Home and motor premiums fall, according to AA Index

Both motor and home insurance premiums have seen a fall in the first quarter of 2018, according to the AA’s Insurance Index.

The average car insurance premium peaked during Q2 of 2017 but has since steadily fallen.

Shoparound quoted premium of £660.64, which is just 0.7% or £4.83 cheaper than this time last year and 2.0% or £13.42 less than the fourth quarter of 2017.

Third party, fire and theft cover also saw a fall, at £1017.86 for Q1 2018, it saw a 0.5%, or £5.01 fall from Q4 2017 and a 4.5% fall, or £48.05 fall from Q1 2017.

Michael Lloyd, the AA’s director of insurance comments: “This is a glimmer of good news for drivers who are facing rising fuel prices and increased vehicle excise duty rates.

“Insurers’ confidence in offering lower quotes is boosted by the Government’s Civil Liability Bill commitment to review the so-called Ogden or ‘discount rate’ which affects the value of compensation pay-outs to severely injured victims of car crashes, as well as clamp down on the whiplash claim culture.

“This particularly affects premiums for young drivers who tend to be involved in more catastrophic crashes, and pay much higher premiums, than any other age group.”

Stamping out the compensation culture

Lloyd also commended the government on its desire to reform and cut out cold-calling, which he says has had a massive impact on premiums.

He said: “This is nothing short of fraud and it costs insurers millions of pounds either defending such claims or making payments for injury claims they can’t prove didn’t happen.

“These con-artists often attempt a masquerade of responsibility by using names similar to other organisations, such as the AA or as pseudo-governmental departments.”

He said the AA have had to deal with a lot of calls from concerned customers who have been targeted.

“We are receiving a lot of messages from concerned AA Members saying that someone is calling them claiming to be from the AA ‘about an accident you had that was not your fault’ and saying they could get big pay-outs for whiplash injury.

“These cold-calls certainly do not come from the AA. They come from apparently ordinary telephone numbers to get around ‘withheld’ call blockers but, if you call back, go no-where.”

Home premiums also take a tumble

Premiums for home, contents and combined policies also fell over the quarter, but remain higher than they were a year ago.

Buildings insurance premiums fell by just 0.4% (42p) from Q4 2017 to Q1 2018, but still remains 5.1% more than Q