AA: Car insurance industry extremely competitive

Posted :02-08-2007

The British car insurance industry is becoming increasingly competitive as companies are forced to foot the bill of rising costs, it has been claimed.

Extra charges that get passed on to insurers in the event of an incident include hospital and ambulance fees, personal injury claims and vehicle retrieval, all of which drive up premiums.

Despite official figures showing that car theft dipped in 2006, Ian Crowder, a spokesperson for the AA, claimed that car insurance has reached an all-time high because of additional costs, uninsured drivers, more personal injury claims and the rising cost of repairing modern vehicles.

New technology means that, because cars are designed to protect the passengers inside in the event of a crash, they tend to be more extensively damaged in incidents.

"Ultimately it's the insurance company that picks these fees up," Mr Crowder said. "On the positive the car insurance industry is extremely competitive so there are always deals to be had."

Some victims of car theft are being forced to pay extra fees to the police to recover their vehicles from the pound or to have them forensically checked, according to an article in the Times newspaper.


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