Insurance

Car and home insurers are to be banned from charging existing customers more at renewal than they would expect to pay when taking out a new policy with the same firm, as part of a ‘loyalty penalty’ crackdown. The financial regulator estimates the shake-up will save £4.2 billion over 10 years.

Drivers could save up to £35 a year on their car insurance, the Ministry of Justice has said, as major reforms to the claims process for whiplash injury come into effect this week. The shake-up includes a new online portal for road traffic injury claims, while whiplash cases can no longer be settled without medical evidence. 

In a rare bit of good news, car insurance is at a seven-year low at an average £420/yr (£160 less than at its height). Part of the drop, according to the source, MoneySupermarket, is that fewer people driving in lockdown has meant fewer claims.

If you starting using your car to commute during the pandemic and plan to continue to do so, you may need to notify your insurer ASAP. A temporary extension of cover organised by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) trade body ends at 11.59pm on Friday (30 April), and if you don't have the correct insurance in place you could be fined and left unable to claim. Some insurers don't need to be notified immediately though and have automatically extended cover further - we've full details below. 

Hundreds of thousands of small businesses could be in line for insurance payouts covering coronavirus-related disruption following a landmark Supreme Court decision handed down today in their favour. 

Price comparison website Compare The Market has been fined £17.9 million by the competition watchdog, after it banned home insurers from offering customers cheaper prices elsewhere.

Car and home insurance customers should pay no more when renewing their policy than they would if they were taking out a new one with the same firm, under radical new proposals from the financial regulator.

The High Court has ruled that some insurers should have paid out to small businesses for losses caused by the coronavirus lockdown, in a judgment which could have far-reaching implications.

Insurance customers struggling financially due to the pandemic will have until the end of October to ask for help such as a payment holiday or review of their premium under new proposals from the regulator. But it's NOT proposing that those already on a payment holiday should be able to extend it beyond three months.

Customers of not-for-profit medical insurer WPA will be paid a second rebate worth about 40% of their monthly premiums, after receiving a similar payment back in April.