Insurance is weird

[fazersharp]

i've now learned that the later you search nearer the end date the prices can actually rise because they know you're desperate to get it sorted.

That is a good tip.  :thumbup
The thing with comparison sites is that most are owned by insurance companies themselves and within the quotes returned many insurance brands you see are owned by the same insurance parent company, so out of the 15 results you may only actually be looking at a handful of parent companies. And its the parent company that holds your info.
For instance
       
Admiral Group owns (at least )
Confused
Diamond
Elephant.
My bike insurance only went up by £9 at renewal letter and as it was the cheapest I could find last year I did not bother looking elsewhere. What a difference and a change than them trying it on with a £90 increase and me having to do the insurance "dance" to eventually leave them and go with another. Only to find that the next year it happends again and the ofirst one is now the cheapest !.
I wonder if it has something to do with controlling the risk on their books so they look and think they have too much of one risk and so hike the price up for it to cut down on the renewals for that risk, and if idiots take it out then that is ok too.