Car Insurance Alert, £1 dresses, 132Mb b'band £21/mth, 2 pizzas + ice cream + movie £5, top savings + £100 cashback

New car registrations are released in September (and March), and these months tend to be the busiest for car insurance renewals. Yet the best time to find the cheapest quotes is three to four weeks before renewal, which is RIGHT NOW if your policy's up next month.

Even if your renewal's further away, it's worth doing a quick price check to see if you're currently overpaying and can save £100s by cancelling and renewing early. So it's worth EVERYONE taking a few mins to run through our...

1. Fill in just one questionnaire via our Compare+ Car Insurance tool. It gives you your results from one comparison, shows the cheapest time to buy, and whether to add extra drivers, check other comparisons and more. We think it's the best thing to happen to car insurance since traffic lights were invented.

As Lota emailed: "I just wanted to say thank you very much for the Compare+ tool. I made a massive saving of £789 on my car insurance renewal."

2. The SWEET SPOT to get quotes which could halve your price

We analysed 1.2m quotes to find the optimum time before you want your cover to start to get quotes from new firms. The latest data shows it bottoms out at 26 days before renewal, though any time between roughly 20 and 27 days should do the job...The key's to avoid leaving it till the last two weeks, as that's when prices really skyrocket, possibly even doubling. This is because insurance is priced on risk, and providers' 'actuarial charts' apparently show those who renew last-minute are often a higher risk. Now this is about averages, so it won't work for everyone, but many will be able to save £100s.

Carl emailed: "My renewal came in at £1,000 for both my car and van. After learning about the best time to renew, I've saved £300 in total and this was on day 20. Thank you Martin and team for all the hard work."

Not at renewal? Still CHECK NOW in case you can save big by cancelling and renewing early. After hideous 70%-ish hikes since 2022, there are signs prices may be levelling off, or even dipping slightly. While still up from this time last year, the Association of British Insurers reported average premiums dropped 2% in the three months to June - the first drop in two years.

Of course, if prices dip further (without a crystal ball, no one can say for sure) you'd do better waiting till closer to renewal before taking out a new policy. But still double-check now, as if you took out your current policy at the price-hike peak and can save £100s by switching, you may decide it's worth locking in today's price, especially if you value certainty.

Provided you haven't claimed this year, you can just get a new policy, cancel your existing policy, and get a pro-rata refund if you paid upfront, minus a usually £50ish admin fee (so factor that in). See save if not at renewal help. The only negative is you won't earn the year's no-claims bonus, but for big savings, it's often worth it.

Keep track of your car insurance renewals. In the MSE App (download via iOS | Android), our Bill Buster feature can track your renewal date - tell us when your policy ends and we'll send you alerts and calendar reminders when you're in the pricing sweet-spot.

3. More than one car at home? Comparison sites don't check multicar cover, so you'll need to check manually whether it saves you money. Our rule of thumb is: "If you're on a multicar policy, check separate policies to see if you can save; if you're on separate, check multicar".

- Multicar (one policy for all): Probably the best known is Admiral*, but LV*, Aviva, Diamond and Elephant* also offer these policies. Don't worry if your renewals are at different dates, their systems work with that.

- Discounts on separate policies: Axa*, Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege all offer discounts for multiple cars - so it's worth checking, especially if they're cheapest for one of your vehicles.

4. Should you combine car and home cover? It's trial and error, so get prices separately first (see home insurance cost-cutting). Then, especially if one of these is coming up cheapest, check all-in-one policies at Admiral* and LV* (it works even if they have different start dates) and discounts on separate policies at Direct Line, Aviva and Churchill.

You may have heard that since January 2022, car and home insurers have been banned from charging renewing customers more than they charge new customers - to stop the annual 'price-walk' of pushing up prices at each renewal, so that after a few years you've paid a massive loyalty premium. Yet even though 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. For example, if you got insurance direct, your renewal must cost the same as if you were a new direct customer. If you had gone via a comparison site, it must cost the same as a new customer via THAT site (others may be cheaper).

- Pricing varies hugely by firm & by the type of customer that 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.

As Daniel emailed last week: "I received my renewal quote from my car insurer for £973. However, I got a quote from them for £568, so I cancelled my renewal and joined up as a new customer. Same company, around £400 cheaper. Thank you."

Of course, of the millions of readers of this email, some will find their renewal is cheapest. If so, fab. 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's service, then ask it to match your cheapest quote. There's full help in Car & home insurance haggling. Here are a few to start:

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

Success percentages for car insurance haggling are pretty high. For example, in our latest haggling poll, over 70% of Admiral, AA, Churchill and Hastings Direct customers who'd tried to haggle told us they'd succeeded.

