November will be a good month for car insurance seekers, according to a prominent car insurance comparison website. With insurance premiums slated to remain stagnant without any foreseeable hikes.
Looking at the year-to-year data, it appears that the overall prices for the month of November this year have risen by 2.8% as compared to last year, which is below the inflation rate. This, combined with the yearly drop of 1.9% from last month means that prices have conveniently fallen, a windfall for car drivers after 18 months of double digit inflation rates.
The prices for the last three months, when adjudged on a quarterly basis, reveal a gratifying fact: prices are falling with a 5.1% drop in this quarter as opposed to the previous quarter. The welcome news comes despite the monthly increase of 4.7% when you compare November with the month before.
Despite the joyous tidings, a spokesman from a reputed car insurance comparison website warned that car owners should still not become complacent. “Whilst it’s good to see the recent fall in policy rates, this does follow a sustained period of very high inflation in car insurance prices. It is estimated that average prices across the whole of 2011 will still be about 16.4% higher than average 2010 prices – three times the latest RPI estimate. Given this, we recommend that all drivers shop around when renewing insurance, using various car insurance comparison sites to look not just for cheap car insurance quotes but also to ensure that they get the most appropriate level of cover.”
He goes on to say: “Whilst the overall picture may show relative stability in the market, the demographic groups results are far from a happy picture. Our 45-year old male driver profile for example, saw costs increase by a staggering 22.6% when compared with prices from a year ago. 25-year old females were not far behind with a 17.1% increase. Again, given the kind of swings and roundabouts we are seeing when it comes to pricing by age, gender and other factors, it pays to compare car insurance rates across a wide range of insurers to try and find the best possible price and the most appropriate product.”
In other news, the Labour party will be conferring with ministers in a bid to provide cheap car insurance to unemployed young people so as to help them get work.
John Woodcock, Shadow Transport Secretary, said that ‘travel-to-work-only’ premiums would be beneficial in helping young men and women in the age group of 17-24 find jobs. He also argued for certain modifications in road education and driving tests, the specifics of which will be made public later.
“There are more than one million jobless young people we must help,” Mr Woodcock was quoted as saying.
This week, Mr Woodcock is scheduled to speak at the Association of British Insurers motor insurance conference to outline his plans on bringing his proposal into effect.
