Last month, the first quarter’s results for 2012 of the Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index were released.
This index, which is based on over 4 million quotations and makes a comparison with findings over the previous five years, revealed that average comprehensive car insurance premiums have dropped by 3.3% for the first three months of 2012 which has not happened since late 2008. A lower reduction of 0.4% for the same period was evident for third party fire and theft.
Let us look at these figures in a little more detail: –
- At 31 March 2012 the average price of comprehensive car insurance was £816 per annum that was £19 lower than twelve months previously. The average price of the same cover at the 31 December 2006 was £506 per annum.
- Age plays a major factor in determining premiums with someone over 66 paying on average £438 that is a £13 reduction and a 17 to 20 year old paying on average £2,499 that is a £92 reduction.
- If you live in Manchester or Merseyside, are male and aged 17 to 20 you will probably be faced with having to pay the UK’s most expensive comprehensive car insurance premiums averaging £5,530 per annum.
- If you reside in the Scottish Highlands and are female between the ages of 66 to 70 you are likely to pay the lowest annual premium for comprehensive car insurance at £212 per annum.
- Based upon postcode level the largest annual percentage increases for comprehensive insurance were in Bradford, Oldham and Uxbridge with the maximum being 7.1%. If you live in Galashiels you have benefited from the largest drop in premiums anywhere in the UK at 13%.
- Merseyside and Manchester drivers suffered the biggest increase at 3.3% for quarter one of 2012.
Duncan Anderson of Towers Watson stated: “After several years of exceptional increases, insurers seem to have addressed profitability issues caused primarily by spiralling bodily injury claims. Whilst this is good news for consumers, claims inflation has not gone away and uncertainty in the market remains. Later this year, the EU ruling outlawing discrimination of premiums on the basis of gender means that insurers will be pushing through a number of changes to their rating structures with resulting rates likely to be volatile for a period, particularly for younger drivers.”
Confused.com’s Head of Motor, Gareth Kloet said: “After several years of significant price increases, the latest index shows a small decline. Whether this is a sustained trend or a blip remains to be seen. With insurance prices up by 32.6% over the last two years, and 53.6% over the last three years, hard-pressed customers would be well-advised to shop around.”
As stated above, it is certainly worth spending a little time shopping around to see if you can get cheap car insurance but at the same time making sure that the cover meets your individual requirements.
