Motorists could be missing out on a saving of £218 each year by allowing their car insurance to renew automatically.
Research by Money Supermarket found 17.1 million drivers in the UK let their car insurance auto-renew last year at a cost of £720 million.
This was a 7 per cent increase on 2019 (£674 million), with 41 per cent of drivers opting to let their insurance auto-renew, Wales Online reported.
Premiums increase by £42 on average, with one in five seeing a jump between £26 and £50, while one in 10 saw rises between £51 and £75 (9 per cent) and £76 and £100.
Nearly one in ten (8 per cent) drivers allow their insurance to renew automatically without shopping around for a better deal, and a fifth (20 per cent) stay with their existing provider for ease.
The Financial Conduct Authority’s transparency in insurance renewals rules that came into force in 2017 are intended to encourage drivers to shop around by highlighting, in a prominent manner, their previous year’s premium price against their renewal price, alerting drivers to any increase or decrease.
Despite this, half (51 per cent) of drivers do not recall seeing these notifications.
Scottish drivers do enjoy some of the cheapest premium increases in the UK, with only the south west enjoying lower increases last year.
Cheapest regions for car insurance in the UK:
Region |
Q4 2020 cost |
|
1 |
South West |
£330 |
2 |
Scotland |
£377 |
3 |
Wales |
£397 |
4 |
South East |
£407 |
5 |
East |
£427 |
6 |
North East |
£449 |
7 |
East Midlands |
£469 |
8 |
Northern Ireland |
£473 |
9 |
Yorkshire & the Humber |
£526 |
10 |
North West |
£575 |
11 |
West Midlands |
£582 |
12 |
London |
£690 |
Kate Devine, car insurance expert at MoneySuperMarket, said: “Letting your car insurance auto-renew almost always sees you end up paying more, with our research showing that the average premium increase last year was £42.
"While it’s great to see that many of us are shopping around for a better deal, the number of people allowing their policy to auto-renew is still high at 41%.
“If your policy is coming up for renewal, you should always shop around to see what deals are on the market - a new deal on your car insurance is very easy to find online and could save you up to £218.”
You can visit the MoneySuperMarket website to find the best deals on car insurance.
