Rising car insurance premiums

Hayley Parsons, Chief Executive of leading insurance comparison website Gocompare.com, comments on increases in car insurance premiums highlighted by the AA's premium index: "We're coming up to one of the busiest periods for car insurance renewals in August and September so the news that insurance companies are hiking premiums for motorists at their fastest rate for nearly a decade will be particularly unwelcome at this moment in time. Many drivers will have been protected from the increases earlier in the year, but the harsh reality will be landing on millions of doormats very soon in the shape of car insurance renewal forms.

"The message to drivers this year is; be very careful before accepting an insurance company's renewal quote. Most insurance companies don't tell you how much your premium is going up by in their renewal letters, so people need to get online and do a quick check rather than simply renewing for another year. Using a comparison site can take as little as five minutes but allows drivers to compare their renewal quote against over 100 other insurance companies to see if they can possibly get a better deal."

According to independent research issued last week, it could be five minutes well spent. The "Price Comparison Watch" study carried out by Igo4 revealed that the average "best price" on the big four insurance comparison sites actually fell by 0.34 per cent between April 2009 and June 2009.

Hayley continued: "The overall market trend may be upwards, but customers can still save money by shopping around to find those providers that either haven't increased rates or are deliberately targeting certain types of driver."