UK drivers are paying an average of £597 per year according to a Moneysupermarket.com report analysing 873,000 customer quotes in November.
The annual premium is a £97 leap from January’s £500 average as British motorists have experienced a steady increase in auto insurance costs throughout the year.
The rise has been especially steep since August, with rates jumping £48 over four months.
According to Moneysupermarket.com’s consumer affairs expert, Kevin Pratt, logic would suggest that rates should drop due to increased safety standards – but insurers are likely to fault fraudulent claims for the price hikes, he believes.
A crackdown on false whiplash claims was announced by Phillip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and it was supposed to cut drivers’ premiums by £40 annually. However, Pratt argued that won’t happen unless all the savings were passed on to consumers, something that has become all the less likely with taxes on insurance premiums set to rise from 10pc to 12pc in June 2017.
“The Government has committed to introducing reforms to tackle whiplash fraud, but we’ve heard this story before and need to see concrete action that brings down premium inflation as a matter of urgency,” Pratt said.
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