Car insurance prices set to hit record high, drivers warned

Motorists will pay record-breaking insurance prices by the end of 2018, a new study has revealed.

UK drivers are currently shelling out an average sum of £827 for cover but this is expected to rise to more than £900, according to Confused.com’s Car Insurance Price Index.

The index, which tracks insurance prices, reveals that costs have risen by £60 – eight per cent – since 2016. Now they are set to make a similar massive leap.

The highest premiums paid so far were in 2011, with motorists spending £858 on average.

Male motorists are also paying more than women, the index notes, with premiums £114 higher. The news comes close to the five-year anniversary of the EU Gender Directive, which prohibits insurers from assessing a driver’s risk based on what sex they are.

But the comparison website says that while insurers are unable to assess a driver based on their gender, there are other risk factors that lead to higher premiums for men, including the tendency to drive more expensive cars with larger engines. Males also tend to have significantly more motoring convictions than women.

Since the introduction of the directive, though, the gap in insurance cost has closed for some age brackets. Before the legislation, 17-to-20-year-old males were paying as much as £1,787 more than female drivers, but this has since narrowed to £711.

However, 41-to-45-year-old male drivers were actually paying £7 less than women pre-directive, but now the tables have turned and the gap has widened, with men in this age bracket paying £97 more than their female counterparts (£742 vs £645).

Louise O’Shea, chief executive at Confused.com, said: “It looks like the average cost of car insurance is going to be over £900 in 2018 – the highest ever!

“January is always a difficult month after the excess of Christmas and that is true for drivers’ wallets too.”