Car insurance

Car, home and travel insurers could soon be forced to spell out to customers how much they paid for cover last year in renewal letters sent when their policies are about to expire.

Millions of households and motorists will see a steep rise in the cost of new insurance policies taken out or renewed from now on, after Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) was hiked from 6% to 9.5% at the start of the month.

Vulnerable people could be given help to better understand their insurance renewal notices, after plans for a new industry-wide code to "build trust" in the sector were unveiled today.

Car insurance prices are likely to increase by a mammoth 15% by the end of 2015, the AA has said today.

Car insurance prices have seen a "sharp increase" in the second quarter of the year, while home insurance costs have also risen, says the AA. But it adds that prices are likely to continue rising this year.

Five of the major car rental companies – Avis-Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt, which represent two thirds of the UK and EU market – have agreed to improve the information they give to motorists following a Europe-wide review of the industry.

What would you tweak about the UK? Your first instinct may be 'a flat rate of income tax', 'independence for Cornwall', or 'free university education for all'. Yet I'm not talking about big contentious change – this is about quick fixes for life glitches.