71% say their car insurance is more expensive  

A survey of drivers in Northern Ireland showed 71% say their car insurance is more expensive now, than this time last year. 

The survey, of 800 drivers in Northern Ireland, showed over a third, 35%, would even reconsider driving altogether due to rising costs.  Two-thirds, 66%, said rising costs have affected how they use their vehicle – with drivers reducing mileage, using more public transport and using one vehicle now for the whole family.

The last 5 years have been a rollercoaster for car insurance premiums, between May 2021 and June 2024 the quoted price of car insurance rose by 82%.*

Part of the reason why prices have increased so much in relative terms is that they started from a low base, having fallen 16% between March 2020 and May 2021 during the pandemic.

One of the key reasons for the decline in premiums during covid was the lack of people using their cars, reducing the number of accidents and showing a decline in the number of cars involved in collisions. This meant insurer profits went up as they had to pay out for fewer claims, allowing them to lower premiums. 

Since the pandemic, insurers have been experiencing significant and sustained cost pressures, as a result of record claims costs and broader price inflation such as rising fees for spare parts, fuel, labour and energy costs. 

Insurers paid out £2.9 billion in motor insurance claims in Q3 2024 – up 14% on £2.5 billion paid in the same period the year before.  Repair costs totalled £2 billion for the quarter, which is 26% higher than Q3 2023.** 

When asked how they’ve been combating these price surges, 60% of drivers said they shopped around more this year for insurance than other years, trying several different provider – with a huge 78% saying they used a price comparison site.

When asked, do you normally switch providers each year to find a better price, 57% said yes they do. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, it would appear that drivers in NI are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to hunting for savings. When asked, have you ever let your car insurance policy automatically renew without shopping around, a huge 72% said no.

In recent years the UK government has taken some action to help reduce premiums, such as the Whiplash Reform Programme and forming the Motor Insurance Taskforce. 

The industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also banned firms from charging returning customers more than new ones, though does not cap the price of insurance.*

There have also been calls for the government and the FCA to go further. In a House of Commons debate in February 2024, it was suggested young drivers’ rights to drive could be limited to reduce their accident risk and therefore help reduce their costly premiums.

Ian Wilson, car insurance expert and Managing Director at CompareNI.com, said: “It’s true the market has been experiencing a rise in the volume and cost of claims, most likely due to the surging cost of living, making everything more expensive and a challenge for drivers to pay for smaller claims themselves. 

“The market is starting to stabilize, with car insurance prices leveling off and even starting to decrease, however, given the record costs experienced throughout 2023, prices are still high.

“Our car insurance index shows the average price of car insurance in Northern Ireland last year peaked in November at £703 before starting to fall, declining 6% to £659 in December and we are hopeful that this will continue to drop throughout 2025.

“Thankfully drivers here are aware of the savings they could make by shopping around, we’ve noticed an increase in the amount of people using our price comparison site to search for savings, with three quarters, 72%, admitting they don’t let their policies automatically renew and 57% saying they switch providers to find savings – it is hoped more drivers will become aware of this money saving technique.

“Further savings could be made by reviewing when to purchase, 15-24 days before the policy is due to expire is normally when prices are the most competitive, with drivers saving themselves 33-45% on average.”

CompareNI.com helps drivers across Northern Ireland compare and find savings on all sorts of car insurance, including young driver, older driver and temporary car insurance.

References:

*https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/the-rising-cost-of-uk-car-insurance/

 **https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2024/112/motor-premiums-fall-for-the-second-consecutive-quarter/

SURVEY – CompareNI.com’s findings are based on a randomised survey of 800 respondents across Northern Ireland during March 2025, which represents a margin of error of approximately 5% at a 95% confidence level.