Insurance renewals are always one of the more stressful times of the year. You know it’s going to hurt, and there’s nothing you can do about it – or is there? Let Scrap Car Comparison guide you through all you need to know about car insurance, why it’s going up and what you can do to try and keep it down.
Struggling to find anyone that’ll insure your car? Sell it to someone who doesn’t mind about the condition – us! We have a team of experts on hand waiting to take your call and get you the very best price you’ll find for your car. Better yet, with collection agents operating in 99% of all UK postcodes, we’ll even get it collected from you at no cost to you whatsoever!
Has car insurance gone up?
Yes, like almost everything these days, the cost of car insurance has indeed risen, and pretty rapidly too. Leading car insurance comparison website confused.com’s price index shows that going into 2024, insurance rose by an eye-watering 58%, with comprehensive cover now costing, on average, £995. That’s an increase of £366 in just 12 months.
Why is car insurance so expensive?
Car insurance costs are determined by a number of factors, all of which are playing a part in driving the cost of your annual premiums up. One of the biggest reasons for prices jumping up is, simply put, there’s more cars on the roads now than there ever has been before and the more cars that are on the road, the more likely you are to crash into one.
You’ll also need to take into account inflation, which is one of those things you can’t seem to escape every time you open a news page online. As costs of parts, and indeed the labour costs to fix any broken cars, increases, the more insurance companies will have to pay to cover them, and therefore the more you’ll have to pay for your premium.
What’s the average price of car insurance in the UK?
It might shock many people to realise that the average cost of car insurance sits just under the four-figure mark, at £995 for an annual premium. If you’ve only ever tried to insure a small 1-litre hatchback with an impressive run of no claims discount this might seem a bit steep, but you’ve got to remember those trying to insure their premium models – and even supercars – costing over £100,000 straight out of the dealership. That’s before you even begin to consider the first drivers with famously astronomical insurance prices (this writer was once asked for £4,000 from a leading insurance company for a car that was worth only £800).
These prices are correct as of the end of 2023 – and are made all the more painful when you consider the average at the end of 2020 was just £575.
Tips for getting cheaper car insurance
Anyone who’s ever got car insurance will wish they’d paid even less, and while you’re often in the hands of the insurance companies themselves, there are a few things you can do to try and bring your prices down.
- Drive less. Again, possibly counter-intuitive but the more you’re on the road, the more likely you’ll be in an accident and therefore a greater risk for insurance companies. By reducing your mileage, those chances of being in a prang reduce and you’ll find your costs dropping as a result.
- Park sensibly. If you can, try and park your car off the road, close to your house in a well-lit place, which in theory will ward off any potential felons or even reduce the likelihood of someone accidentally driving into you at night. However, don’t always assume that a garage will result in lower premiums as your insurers could be concerned about damage as you drive in or out.
- Drive a cheaper car. While that might sound boring, if you’re looking to save some pennies, driving something less desirable is a quick and easy way to lower insurance costs as they’ll cost less to repair.
- Only pay for what you need. Think carefully about what you’re paying for. Do you really need a courtesy car? Is windscreen cover something you’re absolutely certain you need? Much like the cashier at WHSmith trying to sell you that £1 bar of chocolate with every purchase, insurers will try to upsell you wherever they can, so make sure you’re not getting caught out by adding things you don’t want.
- Pay annually. Everyone knows the general rule that paying things off in one go will be cheaper for you than monthly payments, and the same very much works for insurance. If you total up the monthly payments against what you’d pay in one go, you’ll notice a significant difference. Of course this isn’t possible for everyone, but if you can make it work, it’s going to save you a potentially significant chunk of cash.
- Avoid modifications – except for safety. That spoiler kit might look like a cool addition, or that beefy exhaust, or even those powerful speakers, but by doing so you’re adding more and more to your insurance premiums. This will be a combination of added value (and the potential for theft) and also suggesting what type of driver you’ll be – performance-inspired modifications don’t exactly scream “one careful owner”, after all. However, fitting an immobiliser or industry-approved alarm can bring your premiums down, so that could be worth exploring.
- Add a named driver. One of the oldest tricks in the book, adding a named driver can drastically improve your insurance offers, particularly for first-time drivers. However, make sure the driver who will use the car the most is named as the main driver, otherwise you could be committing insurance fraud, known as ‘fronting’.
- Drive sensibly. Finally, and this is something to do before you get your quotes – don’t get any penalty points and your annual costs will drop. You’ll also find prices dropping if you are able to build up a No Claims Discount (NCD).
If getting insurance for your tired, old, beaten up car is proving nigh-on impossible, why not just give up? Driving without insurance isn’t an option, so simply sell your car as scrap or salvage with Scrap Car Comparison and use the cash you receive to put towards something newer, more reliable and more insurable. Get started today and we’ll get you an unbeatable price in as little as sixty seconds.
