Insurance premiums going up due to car crime
1 commentCar insurance premiums are going up by the fastest rate in 15 years, according to AA Insurance. The insurer, which produces the British Insurance Premium Index each year, found that premiums have shot up by an average of 5% in the last three months alone. This is the biggest quarterly rise since the monitoring began back in 1994.
The annual figures are even worse – on average, premiums have gone up by 14% since last October, a huge increase that is surely being felt by drivers across the country.
Car crime is one of the reasons for the increased premiums. Expensive vehicles are being targeted by thieves, and claims on these help to push up the premiums for all the other drivers.
Other factors include a rise in fraud levels and increased costs associated with injury claims. Fraud alone adds an extra £44 onto insurance costs, and the amount spent on injury claims was over £9.6 billion last year. Essentially, what this means is that insurers are paying out more in claims than they are receiving in premiums.
The average fully-comprehensive cover now costs £821, up £100 from one year ago. But it is young drivers who fare the worst: third party, fire and theft premiums have gone up by a massive 9.3% in the last quarter and by 17.6% over the last year. The average premium now is £1,059.
Simon Douglas, director of AA insurance, said that “up to £110 is being paid in claims for every £100 taken in premiums – a situation that is clearly unsustainable”. He also warned that “most drivers will be seeing sharp increases when they renew their annual insurance premiums”.
Comments
