According to the AA's British insurance premium index, car insurance premiums have reached an all-time high. However, Insurancewide.com offers contradictory figures, and claims that its car insurance premium index shows a continuing downward trend.
According to the AA, the average quoted premium index for an annual comprehensive car insurance policy rose 2.5% in Q2 2007, to over GBP822. This is, for the first time, more than twice the index quoted in July 1994, when the AA Index was first published. Premiums rose by more than 6% in 2006 but, after witnessing a slight drop in Q1 2007, have resumed their upward trend.
In contrast to this, Insurancewide.com, which offers an insurance comparison service, claimed that its recently expanded car insurance comparison tool indicated a 4.6% drop in average car insurance premiums from GBP738 to GBP703.
James Harrison, chief executive of Insurancewide.com, said: 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 AA also claimed that the average premium quoted for those who buy third party, fire and theft insurance also rose to its highest ever level, passing the GBP1,000 mark for the first time, to reach GBP1,006.