As Karen emailed a few weeks ago: "My car insurance renewal price was up by over £250/yr. Normally I just auto-renew, but I went with Martin's haggle tip and found a quote online, which was actually slightly cheaper than I'm paying now, and my current insurer matched it! Thanks for the tip!"

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 (all via Compare+ will be).

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.

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.

New. 132Mb fast fibre broadband & line '£21/mth'. Millions pay double that - check if you can switch & save £100s/yr
Want a different speed? Two other hot deals ending Thu

If you're one of the seven million households out of contract on your broadband, you're likely overpaying and could save up to £280/yr. Add up how much you pay a month and compare it to the current slew of short-lived promo deals - we've rounded up the best widely-available ones below, including a fast 132Mb fibre deal that's cheaper than the current top deal offering half the speed. What's available to you depends on where you live, so check using our new and improved Broadband comparison tool, which gives deals and speeds tailored to your specific address.

Top broadband switcher & line deals Deals are address-dependent, so links go via our improved broadband tool which shows if you can get 'em
Ends 11.59pm Thu. Vodafone 67Mb fibre & line '£21.46/mth' 24-month contract	Cheap 67Mb fibre, with 'OK' service, available to 97% of homes. This Vodafone 67Mb deal is a little pricier and slower than Virgin below, but is more widely available (note, after entering your postcode you might be offered a slightly faster speed for the same price). You pay £25/mth, but can CLAIM an £85 Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury's or M&S voucher (don't forget). Factor that in and it's equivalent to £21.46/mth before call costs. Vodafone was rated 'OK' in our last service poll (1).
New. Virgin Media MSE Blagged 132Mb fibre & line '£20.95/mth' 18-month contract	Cheapest fast 132Mb fibre deal, 'OK' service, available to 60% of homes. Via this Virgin 132Mb link, you pay £26.50/mth and AUTOMATICALLY get £100 bill credit on your first bill, so there's nowt to pay for three months, unless you make calls. Factored in, that's equivalent to £20.95/mth before call costs. Virgin was rated 'OK' in our recent service poll (1).
Ends 11.59pm Thu. Vodafone 500Mb fibre & line '£26.25/mth' 24-month contract	Cheapest superfast 500Mb deal, 'OK' service, only available to around 40% of homes. Via this Vodafone 500Mb link, you pay £30/mth, but can CLAIM (don't forget) a £90 Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury's or M&S voucher within four months. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £26.25/mth before call costs. Vodafone's rated 'OK' for service (1).
On Universal Credit or similar benefits?	Try a social tariff. Many providers offer special discounted social broadband tariffs which give long-term cheap prices of usually £13/mth to £20/mth for 30Mb+ broadband. Add your postcode via the link above and, within your search results, you'll see the social tariffs local to you.
Deals ordered by speed. To compare price, we use 'equivalent costs' - adding all costs, except calls, deducting promo credits & averaging over the contract. (1) Broadband service ratings tend to be worse than other sectors, so all scores are lower, and feedback is relative. For full results, see our broadband service poll.

Use our revamped broadband tool to see if you could save with a smaller local provider. We've made improvements under the bonnet to our broadband comparison tool, so as well as giving you more filter options, we can now tell you exactly what deals and speeds you can get in your home, including potentially cheaper deals from smaller 'alt-net' firms local to you (though do note these are likely too small for us to have a service rating for yet). See what deals are available to you, and do let us know if you've feedback.
Don't want to switch? Haggle. If you're out of contract and free to move, you're in a powerful position to haggle. In our December poll, the vast majority of those who'd haggled with the big broadband firms were successful. Use the deals above as a benchmark to help you get your costs down. Not sure how? Read full Broadband haggling tips.
Slow broadband? Test your speed - is it the Wi-Fi or the connection? Do a broadband speed check - first when using Wi-Fi, then by plugging your device into the router (if you can). If Wi-Fi's a lot slower, try our eight speed-boosters.
At least 50% of customers must get the advertised speeds at peak times. The providers above also tell you the estimated max speed you're likely to get before you sign up.
Switching usually only means about two hours of downtime - whether an engineer comes depends on what you're getting. You'll be told the switch time, and most don't need an engineer to set up. There are exceptions to this - if you're moving to/from Virgin you may need one (you're told before applying). Plus if you're getting fibre to the premises (FTTP), as is common for much faster broadband, they may need to send someone to look at the externals of the home.
Members of cashback sites can sometimes undercut deals. In some cases, the cashback can mean these sites undercut promos elsewhere, though sometimes the deal differs - so check carefully. More in Top cashback sites.

