Don't wait till the last minute to buy car insurance - the perfect time's 20 to 26 days ahead

September's peak renewal time. Not due to renew? Check anyway - some can save £100s

New car registrations are released in September (and March) - and related to that, these months also see a spike in online searches for car insurance. Yet when we analysed more than 70 million quotes, we found the cheapest time to get car insurance quotes is 20 to 26 days before you want the policy to start - it's more expensive if you're too early or too late, as the graph shows.

So NOW is the perfect time to check, especially if you're renewing in September... timing it right saved Sandra £190: "Renewal quote for my daughter's insurance was £1,300. Quote 30 days prior £995. Checked again 24 days prior to renewal: £805 - with improved benefit of protected no-claims. Thank you."

Earlier this year, we built our Car Insurance Compare+ tool to help you find cheap car insurance. Here's how it works...

• Fill in one form and we give you quotes, plus our tips to try to get it cheaper. Use Car Insurance Compare+ and you...
  
  - Fill in one questionnaire. We've borrowed MoneySupermarket's (we're part of the same group), so if you've used it before, your answers can be auto-filled.
  - Get MSE cost-cutting tips as you answer. Like our Job Picker tool, which suggests tweaks to your job title that can cut costs (though never lie, as that's fraud and can invalidate insurance).
  - See your cheapest insurers as a benchmark. These are from the comparison, so you can see them straightaway, but of course we want you to beat them...
  - Personalised tips to try to cut costs further. These include timing your quote right, whether you should look to add an additional driver or to check multicar policies - often with one-click checks to see if they actually do cut costs for you.
  - Whether to try other sites to cut costs further. We assess if Direct Line (which isn't in comparisons) is likely to be cheaper for you, and give you our latest comparison site order of others to try, as MoneySupermarket may not be cheapest.
  
  
• Not renewing in September? Check if you can save by switching mid-term. The majority of policies won't be due for renewal in the next few weeks. Yet even if yours isn't, it's worth checking now if you can find a cheaper quote than what you currently pay. If so, you can usually cancel an expensive policy mid-year and move to a cheaper one. As long as you haven't claimed, you'll likely pay a £50ish admin fee (factor that in) and get the rest of the year refunded. Use the Car insurance tool to see if you can save.
  
  Holly switched mid year: "Just wanna say thanks for your emails. I wouldn't have thought to cancel my car insurance policy mid-year and start a new one - which is £300 LESS a year." Full help in switching mid-policy.

'I fixed to try and beat the coming huge energy price rises, do they have to honour it?'

Unless there's state intervention, the long-predicted, hideous hikes in energy bills will sadly soon come to fruition. The current estimate is an 82% rise in October, then a further 19% rise in January - so bills will then be well over DOUBLE what they are now.

To mitigate the rises, Martin's Should I fix energy? guide has for many months shown when to pounce on, and when to avoid, your energy firm's usually short-lived fixed offers. If you haven't fixed, it's worth regularly (weekly or, ideally, even more often) scanning the guide, which has a list, checked and updated every weekday, of firms with fixes worth considering.

• I've fixed. Can they take it away from me? Many who took advantage of Martin's updates earlier in the year did bag fixes, which now look like they'll save them large amounts. Yet some are worried, like Tony in his email to us...
  
  "Following Martin's tip, I took a dual-fuel fix in February this year and have the agreed fix paperwork till February 2024. Will E.on have to honour this even though prices are going through the roof? If this is the case, my direct debit will stay at £120 a month, what a saving. Well done to you all."
  
  In simple terms, the answer is yes. A fix means the rates you pay for each unit of gas and electricity are locked in - though what you pay can vary with usage. And if you fix, the energy company must charge you the agreed rate, provided nothing changes with you or it. The main exceptions are:
  
  - If you move home (most fixes aren't portable).
  - If you change the person named on the bill (some firms allow it, but others cancel the fix - even if the change is due to a bereavement).
  - If you get into arrears (here, the provider can move you to a prepay meter if you don't agree a repayment plan).
  - If the energy firm goes bust, when you'd likely be moved to a different supplier at the price-capped rate.
  
  Of course there are always the unknown exceptions, such as a big anti-consumer change in regulations - yet hopefully that's very unlikely.
  
  
• Already struggling to pay? We've compiled all the help that's currently available, including grants, payment options and more in Struggling to pay energy bills.