A few days ago, AXA announced that it was now notifying its AXA Direct Brands customers what their car insurance premium was last year at the same time as when they renew their premium for the next 12 months. Renewals for its direct business insurance will show the same information from July 2015.

AXA is to inform its customers what they have been paying for their car insurance when they come to renew their policy so it is easier to compare
It has long been a bit of a customer concern with the motor insurance industry that when they receive their renewal notice they are just told what their new premium is going to be. No reference has been made on the latest renewal documents as to how much they have been paying so it is not that easy to compare. In order to make this comparison, the customer has had to either get out last year’s renewal notice, check their bank statement to see how much they have been paying or ring their insurer to find out.
AXA’s move is a welcome one as it will be so much simpler for customers to compare the premiums and work out how much, if anything, the premium has changed. Of course, it is usually an increase in premiums that is seen each year.
It will be interesting to see if other car insurance companies adopt the same procedure and become more transparent in this respect. Who knows, perhaps the regulatory body may step in and make insurers provide the information at renewal.
Whilst AXA’s action is to be commended, policyholders really should still consider shopping around to see if they are able to improve on their car insurance premium for the same level of cover for the next 12 months with another provider. Not enough people do this and it really does not take too long to check out how much they could be paying elsewhere.
A great, simple way of doing this is to use a price comparison website as it usually provides access to dozens of providers of car insurance. You should only have to key in the required information on one occasion with the process being quick to follow. If you find the cover that you require for a lower premium then it is straightforward to arrange cover with the new insurer. This can often be done online.