2 pizzas + Ben & Jerry's + Amazon Prime Video rental for £5. Via £1 Co-op member card. Cheap night in

Reminder. Bag £25 cash on top 20mth 0% spending card. Apply via our links and accepted HSBC 20mth 0% purchases card newbies get £25 cashback if spending £100+ within 60 days. So you could just pay it off IN FULL for the cashback, though as this is a top 0% card, if you NEED to borrow, this is the cheapest way - used right, there's no interest (if you're pre-approved in our eligibility calc, you'll get 20mths 0%, otherwise you could get 15mths). Golden rules: 1) Always pay at least the monthly minimum. 2) Clear the debt before the 0% ends or it's 24.9% rep APR. Full options in 0% spending cards.

Received car finance mis-selling compensation out of the blue? It DOESN'T stop you making a 'discretionary commission' claim. Full details in mystery car finance payouts.

Ex-high-street dresses, shoes & more from £1 in 'up to 90% off' Everything5pounds sale. The site sells a mix of ex-high-street & non-branded items, and it's having a big warehouse clearance with 1,000s of mega-cheap items. We've blagged a free delivery code (normally from £4). Everything5pounds clearance

Are you one of 55,000 widows/widowers owed £650m in underpaid state pension? If you lost a spouse/civil partner who reached state pension age or died before 6 April 2016, you could be owed. Full details in missing state pension.

New. Top 5.16% 1yr fix + £100 cashback (if saving £10k+). Newbies to savings marketplace Raisin - which lets you save and move money via different banks after filling in just one form - can get £100 cashback with code OFFER100 if saving £10,000+. At 5.16%, its top 1yr fix from Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank's is currently the best rate in the market, though its top easy-access account is Monument's 4.91%, which can be beaten by Trading 212's 5.2%* cash ISA. Full info in our Raisin write-up.

Chase cuts savings rates - should you ditch and switch? Its hugely popular 'boosted saver' now pays 4.85% (down from 5.1%). See how it compares in Chase savings analysis.

New. 100GB Sim price war - cheapest now '£5.90/mth'. There's a mini-price war going on for 100GB Sims, with prices falling to the lowest we've seen for the third week in a row. Newbies to iD Mobile (uses Three's network) pay £5/mth for the first 3mths, then £10/mth for the remaining 9mths, plus you can CLAIM a £35 Amazon or Currys voucher. Factored in, it's equivalent to £5.84/mth over the 12mth contract. Want a different network? Use our Cheap Mobile Finder.

BLAGGED FOR MSE

- Virgin Media 132Mb fibre & line for '£20.95/mth' Ends 22 Aug
- £107 I Am Proud skincare set for £35 3,000 available

DID YOU MISS?

- M&S up to 50% off clothes, home & beauty sale
- NS&I launches British Savings Bonds, incl 4.6% 2yr fix
- Updated. Are solar panels worth it?
- Get up to £190 FREE cash by switching bank
- Save each month? Earn over 10% in top regular savings

'I found a £62,000 lost pension - thank you'
Reclaim lost cash for FREE - a forgotten £82 BILLION is sitting in old pensions, bank accounts, savings & more

There can't be many more (potentially) profitable ways to spend an hour or two than checking if you've got any lost pensions. Nearly three million are thought to have gone astray, worth an average of £23,000 each (but sometimes into the £100,000s). And when you add in the money sat lost in bank accounts, savings and investments, there's an estimated £82 BILLION or so waiting to be claimed. Full info on how to check whether any of it's yours in Find lost accounts, but in brief...

The biggest payouts are usually from old private or company pensions & investments. For pensions, contacting ex-employers and digging out old paperwork is the best first step, but if that isn't possible or doesn't get you anywhere, all's not lost. The Government's Pension Tracing Service tool has up-to-date contact details for 100,000s of different pension schemes.

It's a little effort but can really be worth it, as Deborah's email shows: "I've been having a major sort-out recently and among my husband's paperwork, I found information about a very old pension from 1998 and four addresses ago... before we were even married. He couldn't remember having it, or if he'd cashed it in at some point. We used your advice about tracing a lost pension, and today a letter arrived confirming he has a pension pot of £61,700 that he didn't know he had! So a big thank you! That will make a big difference to our retirement!" See how to find old pensions for more.

