MSE’s Money Tips Car finance - reclaim £1,000s?, Martin's BILLBUSTER, 4% mortgages, pothole compensation, Paris retur

MARTIN'S ANNUAL BILLBUSTER
The big & easy savings everyone should try, to gain £1,000s in 2024

10 areas: Broadband, Mobiles, Council Tax, Water Bills, Credit Cards, Mortgages, Breakdown, Energy, Overdrafts, Car & Home Insurance

It's January - the one time the majority of people have a need, an interest, a yen to save. So while you've got this financial fervour, I want to grab your attention and do my annual billbuster - running through the key topics for big & easy savings. Plus tonight, Tue 8pm ITV1, I'll talk you through how to do a billbuster on my show. Do watch.

So if you can, take a few hours to do a financial blitz and tackle it all. If that scares the pants off you, do a slow-burn where every time you get one of these bills, sort it then, gradually giving yourself a money makeover. I won't risk writing more, it may distract you - let's get straight to it...

1. MOBILE BILL: Many overpay four-fold. Scale of Saving: £150/yr. Time Taken: 5 mins. Key Action: Quickly find cheapest Sim. Hottest Deal: 12GB/mth for '£3.57/mth'.

Mobile pricing has schismed in recent years. Existing customers saw 14% to 17% hikes last April (last week I asked the Chancellor to intervene & stop above-inflation mobile & broadband hikes this April), yet new deals have seen deflation, with prices plummeting. Two years ago a 100GB Sim was '£12/mth', today it's '£7/mth'. So if like 14m people you're out of contract, follow these steps:

- Step 1: Text 'INFO' for free to 85075. It'll then reply telling you if you're in contract OR are free to leave (if it doesn't work, if you've been on same deal 2+ yrs you're likely out of contract).
- Step 2: Find the cheapest Sim. Use our cheap sims comparison. A Sim is just the chip in the back of your phone that gives it its identity, so as long as you don't want a new handset, switch this & save. Don't want to switch signal? Tell the tool and it'll include only networks that piggyback on the same signal, or take the best price and haggle.
- Step 3: To keep your number, text 'PAC' to 65075. Then you get a code to send to your new provider, which'll transfer it over, usually in one working day. 

Here are some top deals as a benchmark - all are unlimited UK calls & texts (use our Data Calc if you're unsure how much you need) and include intro promo vouchers factored into the price over the contract.

2. MORTGAGES: Fixes finally getting cheaper. Scale of Saving: c. £2,400/yr per £100,000 of mortgage (moving from 8% standard rate to 5% fix). Time Taken: 15 mins. Key Action: Check your rate against the cheapest mortgages to see if you can save. Hot Deal: 5 year fixes now under 4%.

We're covering this below, so please jump straight to Can you save on your mortgage?

3. BROADBAND: Halve costs, double speed. Scale of Saving: £240/yr or £500/yr for some with digital TV. Time Taken: 5-10 mins. Key Action: Check broadband (& TV) comparison. Hot Deal: 132Mb Virgin Media broadband '£21/mth'.

Most people massively overpay for broadband, and it's got a lot worse this last year. Last April, most firms hiked costs 14% to 17%, and this April it's likely 7%-ish rises will hit. So if you're one of the 7m who are out of contract, check now if you can switch & save (or haggle and stay). 

Here are current top-pick SWITCHERS' deals - as normal all are short-lived promos via comparison sites, and all include vouchers (such as £90 Amazon) when you sign up, so the price factors that & all costs in over the contract period. The link goes via our broadband tool which gives you details, and shows whether it's available in your postcode. 

Also looking for digital TV? First do a channel self-audit, what do you actually watch & want, then use our broadband & TV comparison to check prices. If you've some red-lines, then haggling is often the winner. And if you've different providers for broadband & TV, check if you can save by combining them.

For streaming, see our Disney+ | Amazon Prime Video | Netflix tips to save and also check Do I need a TV licence? 

Quick broadband switching tips... 
- Won't switch as you use its email? First check if you can keep it if you leave - some allow it. If not, see top tips to beat email lock-in.
- At least 50% must get the advertised speeds at peak times. Providers above also tell you estimated max speed before you sign up.
- Switching usually only means c. 2hrs' downtime. You're told switch time & most don't need an engineer to set it up (more common with Virgin).

4. WATER BILLS: More savings than most think. Scale of Saving: £50-£500/yr. Time Taken: 5 mins. Key Action: Use water meter calc to see if it'd save you (Eng & Wales only). Hot Deal: 700,000 water-saving freebies.

Perversely, with water, we have privatisation but no competition, arguably the worst of both worlds. That's one reason water is the forgotten utility, but the reality is potential savings are memorable - here are three routes... 

i) Can you switch to a FREE water meter (Eng & Wales)? These water bills are still based on the 1989 rateable value (yes, you read that right: 1989), a proxy for property value, and can't be appealed. Yet you can move to a free water meter (not free in Scotland, while in N Ireland water bills are part of local taxation). Here's my rule of thumb:

More bedrooms in your home than people, or the same number (eg, 3 bedrooms, 2 people)? Definitely check if a water meter will save you cash

This works because water meters are based on usage, so when there's only a couple of people in a big (thus higher-rated) house, it's likely to be cheaper. So use a water meter calculator for an estimate, then get the water firm to give a more formal assessment.

