Around 34% of people with general insurance policies, such as home and motor cover, have changed provider during the past 12 months to get a better deal, according to research conducted by accountancy firm Deloitte.

A third of people also said they were now more likely to use a price comparison website to search the market than they were a year ago.
But despite remaining price-sensitive, fewer consumers are looking to reduce their outgoings through cutting back on their insurance this year.

In 2009, 13% of people said they were considering stopping their home contents insurance when it next came up for renewal to save money, but this has fallen to just 4% now.

At the same time, only 7% are thinking of not bothering to take out travel insurance and 6% are considering cancelling their payment protection insurance, down from 13% and 11% respectively last year.
Consumers are also less likely to be exploring ways of minimising the cost of their cover.

Only 4% of people are thinking of reducing the value that their property is insured for to get a lower premium, down from 22% last year, while just 8% are considering downgrading their motor insurance to less comprehensive cover, compared with 22% 12 months ago.

David Rush, head of general insurance at Deloitte, said: “The fact that consumers are not looking to cut back on their policies to the extent they were last year is positive news for the insurance industry.
“However, while consumers may seem more committed to keeping their policies, they have not shown loyalty to their insurer, with over one third having changed insurer in order to save money.”