£279 sounds cheap if it’s an S3 but my bet is that
@WelshWoody83 has an A3. Mine was a 1.6tdi A3, when I took out my 4th year policy the cheapest was £200, it was £380 before I entered the final month/few weeks of my normal 3yr policy. I went with full cover £0 excess for £400 which was near £1k right before the final month threshold. This price went down in the following year. Final week or final 3weeks I dont think matters, I think I extended it in the final days. You just need to get it done before it expires.
@The_Ironist at £446 I would have thought you have gone £0 excess and full cover and have an S3?