A study carried out by Sainsburys Bank looking at data for the last 12 months has shown an increase in car insurance cover of 5.8 percent.
Sainsburys Bank has been studying the data since 2005 and this is the first time that the average annual premium has gone over the GBP500 mark, standing currently at GBP514. Commenting on this increased cost a spokesperson explained that premiums take into account both the cost of vehicle repair and personal injury and as these increase so premiums have to go up to cover those costs.
Car insurance premiums are also affected by the number of claims, something Sainsburys Bank would like to see reduce. They are therefore asking drivers to take more care behind the wheel, avoiding dangerous activities in order to have less accidents which will then lead to a reduction in insurance costs.
After a study of the data gained through the Tesco car insurance comparison site it has been found that car choice is determined a lot by the age of the driver.
The typical Jaguar driver, for example, is 47 years old, whilst if it is a Mercedes then they will be, on average, 43. Moving down a little on the age groups, Volvo drivers tend to be around 42 whilst Porsche drivers, specifically of the 911, Boxster and Cayenne will be around 40 years old.
These marques are only a small sample from the full list, but one thing that is immediately apparent is that, with the average value of these cars higher than the general runabout drivers may well need to be 40 plus in order to get car insurance cover at a reasonable premium, from Tesco Finance or anyone else.
According to Diamond Insurance, the women only car insurance company, teaching assistants from Perth in Scotland are the safest drivers in the country.
The insurer looked at their own information as well as more general industry details to determine the safest occupations statistically, with these Scottish teaching assistants topping the table. Female accountants and secretaries also fared well in the survey, whilst for men the safest drivers were those with a policing background, computer programming and engineering. A spokesperson from Diamond Insurance noted that it was reassuring to know that the people tasked with protecting us are also safe drivers.
On the other side of the coin, the female drivers most likely to have an accident were hairdressers, with their chances of making a claim almost twenty percent higher than anyone else. Diamond Insurance welcome enquiries from any industry, confident that they will provide a very competitive quote.