As Marie emailed: "My last water bill had risen to £1,600 a year - I took your advice, had a meter installed and now pay just over £250 annually - saving over £1,000 a year without changing the way I use water. Why didn't I get one before? Especially as I am now on my own."

- Told you can't have a meter? Ask for an 'assessed charge' where they work out what you'd pay if you were on a meter & see if it's cheaper.
- Many firms let you change back within two years. So try the meter and see (see switch-back policies). This doesn't work for compulsory installs.
- Got a soakaway, cesspit, pool or big garden? You may be able to claim a drainage rebate. 

ii) Cut your water usage. While this is mainly a benefit for those on a meter, even if not, as much of the water we use is heated, it can cut energy bills too. See our 30 water-saving tips and water freebies.

iii) 5.7m eligible homes miss out on discounts. If you're on a low income and/or you claim benefits, a social tariff could slash your bill by up to 90%. If you've a water meter AND claim benefits AND have certain medical conditions that cause you to use more water, OR have 3+ children in your household, you could get bills capped under the WaterSure scheme.

5. CREDIT CARD BILLS: Shift debt to 29mths 0%. Scale of Saving: £200/yr per £1,000 of debt. Time Taken: 10 mins. Key Action: Use an eligibility calc to see if you'll be accepted. Top Deal: Barclaycard's 'up to' 29mths 0% (3.45% fee) or if you can repay quicker, NatWest's 13mths 0% NO FEE. 

If you can't afford to clear your credit or store card debts in full, you can't afford not to check if you can shift 'em to interest-free. I wrote everything you need to know in my credit card debt cost-cutting masterclass in last week's email (it's still up to date), so jump to that for full help.

6. BREAKDOWN COVER: Full service under £60/yr. Scale of Saving: £150/yr. Time Taken: 5 mins. Key Action: Switch to cheapest cover or haggle. Top Deal: AutoAid's* full service £57/yr.

Price-walking has been banned for car & home insurance but not roadside recovery. It's where each year, firms push their customers' prices up a little, so that if you've auto-renewed for a few years, you end up overpaying massively. So don't just auto-renew: there's full help in car breakdown cover, and here are three quick options...

• Full service cover £57/yr for you & a partner. AutoAid's* been among my top picks for nearly two decades. It covers you & your spouse or live-in partner in any car you/they drive, including roadside recovery, home start and onward travel (it's £15 more if your car's over 16 years old). Eversure Gold* is a similar price and has similar cover too, though less of a track record. Both use local recovery operators. We've great feedback for AutoAid.
  
  
• Want to stick with AA/RAC? Don't just auto-renew - both are in the top 10 UK firms to haggle with.
  
  
• Want a new AA/RAC policy? Use a cashback site. Via the right cashback sites, it can be £57/yr basic or £110/yr full service - not far from half the price of buying direct.

7. GAS & ELECTRICITY: Switch to save 3%. Scale of Saving: £50-£100/yr. Time Taken: 4 mins. Key Action: Switch to E.on Next Pledge and cut usage.

If current predictions are right, the Energy Price Cap will drop 14% in April, and so fixing now likely isn't worth it. However, the E.on Pledge tariff is basically a 3% cheaper version of the Price Cap. For help on that and lots more, see our full energy cost-cutting tips from 3 Jan, which all still stand.

8. OVERDRAFTS: A real danger debt. Scale of Saving: £40/yr per £100 of overdraft. Time Taken: 15 mins. Key Action: Can you switch overdraft to 0%? Hottest Deal: First Direct* free switchers' £175 and most get an ongoing £250 0% overdraft. 

It's now 17 years ago that I first launched my council tax cost-cutting system - back then it made front-page news. Over the years huge numbers have cut bills and got backdated cash...

• Are you in too high a council tax band? 100,000s of homes are in the wrong band, many in too high a band. My 10-min council tax band check 'n' challenge system shows how to check your band is correct and how to challenge it if not. Ensure you read it properly, just speculatively challenging can be costly. David emailed me:
  
  "You suggested checking bands against similar properties. We noticed other properties were band F - we were G. We challenged and were told the property had been in the wrong band since 1993. Thanks to you we've now received a £7,000 back-payment and had our monthly payment cut by £70. Thank you for a fabulous site & weekly newsletter."
  
  
• Are you due a council tax discount? If you or someone you know lives alone (or just with u18s or full-time students), has a live-in carer, disability, is a student or receives Pension Credit, check if you're due a council tax discount.
  
  Plus if someone has dementia, Alzheimer's, severe Parkinson's or suffered from a stroke, they may be entitled to the 'severe mental impairment' discount, which can be worth £1,000s backdated, and needs shouting about from the rooftops.

PS: 'Time Taken' is my guesstimate of how long to look at the info and decide on action. It's to give you a rough idea of how much time to put aside - clearly it can vary massively.