For non-pension-based investments, there are a number of different routes - see how to reclaim old investment trusts, unit trusts and insurance policies, which includes info on Gretel, a new-ish free site that searches an array of pension, investment, insurance and bank account providers to check for lost cash.
Premium Bonds, current & savings accounts - up to £4.5 billion's waiting to be claimed. Just use the free one-stop service My Lost Account, set up by the bank & building society trade associations. Sign up, fill in the form with details and past addresses, and it'll zip them off to any of 30+ banks, 42 building societies and National Savings & Investments (NS&I, National Savings as was) where you think you may have had an account. If you did, it'll usually let you know by email or letter.
Find deceased relatives' lost assets too. If a family member has died and you're responsible for their estate, or you're the beneficiary, you may be able to reclaim that person's lost cash too. You'll need to put their name (as the account holder) on the search forms. If anything's found, you'll need the will as proof it's due to go to you. See how to recover deceased relatives' assets.

New. Amazon launches reward credit card - is it worth getting? The Amazon Barclaycard pays up to 2% Amazon credit when you use it at the online retail giant's site, plus other perks - but it can be beaten. See our Amazon card verdict.

£107 skincare set from I Am Proud for £35. MSE Blagged. 10-piece set includes vitamin C serum (mimicking £70 Sunday Riley's), shampoo/conditioner, toner & more beauty dupes. I Am Proud

Updated. Top student bank accounts 2024/25... incl £1,500 0% overdraft and 4yr railcard. Scottish results were out last week, and it's A-level results day on Thu, so we've updated our top-pick student bank accounts - see which give the biggest overdraft, cashback and railcards. Full info and options in Top student accounts.

Can you really get paid to walk using free apps? Earn cinema tickets, gift vouchers and more for steps and other activities - but how easy is it to claim these rewards? Step to it

Important. Child turned 16 & in full-time education or training? Act NOW to avoid losing Child Benefit. To keep getting your payments, contact HM Revenue & Customs by Sat 31 Aug. See Child Benefit when my child turns 16?

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS

Longest 0%: Barclaycard (check eligibility / apply*) - 28mths 0%, 3.45% fee (24.9% rep APR interest)
No-fee 0%: NatWest (check eligibility, NatWest has asked us to link only to our calculator) - 13mths 0% (24.9% rep APR)

£175 to switch + perks (eg, Apple TV+): Barclays
New. Free £100 + £15/mth cashback: TSB

Fast fibre (100Mb+): Virgin '£20.95/mth'
Superfast fibre (500Mb+): Vodafone '£26.25/mth'

Try our Compare+ Car Insurance tool

Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: Tesco Bank (check eligibility / apply*), 7.2% rep APR (for Clubcard holders)
Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: Tesco Bank (check eligibility / apply*), 6.1% rep APR (for Clubcard holders)

Top easy access: NatWest Group's Ulster Bank 5.2%, min £5,000
Top one-year fix: SmartSave 5.02%, min £10,000

Try our relaunched Cheap Energy Club

Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£3.10/mth' for 3GB
4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£3.20/mth' for 5GB
10GB to 30GB data: Lebara, '£4.03/mth' for 15GB
31GB+ data: iD Mobile, '£5.84/mth' for 100GB

THIS WEEK'S POLL

How do you pay for car insurance? September is a peak month for car insurance renewals, so this week, we want to know how you pay for cover - and how much you pay each year. Vote in this week's poll.

Almost half of MoneySavers have £50,000+ in cash savings. Last week, we asked you about how much money you held in cash savings - almost 10,000 of you responded. More than 45% have more than £50,000 saved, with almost half (48%) holding the majority of their savings in one or more cash ISA. See the full poll results.

MSE NEWS

- Top story: Tesco Clubcard vouchers worth £14 million to expire in weeks - how to use or extend yours
- Mortgage and savings providers cut variable rates after base rate drop

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA

I resold a dress I bought in a charity shop - should I share some of my profits with them? I bought three dresses from a charity shop for £30 each - they're all from a high-street brand, each retailing at £80 to £100. I later decided the colour of one of them wasn't right on me, so I listed it on a clothes marketplace app. I got £60 for it - a whopping £30 profit. Now I'm wondering whether I should give some of the money I made back to the shop I got the dress from? Or is it enough to make sure I shop there again in future to help them out? Enter the Money Moral Maze: I resold a dress I bought in a charity shop - should I share some of my profits with them? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma (MMD) | View past MMDs

MSE TEAM BLOG

- 25 tricks to boost storage and spruce up your home
- 'I nearly got caught out by this holiday scam - don't fall for it'
- MSE Forum highlights: Cheap batteries, coffee capsules & wildlife cameras

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