Car insurance premium index shows continuing downward trend

Insurancewide.com, the insurance comparison service, has released Q2 figures from its recently expanded car insurance comparison tool, which show a 4.6% drop in average car insurance premiums.

These figures contradict today’s figures released by the AA, one of the many brokers who appear in Insurancewide.com’s extensive panel of direct insurers and brokers. The AA index, whose panel does not include direct insurers, showed a rise of 2.5% in Q2.

James Harrison, chief executive of Insurancewide.com, which powers the insurance search engines for Yahoo, MSN, Tiscali and other major finance portals, said today:

“Our motor insurance comparison service has access to all types of rates from almost the entire UK insurance market, all of which we draw from when we guide our customers to the most relevant insurer for their needs. The recent fall in average premiums in Q2 reflects the rates of almost every insurer and broker in the UK, including direct insurers such as Swiftcover.com and Its4Me.”

The Insurancewide car insurance premium index reveals that the average UK premium was £738 in April 2007, falling to £703 in June, a drop of 4.6%. Some of the direct insurers proved to be the most competitive.

“The falling premiums reflect the competitive pressure insurers are under to retain and attract ever-savvier customers. Our hope is that by continuing to include as many insurers and brokers as possible in our comparison service, we can provide a quote for every type of driver, particularly those drivers who other comparison services can’t help because they don’t have enough market coverage.”