Car insurance is pretty expensive. And getting more so year-on-year.

I’ve just renewed mine and although I’ve gone another without any claims or indeed anything happening that could affect my insurance, it’s gone up. In an ideal world you’d expect the opposite.

So, let’s just see how I got that insurance.

I went via Quidco, as I could get cashback from MoneySupermarket.com. MoneySupermarket.com put me onto Hastings Essentials. Hastings Essentials are a broker and, on the paperwork they’ve provided, state that my insurance is with “Advantage Ins”. If that’s the Advantage Insurance I think it is, they’re described as “an independent marketing organization that delivers products and services from insurance companies to its member firms in the Independent Brokerage Distribution Channel.” In other words, another broker. At some point at the end I suspect is an insurer. Somewhere.

So, here’s the chain…

• Cashback website – Quidco
• Cashback comparison site – MoneySupermarket.com
• Broker – Hastings Essentials
• Broker – Advantage Insurance
• Insurer (we assume)

With each takings they own cut, is it any wonder how much we’re paying? Sadly, I don’t save any by going any more directly – the Hastings Essentials quote is no different if I go to their website or via MoneySupermarket, so I may as well make use of the £20 cashback I’d get from Quidco.

Of course, there are some who shun cashback and comparison sites – Aviva and Directline for example. However (and try and work this one out) their quotes were astronomical compared to what I got elsewhere.