Want Cheaper Car Insurance? Rural Areas, Sleepy Cities Are Best

Recently one survey found that the average UK driver is facing a premium increase of about 60%, but this info suggests that 40% is nearer the mark.

There is lots of anecdotal evidence on social media of premiums being doubled, but closer examination reveals that these are often renewal offers. Drivers then negotiate a price match deal, or move to another brand. Still the undeniable truth is that premiums are rising fast. Why? The primary reasons are inflation, EVs and hybrid claims costs, plus increasing law breaking and fraud. The industry needs to communicate some harsh reality home truths, especially on Net Zero. Greener cars and vans cost more money to buy, more money to write off as salvage.

Them’s the breaks folks. 

Car insurance premiums are up 40% on last year due to the cost of living increasing, as well as the number of claims and more expensive repairs having an effect on the cost.

New research by car finance experts CarMoney has revealed that some areas of the UK are harder hit than others with car insurance costs. The study analysed the UK’s 123 postcode areas, using the same driver profile, to see which places are paying the most and least for their car insurance policies. Therefore highlighting the areas you’re more likely at risk to make a claim.

Key findings:

• The most expensive postcode for drivers is Liverpool at £1,158.72 per year

• The cheapest postcode is Inverness at just £386.66 per year

• More than half of the safest postcodes are in Scotland

• The average UK car insurance premium is £752.26 per year

The study found drivers in Liverpool are paying the highest premiums in the UK, meaning insurers deem drivers in Merseyside the most likely to make a claim. At £1,158.72 per year, Liverpool’s premium is £406.46 above the UK average of £752.26. Luton follows as the second most expensive postcode, just 82p cheaper than Liverpool with a premium of £1,157.90 and tied on an increased risk likelihood of having to make a claim with 1.54 times the average.

Liverpool is also renowned for its high rate of personal injury claims, with the data consistently recording higher rates than many other UK cities. Nobody knows why.

In third place is diverse East London, costing its drivers £1,147.90 annually – just £10 less than those in exciting Luton – and then historic University city Sheffield (£1,058.47) and vibrant Derby (£1,044.83). Of the ten highest-risk postcodes, seven are in the South or Midlands.

Drivers in Scotland are paying just a third of those in the highest areas for their insurance

Getting the best deal are drivers in Inverness, Scotland. Paying just £386.66 per year, motorists in the UK’s most northerly city are saving £365.60 on average each year – that’s a 51% drop. Inverness insurance premiums are also just a third of those in Liverpool, the most expensive postcode in the study (£1,158.72 per year). Remote areas like the Scottish Isles were also relatively cheap places to insure a car.

Sleepy cities like Cambridge, Carlisle and Chester are the only areas of England to appear in the top ten, with premiums of £421.45-£522.97, with remote Llandrindod Wells (£455.17) making up Wales’ only appearance at this end of the results.

The average cost for car insurance across all postcodes in Scotland is just £577.91 per year, down on England (£789.17), Northern Ireland (£624.73) and Wales (£600.37).