Martin Lewis: Car insurance prices are down – but it doesn't mean you shouldn't act

To check how your renewal price stacks up against the market, you can use our unique Compare+ Car Insurance tool, with built-in tips and tricks to help you cut costs.

ITV's The Martin Lewis Money Show Live – Thursday 13 February 2025

From The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Thursday 13 February 2025 courtesy of ITV. All rights reserved. Watch the full episode on ITVX.

Transcript of what Martin said on the show...

Martin Lewis: "So I have a perverse warning for you about car insurance. My warning is that car insurance prices have dropped."

Audience cheers: "Yeah."

Martin: "16%. Yeah, but hold on, I wouldn't cheer too soon. So they're down 16% year-on-year. But if you still look where they were in 2021, around £500 on average, they're still over £800 now. So you know, they're 60% to 70% up on where they were."

"So why am I warning you that prices are down? Very simple. What I'm hearing a lot these days is people do their renewal, they're so used to prices going up [that] when they get a renewal that's the same price, they go, 'Yay, my renewal hasn't gone up. I'm sorted!'. No.

"If your renewal is the same [but] the market has dropped [16%], you're paying too much. Even if it's a little bit cheaper, you're paying too much."

'Don't be complacent'

"So my warning is against complacency. If you're getting your renewal and it's not giving you a good saving on what you were paying – well, in fact, I'd always say don't auto-renew – don't settle; combine comparison sites – because they search different insurers and they have different deals, even on the same insurers, and it's worth doing.

"And the perfect time to get your quotes is 26 days before the renewal. Literally, insurers price it cheaper because the people who price it at that point are likely to be a lower risk than the people who leave it to the last minute.

"So between 20 and 30 days, it's fine. 26 days is the perfect sweet spot (and we did five million quotes to work that out). Get that in your diary now, because sometimes it won't give you a renewal notice until two weeks before renewal, but you want to do it 26 days before renewal.

"And don't be complacent if it comes in and it's the same price. [Addressing the in-studio audience] You get why it's a perverse warning?:

Audience: "Yeah."

Martin: "Good stuff."