Is GIPP driving up car insurance fees?
Go.Compare research reveals that the number of car insurance products now charging admin fees has risen in the 12 months since GIPP came into force
Go.Compare car insurance has revealed that then number of products that now charge admin fees has risen since the same time last year.
The comparison site has reviewed the 332 comprehensive car insurance products in the market in 2023 and compared the admin fees charged today, compared with the same fees charged in the same period in 2022. It found that the number of car insurance products that now charge additional fees for administrative tasks has gone up significantly.
Additionally, it’s been just over a year since the General Insurance Pricing Practices – or GIPP – were introduced in 2022. GIPP, which came into force in January 2022, aimed to stop insurers offering new customers a better deal than those who automatically renew, previously known as the “loyalty penalty”. Go.Compare had previously estimated that the practice of offering a new driver a better deal than those who renew, costs motorists £1.2bn a year in higher car insurance premiums.**
As of January 1st last year, insurers had to offer new and existing customers the same price for their annual policy, so the price calculated at renewal must not be higher than that offered to a new customer. The rules applied to car, home, van and bike insurance.
In March 2022, two months after the introduction of GIPP, just 34 (10%) of car insurance products charged more than £60 renewal fee but just one year later, this has gone up to 42 13%. Additionally, the number of car insurance products that do not charge a set-up fee has gone down from 195 in 2022, to 181 in 2023 – a drop of 7%. And the number that charge a set-up fee over £60 has gone up from 39 policies to 59 – over a 50% increase.
The full results of the research can be seen in the below table:
|
|
March 2022 |
March 2023 |
|
No. of car policies in the market |
332 |
332 |
|
No renewal fee charged |
201 |
196 |
|
Renewal fee is more than £60 |
34 |
42 |
|
No mid-term cancellation fee |
44 |
42 |
|
Cancellation fee is more than £40 |
238 |
250 |
|
Cooling off cancellation fee = £0 |
173 |
165 |
|
No set up fee |
195 |
181 |
|
Set up fee is more than £60 |
39 |
59 |
Ryan Fulthorpe, GoCompare’s car insurance spokesperson, said on the findings:
“GIPP was a huge shift for the insurance industry, ending the so-called “loyalty penalty”, but one year on, we have now seen the number of insurance companies charging increased admin fees has increased. While this could be due to inflation and other factors, there is a possibility that insurance companies are feeling the pinch from the GIPP rules and have had to look at other ways to recoup these costs.”
“With a cost-of-living crisis continuing to impact our monthly outgoings, it’s more important than ever that insurance customers should be looking to compare their renewal price against the rest of the market. No one should be paying more than they have to for their insurance and still the best way to ensure you aren’t paying over the odds is to use a comparison site.”
More information about how you can save on your car insurance can be found here…. https://www.gocompare.com/car-insurance/guide/top-tips-for-cheaper-car-insurance/.
-Ends-
Contact Information
Rosie Johns
Notes to editors
Notes to editors
*Source: Defaqto Matrix of 332 car insurance products in the market on March 2nd 2023, compared with the same time in 2022. instant and unbiased market and competitor intelligence, from independent financial researcher Defaqto). Percentages are rounded up to the nearest whole number.
**https://press.gocompare.com/news/drivers-call-for-action-on-car-insurance-renewals-as-loyalty-penalty-increases-22-percent-to-gbp-1-2bn-a-year
For further information please contact:
Lynsey Walden on lynsey.walden@Gocompare.com, or Kath Chadwick on Kathryn.chadwick@Gocompare.com.
Keep up-to-date with Go.Compare on Twitter; @Go.Compare
About Go.Compare
Go.Compare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.
It does not charge people to use its services and does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. Go.Compare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.
When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. It is this approach to comparing products that secured the company an invitation to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) in 2008, and it is still the only comparison site to be a member of this organisation.
Go.Compare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest and works with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.
Go.Compare is part of Future Plc and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
More information can be found here go.compare or here https://www.futureplc.com/brands/.