British Insurance Premium Index for the third quarter shows that costs have sharply risen again for the second quarter in succession, except for Northern Ireland, where premiums have fallen.
This follows two years of falling premiums, prompted by reforms intended to cut the number of fraudulent car insurance claims, particularly for whiplash injury, which have had little effect.
With the increase in Insurance Premium Tax in November, further pressure will be piled on to car insurance and the AA expects premiums to continue rising.
The average price went up 4.8% to £569, about £26 over the last quarter.
The present upward trend follows two years of falling premiums which started on the promise of sharp reductions in personal injury particularly whiplash claims, that were expected to follow Ministry of Justice reforms to discourage fraudulent claims.
But the reforms have not delivered and some claim firms have found ways around the rules.
Janet Connor, managing director of AA Insurance says, “Fraud continues to be a major issue troubling the industry.
“Although huge progress in fraud detection has been made, too many people still consider it acceptable to make injury claims even if none were suffered, often encouraged by claim firms.”
It is calculated that fraudulent payments are adding £50 to average premium prices.
