Change contract: This saves you hundreds of euros a year

More than 80 percent of those over 50 do not compare electricity tariffs regularly or have never even changed their contract

Every third mobile phone contract is more than 5 years old, and more than every third driver is loyal to their current vehicle insurance and does not compare tariffs.

–
–
–
–
–
–

–

Regardless of whether it is for electricity, mobile phones or insurance: If you change your existing contract, you will get more favorable conditions from many providers. Existing customers, on the other hand, usually look into the tube and often pay more. The financial advisor Finanztip has now taken a closer look at the switching behavior of households in Germany in a representative study.

The current Finanztip study shows that consumers over 50 in particular are lazy to change. And that can be expensive: A standard customer incurs high additional costs every year for electricity, cell phones and car insurance alone.

Electricity: Save up to 147 euros a year

According to Finanztip, every third consumer has remained loyal to his electricity provider and has therefore paid more. “Anyone who has always purchased electricity from a provider depends on the expensive basic supply,” says Hermann-Josef Tenhagen, editor-in-chief of Finanztip.

According to the calculation by Finanztip, switching to a cheaper tariff with an average power consumption (3,000 KWh) brings about 150 euros per year. The money advisor also recommends that you should compare tariffs regularly.

The study shows that younger people tend to be inexperienced and do not find out about cheaper alternatives. According to this, 47.8 percent of those questioned between the ages of 18 and 29 stated that they had never changed their electricity provider. This number is 31.1 percent for people aged 50-69.

According to the study, you can save up to 14 percent when switching from the basic provider without a bonus. That corresponds to 147 euros a year. With an older tariff without bonus with new customer conditions, the saving is 38 euros. The period from March 2020 to March 2021 was calculated.

Mobile communications: review contracts every two years

According to statistical evaluations, 60.7 million people in Germany own a smartphone. This is another cost factor where you can always save money. “We have been observing falling prices in the mobile communications sector for years – first in the E network, now increasingly also in the high-quality D network,” says Tenhagen.

Especially in the D-Netz (Telekom and Vodafone), this goes into the money, as a sample calculation from Finanztip shows: If your contract has been in place for ten years, you pay 264 euros a year too much. With 5-year-old contracts still 192 euros.

The study shows that more than every fourth person has a mobile phone contract that is more than 5 years old, and this particularly affects the group between 50 and 69 years of age. 15 percent of this age group signed their contract more than 10 years ago, while the figure for those under 50 is only seven percent. The advice of the Finanztip boss: “Mobile phone contracts should be checked at least every two years. Often it is enough to threaten the provider with termination in order to obtain significantly better conditions. “

Motor vehicle insurance: Switching is particularly attractive for the elderly

There is also the possibility of saving money with car insurance. This particularly applies to the 50 and over age group, because insurance companies charge more money as they get older. But the study shows that 40 percent of those over 50 years old do not change their insurance.

It is no different for the other age groups either – just under one in three compares and changes tariffs on a regular basis. For the age group from 60 years of age, the money advisor advises to compare the tariffs every year. “In our example calculation, we saved an average of up to 50 euros a year by switching to a cheaper tariff. In view of the fact that insurance companies deal with the issue of age very differently and that type and regional classes are recalculated every year, insured persons aged 60 and over should compare tariffs every year ”, says editor-in-chief Tenhagen.

If your own insurance company makes a fair offer, loyalty should be justified. Otherwise you should definitely switch. Tenhagen advises to use tariff calculators in the network. The time required should be a maximum of half an hour.

–