I was with Carole Nash for a 3 bike policy, 2018 S1000RR, 2023 Ducati Monster+ 937, 2005 Triumph Daytona 955i. Renewal was £598 up from £420 the previous year. Spoke to them on the phone, jiggled around with bike values, mileage and excess and got the quote back down to £418. As it was renewal against my card lodged with them and I couldn't put my hand on the same card at the time of the call, they suggested I rang back to confirm that the card details were the same as the one on their system. Completely forgot to ring back. Get a text 2 days after it had lapsed to say that the policy had already lapsed. My credit card details were the same as last year, but the expiry date had been updated by 2-3 years.... damn I forgot that. Quickly rang CN but this time there was no budging, back to £598, take it or leave it. In hindsight it was good of them to text me that the policy had lapsed, I wouldn't have known otherwise. Sorry Officer.....
Tried a comparison website, all the usually bollox and expensive inappropriate one-size fits all multi-bike policies. Then went to Bennetts Insurance online service, filled in everything - they even told me what changes I had made to the bike and which ones they didn't need to hear about, my IAM full membership, my type 2 diabetes, checked the policy, got a quote of £420, the differences between the policies were immaterial to me. Whole process took 10 minutes and I signed there and then.
I think the lesson is, if you're being abused by your renewal quote, generally shopping around often leads to dividends, but not always, and always check the policy immediately before/after purchase as you may well have a cooling off period. If you pay for 12 months in advance, always use a credit and not a debit card. You then have more power if there is an issue and you can ask the credit card company to immediately withdraw the payment if you have a dispute.