Confused.com has revealed that after several years of soaring increases, the brakes have been applied to car insurance prices. The average cost of comprehensive car insurance for Q2 2012 stands at £797, a price drop of 7.1% year on year, compared with £858 which was the average cost for Q2 2011. However, despite the drops and impending gender directive implementation, men are still paying on average £110 more than women on their car insurance.

Despite prices plummeting, 17-20 year old drivers in the UK are still being quoted average comprehensive car insurance premiums of £2,491. Postcodes are a significant factor in car insurance pricing with 17-20 year-old male drivers in Manchester/Merseyside finding they are quoted significantly more than their counterparts in Central Scotland. The average price for 17-20 year old male drivers in Manchester/Merseyside is £5,394, while in the Central Scotland region male drivers aged 17-20 are quoted a more modest £2,999. Young male drivers aged 20 or younger in Inner London can expect to pay an average of £5,330 per year.

Regionally, the West of England has seen the biggest fall in prices, as average premiums for comprehensive cover dropped by 10.5% year-on-year. 21-year-olds saw the largest year-on-year reduction in prices, experiencing a 10.5% drop. This compares with a 1.9% increase in Q2 of 2011 and a drop of 4.6% quarter-on-quarter.

Over the past 12 months, car insurance price cuts have been greater for 17-20 year old women than men of the same age. With the looming EU gender directive which takes effect this December, shifts in gender pricing are beginning to show through. For example, for women aged 17-20, comprehensive car insurance prices increased by 0.5% over the second quarter this year, but for men of the same age group car insurance prices have fallen by 1.1%.

Despite this welcome respite for male drivers, men are still paying an average of£110 more per year than their female counterparts. For younger drivers, women aged 17-20 are quoted £1,878 on average, while men of the same age suffer average insurance quotes of £3,596. While this could be in part connected to the types of cars the drivers choose to drive, it is also in part due to gender, which will no longer be an influential factor by 2013.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com said: “Competition between car insurance providers is currently very high, which means it’s a great time to get a deal on your car insurance. At Confused.com we have more than 130 insurers competing for customers and so drivers can benefit from this competitive market by shopping around. When it comes to men versus women, any gender differences have to be factored out of quotations after December this year and so other factors such as the type of car you drive and the distances you expect to cover will become more important in the quote process. We anticipate that drivers will continue to reduce their annual mileage as a result of high motoring costs and seek cheaper vehicles in their search for more affordable cover.”

More than 4 million quotes are used in the construction of each quarter’s insurance price index – this makes it the most comprehensive insurance index in the UK. Unless otherwise stated all prices referred to are for comprehensive cover.

Via EPR Network
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It’s not easy being ‘Green’ according to new statistics from comparison site Confused.com: 27.6% of customers living on a road named Green Way have claimed on their home insurance in the last five years.

The Confused.com figures also reveal that living at house number 166 can be unlucky too: 21.9% of UK customers living at 166 have also claimed on their home insurance within the last five years.

The highest amount of cash paid out to claimants went to residents of Portland Road, where average claims exceeded £25,000, followed by Castle Street residents whose average claims came to £13,671 per resident.

Unsurprisingly the least claims were made in the more remote areas. The Scottish Borders registered the fewest claims, where the door number 7 was unluckiest. In London it’s people living behind the number 93 who might be worried as they are the ones with the highest volume of claims over the last five years, coming in at just over 19%.

The number 60 is unlucky not only for homeowners living in Central Scotland (almost 25%), but also for those who reside in the East of England where 60 is also the most likely to have had a home insurance claim, with almost 19% of the residents putting in a claim during the last five years.

Gareth Lane, home insurance expert at Confused.com, said: “As a person looking to buy a house in the near future I’ll think twice about moving into 166 Green Way. Joking aside, if these trends continue, on average more than 14 per cent of customers could claim on their home insurance in the next five years, with an average claim amount of around £2,000.

“During these hard economic times and extreme weather it’s important to find the right cover at the right price.”

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Confused.com has asked if it’s finally time for the UK’s driving laws to fall in line with Europe, with two thirds (66%) of Brits’ experiencing some form of motoring mishap when travelling abroad.

British holidaymakers have long been labelled the blight of the European holiday season, but new research from car insurance expert Confused.com, has revealed a different side to the ‘bawdy Brits’. Nearly three quarters (73%) of Britons who will drive abroad this summer have a fear of foreign roads because of confusing foreign road signs, driving habits and cross-country law changes.

Far from being a falsified phobia, the fear of driving on the continent exists for good reason. According to the research, one in five (20%) road trips from Britain to Europe end in a crash or bump, and an overwhelming two-thirds (66%) experience some form of motoring mishap.

This is worrying news for the 25% of British motorists who drive abroad each summer without checking they have adequate insurance. The current trend shows that a quarter of British motorists casually assume that their UK policy automatically covers them on foreign soil when in fact their policy may not be as comprehensive as while driving at home.

With so many blissful summer breaks turning into holiday horrors, it’s not surprising that British motorists want to alleviate their euro nightmares. Driving on the right is the number one fear for more than a third (39%) of UK drivers, and one in five of us (19%) confess to having driven on the wrong side of the road abroad.

The debate over left vs. right is intricate and complicated, and while switching the UK from left to right overnight is perhaps a step too far, the British public feel that standardising Europe’s drink-driving laws is a must, and soon.

Nearly half (47%) of Brits who have driven in Europe are strongly in favour of introducing uniform drink-driving limits. 27% believe that standardising European driving laws would reduce their chance of having an accident abroad, an opinion supported by transport expert, Benjamin Heydecker: “England and Wales are the only two countries in the EU (other than Malta) that has a legal drink-driving limit above 50mg per 100ml – 80mg. Harmonising Europe’s standards by reducing the limit to 50mg per 100 ml – which Scotland did recently – would modify drivers’ attitude to drink driving, with undisputed benefits for road safety.”

UK drivers’ lack of preparation was revealed when quizzed on the driving laws of Europe’s top-locations: 50% of Brits admitted they didn’t realise it was illegal to use a hands free kit in Spain, or that in Sweden it’s compulsory to carry antifreeze and a shovel in the car. Similarly one in ten (10%) didn’t know that drivers in Spain and Italy who wear glasses need to carry a spare pair.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com, said: “As the holiday season approaches, we’re going to see more Brits heading to the continent. While driving is often the most convenient means of travel, it’s important for motorists to take the time to understand the foreign laws. Accidents can easily happen in an unfamiliar environment, so reading up and making sure you’re completely covered for the country you’re driving in is just as important as getting the right currency.”

Via EPR Network
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