When I posted my last Dazed and Consumed blog, several commenters expressed the belief that my problems with consumer-related mail were symptomatic of depression. So, egged on by my editor (slightly too gleefully for comfort, I thought), I called Cary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University, in search of a second opinion.

It is with relief I can report that Prof Cooper thinks my behaviour is more symptomatic of an ostrich than a depressive. “I’m the same as you,” he says. “It’s just avoidance behaviour. A lot of people don’t like to think about legal or accounting stuff, and if they don’t open it they don’t have to deal with it.” (This isn’t to say I am not actually paying my bills, as some people thought. They all go on direct debit, I’m just not sure exactly sure what most of them are costing me.)

In an attempt to pull my head out of the sand, I resolved this week to sort out my car insurance renewal, an experience which pretty much summed up my exasperation at the time and effort one has to put into managing consumer affairs.

First, I received a renewal quote from my insurer, Admiral, that seemed on the high side. So I jumped on a price comparison site which duly conjured up a price £80 cheaper from elephant.co.uk, Admiral’s sister company. Anyone who has dealt with these two companies will know they are virtually indistinguishable from one another (the main difference between their online quote tools is the colour scheme), so I called the Admiral “hotline” to seek clarification.

I was then connected to an over-jolly call centre worker in Canada who was, mysteriously, able to access the details of my Elephant.co.uk quote immediately. My original Admiral quote, surprise, surprise, was then swiftly lowered to match the Elephant.co.uk one. Which I bought, of course, because my lifeblood was draining away (and because it was the cheapest).

It is hard enough trying to own a car and having to ignore the many well-argued cases for not doing so, without insurance companies subjecting you to this kind of tortuous behaviour. Does anyone have a random insurance pricing story to beat this one?