Last year when I had to renew my road car insurance, the most competitive quote using 'The Meerkats' was with a different company from the one I was with. So I changed companies.
Come renewal time this year I got the usual renewal notice from RAC Insurance at £310 fully comp (BMW 730D SE). So I consulted The Meerkats again and the best quote was £220. I decided to call my current insurer to cancel and, wonder of wonders, they dropped the renewal to £235 and included legal cover which I didn't have with a slightly lower excess than with the Meerkat's lowest.
It's wonderful what a phone call can do, but it's a bit naughty to try to rip off a loyal customer. In order to make life simple I stayed with my present insurer.
I had a similar thing with the RAC Breakdown. After being a member for over 10 years with only 1 claim, I received a renewal quote, but then I saw a 'special offer' for new members at less than I was paying for the same level of breakdown cover. So I called to tell them I would be cancelling and that I would then be a non-member applying to join at the special rate. So what did they do? They gave me an extra 3 months membership for the price of my quoted renewal as a 'loyalty bonus'.