UK’s most consistently competitive motor insurers

Online insurers continue to give traditional brands a run for their money.

moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison website, has revealed the top ten most competitive motor insurers throughout 2006, with swiftcover.com emerging as the most consistently low-cost brand.

From an analysis of over three million premiums quoted through moneysupermarket.com’s car insurance comparison service in 2006, swiftcover.com returned the cheapest average premium for all drivers at £276.

Other names that made the top five were Post Office, Zurich, More Than and Liverpool Victoria. Big brands such as Barclays and the RAC also made the top ten, as well as supermarket bank, Sainsbury’s.

moneysupermarket.com’s top ten consistently competitive motor insurers* in 2006 were:

Insurer - Average premium quoted

swiftcover.com - £276.83
Post Office - £306.08
Zurich - £317.44
MoreThan - £322.55
Liverpool Victoria - £347.95
RAC - £369.76
Sainsbury’s Bank - £374.42
Budget - £437.68
Barclays - £462.48
Quinn-Direct - £489.83

Richard Mason, managing director of insurance at price comparison website, moneysupermarket.com, said: “It is not surprising to see the younger, nimbler online insurers providing consistently competitive premiums given their lower overheads when compared with the traditional insurers. It is encouraging however, that some of the big names such as Barclays and RAC are still committed to offering consistent good value, but they are not quite able to pip swiftcover.com to the top spot.”

The research also reveals that Debenhams, not a well-known player in the motor insurance market, offers the most expensive average quote for all drivers. The average premium quoted throughout 2006 was nearly £1,500 – over five times more expensive than swiftcover.com on average. And despite building up a name in the motor insurance industry for being the ‘fourth emergency service’, AA Insurance languishes at the bottom of the tables.

Richard Mason continued: “It is disappointing to see a big motor insurance brand, such as AA Insurance, at the bottom of the table. With well-known brands, such as RBS saying its customers will see double digit percentage hikes in their premiums this year, millions of motorists need to be careful when it comes to renewing their policies and they could receive hefty renewal quotes.

“With fair-weather insurers changing their pricing strategies overnight to meet their business targets, consistency is a useful gauge of which brands to consider. But there really is no substitute for spending just a few minutes comparing the market, when you want to know you are getting the best value deal for your circumstances.

“Insurers automatically include discounts on the first year of a policy to entice motorists in, hoping they will stay when this ‘honeymoon’ period comes to an end and premiums take a turn for the worse. However, there is nothing to stop drivers changing their insurer every year and therefore always taking advantage of these introductory bonuses.”