Warning over rising cost that drivers face paying £543 a year for on average

Motorists are struggling with a seemingly never-ending stream of rising costs, from the stubbornly high price at the pumps to ever more expensive repair costs at the garage - but one cost that is essential to driving on UK roads has skyrocketed more than others, with drivers paying roughly 56.4 per cent more to insure their vehicles in the last year, according to insights firm Consumer Intelligence.

In February, the most common car insurance quote given to drivers ranged between £500 and £749. The latest annual rise is less than the 67.2 per cent recorded in the year ending November, however, it still ranks as the third-highest annual increase since Consumer Intelligence began tracking data in October 2012.

In better news for drivers, the quarter leading up to February saw quotes rise by just 0.5 per cent, marking the lowest quarterly increase since November 2021. Some regions of the UK, including Wales, the North East and North West of England, and Yorkshire and the Humber, witnessed a fall in quoted premiums over the quarter.

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Max Thompson, insurance insight manager at Consumer Intelligence, said: "The new year saw some major brands make competitive movements and reduce premiums.

"However some of this was unwound in February indicating it may have been more of a tactical move than a long-term trend."

The research examines the average of the five cheapest premiums returned on price comparison websites. It was noted that telematics providers accounted for 15 per cent of the top five quotes, down from 18 per cent in the three months to the end of November.

Telematics policies utilise technology to monitor driving