According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) there has been an awful lot of money paid out by insurance companies in respect of motor insurance claims in the third quarter of 2017. Unfortunately this may, amongst other factors, have a negative impact on the likes of car insurance premiums in so much as premiums may increase further in the coming months. We are sure that motorists would not welcome this if it were to happen.
You may be interested to read that in the third quarter of 2017 insurance companies paid out £2.1 billion in respect of motor insurance claims. The reasons for this are being put down to rises in the amounts being claimed for vehicles being stolen, repairs to cars and other motor vehicles and the amount being paid out in respect of personal injury claims.
The amount paid out for repairs to vehicles in Q3 of this year was in excess of £1 billion. This was 16% more than the amount paid out in the same quarter of 2016 so there has been a huge rise. In fact, in the space of 4 years, such repair costs have gone up to an average of £1,944 per vehicle with this being a rise of 46% – a huge rise.
With regard to the amount paid out in respect of the theft of vehicles, this figure was £71 million with this being a rise of 25% when compared with the third quarter of 2016. The amount paid out per theft claim was an average of £6,582 with this being a record amount.
Personal injury claim payouts in the third quarter of this year were £835 million with this equating to an average of £10,120 per claim. That is a rise of 2% when compared with the second quarter of 2017.
Let us hope that motor insurance companies do not feel it necessary to increase premiums yet again as we are already seeing some premiums reach record levels here in the UK. With the recent increase in the base rate meaning that many borrowers are having to increase their mortgage repayments and fuel prices still being high at many petrol pumps it is something that the public could do without having to worry about.
Motorists should consider shopping around to see if they can get their car insurance premiums cheaper either upon receipt of their renewal notices or if they are looking for cover for the first time. Of course it is the younger motorist who tends to pay the highest premiums and it is that age group perhaps more than some others who struggle to pay for insuring their cars.
