I have set myself an exciting objective for 2012.  I have decided that this is the year, if ever there was one, to renegotiate each and every renewable service that I buy. Gas, Electricity, Insurance, the lot.  This is going to be fun!  I ought really to make the objective even more exciting by putting a target on it:  I reckon £1,500 savings per year FOR EVER would be about right.

There are two good reasons for doing it:  firstly, financially it’s a good idea, and I am pretty sure that because I have been so lazy about this in the past, I am sitting on all sorts of overcharges which I fully deserve to be paying:  a kind of “inertia tax”, if you like!  We’re all guilty of it to a greater or lesser extent, including you, dear reader.

Secondly, I have just reminded myself how EASY it is.  Let me share the latest example with you.  I swear this is almost word for word how it went.

I have vehicle breakdown cover for my car, provided by the UK’s largest breakdown cover organisation.  Been with them 12 years, and never bothered to renegotiate at renewal time.  This year they sent me a written quote featuring a 6% increase on last year.

I did some research online and found out that I could get the same cover with a smaller organisation for 50% less.  Armed with this, I rang the nice man.

“Hello sir, are you ringing to renew?”

“Possibly, if you can find some wiggle room on your quote.”

“Ah, let me put you through to our wiggle department for that one.”

(Pause)

“Good morning Mr Brown, wiggle department here.”

“Hello.  So how much wiggle room do they give you on quotes like mine?”

“How would a 50% discount suit you?”

“That’ll do nicely.  You’re a very nice man.  A very very nice man.  Goodbye.” 

(Clue to the name of the organisation if you watch TV adverts)

I kid you not.  That is a pretty accurate transcript of the dialogue.

The thing is, it’s annoying when they make it that easy, as it means you have been overpaying for years, and mugs like me subsidise the low prices they offer to other customers.  Not any more.  Armed with my alternative quotes (which I call BANANASread this Blog to find out more), I shall be repeating this exercise across the year.  Not only will I save money, I will feel good about myself and be building my Negotiation Muscle, which as you know can go flabby unless you exercise it regularly.

So go on, make my day, make a call and prove how easy it really is.  Let me know how you get on!

Please share this Blog if you think it’s helpful, and even better SUBSCRIBE (top right of this page): another objective is to double my readership this year!

A happy and cost effective 2012 to you and yours.

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