The end of March sees me playing the annual game of checking out car insurance prices - and then deciding whether it is worth the hassle of changing insurers to save a few quid.  It is a very odd game and the advent of price comparison websites only makes it more so, since you are rarely comparing 'apples with apples' as you try to fathom out why insurer A wants up to three times as much money as insurer B for the same car driven by the same person.  Beware small print seems to be the key - what are the excesses, what is included or excluded, etc etc.  Beware monthly payment plans which carry pretty high APR levels.  Oh, and can someone tell me whether it really is worth paying to protect my no claims discount when the whole reason I have it is that in 20-odd years I've never needed to make a claim...?

In the end I opted to switch insurers this year - notionally saving myself £50-£100 on the way (do you actually save what you have not spent?) - and earning a few supermarket loyalty points to boot!  At least that job is now over for another 12 months and I can get back to doing more interesting and rewarding things - like the study I'm meant to be doing this morning.

PS If anyone can explain to me why all my insurance policies increased noticeably when I changed from being a professional engineer to being a minister, I'd be very interested!  Are 'vicars' really a bigger liability?!!