Last year we paid £706 for our car insurance cover from eSure. Given it’s a few weeks until we need to renew, I was pleased to see our quote for the next 12 months come in at £587.

Since April 2017, general insurance firms have been required to clearly display last year’s premium in renewal notices as well as the proposed premium, so you don’t need to spend hours finding old paperwork.

In our case, this was a clear £120 saving without having to lift a finger. Who says loyalty doesn’t pay?

But curiosity got the better of me. After all, I’m constantly reminding readers about the benefits of comparing deals and quotes to ensure they don’t pay over the odds, whether it’s for car insurance, energy or bank accounts offering the most interest.

So last night I dedicated some time to researching car insurance policies and I’m glad I did.

Going through price comparison sites MoneySuperMarket and Confused.com, I was able to get my renewal quote down even further.

It’s important to say that our circumstances have changed only slightly this year, namely my husband’s employment status, but I found this didn’t have much of an impact on the quote.

The best price I got was £443. That’s a further £144 saved off the eSure renewal price and a £263 saving from the price we paid last year.

But the best bit of all is that I don’t even need to switch insurer. This £443 price was offered by eSure to me as a new customer.

Loyalty, even when it seems to be in your favour, has a lot to answer for. In the end I am sticking with the familiar, but at a much reduced ‘new’ customer rate.

You may be tempted to accept the price given in your renewal quote, but 30 minutes of research has really paid dividends.

It would be nice to spend the savings on something frivolous and fun, but our car is also due its MOT and full service which will set us back £250. You win some, you lose some.

Paloma Kubiak is deputy editor of YourMoney.com