this, or owt else), please send us your successes.

FREE Grand Designs Live Birmingham tickets. For 4 to 8 October, normally £13 to £16 each. Grand Designs

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS

Longest 0%: Barclaycard (check eligibility / apply*) - up to 29mths 0%, 3.45% fee (24.9% rep APR)
No-fee 0%: NatWest (check eligibility / apply*) - 14mths 0% (24.9% rep APR)

£150 to switch + up to £60 cashback: TSB
£175 to switch + top service: First Direct

Top easy access: Paragon Bank 5.05%, min £1,000
Top one-year fix: NS&I 6.2%, min £500

Try our Compare+ Car Insurance tool

Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: AIB (NI) (apply), 5.6% rep APR
Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: AIB (NI) (apply), 5.6% rep APR

Standard (10Mb+): Shell Energy '£18.55/mth'
Fast fibre (55Mb+): Shell Energy '£19.44/mth'
Superfast fibre (100Mb+): Vodafone '£21.55/mth'

On Universal Credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs

Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£2.70/mth' for 3GB
4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£3.45/mth' for 5GB
10GB to 30GB data: Lebara, '£3.57/mth' for 12GB
31GB+ data: iD Mobile '£11.09/mth' for unlimited data

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

Pet owners, have you used a vet in the last three years? The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is reviewing how well vet services are working in the UK, following concerns that pet owners are not always getting a good deal. It wants to hear about your experiences of choosing a vet surgery, paying for treatments, prescriptions and medications, and using emergency services. If you'd like to share your experiences, fill out the CMA's 10-minute survey.

THIS WEEK'S POLL

Do you have a will? If not, why? If you want to dictate where your assets go when you die, you need a will - a legal document telling everyone what should happen to your money, possessions and property. Wills can be made cheaply, and sometimes for free - see our Cheap wills guide. Do you have have a will, and if not, why? Vote in this week's poll.

Less than a quarter of MoneySavers like to pay for parking using apps. Of the 11,000+ people who voted in last week's poll, 62% said they'd used a parking app before, but it was only the preferred payment method for 24% of respondents. The majority prefer to pay by credit or debit card (40%) or with cash (36%). See the full poll results.

MSE NEWS

- Top story: Workers aged 18+ may benefit from hidden pay rise as new pension auto-enrolment rules given go-ahead
- Forced prepayment meter fittings to be banned for over-75s and those with young children

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA

My son's friend borrowed his bike and it got stolen - should his parents replace it? My son cycled to a friend's house and left his bike there - his friend agreed to store it so my son could collect it a few days later. In the meantime, his friend borrowed it to pop into town, left it unlocked outside a shop for five minutes and it was stolen. The bike cost £350 and wasn't covered by my contents insurance. Should I ask the parents of my son's friend to replace it, as he borrowed it without permission and didn't lock it up, or do I replace it as his friend obviously didn't intend for it to be stolen? Enter the Money Moral Maze: My son's friend borrowed his bike and it got stolen - should his parents pay? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

- Win up to £180 worth of Vionic footwear
- Win a Beaudurof clutch worth £349
- Win £1,000 worth of John Smedley knitwear

- Win £500 worth of Dune menswear
- Win a pair of trainers & pair of boots from Black Tulip
- Win a £500 spend at women's fashion brand Reformation

MSE TEAM BLOG

- MSE Forum highlights: Goblets, gardens & girlfriends

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 20 SEPT ONWARDS)

Wed 20 Sept - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm
Tue 26 Sept - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.20am

MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC)

Thu 21 Sept - BBC Radio London, Mid-morning with Jumoke Fashola, from 11.10am

FREE PENS AND SECOND-HAND COURSE BOOKS - WHAT'S YOUR STUDENT MONEYSAVING ADVICE?

That's all for this week, but before we go... freshers' weeks are kicking off across the country and many new students will be in charge of their finances for the first time, so we asked our social followers what MoneySaving advice they would proffer to them. Savvy former students recommended grabbing discount cards, while others advised meeting students in the year above of your course to see if they were selling second-hand course books. One MoneySaver said make the most of freshers' week, not by drinking and making friends, but by nabbing as many free pens as you can. And to cut back on water and energy bills, another offered the rather unhygienic tip of wearing your underwear back to front and inside out to get four uses out of the them! Let us know your student advice in our Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Threads conversations.

We hope you save some money,
The MSE team

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