Virgin launches new car and home insurance deal

Car and home insurance customers are willing to swallow over £1.5 billion a year in premium increases before they shop around for a better deal, new research from Virgin Money shows.

The average insurance customer will accept an 8.13% across-the-board rise in their annual motor, home contents and buildings premium before they decide to switch to a more competitive deal. That's the equivalent of paying almost 13 months worth of premiums for 12 months of cover.

Virgin Money's research also shows that 45% of policyholders don't shop around, while 55% always do, and they spend an average of five hours and twenty five minutes each year looking for a better deal.

Virgin Money has launched a new insurance proposition with Capita Group to give customers a better deal automatically, without the need to shop around. Using a panel approach including insurance giants Aviva, Axa, Fortis, Sabre, CIS, Groupama and LV, customers can be assured they will get the most competitive deal available both at purchase and renewal, with Virgin Money moving customers between panel members automatically if renewal quotes aren't competitive.

With costs rising throughout the industry as a result of a rise in personal injury claims and losses by insurers, the Virgin Money research shows the average motor insurance rise that customers will accept is 7.4%. It would take a rise of 8.6% for contents insurance and 8.4% for buildings insurance to prompt insurance holders to potentially move from their current deal.

With the average comprehensive car insurance costing close to £800, if all of the UK car policyholders that shop around moved from their current policy before that 7.4% trigger, over £1.4 billion a year could be saved on car insurance renewals alone.

With home contents insurance costing an average of £73 and buildings insurance costing around £133, triggers of over 8% on home contents and buildings insurance could potentially lead to savings of over £103 million each year.

Kieran Hartigan, Managing Director of Protection at Virgin Money, said: "Searching for insurance renewal quotes can be a bit of a chore but a massive £1.5 billion each year could be saved. We'll always find the best price from our panel of home and car insurers and each year we'll double check to ensure the price is still competitive and move customers onto a better deal if it isn't. We can have cover in place in a matter of minutes and you can build the level of cover to suit your budget with bundles of optional extras."

Virgin Money Car and Home insurance is available at virginmoney.com.