Gocompare.com: Sharp rise in UK general insurance premiums

Hayley Parsons, Managing Director of leading insurance comparison website Gocompare.com, comments on the sharp rise in insurance premiums highlighted by the benchmark AA British Insurance Premium Index: “Today’s report probably sets the tone for the year ahead. Claims inflation has been running ahead of premium increases for the past couple of years, which is clearly an unsustainable stretch for insurers in the long term. These figures show that the elastic is beginning to fray and we should expect premiums to rise throughout 2008.”

“The AA’s ‘Shoparound’ average premiums very clearly highlight the cost of the ‘Apathy Gap’ that exists between those who are shopping around for the best deal at the moment and those who are just renewing each year and probably paying premiums closer to the AA’s overall average.”

“Consumers could face being squeezed from both directions in 2008 with the potential double whammy of an economic downturn coupled with rising insurance premiums.

The one thing people should certainly do is check their insurance renewal price against a wider selection of providers, rather than just signing up for another twelve months. If not they could well end up paying over £200 more than they need to according to the AA’s figures.”