Four in ten British householders simply renewed their policy with their current insurer when it ran out instead of doing some research and looking for a better deal elsewhere.

A spokesperson for Privilege Insurance said: “Clearly there is still some inertia in the home insurance market, but double-checking the competitiveness of your renewal quote need only take a few minutes and, by not shopping around, consumers are potentially missing out on making significant savings while maintaining the same level of cover.”

Over half of homeowners polled by the insurance company shopped around for a better quote when their current policy ended and 14 per cent decided to arrange their home and contents insurance cover through their mortgage provider.

However, the survey found that homeowners who bought their insurance from specialist insurance providers were more likely to get quotes from other providers than those who took out policies from their mortgage providers.

Customers buying cover directly from insurers were twice as likely to shop around as those with ‘mortgage-linked’ policies (58 per cent compared to 26 per cent), often taking advantage of insurers’ online quote pages to provide comparison prices quickly and easily.

Halifax Home Insurance encouraged homeowners to prepare for flood season this week as it reported a 40 per cent rise in claims since 2001.

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