Motor prices rose 6.3% in Q4

A new, quarterly car insurance price index from Confused.com and EMB shows that the cheapest quote rose by 12.7% in 2009 with most of the increases coming in the second half of the year.

Prices rose by 6.3% in the fourth quarter alone. As a result, the cost of the average policy has risen from £450 at the end of 2008 to £507 at the end of 2009.

Women drivers

Women had consistently higher increases than men in 2009; women in their 40's can also expect their insurance to rise by 400% when they add their teenager/s to their insurance.

21-30 year old females seeing annual increases approaching 17% compared to around 13% for men of the same age. In monetary terms, premiums still lag behind young men, but they are catching up.

Midland rises

Drivers living in the West Midlands have consistently experienced the greatest rise in car insurance premiums, whilst the Scots and Northern Irish have consistently seen the lowest rises.

The figures are based on 12 million customer quotes and almost a billion prices from Confused.com since the end of 2006, The company claims that in 2009 25% of UK car insurance buyers used Confused.com.