VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 9 JAN 2015:
Unbelievable: new research from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says that the number of new vehicle registrations hit a 10-year high last year.
So this is some brilliant news for carmakers and car insurance providers here in the UK, with some 2.476 million cars sold in the country over the course of the last 12 months. This is the highest figure since 2004, and it’s also a 9.3 per cent increase over 2013 figures as well.
Yes, well done car buyers, good for you! Guess what, though? With those 2.475 million new cars getting sold in the UK this year there were 2.476 million new insurance policies taken out as well. That’s a pretty big bump, and it could lead to either good news or bad news for the car and van insurance marketplace.
So here’s the first scenario: insurers were so chuffed by having the influx of new policies – more than 9 per cent more than last year, after all – that the extra revenue collected from premium payments has filled their coffers. The result: cheaper insurance for everyone in the UK, huzzah!
Doesn’t sound likely to you? Yes, me neither. It’s far more likely that these insurers will see this as the beginning of a trend where there will be increased demand for their services going forward. And you know as well as I do when demand goes up while supply stays the same: prices go shooting into the stratosphere. In other words, all these bastards buying Ford Fiestas and Vauxhall Corsas are effectively driving up the prices for everyone else, including personal and commercial van insurance customers, simply because there’s just so many more of them from last year.
In other words, hold on to your wallets, blokes – I’m reasonably sure that when you renew your policy this year you’re going to see that prices have gone up across the board. I mean there was already some evidence of this happening as of a few months ago, but now this absolutely seals the deal – or at least I think it does, anyway. But then what do I know?
