The cost of comprehensive auto insurance, on average, is dropping in the UK, according to the Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index, having fallen £50 ($31.27) since the New Year. Between April and June, the cost of coverage fell by 2.3 percent to £797 ($1246.03) on average, a 7.1 percent decrease from a year ago. The results are based on 5 million customer quotes.
“There still have to be question marks over whether rate reductions are premature given what we know about overall market profitability,” said Duncan Anderson, Towers Watson's Global Pricing and Product Management leader. “The fact that the latest statistics from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries show an 18 percent increase in the proportion of motor accidents having a personal injury claim continues to cast a lingering shadow over insurers.”
Other findings:
• Since the end of 2011, the average cost of comprehensive auto insurance has dropped by £47 ($73.47); over a five-year period, average prices peaked at £858 ($1341.23) in June 2011.
• 21-year-old drivers see a 10.5 percent fall in average prices
• Men pay £110 ($171.94) more than women on average for car insurance
• The only group that saw price increases is 17-to-20-year-old women, which saw an average price increase of 0.5 percent this quarter to £1,878 ($2935.69). In the previous two quarters, that group had received the largest price decreases
• Prices are falling in all regions of the UK. In the past 12 months, the West Midlands has had the lowest rate of decrease (-3.6 percent) and the West of England the highest (-10.5 percent)
• The only people with average premiums increases in the past 12 months are drivers living in Uxbridge; but at £1,628 ($2545.05), those in East London postal codes had the highest average premiums
“When it comes to men versus women, any gender differences have to be factored out of quotations after December this year and so other factors such as the type of car you drive and the distances you expect to cover will become more important in the quote process,” said Gareth Kloet, head of car insurance at Confused.com. “We anticipate that drivers will continue to reduce their annual mileage as a result of high motoring costs and seek cheaper vehicles in their search for more affordable cover.”
For the quarter, regional and local comprehensive auto insurance prices bucked many of the long-running trends. Drivers in Manchester/Merseyside, who have been amongst those experiencing ongoing price increases, received the largest average premium decrease (-3.4 percent), for example. The price difference between Scotland and the rest of the UK also narrowed.
