Car insurance statistics 2024

If you’ve compared quotes recently, you might’ve noticed that cheap car insurance is harder to come by.

We have delved into the latest car insurance statistics to look at how much premiums have gone up by, what rising costs providers are facing, and where in the country your wallet is hit the hardest.

This is on top of a whole host of other driving and car insurance-related statistics, including the average payouts for optional extras, why the number of complaints has risen, and which providers are the most trusted.

It’s important to stress that your car insurance premium is based on a range of personal details, such as your driving history, car, age and location. However, it can still be illuminating to observe the changes in premium costs, and which side of the UK average you fall.

Based on data from the ABI, the average premium for a private, fully comprehensive motor insurance policy was £561 for Q3 2023. That’s not only a 29 per cent increase on the same time the year before, but the highest figure ever recorded by the ABI.

There is a difference between customers renewing their policy and consumers taking out a brand new policy, however. For Q2 2023, the ABI data showed an average renewal premium was £471, while for new premiums it was £566. This potentially reflects the difference between having a no-claims bonus, and not having that discount in place.

Other industry analysts have car insurance premiums rising even faster than that. By August 2023, the average car insurance premium in the UK had risen 61 per cent, according to financial services analyst Consumer Intelligence. This is the biggest annual increase in premiums since Consumer Intelligence began tracking quotes a decade ago. 

In fact, since 2013, the year Consumer Intelligence first collated this data, premiums in the UK have risen nearly 103 per cent. That means they have more than doubled in a decade.

Things are so bad that, based on the Consumer Intelligence Car Index report from September 2023, only 53 per cent of consumers could find a car insurance quote of less than £750 when using a price comparison website. That’s a massive drop from the 69 per cent of customers who were able to do so just six months earlier in February 2023.

Individual providers may have very different averages to those calculated by the ABI. Nevertheless, such figures are still useful to indicate wider trends – especially when it comes to looking at how much where you live can affect the cost of your car insurance.

For example, in September 2023, the average car insurance premium for Admiral customers across the UK was:

• England: £1,109.82
• Scotland: £982.91
• Wales: £978.53
• Northern Ireland: £1,004.87

Unsurprisingly, given its population density, Greater London was the single most expensive area to get car insurance in the UK, with the average Admiral premium in the capital costing £1,332.71. 

This echoes data from Consumer Intelligence that showed that, with a rise of almost 70 per cent, London suffered the single biggest increase in premiums of any region in Great Britain. 

At the other end of the spectrum, the North West – which includes areas such as Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside – saw the smallest increase. However, that still amounted to a 55 per cent surge year-on-year. 

Below is the full table of car insurance premium increases for the year to August 2023, as per Consumer Intelligence:

It’s not just location that can affect your premium. Age is a huge factor in determining the cost of your car insurance. 

According to Consumer Intelligence, for the year to August 2023:

• Under-25s have seen their premiums increase by nearly 67 per cent year-on-year – more than any other age group
• The over-50s are the least affected, but have still seen their premiums rise by over 56 per cent

This is in line with the experiences of Admiral customers. New drivers aged 17 and 18 years old paid, on average, £1,975.15 for an Admiral car insurance policy in September 2023. In comparison, those over 60 paid £865.04. That’s more than a £1,000 difference.

Below is the full list of average annual Admiral car insurance premiums by age:

Source: Admiral Group, September 2023

The Ford Fiesta – the most popular car in the UK, with 1.5 million on the road –has an average car insurance premium of £1,158.73 when taking out a policy with Admiral. That high premium is in part because the Ford Fiesta is the most popular car for newly-qualified drivers, according to car finance provider Zuto.

Of the most common cars in the UK, the Nissan Qashqai was, on average, the cheapest to insure through Admiral, with an annual premium of £920.47.

As of September 2023, Admiral states that the following cars are the cheapest to insure in each category:

Source: Admiral Group, September 2023

Given you’ll be interacting with your car insurance provider at times of great stress, such as after an accident, you’ll want to know that the policy and customer service on offer is of high quality.

To help you out, we’ve compiled the Trustpilot scores and Defaqto ratings for the major car insurance providers in the country.

All information correct as of 21 November 2023

It’s important to note in regard to Trustpilot scores, that for many providers, they reflect the brand as a whole, and not just their car insurance products.

According to personal finance expert NimbleFins, the average cost of fully electric car insurance is £654 a year. As with normal cars, however, this can vary greatly by model.

Below are the average insurance quotes available for some of the most popular electric cars:

Source: NimbleFins, November 2023

Despite car insurance costs that are comparable to a non-electric vehicle, there still seems to be a reluctance to take up EVs in the UK, however. 

For example, the country is falling behind the EU in terms of electric vehicle growth, based on research from energy market analyst Cornwall Insight and law firm Shoosmiths. While sales rose 31 per cent in the year to July 2023, that is well behind the near 61 per cent growth seen in the EU.

This reticence is backed up by Auto Trader’s Road to 2030 report, which suggests less than half (47 per cent) of motorists think an electric vehicle would suit their lifestyle.

One of the reasons car insurance is so expensive at the moment is that providers are facing their own rising costs, which are then being passed onto consumers. 

For example, ABI research shows that:

• From April to June 2023, motor insurers paid out a record £2.5 billion in claims, a 29 per cent increase on the same time the previous year
• In Q3 2023, the price of paint was 16 per cent higher than in Q3 2022, adding to the cost of repairs
• For July to August 2023, labour costs were up 15 per cent year-on-year
• The price of spare parts jumped 11 per cent between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023
• In Q2 2023, the overall cost of vehicle repairs had risen 46 per cent year-on-year to £1.5 billion
• The cost of providing vehicle replacements also shot up, rising from £103 million in Q2 2022 to £157 million in Q2 2023
• Thanks to rising second-hand car costs, payouts for vehicle theft surged 53 per cent year-on-year to £196 million in Q2 2023

In 2022, there were a total of 42,500 fraudulent car insurance claims, according to the ABI. That represented 59 per cent of all fraudulent insurance claims full stop. 

Examples of car insurance fraud include giving inaccurate details when you apply for a policy, intentionally causing a crash to make a claim, and exaggerating your personal injuries following an accident.

Car insurance provider Aviva has done some interesting research into driving behaviours in the UK, all of which intersect with why and when someone might make a claim.

According to Aviva, the most dangerous time of day to drive is not on your daily commute, or at rush hour, but 3 to 3.15pm. In other words, the school run! Based on this research, it’s the 15-minute period of the day when you’re most likely to have a collision.

Meanwhile almost four-fifths of motorists (79 per cent) feel intimidated by other drivers when they’re behind the wheel, according to a survey carried out by Aviva in October 2023. Yet, at the same time, to two-thirds (62 per cent) admitted to being intimidating drivers themselves.

Aviva’s survey showed the top 10 intimidating behaviours on the road are:

As with many things in the UK, it’s now more expensive than ever to get car insurance. And this is especially true if you’re younger, live in London, or have a job that involves a lot of driving.  

Insurance providers aren’t necessarily reaping the benefits of these premium increases, however, with total claim payouts also at record highs, and complaints from unhappy customers at levels not seen in half a decade.

However, there are always steps you can take to try and bring the price of your premium down, including adding a named driver if you’re less experienced; carefully considering which optional extras you add to your policy; reducing your annual mileage; and thoroughly comparing the car insurance deals available for your profile instead of auto-renewing.