The consumer “watchdog” Which? have highlighted additional fees being charged involved in renewing and adjustments on tested car insurance policies and have warned consumers to be diligent.

According to Which? research showed that some well known insurance providers “punish loyal customers” by charging them to change policy details or renew their policies. However, this is not a new practise. Far from it, insurers and brokers have charged fees for as long as the author can remember. The difference historically is whether the provider or broker has been transparent and if this is the case then a fee is perfectly reasonable on all policies such as cheap empty property insurance.

They claimed that the providers charging the highest fees for adjusting details were 50Plus Insurance Services and Hastings Direct, which can charge up to £35, according to Insurance Age. On average, the Which? study revealed that making changes to policy details is likely to cost an average of £19.Over 20% of the insurers it had looked at charged nil for such adjustments, noting that Swiftcover and Axa as two companies (well one, if you count that Swiftcover is owned by Axa) adopting this approach, Which ? stated. It must have worked as in April last year Swiftcover hit back at Which? over claims that the insurer was charging its customers “hidden” fees to make common policy changes so despite their criticism, it did force the insurer to think about its pricing strategy. Hastings Direct (quite rightly) stated that every insurance company incurs administration costs at renewal: “Whether they choose to disclose that cost as a separate fee as we do, or wrap it up in to the total premium price. We believe our approach is more honest and transparent.”

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: “We’ve found that drivers are being stung with a range of additional fees when they come to renew their car insurance or even just update their details on their policy. Fees should reflect the actual costs incurred by the company, and not be used as an excuse to squeeze more money from consumers who have little choice but to pay. We also want to see all fees made available on the insurer’s website and not hidden in lengthy policy documents so people can compare companies more easily before taking out a policy.” This approach is not unique to the insurance market – Look at the air travel industry and operators such as EasyJet or Ryanair where the price of their tickets are recouped in revenue from sandwiches, drinks, more or over-sized baggage – charges that these firms make no excuses for.

It is right for Which? to highlight excessive fees and to ensure insurers are transparent. Reasonable fees on polices such as cheap landlord insurance are what consumers are after.